What is going on today 2017?

I’m hoping it lasts me a long time like the old Gravely that my grand pap had. Its not full commercial grade machine yet it is not a residential grade machine either. They classify it as a “Prosumer” model. It has commercial grade serviceable hydros with a Kawasaki Engine.

Found a bunch of cucumber beetles in my Shasta Daisy. Squished few. I have to stay on top of this or they’ll take my melons and cucumbers.

I used to do commercial lawn care in Ohio. I had a couple of big SCAG machines. They had the Kawasaki 460 on them and were absolute beasts!! That motor is excellent…

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Nice rig. So how long will it take you to mow your property now? Will you be able to mow around your trees in one circular pass?

I don’t think we could use a ZT rig here, it’s too hilly, but our 48" Husqvarna does alright, even tho it takes a solid three hours to do about 2+ acres.

Nothing like having cup holders!!

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Spotted a few stink bugs and japanese beetles today.

Today is a good planting day so I stuck a few things. (Sticking in the summer is SO much easier than heat mats, humidity domes, etc needed in the winter.) Did some C. bitter orange for rootstocks, a fig (the redda one) to try growing inside for the winter for fruiting (?). Pulled out some Myro 29C from the frig - dormant cuttings I made from a root stock I allowed to grow. And to my surprise, it looks like they started without me.

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Was gone over the weekend and came home to several Cot-N-Candy apriums on the ground. Third leaf and first production for this tree. Tasted OK, but not very sweet – after a warm start to spring, it’s been cooler and much cloudier in the past few weeks (our June gloom hitting early). Still more on the tree, so we’ll see how the rest develop.

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Yikes. That sucks. It normally takes me about 1:30 - 1:45 to cut my 2 acres with my old 46" cub tractor. I mowed on Saturday for the first time with the gravely and it took me 52 minutes. And that was with me taking my time learning how to use the mower. I think after a few mows I’ll get that down around 45 minutes. The mower is rated at 4.8 acres/hour (ideal conditions on flat smooth ground).

I have two slopes in my yard that I was worried about but the mower handled it well. Much better than my lawn tractor did. I think it’s due to the wider stance and the really wide tires. When I would mow on the tractor I’d have to shift my weight a lot on the uphill side to keep the mower planted. With the Z-Turn I was able to set in the middle of the seat and mow normally.

My Cub had a pretty tight turning radius for a lawn tractor but it was sloppy around trees due to the deck flex. This gravely had no trouble with trees at all. Although the spacing in my orchard is not ideal for anything other than a pusher. Not a huge deal though as it only takes me about 10 minutes to mow the orchard.

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Wow, it cut your mowing time in half. Sweet. How is it on gas?

Since I started mowing both orchards this year, it’s added about a half hour at least, and maybe a half acre. Our land slopes from downhill from the backyard to the front of the old house. It’s not real steep, and it is pretty flat in most places. But, we have a lot of obstacles to mow around. Plus, I don’t like to mow every week so, it takes longer because the grass is deeper. The Mrs usually does spot mowing with the pusher in the places that can’t be reached with the rider.

I used a mulching kit last year, but hated it, it just seemed to clog up under the mowing deck, with all that wet grass. I still have the same blades, but opened the ejection chute, which came with the kit.

Too early to tell. I’ve heard people mention about an hour/gallon but time will tell.

I never liked mulching kits either. I just eject it out the side. I mow weekly so my grass never gets to the point where it’s so high it creates clumps. They say you are never supposed to cut more than 1/3 of your grass at a time to avoid disease problems and promote a healthy lawn.

I talked the dealer into throwing in a free striping kit but he didn’t have it in stock so will be sending it by UPS.

Interesting, Scott. I just had time to look at the label. It is listed for summer diseases of apple (sooty blotch/flyspeck). I wonder if there is any evidence that it works alone? I found the manufacturer manufacturer document showing that it was effective but they used it in rotation or in combination with Topsin-M and Ziram. So maybe no wonder?
I know SB/FS are just cosmetic, but they make apples look unappetizing in bad years here.

In related things, I just put in an Amazon order for methionine and riboflavin capsules. There is some evidence that a mixture of methionine+riboflavin (vitamins), a small amount of Cu or Fe, and a surfactant (spreader, I assume) can control summer diseases in a field setting. Sprays for Apple Flyspeck and Sooty Blotch

You should have talked him into a free plastic discharge chute. It’s what you’ll break first!
I’m pretty good with my new one but keep forgetting that thing sticks out so far.

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I had some serious kiwi trunk damage this spring in the cold snaps… here is a trunk that got damaged. Recently one of my other big kiwis died to the ground from this damage. Both of these were fuzzy kiwis, I think they are more prone to such damage than the Hardy ones.

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I don’t know of you can see it in the pictures but it does have a flexible discharge chute. I have it in the upright position. Its sort of a rubberized plastic. Not sure how durable or flexible it actually is. I typically cut with it up so that the cuttings get spread out further instead of being laid down in a row. With my cub I had to bungee strap the chute in the up position but the Gravely has a really nice simple feature that allows you to stand the chute up vertically without using a strap.

A free striping kit? Does that include flames? :grin:

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Well, the day’s done, and we didn’t get as much rain as predicted. Very light showers this afternoon, and a sizable storm rolled thru about 7:00, but only dropped about a tenth of an inch. A few of the tomato plants were kinda laying over afterwards, mostly because they’re too spindly and too top heavy, so if they get wet they kind of tump over. But, I piled up some wet soil around their bases and they’re OK for now.

No more rain is forecast for a while, so hopefully they’ll thicken up. Tomorrow is forecast for about 75, so I’d like to get the rest in the ground.

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Today we got more rain, so instead of shoveling mulch I get to just stand around and dream of what I am trying to grow here.


A couple of weeks ago I got a free fresh mixed load of chips and leaves from a tree service and I have been slowly getting the yard presentable. I know that I need to have concerns with unaged chips, but it’s got to be better than nothing at all with my rock hard soil and southern heat. It really makes a huge visual difference, and I love being in my yard looking at it!
I made my wife a sitting area as well, to earn brownie points. She told me that for the first time since I have started gardening she wants to be in the yard because it’s so lush and green and comfortable. She may as well have complimented my manhood; I was on cloud nine!

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Wow! That split is huge. Any thoughts about the possible value of painting kiwi trunks? A lot of things are gonna get paint in my yard this fall.

If the leaves were included during the chipping, they will age quickly right where they are. Good news is they will do your soil good; bad news, they’ll be gone by Sept. followed by weeds that thrive in your improved soil. But it does look great - as so many things do in the spring/early summer.

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