How does your lawn appear after you have finished mowing? Does it appear green and beautiful as you would expect or does it grow brown? Do you feel like it is all torn and ripped, opposite of what you would have hoped for?
If this is what is happening to your lawn, it is time you check your blades. Many people only concentrate on getting rid of the long grasses and forget it takes other steps to ensure a clean compound.
Think of it the same way you handle shaving your head. Your head will appear wrong or your beard poorly shaped if you don’t shave well.
And proper shaving begins with sharp blades. You always receive encouragement to ensure your shaving blades are sharp and well cleaned.
That same applies to lawn mowing. You need sharp and well-oiled blades. You must always have a lawn mower blade sharpener with you because you may need it more than you may think.
Dull lawn mower blades are a widespread problem for many homeowners. Many will continue using the blades without realizing they needed sharpening a long time before. They find themselves struggling with making their lawns look all nice and neat.
If you understand the impacts of dull blades, you will realize it is even better not to clear your lawn than use dull blades. It makes your garden look worse than when you first started using the blades.
You need to sharpen your lawnmower blades ones or twice every mowing season. That is the only way to achieve a clean clearing. In other words, when you take care of your blades, they will also take care of your mowing needs.
There are different kinds of mowing blades created for different needs. High lift lawn mower blades, for instance, will achieve a different result from say low lift option. But in the end, it depends on how well you sharpen your blade.
Proper mowing is more than just moving your mower over the grass. You need to know the best way to handle your blades option while ensuring your blades give you’re the best results.
What is proper mowing?
Before you even start thinking of sharpening those blades, do you know what proper mowing means? Most home-owners don’t even know there is a specific limit of grass you are supposed to remove? Well, if you had no idea, there you have it.
The rule of the thumb is never to cut more than 1/3 of the grass blades. If you do this and remove more than 1/3, you put your plants at the risk of reducing roots growth. When summer comes, your plants are going to need the roots.
Well, you will have to mow after 3-4 days. When rains start, the plants begin growing much faster, but still, you have to cut correctly depending on how fast your plants grow.
When it is summer, the best way to handle your mowing needs is to leave some clippings on the lawn. But this time, mowing time reduces to only about once a week depending on how much you want to clear the place.
You have to be careful about cutting grass in the summer. If you cut too low, too much stress will be on them. And if you are trying to avoid browning like every homeowner, you should avoid cutting the lawn too low.
Get the right mowing procedure, and you will enjoy your lawn’s beauty to the fullest. It is all about getting the right blades on your mower.
When should you sharpen your blades?
The most appropriate way to take care of your blades is to know when to sharpen them. The more you use your mower, the more they become dull. Sometimes you may not even understand when the blades need sharpening unless you are a professional gardener.
But then, the blades need sharpening every 8-10 hours of mowing. And by hours it means the actual time it is in use. If for instance, you mow about 30 minutes every time you take the mower out, that will mean sharpening after 20 jobs.
However, you can easily find out if your blades require sharpening by looking at how your lawn appears after it has been cut. If it turns out to be torn, frayed or yellowed, that is an excellent time to get the blades sharpened. Find where you left your sharpener and got to work.
You want to see a clean and nice grass blade line. There should be very little or no cutting at all. Anything less than that should tell you something needs to be done about your blades.
In simple terms, you should understand how your lawn mower machine works. You should start feeling when it is time to sharpen.
What are the benefits of sharp lawn mower blades?
Mowing is more fun when you are able to do it smoothly. This means letting your blades cut the lawns smoothly.
There are several benefits you will get from sharp blades. Consider the following;
To reduce diseases
Most of the lawns diseases come from poor mowing. When you cut the lawn with dull blades, you expose your lawn to the risk of getting a disease. Dull blades leave your lawn with a lot of tearing from which harmful bacteria can infect your plants. The leaves are the most critical part of the grass, for respiration and photosynthesis. But when there are too many tears, diseases carrying bacteria find their way into the moisturized inside of the leaf. This is one of the things every homeowner is afraid to face. But unless you sharpen your blades regularly, you will not avoid it.
To avoid discoloration
Everyone enjoys a view of a clean, green environment. That is the primary goal for establishing a lawn anyway. It looks awful when you find your lawn looking all yellow. This happens mostly in the summer when there is too much sun. It is easy for the grass to dry, turn yellow and make the whole lawn look like it is burned.
Cutting grass with dull blade blades leaves the lawn vulnerable to yellowing. You cannot even have a nice evening nap in such a place. Sharp edges ensure a smooth lawn with not or minimal tearing. Tearing will leave you the grass too open, that there will be no way of retaining moisture in the leaves.
Avoid death of the grass
It is awful when your grass is not able to retain water and make food. Dull blades make your grass look poor especially in the dry season. That is mostly the leading cause of death for lawns. Cutting with sharp blades eliminates chances of diseases for the lawns.
Sharp blades make mowing easy and smooth
Have you ever been mowing and you feel as though something is pulling you back? The lawnmower feels heavy as you move it as though you are cutting fiber. It takes too long to complete a simple job as you may be forced to keep repeating in one place.
Dull blades destroy the plant
Instead of cutting off the extra length, dull blades tend to pull up the plant; in the process they create resistance.
Final thought
Proper mowing all depends on the weather you are working in. Sharp mower blades make it worth your time. Take good care of your blades, and they will take good care of your mower.