4 Expert Tips: Best Mowing Height for Bermuda Grass

Customer Review: Great product when recommendations are followed. My lawn was nearly bare and brown and after 10 days there was growth finally. After 1 month I already needed to mow my green grass. I did rake/aerate and pulled weeds prior to spreading seed. A tip when mowing for the first time use a high setting to ensure you won’t hurt new growth roots.

Customer Review: This is very good grass seed. Grows quickly. Used for overseeding and patch repair. If using on partially dry impressed dead grass, use rake or hands to remove as much of the yellow dry grass as possible to allow new grass to root. Water is key to new seeds growing.

Customer Review: Works great. Planted in 90 degree weather and no issues. I think the key was having an automatic sprinkler that went off every hour for 2 minutes. It kept the ground moist, but no standing water.Had bought this same product a few years ago and had no success. But, I was new to caring for grass and didn’t realize how much water is needed.I suspect the majority of negative reviews comes from lack of watering.It says it will cover 8,000 sqft and I suspect that is accurate. I overseeded as I’m new to growing seed and had low confidence, but it looks like a waste now. Grass is coming in really thick. Which seems like overkill for Bermuda as it seems to spread easily on its own.Not as important as watering, but I suspect another issue is people aren’t tilling the ground enough. I don’t know this for sure, but suspect the small plants would have trouble with roots if the ground is tight. I tilled it with a pick axe (ton of work) and then raked it smooth. After the ground was lose and smoothed out, then put the seed down and very gently took a leaf rack (yard broom) to help nudge the seed into a slight bit of soil. Only hard part was tilling the earth. A tiller is a really good idea for this if you don’t need the exercise.

Customer Review: To all those who give negative reviews to Scott’s Bermuda grass seeds: its not the seeds with the issue, its user errors, lack of understanding or plainly, not following directions. My seeds are germinating and beginning to grow beautifully.

Customer Review: Context:I am mowing a Bermuda grass lawn, about 3,200 sq ft.Is this mower easy to assemble?Yes, I did it entirely without tools. However, this gives one the 2-3″ cutting range which is the default. To go lower, you will need/want a crescent wrench and a socket wrench to change the large 10″ drive wheels’ starting position.Is it hard to adjust the drive wheels on the Scotts Pro to the lower cut level?Not at all – but you will need some wrenches. The wheel and axle are shifted to another setting by physically detaching the main axle, shifting it around the reel’s drive axle axis and reinserting the drive wheel and axle into the new height range. There are three axle positions possible, you need to see it to understand fully, but however arcane this sounds now, it is not hard. Took five minutes, right the first time.Are 7 blades worth it?Yes – it will cut much better on fewer passes. the famous “rifling” of the lawn that the 4-5 blade versions create is greatly reduced. That said, the key to reel mowing is hitting the lawn often. One is trimming and grooming, not cutting the grass.Speed?This is actually faster than my gas powered walk behind. I get done quicker and the lightness of the machine makes up for the fact that it is 100% human power. Not difficult to use at all.Can it maneuver? What if the ground is bumpy?I have an area that inclines rather noticeably and this machine is unfazed by this. It rolls along an incline and tracks true, either parallel to the incline or moving up or down it. I understand from other reviews that this is not always true of mowers from other makers. I also have my share of bumps where the lawn needs leveling, and given its width, that is not a problem. This thing even blasts small twigs without a care (although I prefer to miss them for the sake of continued sharpness of the grass knife), whereas most reel mowers reportedly seize up on the smallest obstacle.Results?Awesome – after three uses, my Bermuda already looks more like an emerald carpet. The reel mower does not stun the blades with a crush-cut like a string trimmer or rotating horizontal steel blade does. As mentioned, this is a trim and groom mower. The grass never misses a growth beat and there are no “hairy edges” left behind to add a tan sheen to the lawn as the crushed bits die and new blades must form. Keep your gas monster for scalping or those times when vacation forces you to let it grow too high and you want to recover back to height quickly in a couple of mows. The gas monster also will suck up light debris in fall as leaves are dropping all over. I see some on YouTube using their gas machine as a yard vacuum of sorts, setting it higher than the reel mower and sucking up loose thatch and leaves.General notes below:Why buy a reel mower?Your lawn is a hobby and you seek golf course quality. You know more than a little about how to care for it holistically. A reel mower clips the grass with a neat scissor action that does not stun the blades. The grass recovers immediately and learns to spread out wide and thick. Great for Bermuda. Turns your grass into carpet as your reel mower trims and grooms it, which you are happy to do every 2-4 days. You love the exercise and the meticulous care of the lawn.Why would I not want to buy one?The above description sounds more like chores from hell than fun.

