Mowing ..

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by mick taylor

he lets the grass grow to long.

And thats the issue, These are lawn mowers, not slashers, so if he lets the grass get too long you cant blame the mower because it struggles.

Another thing that you have to remember is that high end Honda industrial 4st equipment is meant to be working hard, letting them sit for a month between cuts and then pulling the cord and running them cold through long grass is not what they are designed for.
Its like a taxi, they regularly get 1million km's from a 4.0l Falcon engine because they rarely get cold and dont go through the heating and cooling cycles that your everyday car does.
We'd start our mowers at 7.30am, run them for a few minutes and they would stay warm all day and do anything upto 25 jobs, everyday, 6 days a week with an oil change fortnightly over beers on a Saturday afternoon.

Quite often a blocking mower chute can come down to something as simple as the direction in which your cutting when in longer grass.
Where possible we would cut the perimeter in an anti clockwise direction so as to pull the cut grass away from the uncut edge and continue going around as the area to be cut got smaller, obviously this is not always possible and so some thought must go into it, if its just too long go over it with a brushcutter and halve it first.

Something that really annoyed me was rocking up to a first cut and having a customer expect you to turn their neglected grass and weeds into a well manicured lawn in one cut, it just isnt possible and despite explaining the process to get it looking neat with regular maintenance and the good intentions of the property owner/occupier, more often than not you'd turn up for your 35meg3 or whatever the price and regularity you'd agreed on was, and get told to return in a fortnight or worse and have to start from scratch again with the same expectations.
Then you'd get the jobs where you'd take less than half a catcher knocking the tops off the same Buffalo lawn every friday afternoon followed by free beers with the fastidious owners that made it all worth while.

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

And thats the issue, These are lawn mowers, not slashers, so if he lets the grass get too long you cant blame the mower because it struggles.

Another thing that you have to remember is that high end Honda industrial 4st equipment is meant to be working hard, letting them sit for a month between cuts and then pulling the cord and running them cold through long grass is not what they are designed for.
Its like a taxi, they regularly get 1million km's from a 4.0l Falcon engine because they rarely get cold and dont go through the heating and cooling cycles that your everyday car does.
We'd start our mowers at 7.30am, run them for a few minutes and they would stay warm all day and do anything upto 25 jobs, everyday, 6 days a week with an oil change fortnightly over beers on a Saturday afternoon.

Quite often a blocking mower chute can come down to something as simple as the direction in which your cutting when in longer grass.
Where possible we would cut the perimeter in an anti clockwise direction so as to pull the cut grass away from the uncut edge and continue going around as the area to be cut got smaller, obviously this is not always possible and so some thought must go into it, if its just too long go over it with a brushcutter and halve it first.

Something that really annoyed me was rocking up to a first cut and having a customer expect you to turn their neglected grass and weeds into a well manicured lawn in one cut, it just isnt possible and despite explaining the process to get it looking neat with regular maintenance and the good intentions of the property owner/occupier, more often than not you'd turn up for your 35meg3 or whatever the price and regularity you'd agreed on was, and get told to return in a fortnight or worse and have to start from scratch again with the same expectations.
Then you'd get the jobs where you'd take less than half a catcher knocking the tops off the same Buffalo lawn every friday afternoon followed by free beers with the fastidious owners that made it all worth while.

Yep , Even the same to a degree when cutting golf greens . If you missed a cut or two , you knew about it next time .

I only had two Scott Bonnar 65's with 24" cylinder reel to use in my time , now they use the Toro triplex but the quality of cut on a Friday was severely different if they weren't cut on Tuesday afternoon at least for the ladies day on Wednesdays . Usually meant a double cut otherwise whinging members on Sat comp day . All hell broke loose if not cut at all even if the greens were covered in water or you had a break down or sick ..Run for the hills if the pins weren't changed or the tee beds were long . Fairways with Ransomes triple gangs on a wet days was fun too . Not PTO driven , wheel driven .Go 50 metres , get off , unclog , get on , 50 metres , get off , unclog very often .

Ah , those were the days . Paid $7 p.h. for 30 hours that translated almost always to 40 plus hours for same $210 in the mid 1980's. No holiday pay either . Didn't work , no pay . Never happen now .

[Rallye Sport]

Originally Posted by roddy1960

Fairways with Ransomes triple gangs on a wet days was fun too . Not PTO driven , wheel driven .Go 50 metres , get off , unclog , get on , 50 metres , get off , unclog very often .

That and the reels hold energy then snap round when the obstruction is cleared. We used to call them finger harvesters, many an old time greenkeeper out there with a couple less digits.

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by Rallye Sport

That and the reels hold energy then snap round when the obstruction is cleared. We used to call them finger harvesters, many an old time greenkeeper out there with a couple less digits.

No good if you needed all ten digits to count . You're so right how potentially dangerous it was . The jamming on the traction drive Ransomes behind the old red Fergy 35 was a common occurrence when the fairwars were soggy and soft . Frustrating too ..

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by roddy1960

Yep , Even the same to a degree when cutting golf greens . If you missed a cut or two , you knew about it next time .

