30 Reel Mowers
Toro University Technical Training
Quality of Cut and Aftercut Appearance
This is NOT the same thing as:
Quality of Cut
Aftercut Appearance
The term Aftercut Appearance, is very specific to
appearance and is not the same thing as Quality of
Cut. Quality of Cut can affect the appearance, but
appearance does not, in itself, affect Quality of Cut.
Quality of Cut refers to how well the individual
leaves of the grass plant are cut. A quality cut
minimizes damage to the leaves of the grass plant.
After cut appearance, refers to the visual effects of
the turf after it has been cut and across the entire
width of the mower.
• Too much tissue removed at one time (infrequent mowing).
Removal of more than 1/3 leaf tissue at one time can stop
root growth from 6 days to 2 weeks depending on the
amount of tissue removed.
• Increased leaf damage (dull blade, sub-optimum setup)
• Increased environmental stress in combination with mowing
Ideal is to raise height of cut during periods of turf stress,
such as high heat and/or low moisture
Turf plant stress increases with:
The standard rule for mowing, is never remove
more than 1/3 of the grass plant leaf. This is true of
all turf cultivars and any type of mowing device.
Leaf damage refers to quality of cut.
In the case of leaf damage, poor quality of cut will
result in poor aftercut appearance.
Raising the height of cut is always an option that will
usually increase both the health and appearance of
the turf.