Mowing Low: Sun Joe Manual Reel Mower + Cultural Practices 

It's also quiet. You can mow earlier in the morning to beat the heat and your neighbors won't whine.

I love my reel mower. I had sold my house and most of my belongings and had been traveling in an Airstream. Earlier this year the opportunity to buy my grandparents house arose and I am now a homeowner again. I started using the reel mower because it was left here and all I had. I thought I would use it until I could afford a lawn tractor but I've come to appreciate the quietness, the simplicity and the exercise I get using it. Perhaps the # 1 benefit and one I don't believe you mentioned is it is nearly 100% dust free! No more clouds of dirt and pollen in the air when you switch to a reel mower.

One of your most informative videos Allyn. I appreciate you incorporating throw back info / footage for us in the midwest.

Alan kicking it old school with the push reel mower. that's going hard core, specially in FL temp. Good luck. great video

Great job informing viewers to let the yard tell them what to do with it and not fight it! My first home I did a hack job with installing sprinklers ( first attempt ). I simply edged around where the sprinklers reach ended and boom! Beautiful yard

Hey, before anyone buys just any old reel mower, y'all HAVE to check out Fiskars Stay Sharp Reel Mower. It's INCREDIBLE. Unlike the sun Joe mower the blade doesn't actually come into contact with the reel so it's SO MUCH EASIER to push, but still cuts better than any other reel mower I've tried.

I just got a reel workout with my reel mower! The quiet exhaust free cut is reel great!

I have a mega dose of ivy growing in the grass and in and around the two fig trees. I should be receiving my Sun Joe reel mower tomorrow. Thank you for making this video.

I'm putting your advice to work in my lawn and can't wait for the pay off. I'm not good at home repairs so we have contractors that do most that heavy lifting but the lawn, that's mine!!!

Great, concise video. Packed a lot of accurate info in there. Reel mowers are definitely cool, but as he says, they cut grass really short-most models have highest cutting height of about 2.5 inches, if that. For the grass varieties used in lawns in the northern U.S.(mix of fescues, ryegrass, bluegrass), you really need to keep much taller. He says he kept his at 4-5 inches, when he lived in the north. I landscape in NJ, and yes, we mow 90% of our lawns at 3.5 inches. That is culturally the best practice, for the exact reasons he said in this video-to retain moisture in the lawns, and to keep weeds from getting a foothold. Also, you can imagine a root system growing down into the soil, in a mirror-image of the height you keep the lawn at. The taller you keep the lawn, the deeper the roots will grow, and the longer it will last if there is drought. Also a nice dense turf obviously helps retain moisture, rather than a sparse lawn. Unless you have an irrigation system watering it every other day, or more, lawns in the north quickly go brown in the heat of summer. The Lawn Care Nut probably has shared all of this in his videos. So, these reel mowers are most ideal for southern grass varieties, such as the Bermuda grass in this video, and Zoysia, Both of those varieties have naturally deep root systems, making them drought-tolerant, and able to be kept quite short. That being said, f you don't care if your northern lawn is scorched by the sun and is yellow and dead by mid-summer, and is half weeds because you cut it so short and allowed weeds to encroach, then by all means, scalp away! …I am actually intrigued by the reel mowers myself and might try to find one that can cut a bit taller-there are such models out there. Might be good for maintaining our smaller properties.

Glad to see someone else using a reel mower! Love mine, although I have the Fiskars reel mower.

I wish my yard was small enough for a reel mower they make the lawn look so good, but with a bigger lot I just don't have the time to cut 2 or 3 times a week. Cool that you can do the smaller section with one looks great.

St.pete born and raised there my whole life. I first watched you when you mowed taller, I need mine to grow mine better ill be watching more since I know your here

Hi Allyn, I'm in the UK 😛. I bought a 2nd hand gas reel mower with roller on it few weeks back. I honestly love using it, I even videod my striping action (groovy baby) as I whipped up some diamonds. Course still have my rotary mower which I use first. Enjoy the mow.....!

i am filled with a new dream... fairway quality front lawn, putting green backyard... thanks for the content!

I'm sold. Real mower is ordered!

My favorite intro to a video ever.

I wanna thank you bro for putting out amazing videos week in and week out. Taking time after your 9 to 5(lol) to give us tips on how to dominate(s). I've been following you For 2 years now you. I know that you may have lost some followers by moving to my hometown, but I'm with you. true fun(s) never leaves. Thanks again bro

That's why golf course use reel mowers, especially on the greens and tee boxes. Super short cuts and super clean!

GREAT IDEA!!! I bought an electric push mower, and works great...now I'm thinking on getting one of these, but I have an up hill half acre hehehhe. Need to work this gut off... Thanks !!!

