The Simple Tip You Need If Your Lawn Mower Deck Keeps Getting Clogged

When it comes to landscaping, there's a lot of ground to cover — literally and figuratively. In between your actual gardening and yard care tasks, there's all the maintenance you need to perform to keep your equipment operating efficiently and avoid common headaches. A clogged lawn mower deck is one of the most familiar grass-cutting annoyances: It is a pain to clean and makes mowing more frustrating (and the results worse) if you leave it unattended. While there's no magic bullet to prevent buildup entirely, there are some best practices you can employ to slow it down. The simplest one? Raise the height of your lawn mower deck.  

Even if you're following the best lawn mowing tips, buildup will still happen. By raising the mowing deck, you'll remove shorter pieces of grass and decrease the rate at which debris and clippings accumulate. This not only means less scraping at the end of each cutting session, but it could also benefit your mower. Accumulated grass, dirt, and debris might affect mower performance and strain the motor. The trapped moisture can cause rust and fungus to form, which may transfer onto the grass when you mow.

Raising the mower deck also indirectly reduces the chance of grass buildup in the deck by helping to prevent blunt or damaged blades. If you're working with poor-quality blades — a common lawn mowing mistake — your machine won't operate as quickly as it should or leave you with evenly-cut lawn, in turn disrupting the airflow and further allowing buildup. Not to mention, those blunt and damaged blades are going to negatively impact your lawn's appearance and health.

To put the concept of raising your mower deck into action on a walk-behind model, pull the adjustment levers away from the wheels and free from the grooves that keep them in check. Slide in the direction that ultimately raises the deck, and ensure all four wheels are raised to the same height. On ride-on models, there's typically a single foot pedal or lever that's responsible for raising or lowering the deck. Make sure the mower is turned off and sitting on a flat surface, and check the manual before tackling any adjustments.

Beyond making your lawn mowing jobs quicker and free of frustrating clogs, raising your mower deck is essential for the vitality of your lawn. When determining how to mow your lawn properly after maintenance, keep a golden rule in mind: Only remove one third of the grass height at a time so the roots stay healthy and the grass remains long enough to combat diseases and pests. Ultimately, raising the deck will limit grassy buildup and simplify mower maintenance while also giving you a longer manicured lawn, which strengthens the roots, discourages weeds, reduces evaporation, and protects the soil from heat (a reason why this tip is encouraged during the summer).