Will $5 a gallon gas change your mowing habits?

[Eugene Onegin]

No it won't the grass has to cut regardless.

 

[orangediesel]

Well March would be the third month of the year so I guess they observe that as quarterly. Ya know you really need to cut those company's some slack, I believe it was Exxon that only made 54.4 Billion in profits in 2010, they need the money :licking::wink:

Like the farmers,a person has got to take care of their crop, and grass is a crop.
Soooo..... I'll probably keep the same mowing habits, but modify my voting habits. I don't suppose any of you know the proper place to apply a manure fork to a politician to get their un-divided attention?:thumbdown:

 

[Tractor John]

Our local newspaper had a story yesterday saying because of the unrest in Libya, the price per gallon may hit $5 by summer. Diesel of course will be even more costly. I would cut back my mowing but I already let it go too long between mowings because my lawn is so huge. The irritating thing about my mower deck is that it doesn't chop the clippings up very well and the longer I go between mowings the worse the rows of uncut clippings get. I should try to find some new blades that will do a better job of chopping the clippings up. Anybody have experience with a good replacement blade for a JD 7-Iron deck? Mine still has the OEM set.

I have a 52" dedicated mulching deck (no discharge or bagging) that I use during the "slower" growing months. If I try to cut grass that has grown more than normal in one pass, all I do is create creamed spinach out of it. Generally wind up cutting in multiple passes to get a decent job. Side discharge deck with gator blades does not retain the clippings long enough to chop them verry fine. Best cuts are with standard bagging deck, I added an oversized collection blower to enhance packing the clippings which workes well.

My unit is diesel powered, It gets twice the running time on a tank of fuel, as my water cooled F.I. gas engines do.
Same gallonage tanks. Even with the price of diesel being more the actual operating costs are half.

 

[oldyellr]

Where I live, gas is now $1.20/litre ($4.54/gallon), so it doesn't have far to go to hit $5. However, with a 1/2 acre lot, the cost of fuel is not such a big concern as to encourage longer mowing intervals. I just cut it when the weather allows and it looks like it needs it. Since I have mulching plates on both mowers I use, letting the grass get too long just leaves a mess of "clumps".

I have two old rear engine riding mowers, a John Deere Model 68 (34" cut, twin blades) and a Honda H3011H (30" cut, single blade), which I recently bought from my neighbour when the JD was broken. After fixing the JD, I use the two alternately, clockwise and counter-clockwise. Naturally, the old Briggs in the JD uses more gas than the more modern Honda OHV engine, so this coming season I'll see if I can come up with an actual comparison between the cost of running one against the other and maybe retire the JD if it's significant, but I doubt it. Even with the difference in cutting width, the difference in time to mow isn't much if anything, since the Honda turns tighter and cuts nicer.

 

[stuckinnj]

House yard mowing habits will remain the same. I love a well groomed yard. As for my pastures, I'm thinking they will only get cut 3x this year. Having said that, with all the snow and rain we've had up here in Northwest New Jersey, I suspect the grass will be greener and growing above normal.

At the end of the day, it's either fuel for the tractor/mowers or a hand sickle. Yup fuel is the better choice.......

 

[leadarrows]

Well March would be the third month of the year so I guess they observe that as quarterly. Ya know you really need to cut those company's some slack, I believe it was Exxon that only made 54.4 Billion in profits in 2010, they need the money :licking::wink:

Hey is this the Ric I know from other forums?

 

[JDgreen]

I have a 52" dedicated mulching deck (no discharge or bagging) that I use during the "slower" growing months. If I try to cut grass that has grown more than normal in one pass, all I do is create creamed spinach out of it. Generally wind up cutting in multiple passes to get a decent job. Side discharge deck with gator blades does not retain the clippings long enough to chop them verry fine. Best cuts are with standard bagging deck, I added an oversized collection blower to enhance packing the clippings which workes well.

My unit is diesel powered, It gets twice the running time on a tank of fuel, as my water cooled F.I. gas engines do.
Same gallonage tanks. Even with the price of diesel being more the actual operating costs are half.

I just took delivery of a set of JD Gator mulching blades from an Ebay seller, the guys on TBN recommended them to me when I posted about needing a blade that would cut the clippings better.

 

[KennyV]

I just took delivery of a set of JD Gator mulching blades from an Ebay seller, the guys on TBN recommended them to me when I posted about needing a blade that would cut the clippings better.

I am running Gator mulching blades that are made for John Deere, on my CTL side discharge...
They cut things very fine... I almost always cut running clockwise, and re-cut my previous discharge:thumbsup:... that way even when I'm in tall grass it gets mulched to very short clippings... :smile:KennyV

 

[JDgreen]

I am running Gator mulching blades that are made for John Deere, on my CTL side discharge...
They cut things very fine... I almost always cut running clockwise, and re-cut my previous discharge:thumbsup:... that way even when I'm in tall grass it gets mulched to very short clippings... :smile:KennyV

Thanks for your input, I don't mind mowing but I hate having to rake all the time...

 

[Adamsrib]

Let it greaux! Let it greaux! Let it greaux!