Another informative video. I love the reel mower workout idea. I also think we should convert to battery powered lawn equipment. 1 mower emits the same as 11 new cars due to lack of emissions standards. I've been using a battery powered mower and lawn equipment for over a decade.

Well done, never gave up on you. Knew you'd come through. Hi from Great Britain :-)

I've been using a reel mower for over a decade. Switched from that style mower you are using to a fiskars stay sharp max that throws the grass out in front. loving the ease of the fiskars. Easy to push here in the Pacific northwest grass. Great video, that looks like a well built reel mower!

Wish you much success! Seem to be a very genuine person 👍🏾🙌🏾👌🏾

I'm so glad you got the southern lawn now. I member when your channel is just getting started. We used to talk here and there. I bought a new house after having a putting green yard for years. So I look forward to my new project. I just got some p 77 too and mixed it with Rivera Bermuda for cold weather. If you ever had any other seed I would recommend Riviera for cold tolerance

Just bought one and love it

I needed 1 of these for areas my 42" couldn't get to. I couldn't decide if I wanted the Fiskars reel mower or the SunJoe so I bought the EGO 56v mower instead. So far I'm very happy with it.

It's neat seeing a reel mower in action. And your lawn! Wow! Lookin' nice! I'm gonna have to ask our golf course what height they cut their greens at with their reel mowers. Of course they've got the ones where you can make those clean scissor cuts while still riding and polluting. lol.

To be honest, my first reel mower was an orange one that was the highest rated on Amazon in 2014. 2-3 years later my sweetie found a Task Force brand one at a thrift shop. The difference in difficulty & in quality is huge! I love the Task Force.

Im super excited to see the low mowing I have a petrol powered cylinder mower and i dont see much content on youtube with people using them!

Maybe the workout should be called "health and lawngevity".

another great video, not to be repetitive but I really enjoy seeing the different warm season grasses!

Excellent video 👍 After seeing everyone's latest videos now, I'm really enjoying having these archives pop-up📺👀

That "magnolia" looks to me like a loquat tree Allyn. Great clip, can't wait to get my hand on a reel mower.

Dude your video is very informative, but concise. I have no clue about cutting grass, however, you give me confidence lol. I have a yard guy but he's not the best...I'd rather learn how to do it myself.

DOMINATIONLINE! LCN you crack me up. Love the videos!

I want mine! I got mine! It’s silent as solitude! Albeit there’s some leafs left untouched. The clippings have to be mulched, which is a pleasure!

Thanks for the tip this could really help me because I want to buy a reel push mower !

Good video, that sea grape grows by the second. Your lawn is looking good and thanks for the stickers.

bermuda loves the reel action. ive been using a tru cut. after 4 summers doing it i let it grow to 3 inches and use my walker ghs. It actually stripes bermuda well.

That is a pretty good mower, I had one years ago, and it just had to wheels, they do the job, it like you say have to cut mostly everyday.

Two years ago I got cancer. A year ago when I started feeling better I decided to get a reel mower to help my body get back in the shape. The advantage of the reel mower for me was I could mow about 10-15 minutes and put it up. A few hours later I could do another 10-15 minutes. It took me so long that I never completed cutting the yard, I just started over. The reel mower I got was about $80. It was late summer and it was a cheep mower. It was light weight, and it had a tendency to bounce. My yard look so much better that the next season I got a Fiskar Reel Mower, the folks that make scissors. It was about $250 with the bag option. (my son talked me in to it as he had the job of raking.) It is a heaver mower, and takes about a step to get up to speed. When it does, it almost glides, it has a fly wheel or something. It turns out if you count setup time and put away time, the reel mower takes about the same time to cut my yard as my riding mower. I do cut my yard lower, the grass that I have when it gets high, tends to fall over and not cut well. Cutting it low, and often, does a natural selection and kills off other grasses, so I have a few less shades of green. My heavy mower does well on the strait aways, and the lighter mower does well on hills and the edges. As for my lawn tractor, my son uses it for areas not in my front yard. I live in the country and have a few acres. Maybe in the future I will get a trailer with a bunch of real mowers, but not this year. When I say better, it is not a little bit better, but really fuller. I still do it for the exercise, as I drive a desk. My son and I are talking about doing this as a summer job. He can target smaller yards that are difficult for power equipment. This year my plans for my yard are to smooth it out, reel mowers like the smoother grounds...

Interested to see how the push reel mower performs as you take the grass down lower, allowing it to get even thicker. My experience is that the push reel mover tends to start to skip across a thick bermuda lawn.

Ha! I just had the "lawn care workout" conversation today prior to watching this video. 3 days of tilling and pushing a lawn roller prepping for sod does wonders...... but not for the lower back. Probably lost 3 lbs.

