The Reason for Uneven Cut in Summer Grass

It's August in the Ozarks and our cool season grasses have all gone dormant. What's left is a bunch of weeds and crabgrass that is really hard to mow and make look decent. When I worked in a dealership we'd get hammered this time of year with complaints about uneven cut. People who bought anything with spinning blades (disc mowers, disc mower conditioners, brush hogs, finish mowers, lawn mowers, etc.) that loved them in the spring would be yelling at us because of the poor cut quality. The service guys would try to sharpen the blades and make sure there wasn't a bunch of grass gummed up in the cutting area, but there wasn't much they could do to make machine cut any prettier. Then fall rolled around and the cool season grasses started growing again and the uneven cut complaints went away.

One summer day, one of our salesmen, Don Schmidt, was explaining to a customer why his cut looked bad and I was surprised at the advice he gave. Don had been around farm machinery and ag customers most of his life and really knew how to diffuse a situation when someone was angry and this guy was not happy. After I heard his explanation and realized how much sense it made, I used it the rest of my career. It helped the customer understand that his problem was not the machine Don sold him, but the nature of the crop he was cutting and the time of year it was.

Anything with rotating blades does great in thick lush grass. I've seen disc mowers cut crops that were almost as tall as the roll bar on the tractor and do a beautiful job. Where they struggle are with light crops, and the reason, and a technique that should help the situation, is discussed in this video. And, it's just the opposite of what you'd think.

One thing I'll caution you about here, don't try slowing your engine speed down with a zero turn lawn mower. They're generally designed to run with the engine wide open, all of the time. If you slow the engine speed down you also slow down the flow of oil to the hydro's, which can shorten their life. It's fine to do what I recommend in the video on a tractor, if you do it on your zero turn you may damage it.

The advice I give here still won't give you a perfect cut. Crabgrass grows out and up and it's hard to cut with anything. Hopefully this does make it a little better and at least make you feel comfort in knowing the problem will soon go away as the season changes.

[fergisawesum]

Donald Schmidt is the most knowledgeable man I know. Proud to be his son for 30 yrs. Miss him dearly.

[MeeLowTrapper]

Hi Mike.
I'm a new tractor owner. I just wanted to take the time and thank you for all of the videos you post. I've learned so much from them.
Again...thank you.

[markbasch]

This video saved me 8, 000.00, the price of a new Dixie Chopper because no matter how many times I leveled the de k on my 48” riding Husqvarna, I got this uneven cutting of what Was mostly the tall spindly grasses while my normal grass seemed to cut fine. And since the largely uncut areas were in line with certain parts of the cutting path, I assumed it had to be a deck problem. I got tired of chasing it and was going to buy the new Dixie for 8 grand when I saw this vid and took his low speed cutting approach and it worked like a charm. Thank you Thank you Master Mower Mike😎

[harrybutler]

Thanks Mike I just came home n from bushogging. My bushog wasn’t cutting evenly so I backed down on the rpm’s and put the tractor in high gear. My New Holland doesn’t have a rpm indicator on the pto so I can’t tell if I’m doing the recommended 500 rpm on the pto so I backed the motor down to around 1800 rpm’s and it seemed to cut better. Have a great day!

[greensrentals]

Thanks so much. I bush hog tall grass, for a side business. I have always wondered what was going on? I would even go over some spots several times just trying to get it cut.
I took you're advice and it worked. It's saved me time and money on jobs.
thanks.

[semco]

That is a great idea and I will try that in my yard. I live in Southeast Arkansas and we have that grass, and have the problem with that grass not being mowed down the way it should. I will remember to slow down my zero turn mower the next time I mow the lawn, and look at the results once more. I am using a new Cub Cadet mower and the blades was sharpened correctly when I got it so I know it was not the blades, and believe that the problem was with maybe the speed of the mower in cutting the grass.

[ODLife]

I noticed it more this summer for some reason. I'll have to give that tip a try.

[greensrentals]

When ever you get a chance could you please make a video on what I need to do for storing my tractor attachments for winter storage.
thanks again for all your advice and help.

[patriotsneeded]

This is one of those "I shoulda thought of that" moments. I'll have to give it a try.

[Greg]

I'm definitely trying this, my ZTR leaves behind a line of uncut grass. I had thought about the turbulence issue but had no idea what to do about it.

[Mo-OhioTreeRemoval]

I've been wondering about this for a few years now! Thanks Mike!

[ThePlowGuys]

Food for thought. Thanks for the video Mike.   -John

[joepayton]

I have a zero-turn simplicity when I mow I go back and look and it looks like a washboard what is the problem can you help me

[yankeesrule]

It makes sense, but I can't adjust the speed on a Kobalt battery operated push mower.
Wish I could...

[wildbillc]

I've ran into issues where there are a lot of blades of grass left un-cut. What causes it in some cases is you typically raise your mower deck height in the heat of summer so you are causing more air movement in and around your mower deck and with the deck higher off the ground it doesn't have the same lift capacity it does at a lower deck height to pull the blades of grass up in order to cut them properly, so the blades of grass get blown around and not cut at a higher mower deck height...lower your mower deck and you'll see a huge difference.

[michaelsimpson]

Don was right. If I cut the grass short it's fine, but I have to cut higher in the summer. Turned RPM down, problem solved. Great tip! Thank you!

[SteveRobReviews]

I think Don was right. What I do that's seems to work for me is tilt the front of my bush hog down slightly towards the pto and slightly higher towards the rear. I to believe the blades cause a swirl that deflects some grasses and both methods work. Good tip Mike 👍

[jaystoner]

I have a zero turn. I was thinking the front tires are laying the grass over and then it returns to the upright position later.

[RoanJS]

Reversing direction every other cut seems to help me. A guy told me the crop learns to lay down by mid-summer.

[T-ROY]

Does this work for cylinders mowers? My grass cuts so uneven