Back in the day, rain immediately meant an end to your lawn care plans. Don’t endure the misery of a storm with your old fashioned mower.
But now that you have a robot mower, the story might be different. Can you schedule your robot to work on rainy days?
Autonomous mowers and the rain
No need to live in suspense. You can have your robot mower run in the rain.
But before you grab the streamers and party hats, there’s something you should understand.
Your autonomous mower comes equipped with a rain sensor. This sensor is responsible for assessing the environment, and determining whether it is safe to keep cutting in a storm.
If the environment is hazardous, it will shut down operation.
But your mower won’t sputter and die. When the rainy situation becomes too much, your mower will just go back to the dock for charging.
Benefits of rain sensors in autonomous mowers.
Your robot’s rain sensor is just one of the many benefits of autonomous mowers. Here are some of the benefits.
It protects your investment. Robot mowers aren’t cheap. While you don’t want damage to your lawn, you really want to keep your robot safe. Your rain sensors protect your investment from things like falling branches and other hazards.
It frees your time. No need to keep checking the forecast. You can just schedule your mower and forget about it. If it starts to rain, your robot will know what to do.
Less need for cleaning. Mowing your lawn isn’t fun. But cleaning your mower is even less desirable. And the rain sensor keeps you from having to clean up from a messy situation.
Other ways that robot mowers make it easier to cut in the rain.
There are other advantages to robot mowers for the rain. The rain sensor is the main line of defense. But your robot mower assists in the rain in other ways.
It creates smaller clippings. Because you can run a robot mower more frequently, it creates smaller clippings. You’re talking about millimeters instead of centimeters. And this will make a rainy situation easier.
You can easily adjust settings on the app. You can raise the cutting height. Or just leave on the weather setting. And these are other ways to improve mower performance in the rain.
But should you cut your grass in the rain?
So now you know that it is possible to have your autonomous mower run in the rain. But this next question is a real nail biter. Should you?
The rain sensor helps your robot stay safe. But the reality is that rain isn’t the ideal environment for your lawn care.
And autonomous mowers make it so you can mower frequently. Why mow in the rain when you can just schedule your robot for after the storm?
Here’s why it isn’t ideal to mow in a storm.
The C words – clumping and clogging. In the rain, grass can clump. And when this happens, dirt and gunk can clog your mower. And blades don’t cut as cleanly when they’re wet. No fun.
You lose natural fertilizer. Autonomous mowers produce clippings that fall back to the grass where they become natural fertilizer. In the rain, the clippings will clump and stop acting as fertilizer.
You could spread disease. With frequent, heavy rainfall, your lawn is more likely to experience disease. When the grass is wet, the mower can spread that disease throughout your lawn.
The issue of seeds. Dr. Joey Williamson, an expert in residential horticulture at Clemson University, talks about the unique problem of weed seeds. If there are lawn weeds going to seed, spreading weed seeds can create a larger infestation.
Which brands of robot mowers have rain sensors?
The good news is that there’s no lack of choice when it comes to robot mowers with rain sensors. Many reliable, quality brands come with this feature.
Check out some of these options for a high quality mower with a rain sensor.
So turn off the weather channel. You’ve been set free.
Your robot mower can’t make sure you always have an umbrella in a surprise rainstorm. But it can keep your mower singing in the rain.