Nice video Allyn. I cut my front yard at the maximum height my rotary mower allows but want to go reel low in my back yard. I might get one of these manual reel mowers.

Thank you sir answered all my questions 👍🏼

Happy to see ur video! Was thinking I will have to go all weekend without the LCN.

Bringing back memories..my grandpa had a tiny yard in the front and he had one of these, he swore by it, I pushed it a few times

I binge watch the shit out of your video, and thank you for your service. I’m 10 years in myself, can’t wait to retired and just mow lawn.

This is a reel good video

I would like to get that 30 wide Ariens reel mower attachment for my 10000 series tractor (Sno-Thro). It would be nice to mow the lawn with one of those. The rotary mower works great too, but they built those things a lot better than most mowers now. Best mower I ever used.

reely nice video ! i always look forward to a new video on sunday.

Ha ha! You snobs in Britan.. Love watching your channel mate. Respect from the UK! :)

love the video Lowes here I come!!!

Thank You! 👍 You aaarrrre the Lawnmower Man.🙌

Everyone thinks I'm crazy (I volunteer to do their lawns) because I absolutely love using my reel mower! Lol, I have the same one and I swear it's like a walking meditation/workout for me. This particular brand makes a great one. And I say the same thing... "it cuts it like butter!"

awesome video and thxs for the guidance

I kind of wanted one for the small part of the lawn. Pushing around the regular mower is equivalent to the weighted sleds at most gyms. I try to set the apple watch on Other to see how much cardio I have done.

When I was a kid my Grand Dad lived on Chicago's East Side and he had a reel mower. It was known to us as the "Armstrong mower." All of us grandkids couldn't wait to help him cut his grass with that machine and show him how big and strong we were.

Didn't realize this was St. Pete! That's where I am... now if only I can get my new lawn looking like yours.

As soon as I saw this on Facebook I bought a Great States reel mower and I absolutely love it! My neighbors think I'm crazy since I mow my St. Augustine everyday now ha ha!

"Mow low to choke out the weeds" 5 minutes later "Mow tall to choke out the weeds" This is why we can't get rid of weeds.

Alyn, i still think you should join the weed eater / ties challenge. 1.are you using two trimmers? the first one with the curve-does it hurt your back? i really love these vids you do. You bring alot of knowledge/value to your channel. (you must have scored high in that bootcamp ;) . Id love to hear more about the different types of standard cultural practices and also how they differ from grass type to grass type. Go out in the field, or a field (or your neighbor's grass). For example I have Rye grass and no Bermuda. So i think its important for you not to forget us other guys. =) cigars and sunsets. meh.does not keep me coming back. I could change the channel at that point, but i usually mute instead hoping for you to stay on track. This is just mho. =)

I have a reel mower. I used to use it all the time. The drawback of using it is that it doesn't well with tall grass or sticks in the lawn. The benefits, it is cheap, small, and light weight. You don't have to buy gas for it. You don't have to pull start it. Very low maintenance and last a long time.

P77 looks good. I got tips for you. Good you finally got a reel. Stop hybrid approach. Go to Farmers co-op and just use corn meal, soybean meal, alfalfa. The salts in the chem ferts kill your microbes. Lastly make a worm tea and use that to spray your p-77. Looking better, hey it's a learning curve. You getting it. Those plugs worked good. I use the plugger too. Works good.

Love it. Very convincing.

Do you just leave the cut grass on the lawn? Or do you have to take it out somehow?

When should you bag your clippings and when should you mulch them or leave them?

How level is the overall bermuda lawn-will you be applying any playground sand to level out any low spots?

Allyn - when you spoke about mowing height, frequency, and the benefit of taller mows in off-season grasses you made mention of "seed height," as well. In my cool-season grass I have a type mixed in my rye/kbg/tf lawn that shows seeds at about 3 inches. What is that and how to I crush that enemy, watch it flee before me, and hear the lamentation of its women? Thx - Lee

Cool vid. We made one as well. Your yard looks great! Keep up the good work.

Awesome!! I have a question... got a bunch of clover in a shady spot, what can I do about it?

Holy first world problems, lol. Looking awesome Ryan. I would just keep the TTTF and enjoy the awesome cuts that thing gives you.

