Stringers

[bohiaa]

this is the way it is sometimes. I will go out on a limb here and say it's thin grass. NOT THICK. this too helps to add to the issue....

if it's that much of a bother then double cut. or fert. it will help stringhten the blades.
there simply being pushed over. NOT standing stright.

Very common in the thiner grasses than thick.

Best of luck

[puppypaws]

Originally Posted by question1

I call them "stringers," and I have also heard them called "stragglers." They're random blades of grass that escape being cut even though you mow right over them. Sorry if I used the wrong term. My mower has a 21" deck.

You can call them anything you like, the "Lone Ranger" if you wish, these people know what you mean.

[hate2work]

Originally Posted by puppypaws

You can call them anything you like, the "Lone Ranger" if you wish, these people know what you mean.

Well, I didn't know what he meant, so I asked. And if he WOULD have called them the "Lone Ranger", I would have been even more confused

[ALC-GregH]

Originally Posted by hate2work

Well, I didn't know what he meant, so I asked. And if he WOULD have called them the "Lone Ranger", I would have been even more confused

yeah, you'd probably ask where Tonto is at.

[puppypaws]

Originally Posted by hate2work

Well, I didn't know what he meant, so I asked. And if he WOULD have called them the "Lone Ranger", I would have been even more confused

Oh, I see now, 8 posts, you haven't been around the LawnSite lingo long enough. One lone (reason for Lone Ranger), stemmy weed or grass shoot can be your definition learned today.

A slender or elongated structure that supports a plant or a plant part. When you mow over this vegetation and know beyond a shadow of doubt, the blades should have not left it uncut, yet on the next pass you see it standing, this is a "stringer, straggler, or Lone Ranger."

Some mowers are worse about leaving them than others, and the lower cutting heights with sharp blades helps prevent this problem more than anything. A high suction deck with high lift blades also help a tremendous amount.

Now, you have learned a great deal today about the meaning of "stringers, stragglers and the Lone Ranger." I hope this helped, now as the Lone Ranger would say to this thread, "Hi-yo, Silver, away!"

[Turf Dawg]

I call them flags. What happens on thick nice St Augustine grass is that some of the blades can get covered up by other blades or the runners. When the other blades shade them they lay down instead of standing up. I have owned many mowers of different types, makes and models and can tell you from experience that the more lift the better, but I have not found a mower yet that will not leave at least some flags/stringers on the first cut. Like I have said before even with my Walker I still double cut some St Agustine grass at times when it is thick and growing good. You really are not missing as much grass as you think, it is just standing up after the other is removed. If you will notice that sometimes the flags/stringers are longer than the blades that you have cut off with a bend in some that have been held down from the other blades.
Sorry that I cannot tell you how to solve this other than to double cut.

[ed2hess]

In 35 years we have not found a mower that doesn't leave some blades of grass uncut in St Augustine. The higher you cut the worse it gets and obviously at this time of year you are getting close to 4". We don't want to be running over the grass when it is hot and dry for double cut so the trim guys do their thing on any left.

[hate2work]

Originally Posted by puppypaws

Oh, I see now, 8 posts, you haven't been around the LawnSite lingo long enough. One lone (reason for Lone Ranger), stemmy weed or grass shoot can be your definition learned today.

A slender or elongated structure that supports a plant or a plant part. When you mow over this vegetation and know beyond a shadow of doubt, the blades should have not left it uncut, yet on the next pass you see it standing, this is a "stringer, straggler, or Lone Ranger."

Some mowers are worse about leaving them than others, and the lower cutting heights with sharp blades helps prevent this problem more than anything. A high suction deck with high lift blades also help a tremendous amount.

Now, you have learned a great deal today about the meaning of "stringers, stragglers and the Lone Ranger." I hope this helped, now as the Lone Ranger would say to this thread, "Hi-yo, Silver, away!"

Thanks for the education

[Damian]

I was going to reply yesterday but after just a couple of days off, could not remember if my Snappers' wheels extended in front of the blades or not (why does heat exhaustion take a pound of flesh but leaves the fat?).

Working today on a very thick lawn, of course I realized I was right about what I suspected yesterday. I think the problem is two fold, at least on a healthy lawn. First, the wheels run over the grass, depressing them. Then, the mulching blades chop and dump the grass you're cutting back onto the grass, helping to depress them more. The fact you're walking behind, stepping on the grass and depressing/kicking off some of the mulched grass adds to the problem. Sometimes you're just cutting off too much of the blade, but you don't have a choice as the owner over waters/fertilizes and you run out of adjustments. And let's face it, since you're using a mulching blade, it doesn't have near the lift of the regular, or high vacuum blade, so the already cut grass and the fact that the wheels have pushed some grass down just compounds the problem. I've found that cutting lower, when the season allows for it, the problem isn't nearly as bad, but here in the midst of summer, when we're cutting as high as we can both because the lawn is tall and thick, thus requiring it, and dry as salt to help not stress it out as much due to the heat, it's inevitable.

Wow, my painkillers have kicked in, so if my reply is rambling, well... that's part of the reason. It's time to lay down now.

[4.3mudder]

Cutting high will leave them, versus cutting low will leave hardly any at all.