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Honda mower leaving long dry clippings

Shawn84
10 years ago

This spring, I bought a new Honda HRR216 mower with twin-blade system and it's doing something I find very strange.

Whether I have it in mulch-mode or bag-mode, it will leave behind long dry clippings. I notice that the more it has to cut off, the worse it is, but I typically only cut about an inch off with a 3" height and it happens then too. Yesterday I was trimming lower for winter prep, so it took about 1.5" off on average. I've attached an image so you can see what it looked like after I went over an area.

I don't have an excessive amount of thatch - which you can tell by the grass that's in the image.

Any idea what is causing this? I like the twin-blade because it typically cuts a much finer mulch, so I'd hate to have to give that up.

Comments (4)

  • mownie
    10 years ago

    I think you need to address this as a grass issue, not a mower issue.
    Get down on your knees and paw through your grass. The long, dry grass blades you see are mixed in with the growing, green blades.
    The reason you see long, relatively intact blades of dry grass is due to the fact that the dry ones have been dead a while and simply break off or pull out of the ground instead of being sheared off at the point the blade hits them. In fact, dry grass is tougher to cut than succulent live grass because the dry grass stems just fold over the edge of the blade and get yanked out of the ground.
    I would say you have something (beetle larvae perhaps) that is consuming the grass roots, leaving the dead stems to dry out and be displayed as you see them when you mow the lawn.
    If it were a forest these would be called "standing dead trees".

  • Shawn84
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Interesting about the dry grass being harder to cut and gets yanked out of the ground by the blade. I addressed it as a mower issue because I did not have the problem with the old Craftsman mower that I replaced and also because the mower doesn't pick up those dry clippings, just leaves them behind.

  • mownie
    10 years ago

    It's kinda hard to tell from the photo, but are the dry clippings actually lying loose and disconnected/cut, or are they still attached but seems like all the green blades have been cut from around them?
    I was thinking that you were mulching or broadcasting and that was why the long dry blades were visible.
    If you are bagging it certainly is odd that the dry blades do not want to follow the herd out of the deck and into the bagger.

  • Shawn84
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    They're loose. In this instance, I was bagging, but it also happens when mulching. I don't have any brown spots in the lawn, so I don't suspect grubs.

    Here's another image.

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