It’s too hot to mow.

[chim]

I mowed after lunch today. Temps were a bit over 90° and 50%+ humidity. It was a real blessing to open the mailbox late this AM and see that the pulley for the Caroni mower had arrived! Ordered online (AgriSupply) Sunday, it showed up in the mail today. Last time mowing there was an odd screeching from the deck. Turned out to be a pulley that had worked loose, damaged the keyway and "wallered out" the bore. I have some extra spindles but couldn't find the pulleys that I KNOW are somewhere. I was only too happy to fix the deck and mow in the cabbed tractor with the 7-1/2' deck instead of the open station with the 5' deck.

There were times when my schedule kept me from mowing in daylight. There were a couple years when it was well into the mowing season till lights were no longer necessary. The Caroni decks handle moisture better than the two LandPride decks I had. Dew just kinda shows up on short notice after dark. It can be anywhere between sunset and a couple hours later. With the LandPride decks it was about time to quit when the front tires got wet looking.

 

[wolc123]

Bush-hogging my fields, under the hottest of summer suns is one of my favorite jobs, way up here near the Canadian border. This is the time of year when I do most of that.

Open-field running, in 6th gear at pto-rpm, puts a nice steady breeze across my face. I have a big home-made, canvas over wood frame canopy, that keeps me in the shade. I drop my bucket to get rid of the front end bounce and improve clearance and forward visibility.

You couldn’t pay me to do that in a cab tractor with AC. I work 45-50 hours a week, in a climate controlled factory, and I cherish my outdoors time.

Here is my Bush-hogging setup:

Notice the little patch of early sweetcorn in our front yard behind the tractor. I put it there for multiple reasons (after getting permission from my wife).

1) I don’t care for lawn mowing and that corn cut our acre of lawn down to 3/4, saving me at least 15 minutes each time I mow.

2) That section of lawn was very rough, always forcing me to go real slow with my hydrostatic riding mower. It needed to be plowed, disked and re-graded and seeded anyhow.

I plowed it in April and I’ll finish the job in late August after the corn is harvested. They call that “double cropping”. That is the best time of year to plant a new lawn.

3) We had a 4-week long June drought this year. There is no better looking sweet corn (or field corn) in our town right now. I was able to nurse that little 1/4 acre thru it with a lawn sprinkler and short garden hose. The surrounding big fields got pretty parched.

1/2 hour of city water, every other late afternoon thru that stretch, did wonders. That corn is chest-high now and starting to tassel.

4) Coons usually get most of my early sweetcorn, when I plant it out back. It will be easier for me to trap them up front and what I can’t can’t catch might be taken out by vehicular road traffic.

5) My wife and kids always complain about having to go way out back to harvest the corn. Now they can pick it on their way to the mailbox.

And to think, my neighbors thought I was crazy when they seen me out there plowing up our front yard.

 

[John0829]

I see your using the best tractor for plowing.

 

[wolc123]

I see your using the best tractor for plowing.

It’s easier to hold a constant depth with that one, because it has draft control on the hydraulics.

Soil conditions and moisture content were just about perfect here this spring. Some years, when it’s been a little on the wet side, I have used my 4wd JD 4120 on that little 2 x 12” plow. That will pull it without any wheel spin, fully engaged, thru mud holes with standing water. It’s kind of cool watching the wakes roll off of the plow shares.

That little 8n has always been great on the plow. The tires are original and both rears were loaded with calcium on the original rims.

A few years ago, when the furrow side rim rusted thru. I lost all the calcium from that side. I removed the original tire , that was still good, and put it in a new rim with a new tube. I did not load it.

I was worried how it would pull that plow, with just the sod side rear tire loaded. Much to my surprise, it pulls that plow better than ever like that. Traction is better on the furrow side, so not being loaded now equalizes the pull force, and I don’t get any wheel spin on the sod side.

It now pulls that plow easily in 2nd gear, while from 1951 until 2020, the original owner and I had to use 1st gear on the plow.

It no longer works as well on my two row cultivator though, pulling to one side a little. I now use the 4wd JD for that job which has both loaded rears.

I did use the 8n on the cultivator last week though, because I didn’t feel like taking the Bush-hog off the JD. It worked ok, because there was plenty of moisture in the ground from lots of recent rain, so the pull was easy.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

It was 100+ today when I finished up this little mowing project for a customer, towards the end I noticed my little open station tractor running a little warmer than normal.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

I firmly believe that here along the gulf coast is the most brutal summer weather in the country. Dewpoint is a very good measure of comfort, or misery.
When dewpoints reach 70*, it is miserable outside. Lately we have had dewpoints in the upper 70's all day long and even reached 80* a few times

I did hook up my 60 hp Kubota Grand L6060 to my 6' Trimax mower last week and cut most of my 4 acres with it.

