Mower leaves grass trail is an issue that can happen due to several common reasons like dull blades, lawn-mowing errors, clogged decks, bent blades, etc.
If you need to know which reasons apply to your mower, our experts are here to help you.
Continue reading as we thoroughly discuss these reasons and help you resolve the problem once and for all.
Contents
What Are Reasons Why Your Mower Leaves Grass Trail Behind?
The reason why your mower leaves grass trail behind, is that there is are some mowing errors, or it has poor mower blades, or bent ones. This would also be due to improper mowing practices, using the wrong blade size, or it has a jammed deck.
You must have often caught yourself wondering questions like why does my mower leave a row of grass between two blades? How to cut grass without leaving clumps? These problems have mutual reasons that can be handled when diagnosed promptly.
– Mowing Errors
The most common reason your mower has a grass trail following is that you need to mow your lawn how you should. We often forget that the right way to mow a lawn is above the lines of the tires.
In this case, you should remember that as you aim to give your lawn a smooth and a manicured feature, the grass forms a mat underneath the tires. If you make the mistake of forgetting to overlap your rows, the unclipped grass will spring up again at the chance it gets.
Another important aspect that we tend to oversee is that the grass should be mowed when it is dry. Mowing wet grass leaves you with distressed leaf blades and clogged decks.
In general, both of these aspects will leave you with uncut and unattended strips of grass.
– Poor Mower Blades
The blades of your mower lose their cutting strength with time, and this is something that would generally happen. This condition demands an urgent need to sharpen the dull blades, and it will leave a trail when you mow the lawn. If you do not spend time maintaining your mower and wholeheartedly sharpening its blades, be prepared to have grass strips in your lawn.
You need to sharpen the newly bought blades and the existing ones, and by the same token, some brands leave a coat of paint on the blades for attraction purposes, which is not good for the blades as this step reduces their sharpness, leaving them dull. This does not mean that you sharpen the blade excessively.
If the blades do not lose their dullness after sharpening, you better replace them. Furthermore, excessive sharpening leads to more issues like blade thinning, which weakens your mower and ultimately creates a trail when you mow your lawn, and this would be the reason for this issue occurrence.
– Bent Blades
Bent blades are something that we all have heard of and experienced at some point in our lives. These blades will bend when they hit something hard, like rocks, and are more common when used on larger-sized lawns. They will also lose their straight feature, when you run it on a surface that is not smooth, to begin with, such as a bumpy road.
These crocked blades give your grass tips a slight trim and leave behind a long, wide trail of grass. We often neglect this particular reason and continue mowing as if nothing happened, but meanwhile, the machine is losing the blade’s potential. As a result of being left for a period of time, you will have broken blades soon enough.
– Improper Mowing Practices
Your mower might leave behind grass strips because you must mow at the right pace. The engine’s speed plays an important role in maintaining the quality of your lawn. Mowing at very low speed can leave lines of grass where the lawn has been over-mown and ripped out of the soil.
Remember that this matter also applies to most of the lawn mowing machines, including the zero turn and the different powerful mowers, in case you are worried and asking “why my zero turn leaves a strip of grass” or “why does my honda mower leave a strip of grass” remember that through different issues, these could also occur. Basically, we treat every mower equally, forgetting only some mowers are the same and can require you to adjust accordingly.
While some mowers allow more of a casual movement, some can require an extra bit of effort. If you are mowing your lawn with a self-moving mower, remember to let it do the work, which can be a little time-consuming. When you aim to push the mower beyond its mowing power and speed leaves you with uneven and uncut grass at the end.
– Using the Wrong-Sized Blades
Using the wrong-sized blades on your mower can be why your lawn mower leaves mohawk across your well-kept lawn. The right blade size plays a huge role in maintaining the quality of your lawn, and the functionality of it as well. When you mow with a misfit blade, a strip of grass left behind in the middle of your yard is not uncommon, and this strip of grass is not always a line; it can be circular too.
– A Jammed Deck
A clogged deck of a riding mower leaves streaks, often leaves stripes, behind because they need more capacity to cut the grass through. If you are a fan of mulching lawnmowers, known for their efficiency in everyday use, you must be wondering why does my mulching mower leave clumps of grass?
Well, the main reason behind these jammed decks is the dull blades, and this would leave a trail. Another reason that leads to clogged decks is the dripping grass blades. The soggy grass clippings stick together and form clumps that can leave your decks clogged.
How To Fix the Mower To Stop Leaving Grass Trail?
To fix the mower to stop leaving a grass trail, you should hire a professional landscaper, and aim to sharpen your dull blades regularly. Make sure you would overlap the rows, straighten the bend blades, check the blade size, and give the machine a good clean.
Since most of the reasons are related to human negligence, you can certainly prevent the formation of trails by learning a few tips on using and maintaining your mower. Taking the right measures beforehand is much easier than mowing your lawn once again.