I only had two Scott Bonnar 65's with 24" cylinder reel to use in my time , now they use the Toro triplex but the quality of cut on a Friday was severely different if they weren't cut on Tuesday afternoon at least for the ladies day on Wednesdays . Usually meant a double cut otherwise whinging members on Sat comp day . All hell broke loose if not cut at all even if the greens were covered in water or you had a break down or sick ..Run for the hills if the pins weren't changed or the tee beds were long . Fairways with Ransomes triple gangs on a wet days was fun too . Not PTO driven , wheel driven .Go 50 metres , get off , unclog , get on , 50 metres , get off , unclog very often .

Ah , those were the days . Paid $7 p.h. for 30 hours that translated almost always to 40 plus hours for same $210 in the mid 1980's. No holiday pay either . Didn't work , no pay . Never happen now .

I play Lawn bowls so a similar situation with our greens to a golf putting surface, needs to be kept cut as often as the grass will accept in order to maintain pace and accuracy, 2 years ago we had the SA state squad request to train on our Santa Ana greens that a coupe of us prepare for love as were not a big club with funds to pay a professional, was quite an honour to host them.
The club decided to pay a bloke to do the job last season and the greens went down hill so fast as he just wouldnt put in the time that we did.
So many members complained about how they were playing, in the end he pulled the pin and now weve got 2 volunteers on the job again, a greens keeper from the local course and a former wicket curator who worked with me on them previously and the improvement in 2 months is remarkable.

Havent quite got the pace up yet, running about 14 seconds yesterday, but the coverage and even colour is promising at this stage of the year.

[DFB FGXR6]

As mentioned, trying to mow a lawn that is too tall in one hit will cause blocked chutes. If a lawn in wet its even worse. Now technically, you should never mow a wet lawn or mow too short, but some customers cant wait or want to see that the lawn has been mowed, read scalped in the aussie tradition.

Talking Honda's in particular, if the it looks like the model below, with a full width chute, then there will be no issues, be it wet or dry, tall or short.



The problem arises when with the below image, with a partial chute.



The self drive hardware prevents a full chute and sufficient airflow to allow long, thick or wet grass to be efficiently discharged into the catcher. These type of mowers are designed to be used on a regular basis, where only the very tips of growth are removed. A lawn that is maintained at a taller height is generally healthier, less prone to weed infestations and actually uses less water. Something at odds with the aussie tradition or expectation, ie "mow it so short so I don't have to do it again for a while".

For me, I use a range of mowers to suit a variety of different lawns, lawn heights and customer expectations. As a rule there is no "perfect" mower hence the use of different mowers. The only one I have found to do almost everything (mulch/catch/wet/dry/tall/short) is the Rover ProCut 560. The drive system isn't as robust as the Honda systems but it has a full chute meaning it is more versatile. It was also much cheaper to buy, allowing for occasional maintenance on the drive system when needed. The amount of money this thing has made me over 5 years if it blew up tomorrow I would be content knowing it earnt its keep. And its been HAMMERED, thrashed even.

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

As mentioned, trying to mow a lawn that is too tall in one hit will cause blocked chutes. If a lawn in wet its even worse. Now technically, you should never mow a wet lawn or mow too short, but some customers cant wait or want to see that the lawn has been mowed, read scalped in the aussie tradition.

Talking Honda's in particular, if the it looks like the model below, with a full width chute, then there will be no issues, be it wet or dry, tall or short.

image

The problem arises when with the below image, with a partial chute.

image

The self drive hardware prevents a full chute and sufficient airflow to allow long, thick or wet grass to be efficiently discharged into the catcher. These type of mowers are designed to be used on a regular basis, where only the very tips of growth are removed. A lawn that is maintained at a taller height is generally healthier, less prone to weed infestations and actually uses less water. Something at odds with the aussie tradition or expectation, ie "mow it so short so I don't have to do it again for a while".

For me, I use a range of mowers to suit a variety of different lawns, lawn heights and customer expectations. As a rule there is no "perfect" mower hence the use of different mowers. The only one I have found to do almost everything (mulch/catch/wet/dry/tall/short) is the Rover ProCut 560. The drive system isn't as robust as the Honda systems but it has a full chute meaning it is more versatile. It was also much cheaper to buy, allowing for occasional maintenance on the drive system when needed. The amount of money this thing has made me over 5 years if it blew up tomorrow I would be content knowing it earnt its keep. And its been HAMMERED, thrashed even.

image

Great info as usual ..Just like cars , reliability for mowers is a crucial factor in why we like certain brands and why we avoid others based on whether they fire up without fuss, easy to maintain and do a good job . A good lawn is a key talking point in a well maintained yard . It's the trimming that really finishes it all off too ..Do you trim and edge before or after mowing as a rule. Is there a procedure for that or does it alter depending on individual conditions and customers ? Just curious on what's your idea on that . .