It is nice to have a 60hp air conditioned lawn mower, but it can be difficult to maneuver around low tree limbs. I do get on the 60" zero turn for the trim work.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I firmly believe that here along the gulf coast is the most brutal summer weather in the country. Dewpoint is a very good measure of comfort, or misery.
When dewpoints reach 70*, it is miserable outside. Lately we have had dewpoints in the upper 70's all day long and even reached 80* a few times

I did hook up my 60 hp Kubota Grand L6060 to my 6' Trimax mower last week and cut most of my 4 acres with it.

It is nice to have a 60hp air conditioned lawn mower, but it can be difficult to maneuver around low tree limbs. I do get on the 60" zero turn for the trim work.

I believe it was August-September of 2020 I was in Lafayette for about a week then in Vinton for about 3 weeks working to get power back on after a hurricane and those 3 weeks in Vinton were miserable, it reminded me of home, maybe a little worse, I remember telling somebody that I was pretty sure that Vinton Louisiana might be 1/4 mile closer to hell as hot as it was.

 

[WM75Guy]

I firmly believe that here along the gulf coast is the most brutal summer weather in the country. Dewpoint is a very good measure of comfort, or misery.
When dewpoints reach 70*, it is miserable outside. Lately we have had dewpoints in the upper 70's all day long and even reached 80* a few times

I did hook up my 60 hp Kubota Grand L6060 to my 6' Trimax mower last week and cut most of my 4 acres with it.

It is nice to have a 60hp air conditioned lawn mower, but it can be difficult to maneuver around low tree limbs. I do get on the 60" zero turn for the trim work.

Once the humidity reaches 70% sweating is no longer an effective means of cooling the body. Couple that with high temps and it gets pretty bad. We could tell those days in the ED and on the ambulance by the number of heat cases that came in.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

You can see in the image below that our current condition at 8:53 pm show the temp at 86, the dew point at 79 and the humidity at 80 which puts our heat index at 100. Brutal…

 

[ruffdog]

Strange year here as we are in a drought. The grass tuned brown a month ago and stopped growing so we don't mow anymore. I have noticed the thistle and ragweed are even drying up. This is not good for crops!

 

[check]

Mowed this evening at 23°C. Very pleasant! Wife came over with drinks after. Very nice!

 

[wolc123]

I don’t know how you folks, down on the gulf coast, do it thru the summer. There’s no way in hell that I could ever survive a summer down there. I just barely got thru working a couple of days, down in Pascagoula MS in September, a few years ago.

The older I get, extreme cold bothers me much less than extreme heat. With “global warming” accelerating rapidly each year, we’ve been dealing with less and less of that way up north here on the Canadian border, every year.

I’m visiting relatives down in VA beach currently. Even this area is way too hot for me to even consider any outside work at this time of year. Gettysburg PA is the “halfway point” between here and home. That is about the absolute southern point, where I would ever consider living and working, thru a summer.

 

[WinterDeere]

I’m not far from Gettysburg, and it’s funny how eastern PA and central or western PA can be very different with regard to heat index. Similar wet bulb temperature, but oh my God, the humidity climbs like crazy as you head east.

 

[chim]

Mowed on Thursday and figured it would be early next week till it was tall enough to need cut again. Late Saturday afternoon, Wifey said "Maybe you should mow before the rain gets here". It didn't look like it really needed it until I started cutting it. It surprised me that most of the yard did deserve a good trim. Not that long ago, the grass was brown and I went a couple weeks without getting the tractor out.

 

[Williy]

The temp was 111 and I didn't even notice digging up some
cactus. I don't think anyone was using an open cab around
here.

willy

 

[Deleted member 371759]

My sheep do the mowing. I have one strip about the size of a tennis court that I have to mow. Other than that its all sheep food. Best part is I eat my lawn mowers.

 

[rScotty]

It's cool in the Rocky Mountains this year. We keep a jacket handy most days. Today we worked the tractor all afternoon moving dead trees away from the creek. It was pleasant to be outside, though a bit too sunny, dry and hot.

But here's something we wondered about - We spent high school years in south Texas back before air conditioning was common.
Cars didn't have AC. Tractors and combines didn't have cabs.
Drive in movies, baseball & football games were favorite pastimes. In spite of the heat, HS sports - games and practice - went on year around. I recall it being hot sometimes, but not miserable.

