5 rules to reduce maintenance

[blueKYstream]

It doesn’t sound like you are using the right attachment if you have the most powerful Stihl and you can’t go through thick weeds. If you are cutting thick grass and stemmy weeds, use a 3-headed metal blade. If you are cutting brambles, use a chisel toothed steel blade. If you are cutting woody growth, use a chisel tooth blade. I’ve cut acres of woody stuff with only a FS-55R (also a FS-91 and FS-111). I’d recommend anything over a 90, because it has a solid shaft driver but even my 55 will get 'er done.

I messed around and made a video with some Renegade blades:

Which Trimmer Brush Blade is Best?

[danzeb]

@alan

However having a cutter on wheels like a lawn mower, with 3 or 4 HP is great where there aren’t too many rocks or other obstacles.

I have a lawnmower just for mulching. I was pruning shrubs along to property line today with the ground littered with branches up to 1/2 inch. I go over them a few times with the mower and the resulting small pieces dry up to a brown mulch in a week or two. If I don’t want the mulch I just put the bag on the mower after mulching.

[alan]

I’m not scrolling all the way back up, but I don’t think I said my whacker doesn’t go through the thickest weeds here. String is all I care to use. I have rocks upon rocks that can be hard to see once the weeds are up.

[blueKYstream]

One thing about whackers is that most aren’t powerful enough to efficiently chop out thick weeds.

Fair enough. I just wanted to help out in case you were under the impression a weed whacker couldn’t take out thick weeds.

[Audi_o_phile]

@benthegirl

So bumpy I have scalped dirt.

Per internet advice that I read years ago when doing research, I now mow grass at the highest height that the mower allows. This would solve the issue of scalping, though I settled on the advice in order to help suppress the growth of weeds and decrease mowing stress on the grass.

[Paddy]

Follow up on the irrigated tomatoes shown above. They are thriving but, I’m sure the 12-12-12 helped a lot

[Ginda]

I mulch with leaves in the fall, when i have leaves i have a lot of mature oaks. I use the bag that can’t with my lawn mower, and set it to halfway between “bagging” and “mulching”, and the lawnmower picks up bags of loosely shredded oak leaves. I drop those on places where i want mulch. Two birds with one stone. I had to do something with those leaves anyway, to get them off the lawn. (Which is a mix of grasses, clovers, and other low soft green things.) I find they work well to reduce the weeds in the raspberry patch and around my shrubs.

[pine]

As a general strategy this sounds close to the approach I have been wanting to take. I also have a lot of rocks and sloping terrain and want to avoid “sterilizing” potential areas for flowering plants with grass. But there has been a trade-off in certain areas that are so vigorous that I feel like I need the grass to help suppress invasive vines.

Can you provide more details on what weed whacking gear you use? I have a home-gamer quality Ryobi electric whacker with a normal head and a brush blade. The brush blade is technically supposed to be used with a gas powered whacker but can connect to my electric base if I hold it with the trigger facing upward. After a year of use it’s started to get very noisy and I’m not sure how much longer it will last with this kind of use. Is there a good quality electric setup you would recommend?

[alan]

FS 110. Their largest 2 stroke gas whacker. I need all the power it has to manage my property.

[murky]

@BobVance

@MikeC

The bucket of leaf mold would be easier but if it doesn’t last as long I am right back at weeds and the such in the same areas.

I would look at leaf mold as more of a suppressor, than a blocker. The key difference is that it is fine to run over with the mower (the real thing which stops weeds from getting 3’ tall…), while still building the soil, retaining moisture, etc. But if the area is one you can’t reach with the mower, then I don’t think LM is the answer.

@JimmyM

I was mowing 3 times a week in the spring to abide by the 1/3rd rule!

I’m guessing that your 1/3 rule is that you can’t cut more than 1/3 of the height off at one time? Though I’m not sure it really matter if you are just going to come back the next day and cut more…

My version of the 1/3 rule is “don’t mow until you can reduce the height to 1/3 or less of original”. Otherwise it isn’t worth mowing

@alan

almost no one in our area worries about doing lawns besides contractors

I actually don’t mind doing the lawns. It get’s me some good exercise. I would think that I get enough from volleyball and badminton, but I play those during the winter and am probably not getting enough then, at least based on my fitbit. Once spring comes, then I’m active enough…

And mowing in early fall is pretty good, picking fruit as I go. Sometimes I’ll finish up too full for dinner, packed with jujubes.

@alan

It works following the leaf rodeo in fall as well.

By the time the leaves are down, I’m mostly hibernating indoors (once it is in the 50’s, I bundle up and venture out…). But, I often travel through neighboring towns which make residents bag their leaves up (my town just goes around with a big vaccum and sucks up the piles). So, I could quickly pick up a bunch of leaves to throw into my backyard. Maybe do it right before a big rain storm to minimize the loss due to wind (and fewer irritated neighbors due to my lost leaves).

I’ve picked up leaves like that to insulate figs (something I gave up on 3+ years ago), but I don’t think I’ve tried them for mulch. Getting them to stick on a steep hill would be the trickiest part.

My riding mower gives me a lot of “steps” according to Google Fit, presumably from the jostling of my phone or the meandering on the GPS.