New Reel mower + seeding grass = questions

[Peter]

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

[David J Bockman]

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