Toro 5500-D 11 blade on bluegrass fairways? Cancel The title field is required!

1. Bill Brooks

   

   18 posts
   
   1/21/2017 12:01 PM

   Just started at a new course, and i have a Toro 5500-D 7in reel with 11 blades. Fairways are bluegrass/poa and just wondering what my cut is gonna look like. I would think this mower would be better off on bentgrass or other. Thoughts are just that its gonna roll or fold over the bluegrass/poa. If feedback tells me I am on the right track, we'll probably send it down the road. Appreciate the help!

   
   
   
   
2. Mike Tanis

   

   5 posts
   
   1/21/2017 1:01 PM

   We use the 3550d fwy. Mowers, (sidewinder frame) with 5" reels 11 blade, we are all poa and the fairways looks great with this set up. I have not used 7 inch reels thou so i don't have a reference on that.

   
   
   
   
3. Nick Mott

   

   0 posts
   
   1/23/2017 8:01 AM

   We have bluegrass tees and this year we mowed with 11 blade reels. Left a lot of stragglers and ended up having to double or triple cut to get a consistent looking cut. We have 7 blade reels for bluegrass fairways and they do better, sometimes we would even take the fairway mower across tees to knock them down. Going with 8 blades on tees this year.

   
   
   
   
4. Michael Hummel

   

   0 posts
   
   2/1/2017 9:02 AM

   I am curious what your height of cut would be in this situation? So you are talking clip frequency which is going to be much higher on 11 blade vs. 7 blade.. along with ground speed.. If you are above 12 14 mm with solid rollers it might be a consideration to retro- fit the reel set up and rollers vs. down the road. Check with Toro to see if they have a way to manual slow the reel speed down which should be on the hydraulic pump under the seat..

   
   
   
   
5. Curtis Hoffman

   

   0 posts
   
   2/6/2017 11:02 AM

   We run 5400's with 11 blades here in South Dakota. Guessing similar situation with Poa/Blue. We have to slow the mowers down when it is growing fast...even when treating with Primo during peak growing season. There is no one all season approach to what you're dealing with. Think of changing front rollers to grooved during peak growing season if becomes a problem with the grass laying down. Also, if the turf is that limp, increase fertility a bit perhaps? Just my 2 cents from the prairie sir.