Customer Review: First time using a reel mower. I just moved to a home with a much smaller yard than I’ve had for the last 10 years. Went from riding a zero turn mowing about 5 acres to a quarter acre lot, so I didn’t want to have to store my big mower with all the gas containers at my new home. I almost bought an electric mower, but I looked up the top rated mowers on Amazon and reel mowers popped up.Since I live in FL and the grass grows quickly and very thick here, I opted for the 7 blade reel mower. Most products I found were out of stock for 7 blade, but I was able to find this one. It was pretty easy to assemble except for the last step which requires you to put the handle on the posts for the mower itself. That part took a bit of strength on my part and I’m 6’2 and 225lbs. Might have been easier with a second person, but it’s not impossible with one.My yard had got pretty thick as I have just moved in about two weeks ago and no one had mowed it in about a month. It had also just started raining for a few minutes before I got started.This little thing got the job done and I was pretty surprised. Like I said, the grass had got pretty thick, so some spots took more effort than others and I took the time to cross cut the yard like I had seen mentioned in previous reviews. The yard looked great and the areas that weren’t as thick were very easy to push through. I’m confident that now that I have this and can mow on a regular basis before the yard is so thick, that this mower is exactly what I needed. It makes some noise as you turn the reel, but it’s much more quite than anything with a motor.I’m also looking forward to the added exercise as I get out there and push this thing across the yard each week. I still need to invest in a weed trimmer.

Customer Review: Used today on my Kentucky bluegrass lawn. Pulled plugs out of an area of my lawn that’s out of sight and planted in a small patch after I removed a bunch of ugly lillies. This sod plugger works great and made the job much easier. Quick tip, do this after a heavy rain. The plugs get pulled out of the wet soil easily and pops out of the sod plugger easily too.

Customer Review: The media could not be loaded. SEE UPDATE BELOW:This little tool is GREAT!! Just great. It could have some improvements and I will cover that at the end. There is no need for a long review, it just works. I have clay type soil in North Mississippi and the ground is still very moist from a recent rain. I had 72 St Augustine plugs to put in and this tool pulled out the square plugs of soil with ease. However, to push down on the rod with your hand is a pipe dream. That does not work. I simply took a rubber mallet and hit the round nob at the top each time to knock out the soil plug. It just was not worth the effort to try and push it out by hand.This thing works great for pulling up plugs to transplant as well. So if you have a source, for say St. Augustine, it will pull them up very nicely so you can then transplant them elsewhere. I purchased my first 72 plugs but I will be using this to go and pull 400-500 plugs from my inlaws yard to put in mine. If you pull 400-500 plugs, say 18″ apart and fill in the holes with dirt, the grass will grow back over it within weeks. I could not imagine doing this by hand or with a shovel!!It they really wanted to make this thing 6 stars, they would have some type of lever to eject the plug out. There is definitely a way to use leverage with a lever to eject the plug. Also, they include some plastic thing on the top and I think that is to keep it from moving in shipping?? Cut that off as it serves no purpose and not sure why it is there. You will be very pleased with this item. Last statement, if the ground is bone dry, I just don\’t think it would work well (nor any tool similar to it). I would make plans to harvest plugs after a good rain or put them down after a good rain. Any tool of this type would not work well on bone dry soil (at least in north MS where I live). I 100% recommend this tool.UDPATE:Bottom line is I still recommend this but read on. I had originally said this was 6 stars if there was such a thing. What really gets 6 stars is the idea. After using this for a bit I have found the following problems:1. The 2″x2″ metal plate that ejects the dirt/plug/ etc, is made of VERY thin metal… too thin! In a relatively short period of time the corners began to bend up. So you have a low center and high corners. This will help cause your so to break apart as it gets worse and worse. I can weld so I cut off the cheap piece they put on there and welded a thicker piece there. The same cheap metal piece is that the top and it won\’t last long hitting with a rubber mallet which is required for ejecting clay.2. There should be some type of hinged piece at the bottom to hold loose plugs in place until you get it out of the ground. When removing a square plug of soil (no grass) it is easy. Just step on it and pull it out to remove a 2″ square brick of soil. However, when there are good roots, it can be hard to pull the plug out of the ground. A solution would be if ONE side of the 4 piece cutter had a hinge, then you could move the handle out like a post hole digger to “pinch” the plug and help it come out. If you are doings many many plugs, then something like this would be very helpful.3. The teeth are NOT sharp. So you need to spend the time to sharpen them with a file as it will make a big difference. If you ever use a dull hoe vs a sharp hoe, then you know it makes a difference. Unfortunately they will not spend the time to ship it sharpened so you will need to take the 15-20 minutes necessary to put a decent edge on every side of the every tooth using a hand file.4. As mentioned before, there should be some type of lever to eject the plug instead of having to beat the rod with a rubber mallet. But that is not a huge deal. And the fact is I could find out that a lever sounds good but is not practical. I would just have to try it to find out.I still recommend this. But hopefully this company or another company will make improvements to future productions so that it can be 5 stars!