New Reel mower + seeding grass = questions
 

Hi,

I just bought a Gardena 6000SM reel mower (Brill Luxus 38). I live in
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and I have no idea what kind of grass I have.

I ferilized my grass last fall and early this spring, with a light
application for summer a couple of weeks ago.

My grass had managed to get up to about 17 cm before I cut it. I
noticed that there was some grass 'stalks' with seeds showing in a
couple of spots before I cut it. After cutting I noticed that quite a
bit of the lawn had 'stalks' with seeds that hadn't appeared above the
existing grass line.

The Gardena/Brill's maximum cutting height is 45mm/1 3/4in. At this
height the result of cutting has left the lawn 'stalky' in quite a few
areas, because of the seeding grass. There is a very slight yellow
tinge to the whole lawn. It's not yellow, as in 'there's the roots!'
but just not as green as it should be.

My question is what can I do to help get the lawn to be a lawn and not
a wheat field? Also, is there something that I did (other than not
cutting the lawn ;) ) that caused this? I don't want to repeat it.

While we are on the topic, what kind of regime is best for a reel
mowered lawn in Ottawa? I'm kind of worried about the summer with
such a short cut.

Thanks!
Peter

New Reel mower + seeding grass = questions
 

Xref: kermit rec.gardens:280709

Hi Peter,

Reel mowers give superb cuts to lawns, but you've found its weakness also--
it does not cut well when a great deal of length has to be removed from the
grass blade-- rather, the reel tends to push over the longer blades in lieu
of drawing them into the rotating blades.

Reel mowers are best when only taking a slight amount of the total grass
height-- say a third or less of the height setting. this means more frequent
mowing to stay ahead of the grass' growth.

Dave

"Peter" wrote in message
om...
Hi,

I just bought a Gardena 6000SM reel mower (Brill Luxus 38). I live in
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and I have no idea what kind of grass I have.

I ferilized my grass last fall and early this spring, with a light
application for summer a couple of weeks ago.

My grass had managed to get up to about 17 cm before I cut it. I
noticed that there was some grass 'stalks' with seeds showing in a
couple of spots before I cut it. After cutting I noticed that quite a
bit of the lawn had 'stalks' with seeds that hadn't appeared above the
existing grass line.

The Gardena/Brill's maximum cutting height is 45mm/1 3/4in. At this
height the result of cutting has left the lawn 'stalky' in quite a few
areas, because of the seeding grass. There is a very slight yellow
tinge to the whole lawn. It's not yellow, as in 'there's the roots!'
but just not as green as it should be.

My question is what can I do to help get the lawn to be a lawn and not
a wheat field? Also, is there something that I did (other than not
cutting the lawn ;) ) that caused this? I don't want to repeat it.

While we are on the topic, what kind of regime is best for a reel
mowered lawn in Ottawa? I'm kind of worried about the summer with
such a short cut.

Thanks!
Peter