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

I play Lawn bowls so a similar situation with our greens to a golf putting surface, needs to be kept cut as often as the grass will accept in order to maintain pace and accuracy, 2 years ago we had the SA state squad request to train on our Santa Ana greens that a coupe of us prepare for love as were not a big club with funds to pay a professional, was quite an honour to host them.
The club decided to pay a bloke to do the job last season and the greens went down hill so fast as he just wouldnt put in the time that we did.
So many members complained about how they were playing, in the end he pulled the pin and now weve got 2 volunteers on the job again, a greens keeper from the local course and a former wicket curator who worked with me on them previously and the improvement in 2 months is remarkable.

Havent quite got the pace up yet, running about 14 seconds yesterday, but the coverage and even colour is promising at this stage of the year.

Our club is a double club but primarily these days a bowls club . Only one green but 8 rinks both ways and floodlit for night bowls on Friday nights .

The course is nine greens but 18 tees . Grass on both golf course and bowls green is a mix of browntop bentgrass and creeping red fescue , with a bit of errant poa annua here and there . Red Fescue and Browntop cope with our winters pretty well. We get 12- 13 seconds at the start of the season and up to 15 seconds by Christmas/New Year . Any faster is pretty hard to achieve.

We've lost a lot of members to new clubs in the past 15 years and can no longer field a golf Pennant team despite a ton of flags up until 2005 . Really sad . Lucky to get 10 players on Sundays for a comp now and I haven't dragged the clubs out since about this time last year .

Bowls is a bit different . Pennant is mixed four rink teams now in Div 3 and the club has done pretty well . Won the State Div 3 title three seasons ago .

I've not played yet this year but will soon once I clear a few things out of the way. Plenty of players this year so no pressure to play .

We bought an electric mower to replace the old girl that cut the green for a bloody long time (also electric) a couple of years ago. Scarifyer and corer too are shared with the golf club as is the seeder and boom spray . Roller is a standard ride on one with a Honda motor .

Fourteen seconds is a beaut speed I reckon . Fair for all . I remember playing on a city green many moons ago in a rep game that looked about 12 before roll up and was actually more than 16 ..Was fun though despite us country bumpkins struggling to manage it .

Congrats on having your green used for representative training , that's a real honour . Re volunteers ..Legends ..the backbone of all clubs ..

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by roddy1960

Fourteen seconds is a beaut speed I reckon . Fair for all . I remember playing on a city green many moons ago in a rep game that looked about 12 before roll up and was actually more than 16 ..Was fun though despite us country bumpkins struggling to manage it .

Its funny you know roddy, if you sit and listen to most bowlers they'll tell you they love quick greens, 16 seconds and over, yet as soon as they put a bowl down on them they cut the head and end up in the ditch.
I totally agree with your assessment, 14-15 seconds is quick enough and forgiving if you happen to miss your line by a fraction.

We played on a synthetic at Payneham last weekend and it was running about 17 seconds which is actually slightly off pace for what it can run when conditions are right, even with the modern bowls, i use a very narrow set of SR's, i was hitting the boundary at the shoulder and quite often finishing on the non professional side.
Not many could handle it and we lost all 4 rinks in the end.

Im only a hack really, my Daughter on the other hand, 3 time State Junior Champion and was sponsored by Henselite until she turned her back on national duties.

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Its funny you know roddy, if you sit and listen to most bowlers they'll tell you they love quick greens, 16 seconds and over, yet as soon as they put a bowl down on them they cut the head and end up in the ditch.
I totally agree with your assessment, 14-15 seconds is quick enough and forgiving if you happen to miss your line by a fraction.

We played on a synthetic at Payneham last weekend and it was running about 17 seconds which is actually slightly off pace for what it can run when conditions are right, even with the modern bowls, i use a very narrow set of SR's, i was hitting the boundary at the shoulder and quite often finishing on the non professional side.
Not many could handle it and we lost all 4 rinks in the end.

Im only a hack really, my Daughter on the other hand, 3 time State Junior Champion and was sponsored by Henselite until she turned her back on national duties.

Would love to see your daughter bowl . That's impressive to be a junior champ and chosen for national teams..Wow.

I'm a tad old fashioned and love my old Henselite Classic ll's .Had them for ages. Mostly play pennant as a Third and the bit of late draw sometimes helps to get around short bowls in the way in a cluttered head . Remember playing against an old bloke many years ago who used these Size 5 wide draw bowls that all but finished up coming back toward you on a fast-ish green. He was a former Div 1 player and crucified me in a club singles game . Geez he could bowl . He was one of our skips at the time.

Back to mowing . We used to send the cylinders to a company called Pellows to be backlapped for the golf greens mowers . I used to bugger round for ages getting the bedknife and mild steel blade bedded in properly once the cylinder was either backlappped or reversed but it was worth it . Watching water spray like clippings going into the catcher was very satisfying indeed .Had grand plans of building my own green at home and even bought an old Villiers reel mower which I still have . Maybe a while off yet , but ya never know !!!!

[DFB FGXR6]

This is what 8 hours of mowing looks like in steps..............

[Rallye Sport]

The angle of the blade tips can help to clog the shute.
This can vary between brand blades so thinking a new set might fix it doesn't always work. You can do some 'tuning' by tweaking the angles. Every one loves a hard tuned mow right?