Toro 09168SL User Manual

Page of 60
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.