Hide victors of the yard... looking for some suggestions here...

[SilentStalkr]

Hey while I'm at it- anybody have any experience with robot mowers? I've been looking pretty hard at 'em this year and figure it'd save me almost 3 hours a week.

I want a wireless (but also reliable) model so for an acre of ground, what I'm seeing is models at the $2K price point... does that sound reasonable?

Nope! I thought about it but figured some jackass would come steal it. I have yet to buy a zero turn mower but I need to. I’ve borrowed my neighbors before and I can literally do what used to take 4-5hrs+ in as little as an hour with one. It would be in my best interest to spend the money and buy back some time but I just haven’t felt like spending the money yet on a good one. I have an old traditional 54” cutting deck John Deere, one with a steering wheel but it doesn’t save me time because of all the crazy circle patterns and clean up I have to do afterwards, maybe great for an open field but I need the tight turn radius and speediness of a zero turn. I have a feeling robo mowers won’t be great long term even if someone doesn’t steal the damn thing. I think they are probably great for a retired gent that lives in a little garden home with a small yard but would not consider it for something the size you are talking about.

 

[Herb Stoner]

Step 1 - Fix the soil. May need to bring in topsoil or heavily amend. Healthy lawn needs very healthy, living soil.

Step 2 - establish irrigation as needed.

Step 3 - Rid the area of all weeds before planting. This may take time as products to kill weeks need to dissipate before planting.

Step 4 - Grade the surface to ensure good drainage - no low spots for puddles.

step 5 - plant (or sod) , fertilize, and stay on top of weeds

Step 6 - maintain healthy soil for the lawn. Avoid Lowe’s Depot chemical fertilizers. Weed and Feed is not compatible with grass seed as it hinders germination and kills sprouting seed. This stuff is a short term band-aid at best.

If you done the above very well, you’ll have very few, if any, weeds. This time of year a few pop up occasionally. Hand pull them - I had to pull 3 weeds this week.

Don’t cut it short. Most grass blends are TALL blends, yet many try and mow short like a putting green. I keep the mower on the tallest settings as mowing short weakens the grass and opens the door for burned / dead spots and more weeds. Don’t water at night as it encourages fungus - dawn hours are best.

 

[LuckyDuck]

Nope! I thought about it but figured some jackass would come steal it. I have yet to buy a zero turn mower but I need to. I’ve borrowed my neighbors before and I can literally do what used to take 4-5hrs+ in as little as an hour with one. It would be in my best interest to spend the money and buy back some time but I just haven’t felt like spending the money yet on a good one. I gave an old traditional 54” cutting deck John Deere, one with a steering wheel but it doesn’t save me time because of all the crazy circle patterns and clean up I have to do afterwards, maybe great for an open field but I need the tight turn radius and speediness if a zero turn. I have a feel robo mowers won’t be great long term even if someone doesn’t steal the damn thing. I think they probably great for a retired gent that lives in a little garden home with a small yard but would not consider it for something the size you are talking about.

So the logic I'm operating off of is trying to save about 3 hours per weekend mowing. I "could" purchase a riding mower but that would also require me to spend just as much/if not more on a shed. I do intend to purchase a shed for such things but... dang if I can delay it that'd be great.

So approximately $2K for a robot mower but a tractor would run me about $3K, a shed over $5K all said and done so I can literally run the robot mower into the proverbial ground 4x and still break even while gaining something like 12hours a month that I'm NOT mowing... seems... both lucrative and cost effective thus far...

-LD