Cutting grass around pond

Dozernut · Jun 20, 2014

Roundup will not harm your fish, but the surfactant in the mix will kill the amphibians in your pond. The frogs, toads and salamanders are an important part of the food chain in your pond and help in controlling the insect population. I will not use Roundup around my pond, I did once and it took years for the amphibian population to reestablish itself.

Texasmark · Jun 20, 2014

I have a conventional riding mower I use for just that purpose. Nothing special about it. It is one I have around and decided to use it.

20 hp but don't need that many ponies.
46" cut, 2 blades but don't need that width and I do like the 2 rather than 3 side discharge blades. Clog less.

I took the hood off it to lighten up the front ends which helps steering up hill without 4 wd. Works really well.

I bought a pair of ATV "Snow" tread tires for the rear. The snow tread has chunks of rubber tread widely spaced and half an inch or so high which do a great job of holding onto the turf; like spikes where you have a small surface area to support the weight of you and the machine. I usually wait till the dew is off to improve traction.

The tractor is light and this is part of the advantage in holding on the slope.

I sit on the side of the seat where my whole body is centered on the up side tire line. I sit on a cushion which makes it comfortable. Very stable and not the least bit worried about a roll over.

I have tried numerous things from tractor operated bush hogs to the DR ProZ where you can move the controls to the rear and use it as a walk behind. This works pretty good but I have to walk behind it. Besides having a lot of grass to mow at a 1:3 slope you are walking with one foot above the other and it is awkward and tiring.

I bought bar lug tires for the DR and attempted to use it in the conventional position but it weighs around 900# and is just too heavy to hold on the slope. Additionally, the bar lugs tend to slide sideways on the slope and don't work all that well. Turf tires are absolutely useless course they weren't designed for this application.

So here I put a pretty much unused lawn mower to use and for the $105 price for 2 tires off www including shipping tax and all, I got a machine that does the trick. You can't buy a hedge trimmer like shown in your picture for that. I put them on the stock wheels that were on the mower which were slightly wider (rim) than the tires. A real bear to get installed by myself, but having the wheel wider and them being 4 ply bias there isn't much sidewall flexing even at the 10 psig where I run them for riding comfort.......and I don't have to walk!

HTH,
Mark

Geraldt · Jun 20, 2014

I have the same situation trimming weeds on the levi of my 2 acre pond. Was trying to use an Exmark ZTR and got too close to the water`s edge which was slick. Mower (very heavy) started sliding into the water and I couldn`t hold it. Ended up totally and I mean totally submerged, hot engine and all, under water. Took me forever to dry it out get it running again. Now I`m happy to just use a hand held weed eater once a month. Geraldt

rekees4300 · Jun 20, 2014

JHTFarmer said:
A good quality string trimmer ought to work fine on a 3 foot wide strip.

That's what I have been using on our 1 acre pond with 6 foot wide strip (needs two passes) at >45 slope. Lots of work and hard on the feet and back but only do it 2 times a year so it's tolerable.

nc redneck · Jun 20, 2014

I have the same situation around my pond, it takes a good $10.00 per hour man 8 hours to cut pond **** and twice a year. I ended up making this.
I have about $ 400.00 in it and more hours than I want to count. It also trims trees and bushes up to 20 feet. I have a video off it in action on my phone but it will not transfer says file is to large. It is by far the best attachment I own.

Thomabear · Jun 20, 2014

Well after a lot of pondering I decided on a long reach pole pruner with a 2' long 3/4" capacity sickle bar. The overall length is 93" long so I will now be able to sweep the grass while standing on top the levee. This is a commercial unit for large limbs and comes with a 7 year warranty so I'm confident it should hold up well cutting grass and weeds. It's a little heavy at 13.8 pounds but with the strap and speed of cut I should wrap things up pretty quick. The first trip will be to catch up on some tall weeds so this should be a good test.

Thomabear · Jun 20, 2014

nc redneck said:
I have the same situation around my pond, it takes a good $10.00 per hour man 8 hours to cut pond **** and twice a year. I ended up making this. I have about $ 400.00 in it and more hours than I want to count. It also trims trees and bushes up to 20 feet. I have a video off it in action on my phone but it will not transfer says file is to large. It is by far the best attachment I own. <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/files/attachments/380033-cutting-grass-around-pond-sickle-mower-paint-008-jpg"/>

Man that is a nice rig. If I had more levee to cut I would definitely be in the market for one of those.

s219 · Jun 21, 2014

Thomabear said:
Well after a lot of pondering I decided on a long reach pole pruner with a 2' long 3/4" capacity sickle bar. The overall length is 93" long so I will now be able to sweep the grass while standing on top the levee. This is a commercial unit for large limbs and comes with a 7 year warranty so I'm confident it should hold up well cutting grass and weeds. It's a little heavy at 13.8 pounds but with the strap and speed of cut I should wrap things up pretty quick. The first trip will be to catch up on some tall weeds so this should be a good test.

Can you give a brand or model for the pruner? Thanks.

Thomabear · Jun 21, 2014

s219 said:
Can you give a brand or model for the pruner? Thanks.

Yes, It's a Tanaka model TPH-260PF. There are also several other mfgs that make the 59" shaft (93 overall length) commercial pruners for right at the same price. Stihl, Redmax, Echo, Husquvarna just to name a few. One correction on the unit I purchased is the bar is 22" instead of 24" earlier posted. Actually I'm a fan of Tanaka and their 7/2/1 warranty is hard to beat. (7 years residential, 2 years commercial, 1 year rental) Here's a couple of not so quality picks I found online.

Texasmark · Jun 22, 2014

nc redneck said:
I have the same situation around my pond, it takes a good $10.00 per hour man 8 hours to cut pond **** and twice a year. I ended up making this.
I have about $ 400.00 in it and more hours than I want to count. It also trims trees and bushes up to 20 feet. I have a video off it in action on my phone but it will not transfer says file is to large. It is by far the best attachment I own.
View attachment 380033

Very nice and seems to be well thought out. I really like your putting in on the loader where it is up front and easy to see what you are doing......but you knew that. Grin

The hydraulic pump to drive the wobble box ought to make the drive nice and smooth. Did you use a regular length sickle or shorten one? How far does it stick out from the tractor's wheels? I assume the slope is locket to and set by the cylinder, and the height by the loader. Do you have a float on your loader valve and if so how does it work.....aka does is slide across the ground as hoped or try to dig in due to weight? Where are the remotes located that power the unit? Using the ones on the rear of the tractor and just plumbing forward?

Mark