Mowing Disorders
The basics…
There are a few common disorders that are generally caused by machinery or operator issues in this card we are going to explore a few of them…
Whisping/tearing of the grass leaf
A common issue with both rotary and cylinder mowers, this can be caused by blunt mowing blades, mowing to quickly or mowing when the grass leaf is too wet. On cylinder machines inadequate contact between the cutting cylinder and bottom blade is another cause. If you get a brown or white haze after mowing it will be worth taking a closer look. Ensure blades are sharp, correctly set up, mow when the leaf is dry and maintain an appropriate forward speed to avoid this.
Scalping
This is fairly easy to diagnose and is characterised by high spots that are shaved bare or to a lower height of cut than desirable. Raising the height of cut to avoid this is one option aswell as improving surface evenness through top dressing.
Ribbing
Caused by cylinder blades revolving too slowly, this can be caused by grass being too long, too wet or mowing too short creating excessive resistance when trying to remove too much grass leaf at once. It’s also possible that a build-up of debris on the blades aswell as overtightening of the cylinder against the bottom blade can contribute. One further consideration is making sure the cutting cylinder has enough cutting blades to cope with grass density. Many ride on cylinder mowers have the option to increase the reel speed which may help with this. As seen below it is identified by narrow bands of short and longer grass.
Washboarding
Caused by always mowing in the same direction, these will run cross ways along the direction of travel similar to ribbing but normally about 6-12 inches apart and look a bit like spaced out corrugated sheeting. Its good practice to alternate direction of cut for various reasons and this will normally be adequate to resolve the problem.