Apparently summer heat isn't unhealthy or even uncomfortable.
It's just a matter of what you get used to.
rScotty

 

[chim]

It's cool in the Rocky Mountains this year. We keep a jacket handy most days. Today we worked the tractor all afternoon moving dead trees away from the creek. It was pleasant to be outside, though a bit too sunny, dry and hot.

But here's something we wondered about - We spent high school years in south Texas back before air conditioning was common.
Cars didn't have AC. Tractors and combines didn't have cabs.
Drive in movies, baseball & football games were favorite pastimes. In spite of the heat, HS sports - games and practice - went on year around. I recall it being hot sometimes, but not miserable.

Apparently summer heat isn't unhealthy or even uncomfortable.
It's just a matter of what you get used to.
rScotty

You reminded me of how things were when I was a kid. A/C was something found in movie theaters, restaurants and the like. I remember only one residence with A/C - and that was a window unit rather than central A/C. We sweated while trying to fall asleep in the hot weather. I ordered an El Camino in'70 without A/C because it wasn't something I had before that. A career in construction taught me to deal with hot (and cold) weather here in PA. Can't say being hot was unhealthy but will certainly testify it can be very uncomfortable.

First car I had with A/C was the '74 Monte Carlo. Apparently I liked it enough to have it in every car since I'm 74 and do work on things outdoors. Sometimes the heat/humidity convince me to wait till it cools down a bit. Other times I wear a longsleeve white shirt and a wide brim hat and put up with it. I do appreciate my BIL suggesting to Wifey about 5 years ago that at my age it would be nice to have a cabbed tractor with cooling to deal with the heat, dust and pollen.

 

[masseyrider]

Pa wouldn't get AC. No way.
If you got AC in the house you wouldn't want to work outside.

 

[mo1]

I was about to make a comment like "That's what a tedder is for" when I realized that you guys are talking about mowing a LAWN, not hay.

Air-conditioned lawn mower, interesting concept, but an extravagance we won't be indulging. We don't even have AC on our farm tractors. The one tractor with a cab is "air conditioned" by taking the cab doors off to let the breeze flow through.

All cabbed tractors eventually get the "open the doors A/C" as the A/Cs all eventually fail despite pouring a lot of money into them trying to keep them going, and you eventually give up on it. From personal experience, a cabbed tractor with a broken A/C is a lot hotter than an open station tractor even with the doors open.

Funny, I guess some are too pampered to do outdoor work without cool aid and AC. I understand some in this forum spend hours working their fields, and a cab w AC is warranted, but I have to laugh when AC becomes a necessity in order for them to get on their lawnmower, with a front loader, and cut grass for 30 minutes.

It is all perspective. It's a real treat to get to sit down and run an open station tractor baling small squares in the middle of the afternoon in the middle of the summer when the last thing you did was stack bales in the hay barn. Even when the A/C works in a cabbed tractor, you still get hot and dirty and sweaty just working with equipment. You go hook up to your implement, you get at least a little hot and dirty and sweaty. Grease the implement, you get hot and dirty and sweaty. Go have to put in a new roll of net wrap or more twine and you get hot and dirty and sweaty. Plug something up and have to unplug it, or have any hiccups or breakdowns, you get even more hot, dirty, and sweaty troubleshooting and fixing it.

You reminded me of how things were when I was a kid. A/C was something found in movie theaters, restaurants and the like. I remember only one residence with A/C - and that was a window unit rather than central A/C. We sweated while trying to fall asleep in the hot weather. I ordered an El Camino in'70 without A/C because it wasn't something I had before that. A career in construction taught me to deal with hot (and cold) weather here in PA. Can't say being hot was unhealthy but will certainly testify it can be very uncomfortable.

First car I had with A/C was the '74 Monte Carlo. Apparently I liked it enough to have it in every car since I'm 74 and do work on things outdoors. Sometimes the heat/humidity convince me to wait till it cools down a bit. Other times I wear a longsleeve white shirt and a wide brim hat and put up with it. I do appreciate my BIL suggesting to Wifey about 5 years ago that at my age it would be nice to have a cabbed tractor with cooling to deal with the heat, dust and pollen.

Around here air conditioning started to become common in new houses, new stores, and new cars starting in the late 1980s and it wasn't until the late 1990s when most places other than schools and colleges had it. The first vehicle we had with air conditioning was an '86 if I remember correctly, the '81 pickup certainly didn't have it, you opened the vent windows when it got hot. It was still common for schools and colleges to not have air conditioning in very many places until the big building and renovating push in the early to mid 2000s. Now about the only places that don't have it are some auto shops, small warehouses, small fab shops and cabinet shops, and such. It's not many places any more.