LCN, not sure if you're aware, but there is an electric corded reel lawn mower by Sun Joe. See if they can send you one of those to try out. The cord is a major headache but I heard good things about it. I think a major limitation is that a lawn has to be within 100 yards of the cord. If they made a cordless electric, that would be a no brainer in my opinion.

what do you think about adding lime powder? and if so how often should it be done? friend told me i should add lime to my grass one a year every spring

I have been using a reel mower for the past few weeks and I love it. Now I have a crabgrass problem and thought I should rehire my lawn guy 🙄

Welcome to the world of reel mowers. I got a Fiskars several months ago and love it. However if I let it go too long before I cut (more than three days), I will pull the Toro out to knock it down - because it is too much effort and takes too many passes with the reel mower if I let it go too long. My next mower? Tru Cut Reel mower. I've been eyeballing them, and WILL buy one eventually. I still use my Toro for the back lawn. It is way too large to use a push 20" reel - that is even more impetus for me to get the Tru Cut

After a long hot day of mowing... pull out a couple of ice cold Michelob bottles from the freezer... not to the point of being frozen, but near slushy. Goes down so smooth... 🍺🍻🍺

just moved into my house, the lawn hasn't been taken care of for 6 years. it's got heavy thatch would it be better to power rake or wait till fall and plug airate

Looking good! Love the videos!

I need to get one now.

If you enjoy pushing a reel mower then you will love that Honda lawnmower because they require about an equal effort. I grew up from reel mowers when I was a boy and that was a long time ago.

Idk if mine is the same size style of cut, but I have one of these mowers too. I found it in the farm shop and used to be my grandpas. An antique push mower!

Keep it up man do a video on how to choose a riding and push mower please

That mower seems to be built with good quality! The Bermuda is looking better and better. I remember seeing a park in Clearwater, FL a few weeks ago that I think had Bermuda in it. It was mowed very low, about .5" but who knows, I'm not a southern lawn expert :)

I just pulled alot of weeds from my front yard. should I immediately reseed those areas or should I wait until the weather cools down and keep the soils bare for now ?

You’re right, I have more creeping Charlie than the guy who named it, I used to cut my northern lawn at 4” but when I started cutting it lower the creeping Charlie took over

lol yeah and amazing video Allan. I think you should call it "The REEL Manual workout"

Workout plan suggestions.. The "Reel The Burn" or The "Reel LCN Workout Plan"

I have noticed that a invasive species of Grass doesn't like being short. But in areas that the state does theirs once a month and only about 3 to 4" it takes over and spreads rapidly.

Something off topic on St Augustine lawn striping... you can do lawn striping on St Augustine, but not the usual way of laying the glass blade down. With St Augustine you can see the tire tread marks which act as a form of lawn striping. 😉

Hey Allyn, so it's okay to spray following a cut? I've been waiting for it to stop raining, but then I need to cut again! the weeds are laughing at me!!

I wonder why more manufacturers aren't making cordless reel mowers. I think that the packaging would be really convenient for most people with mid sized suburban lawns. I wonder if you've seen Toro's E flex mowers.

After watching this, I may have to look into getting a reel mower for my parking strip. It is super stressed, and is heartbreaking to look at. How well do reel mowers work for mowing Kentucky Bluegrass at 3.5 inches.

Hi, can u create a video on the proper way to setup edger and how to edge ur lawn...ty

omg every day mowing you really are a nut bro!!!

I did watch the video and understand the trade offs. I guess I’m asking can I mix Bermuda grass with other types and mow low. She likes the grass around 3inches.

Three things to know about owning a manual reel mower (from someone who did golf course maintenance and also home lawn maintenance): 1) They cut great, but you need to sharpen them periodically, like any other mower - valve lapping compound and a decent drill are really all the tools you need... just a bit messy. Google/youtube it to find out how. It isn't at all the same as sharpening a rotary blade mower... filing or grinding a reel mower blade can cause irreparable damage because the key to the operation is the finely honed surfaces of the bed blade and reel swishing past each other.. make that at all uneven, and that section of the reel/bed blade won't be cutting grass any more. 2) They are a bit of work to use - especially if you have any debris in your lawn like twigs/acorns etc from trees. Twigs any larger than about 3/16" thick will jam the mower and stop you dead in your tracks. 3) If the grass gets long, you just won't get a good cut, period... no matter how sharp the blades are or how high you set your roller/wheels. It will lay over, or the blades won't catch the grass, and you'll get very uneven cuts. You have to stay on top of it, including out of the gates in the spring when normally, for cool-season grass, you want to let it grow a bit.

I put down the stuff you recommended with Quinclorac and 2,4D(throw er down) and it has had zero effect on crab grass even though it claims to kill it on the label. I have a few test crab grass plants that I soaked with the stuff and its greener than ever.

How about The Blade Buster workout? Huuuuh?I've been using reels for about 8 years here, Zone 6a Ontario. I've got two, a Lee Valley item and a Gardena. For mowing height I can't use the Gardena in hottest months due to mowing height limitations, it only goes up to 1.65" 42mm, which is way too low for heat, I'm saving it for shoulder season uses, when I want a lower cut for weed control. For Jun-Jul-Aug, I've gone back to using the Lee Valley even tho the Gardena works and cuts better, just a finer construction I think.