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Robot lawn mower: Do they improve your lawn or create new problems?
Considering purchasing a robot lawn mower – interested in the impact that it has on the lawn over time. Does it enhance the lawn, or does it create new issues?
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The lawns I've seen running a robot mower full time usually look better over time, not worse, and there's a simple reason for it.
A robot cuts little and often, sometimes every day. That constant light tipping pushes the grass to tiller and spread sideways instead of stretching up, so you end up with a denser, finer sward. The clippings are tiny and get dropped straight back, so the nutrients in them, nitrogen especially, go back into the soil instead of into your green waste bin. Over a season that's a real feed you're getting for nothing.
So yes, done right, it improves the lawn.
The problems are mostly about setup and conditions, not the machine itself.
The big one is wheel tracking. A robot tends to follow similar paths and it'll mow in the wet because it doesn't know any better. On soft or poorly drained ground that can leave wear lines and a bit of compaction where it keeps running, particularly along the boundary wire and around tight corners. If your ground holds water, that's the thing to watch.
Cutting height matters too. Set it too low and you'll get the same scalping stress you'd get from any mower, just more often.
Because it doesn't collect, you can't lift clippings out if you get a disease run through the lawn. The cutting itself isn't a big disease driver as long as the blades stay sharp, but worth knowing you lose that option.
I really don't like the look of all the thin lines it leaves everywhere.