Cutting tall grass is a very easy phrase to say. The doing it is considerably more difficult, and to do it safely and correctly, certain precautions need to be taken. This article should help you in taking those precautions, and they come from Keith’s Tractor Mowing, serving the Greater Fort Worth area with quality acreage mowing. Call us for all of your residential and commercial mowing services.
The difficulties of cutting tall grass
Cutting tall grass is a bit more complicated than pulling the TORO push mower from the garage, starting it up, and making a few passes over the area to be mowed. Any grass three-inches, or longer, requires sharp, powerful blades, spinning at high revolutions, to adequately cut it. If the blades are not sharp enough, and if the blade-revolutions are not high enough, the grass will simply be pushed down, and only a portion of it will be cut.
Residential push mowers simply do not have motors powerful enough to do the job correctly. The most common result is clogged blades resulting in grass so thick, and so long, as to completely clog the blades and completely stop the revolutions.
Some homeowners/property owners will turn to a weed-whacker as a solution, chopping off the top half of the long grass, and then following up with a mower to finish the job, but the chopped-off grass will then clog the residential mower on the follow-up mowing.
It is all very problematic.
The dangers of cutting long grass
Besides being problematic, cutting long grass is dangerous. Grass six-inches in length, or more, hides rocks, hides sticks, and hides other objects which can become missiles when stuck by blades. And the statistics of people who suffer serious cut damage when they try to unclog the blades on a clogged rotary mower are staggering.
We are in no way trying to frighten anyone reading this article, but the truth of the matter is, cutting overgrown grass, is not a job for amateurs or the careless.
At the very least, before you cut anything, you need to walk the property and remove anything which could be a missile when struck.
What you need for cutting overgrown grass
Cutting overgrown grass requires a mower with a powerful enough engine, and sharp enough blades, to handle the job on the first pass, and in most cases we are either talking about a residential riding mower or a tractor mower. As a general rule of thumb, the larger the mower, the more powerful the mower engine and the sharper/stronger the blades.
This, then, leads you to two choices: you can either rent such a mower from a farm implement company, or you can hire a commercial tractor mowing services to do the job for you. Provided you are only going to hire for a one-time only cutting, to get your property grass down to a manageable level, you are looking at $75-$100 per hour for that initial cutting. Then you can keep the grass down to a good level using your residential mower.
The bottom line is this: Cutting tall grass can be, at worst, a dangerous proposition and, at best, problematic and frustrating. It is best to leave the dangerous work to professionals.
A final word about Keith’s Tractor Mowing
Serving the Fort Worth area with distinction and friendly service, Keith’s Tractor Mowing is locally owned and operated, and it is a trusted name in all mowing jobs over one-acre. Call us for more details and to arrange for a quote.