General question

[aspg4]

This is not about haying but did not know where to put it. When brush hogging my field is there any way to keep the grass from springing back up where the back wheels of tractor has pushed grass down. The cutter covers the width of the tractor???

 

[part-time-Farmer-NC]

So to better understand the problem. When you run over the grass, it springs back up? Does you mower cover the width of the tractor but you still see the grass where the tire tracts were?

If the mower is running over any grass it should be cutting it, unless your speed is too great for the blade functionality. Meaning you have dull blades. Just because you have say a 5 ft mower doesn't mean its actually cutting a 5ft swath. Blade wear and housing dimensions could take some of the width away.

 

[aspg4]

So to better understand the problem. When you run over the grass, it springs back up? Does you mower cover the width of the tractor but you still see the grass where the tire tracts were?

If the mower is running over any grass it should be cutting it, unless your speed is too great for the blade functionality. Meaning you have dull blades. Just because you have say a 5 ft mower doesn't mean its actually cutting a 5ft swath. Blade wear and housing dimensions could take some of the width away.

It is 6ft cutter and I think after the wheels run over the grass the grass is still lying down before the cutter goes over the grass. I even overlap most of time but there is always a strip that springs back up.

 

[Sportsman762]

This is a common problem with a rotary cutter. The spring back is normally worse on the left side of the cut as the blades are retreating. A few things can help in lower to mid height (waist high) grass:

• Sharp Blades- instead of pushing down material that is slightly sticking up it will cut it. This only offers a slight improvement
• Cut more often - shorter grass will be more likely to pop back up after being driven over and get cut
• Use suction blades - not available for all mowers but suction blades are tilted or have a wing that will suck grass up, does not help much in thick grass or brush.
• Drive slower - allows more time for material to pop up leaving less to pop up later.
• Remow everything in reverse the next day.

Not sure if the two solutions below are viable for you but they have the best change of solving your problem.

• Buy a machine that cuts direction of travel (forward rotation flail) or creates more suction (finish mower)
• Accept that a crummy cut is part of using a rotary cutter.

I have a rotary cutter that I use for rough cutting. It leaves streaks, but that is their nature. In tall grass (above waist) or brush Rotary cutters are the best option and their finish is not that great. In heavy brush they do a good job of knocking everything down with little pop up. The forward rotating Alamo flail with Y blades I have can't handle brush, but it leave a good cut in moderately high grass (slightly above knee). The finish mower that I replaced with the flail gave the best cut, but it required me to mow more than I wanted and had low tolerance for dull blades.

Messicks did a video on this. The link below should start after the sales pitch. Niel makes good points, and since he sells all three types of machines I think he is relatively unbias.

 

[Torvy]

I use a flail with hammers. No 'lawn', just easements and trails. If I had a lawn, I could put on the knives instead.

It chops the clippings up better than a rotary cutter and can handle sticks and woody plants up to 2-3 inches. It turns them into wood chips. Even in tall grass there's little debris left.

Imho, rotary cutters are better when you have a big area to rough cut and can use a 12' or wider bat wing mower. Most flails are 7' or less.

 

[Hay Dude]

I don’t have a problem with this very much-even with a heavy 15’ cutter.
You have to cut lower so the deck of the cutter forms a “vacuum” shell over the area being cut. This allows the blades to suck up the grass, so it can be cut more gooder than if you left the deck up higher.

When the deck is up higher, there’s no vacuum chamber to suck up the grass.

 

[Runner]

You might try cutting with the front of the deck higher than the rear. Blades cut twice, once on the front swing and again on the back side. Still not lawn quality cut, but works better for me.