– Hire Professional Landscapers
Most of us are amateurs struggling for a line-free lawn. Hiring professional landscapers is the best option available for us. Plenty of landscaping services in the market take lawn care as their utmost priority, provide budget-flexible services, and offer customized plans that you can continue for as long as you want or you can do it on your own if you have the time and experience.
These landscape services take special care of their equipment, make sure they overlap the mow lines and offer additional help to keep your lawn healthy from season to season. Hiring such services will relieve you of the stress of the grass lines you have been carrying for way too long.
– Sharpen Your Dull Blades Regularly
The dullness of blades is directly related to how much you use your mower, and not that the more you use it, the dull the blades will be. Worn-out or dull blades give your lawn an uneven cut and even untidy long lines of grass. Now, ensure that to avoid such issues, sharpen your blades with the help of a grinder at least once or twice during the mowing season.
The sharpening grinders are easily available at any local hardware store. However, do keep in mind the size of your blades while buying the sharpening tools for them. If you seek professional advice from landscapers, they always recommend using a professional angle grinder.
These grinders can be as cheap or as expensive as you want, because you can have a range of choices that you would be able to invest in, but if you wish to change it every now and then due to a lower budget, then go for the cheaper one. However, if you have already tried sharpening your blades, and it has yet to work, the ultimate solution rests in replacing them.
– Overlap the Rows
Overlapping the rows is a guaranteed way of preventing the formation of lines on your lawn. Always try to mow your lawn above the tire lines. An easier way of doing it is by overlapping the rows by many inches.
Even if the uncut lines do not appear prominent, not that this is a case where it will show a strong possibility that they are under your tire lines. To avoid such incidents, always mow where the tires are and do not follow the same tire row twice, and you will be away from such a hassle.
– Straighten the Bent Blades
The blades can be straightened quite easily. First, remove the bent blade carefully and remove the grass and vines stuck to it using a small knife. After you have gotten rid of the unnecessary twigs and leaves, clean your blade with the help of a wire wheel or using a right-angle grinder. Then, you should remember to wipe the bent part of the blade using a twenty-four grit wheel till you see the metal shining through.
The next step is to hold the straight part of the blade between vise grips and heat the bent part with a flaming torch until it has acquired a royal blue shade. You can use a hammer or an anvil to straighten the heated part of the blade while it is still a lovely shade of blue.
On the other hand, you can put the blade in a bench vise and bend it. The blades straightened quite easily when you attempt it while the color is still a blazing blue. Now that you have straightened your bent blade, scuff the entire blade again using the same twenty-four grit wheel on the right-angle grinder.
Reheat the entire blade until it is royal blue in color, then allow it to rest and cool. It relieves the stress caused at the time of the bend and the stress caused when you attempt to straighten it.
– Double-Check the Mower’s Blade Size
You can easily determine the right blades for your mower by consulting the mower’s manual, since most of us tend to need to find a manual, you can look online for the make and model of your mower. Most of the manufacturers provide easily downloadable, fuss-free manuals that you can always have in front of you. But, you can also always aim to purchase the blades according to the mower’s type and size as a general rule of thumb, to avoid any kind of trouble it may cause.
If you have successfully installed new blades, give your lawn a patch test, and if all goes well and the blades manage to give your lawn a fresh and even cut, it means you have found the right set of blades for your mower, otherwise do not hesitate to get them replaced them as soon as you can. Getting the right parts of the mower in the first place saves you from all this hassle.
– Clean the Mower Thoroughly
You may be also wondering or asking yourself, about ways and how to get rid of grass clumps after mowing. You can start by removing debris from the mower is not easy and only possible when you thoroughly clean the mower.
Be careful when you remove parts of the mower, especially when sharpening the blades. Also, remember to wear protective gear like goggles, gloves, a face mask, and every way to protect yourself, because you never know what else the mower has in store for you. Just as you clean it well, you will see that the machine had some things clogged, and this why it was leaving a trail.
Conclusion
Let’s sum up the key points before you tend to your lawn mower so that you are fully prepared to solve the underlying causes:
- Always mow above the tire lines for an even cut, and ensure your grass is completely dry before mowing it.
- Blades lose their sharpness every time you use it, so sharpen them regularly, especially in the mowing season.
- Clean your mower decks regularly to get rid of the accumulated debris.
- You can also try to replace the blades, and make sure they are the right size as the machine asks for.
Understanding why your mower is leaving behind a trail of grass is simple now that you have read our article, and you have even learned different techniques to resolve the issue. After reading our recommendations here, you can now certainly go a long way by taking the preventive measures timely and giving your mowers and lawn a huge favor.
References
https://www.ijert.org/research/design-and-analysis-of-cutting-blade-for-rotary-lawn-mowers-IJERTV5IS040322.pdf
https://dl.asminternational.org/failure-analysis/book/70/chapter/1842231/Failure-of-Brittle-Lawn-Mower-Blades
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