Best method of mowing an acre?

[Guest]

I have about an acre of Hamakua land (dirt) that is/was covered in grass. For reasons I don't want to talk about [:p] - it hasn't been mowed for a good while, and now it's too tough a job for the riding mower because it's 2-3 feet high, some of which is cane grass and also there are some African Tulip sprouts.

Weedwhacking is one way to deal with it, but it's going to be super labor intensive. I would rather use that kind of labor to trim up the beds and borders once the lawn is dealt with. There must be a better tool for a one time mow. I don't want it plowed as the lawn grass is still there once it's cut. There are various islands of trees and shrubs that need to be skirted. There are no rocks to work around.

Oh, and there is access for a truck to drive in, or a tractor.

Suggestions? I don't have a lot of money to spend on it, but neither do I expect it to be too cheap.

[Adam79]

I'm not sure what the cutting diameters are, but perhaps a wheeled trimmer would do. Sorry I don't have any links but they're similar to a push-behind mower but with a heavy duty trimmer extending out in front and decent size wheels. You could probably find other things with a wider cutting path but not as good of manueverability and precision

[David M]

Kathy
This maybe be about most cost efficient: Field Mowing and Fencing - $40 (Hamakua)
http://honolulu.craigslist.org/big/grd/1648715156.html
Field Mowing with 30hp 5ft Rotary.
$40 per hour

Can also do field fencing

Email for details

David


Ninole Resident

[Bullwinkle]

do a search for "high wheel brush" mower or trimmer. These are 4 wheeled string trimmers that use 1/4" diameter line, 6 hp 22" cut

amazon has em - poulan brand - works well for my 2 acres of lawn

[kani-lehua]

time for a punaweb weedwhacking the overgrown grass you supply the food/drinks party? []



"a great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."

w. james

[MarkP]

I have a walk behind sickle bar mower that would be perfect for the job. A sickle bar mower has a fixed blade and a moving blade, each having teeth a couple of inches long, that saw and shear through tough grass. This mower leaves the cut stalks whole though. It doesn't mulch it up like a rotary mower. It cuts a swath about 28" wide with each pass.

[Carey]

check with Home Depot, Puna Rental, Allied Machinery, or Bacon Universal (all in Hilo to Shipman Industrial) for their rental cost of brush mowers and/or wheeled trimmers (It sounds more like brush cutting at this point) I am not sure any will be tractor mountable

You can get landscape rakes that do attach to the Craftsman tractor.

You may also want to see if you can borrow a flock/herd of sheep or goats for pasture control.

Have used a brush mower in the past, and the field clearing guy may be worth the money.... at least to find out what his estimated cost would be... then you can look at the rental costs & work in hours and make a conclusion

ETA : link for Brush mower, inc. a lawn tractor tow behind :
http://www.drpower.com/Field-Brush-Mower.aspx

[David M]

Is this the same son you mention as having some physical challenges regarding ventilating your roof?

Never having seen your property, just reading your original post, I'll make the following assumptions:

A tractor powered mower can probably accomplish this is 2-3 hours. Just for haha's let's assume it's 2 hours work and 1 hour travel - 3 hours @ $40/hr = $120 to watch the process.
To my knowledge, none of the earlier mentioned tools are available as attachment for your Craftsman mower - at least I didn't find them on the sears web site.
As for the DR or walk behind sickle, don't know anything about rental costs or availability, but would assume if available that would probably take 1 hour of time min to pick up and return.
Actual use, your son is looking to physically manage either 22" or 28" cuts, meaning if he could even be as efficient as the tractor it would only take him 4-6 hours versus 2 hours for a 60" tractor mower.
My neighbor got a self propelled DR thing a couple years ago and have enjoyed watching his daughter's boyfriends "prove" themselves. Of course, we live on slopey cane land and it is probably awesome on the straight and level. I'd also guess that no work session lasted much more than an hour let alone 4-6.

JMHO, I suggest pay the tractor guy for 3 or 4 hours (maybe he can estimate it this way) and let your son spend 4-6 hours on your ventilation would be a better deal. Tractor guy can be in an out in a matter of hours, your small machine rental could end up a multi-day project (and rental)

David

PS If your son insists on doing it and it rains, would you please take and post a video of the action


Ninole Resident

[Daniel]

Yeah a tractor is what you need. I have but my mower is only for grass, not brush. Its a 72" Grooming mower. So call the tractor guy, or another tractor guy and have him do it. An acre wont take long.

Daniel R Diamond

[Ed Smay]

A couple of months ago, there was a guy who had posted his Lanscaping, clearing ect. services. I don't remember his name and
can not find the posting doing a search. Anyone remember him or
know his name?

Thanks

"From knowledge comes understanding"