Dew on the grass, mow or wait?

Green Pastures · Sep 30, 2002

I'm interested in hearing your response to this question.

I've always been told that it is not as good to mow wet grass, for the grass or the mowers. My mowers tend to get clogged up with the wet grass resulting in poor cut, rusted decks, clumped discharge, etc.

How do you handle this?

Scott

deason · Sep 30, 2002

If you are behind schedule - MOW

If you are caught up - WAIT

very simple

bubble boy · Sep 30, 2002

this is where equipment matters most.

in the spring, wet long grass,a true commercial mower will get the job done.

we dont wait for dew

scott's turf · Sep 30, 2002

this time of the year there is dew untill 10:30 -11:00. I can't wait that long so I cut. I try to cut the thinner lawn early and the thicker ones once things start to dry out a bit.

HarryD · Sep 30, 2002

i hate mowing dewy grass so i wait . been a few times ive almost got into fist fights because i got wet grass on someones car just not worth the hassle to me . ill do something else till it drys a bit

mdb landscaping · Sep 30, 2002

ill mow it if it has dew on it. if its an irrigated yard that has grown an awful lot, then ill wait till it dries out.

MacLawnCo · Sep 30, 2002

As long as there is no lightning, we will be found mowing. Compared to downpours, dew is nothing. Look into mowdeck, i have not used it, but may really like its results.

Gravely_Man · Sep 30, 2002

As others have mentioned your schedule will dictate if you mow or not. If you can wait it is much easier but if I am behind then I have to mow and scrape the deck more often.

Gravely_Man

Richard Martin · Sep 30, 2002

I am a solo and there really is no "wait" option. I dew (pun intended) not mow in the rain but I will cut with dew. You can try slowing your ground speed and RPM on your engine. Sometimes slower turning blades will not make the grass cake up under the mower as bad.

TJLC · Oct 1, 2002

I prefer not to mow wet grass but down here this is no choice. If I waited for the grass to dry out, this time of year, I would be so far behind, I would never catch up. I just do what I have to do.

eslawns · Oct 1, 2002

What I did is set up my commercial accounts in the mornings. They don't care if there are a few clumps, or a little wet grass sticks to the sidewalks. I have one large job for each day M- Th, and devote Friday to residentials.

I also changed my routing some this year. PITAs go near lunch when there's a lot of dew, that way the people who take really good care of me get the best results. I thought it would add a lot of driving, but it really didn't. No complaints so far, either.

BTW, I recently set up my mower to mulch. Before, I was spending time avoiding blowing wet grass on people's cars or in their mulch beds. Now there may be a few clumps, and sometimes these will get on the driveway, but nobody has wanted to fight over that. I have had people who were pretty p****d off over it getting on their house or car.

Do the dew!!

KDJ · Oct 1, 2002

I don't even think of a little dew. Hard driving rain or lighting is the only way I will stop cutting.

allenandinga · Oct 1, 2002

Tht best answer to this question is do what you have to do to keep your customers happy, for they are the ones that feed you, but be aware that mowing wet grass IS NOT good for your equipment and usually does not give as good of a result.

proline32 · Oct 1, 2002

Sometimes I will take my blower and go over the lawn real quick and blow off some of the dew especially on small lawns, also I set the rear wheels a notch higher than the fronts so I get more air under the mower deck and bag the grass.

kppurn · Oct 1, 2002

Must keep on mowing. Especially now with the daylight hours fading away. Tonight it was pitch black at seven. Soon it will be dark at five.

I'll only stop for a heavy downpour and of course lightning.

dmk395 · Oct 1, 2002

We try and do the junk yards first...not always possible though.

syncom2 · Oct 1, 2002

Scott's Turf is right, during the fall season the dew really slow in leaving in this area of the country. Just this past Sunday, as well as the Sunday before, the sun was a-blaze in the sky at high noon but the grass was still more-than just damp. Finally... when 12:50 p.m. rolled around, I engaged the blades and went for it. For the most part it was 90% dry in the sunny areas of the lawn, but the shaded areas were still a good hour from reaching that point. So I tried to hit the outer open areas of the lawn and worked the house area there towards the end of the clippin' session.
I really do not care to be found mowing on Sundays, but when ya work 12 hours days the remainder of the week, there just isn't any daylight in which to work with in the fall or early spring... if ya know what I mean.
mb

JimB · Oct 1, 2002

Don't waste your time mowing on wet dew, I run mostly a Z-rider HP 52" and if I mow on wet dew the deck clogs up right away and I start throwing clumps of grass all over the place.
You end up mowing the yard about 3 times before it even looks decent and considering the money we get paid just to mow it once , im certainly not gonna mow it 3 times!!!
Wait a while for it to dry up, and if you have that many accounts, get yourself a helper to do the weed whackin to speed things up.

...Jim

bubble boy · Oct 1, 2002

Originally posted by JimB
Don't waste your time mowing on wet dew, I run mostly a Z-rider HP 52" and if I mow on wet dew the deck clogs up right away and I start throwing clumps of grass all over the place.
You end up mowing the yard about 3 times ...

...Jim

what brand of z???

no decks clogging here...ferris and toro WB'S. Maybe slow down?

kppurn · Oct 2, 2002

I mowed one this morning that was soaking wet from dew. It was pretty long too. Mowed it with a lazer and a set of sharp blades. Didn't have a problem at all. When I pulled up I thought for sure it would have to be double cut. To my surprise, it only needed to be single cut and I was on my way.

Dew on the grass, mow or wait?

Green Pastures

deason

bubble boy

scott's turf

HarryD

mdb landscaping

MacLawnCo

Gravely_Man

Richard Martin

TJLC

eslawns

KDJ

allenandinga

proline32

kppurn

dmk395

syncom2

JimB

bubble boy

kppurn

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