Field Mowing Pattern - Side Discharge

[Tinhack]

I don't mow in the dark.

Too many animals out in the back corner that can eat me.

 

[zzvyb6]

I have used Google Earth to establish the central turning point for the Zamboni cut in a hay field. (Frank J. Zamboni & Sons, Paramount CA. Makers of Ice Resurfacing Equipment). But lately, I've been STARTING in the center and moving outward in order to cut for 20 minutes and quit. In my fields, with my 9' mower and baler, this gives me 56 - 64 bales that fit on my 1012 Stack Wagon and gets picked up by 2 gals who can pack that load on a pickup truck and drive away.

 

[rick480]

I change my pattern every time I mow to keep from having wheel ruts by mowing the same way every time.

 

[SDT]

NO - I round the corners on the meadow I mow. I mow in an ever tightening spiral. From the outside to the center. One time clockwise - next time counterclockwise.

Your field must be "pool table smooth" if you plan on/want to go 9 MPH. I would be thrown out of the seat - long before I hit 5 MPH.

Agreed.

9 MPH is fantasy land.

SDT

 

[Midniteoyl]

(Watch as people explode... )

How would you mow an isosceles shaped field with a 20% difference in side lengths in the dark?

Whats the side length difference in full sunlight?

 

[CH4Ohio]

I notice that there's some speculation in the UFO thread that ET may actually be here. Since they must be highly advanced, I hope when we finally make contact that someone has the presence of mind to ask them how they'd mow this odd-shaped field.

OK. I know i'm poking fun. But there's only one approach that makes sense and there's no way to end up with a single strip of grass that's exactly 90% the width of your mower deck on the last pass. I'd suggest grabbing a beer or listening to tunes or the news or whatever on your headphones and just mow till all the tall grass is short grass.

I always thought of mowing as "decompression time". No BS. Relaxing. Shouldn't really be too intellectually stimulating.

 

[repete]

Hard to say Midniteoyl. When the sides get too long you have to figure in the curvature of the earth. It is no longer a straight line between two points.

 

[Midniteoyl]

Hard to say Midniteoyl. When the sides get too long you have to figure in the curvature of the earth. It is no longer a straight line between two points.

So it grows in the sun..

 

[repete]

So it grows in the sun..

I believe my pasture does expand in the heat. Today it was 108 degrees and it sure seemed a lot longer to get from one side to the other.

 

[scaredychicken]

So, currently 'cutting in' the perimeter, as non-discharge side allows, then counter clockwise in shrinking perimeter. I wanna' go the 9 miles an hour.
Problem is the corner radius does not work, pass to pass. Even a wide swept corner eventually becomes too tight a radius to cut., This leads to either K turns, 270's, or wide-swinging that leaves what becomes 'lobes to be cleaned up every few passes.

On 'paper', I think a short interior pass, K turned to another, and again eventually becomes a radiused rectangle for speed later in the day.

Like hdbikercouple suggested: Mowing - Efficient mowing pattern? anyone familiar?

BX23, 54 belly mower, right side discharge

Zamboni style maybe ?

 

[Richard]

So, when you're cutting a field/yard/other..... many times the field isn't square with straight sides, so you have to curve in/out along the edges to dodge aggressive branches.

Question.... do you FOLLOW that pattern throughout the cut so the field has wavering lines all the way through or, do you "waste" a round or two so you can cut the rounded part off to square up the line so you then leave the field looking nicer?

I'll admit, I'll spend the extra time to straighten out the edges. I figure I don't mind cutting (I enjoy it) and it really doesn't take that much more effort to change the cut pattern to give it a nicer look.

Maybe I can throw my mother under the bus?? As a teenager when I was cutting the back yard, (with a push mower), I once looked at it as having different sections. There was the section between the garden and the brick retaining wall, another section that was the hill, a large back flat section that could be split into two areas for ease of cut.

I took each section and simply pointed the clippings to the outside and made smaller & smaller turns creating a bit of a spiral appearance. I went to the next section and did same, then the next section.

When I was done, the yard had a bit of an appearance of those "crazy glasses" where you have that spiral into infinity.

My mother got home and went ballistic on me. To the point she said she wanted me to go BACK out there and recut the entire yard to ostensibly "erase" those circles and replace them with more straight lines.

I don't recall that actually happening but she really got bent out of shape over nothing on that, after all, a week later it will need cut again and I can fix it then!

So now, I figure if I'm going to spend three hours cutting a field, I may as well spend those three hours cutting in a fashion that at least makes it more pleasing to look at rather than a hodge-podge of cutting. Therefore, I square up the sides and generally try to make nice clean straight lines (with a flexwing, verses finish)

Who else is willing to admit to their being OCD enough to do that??!!

 

[Midniteoyl]

I believe my pasture does expand in the heat. Today it was 108 degrees and it sure seemed a lot longer to get from one side to the other.

Truth

 

[Midniteoyl]

Who else is willing to admit to their being OCD enough to do that??!!

I straighten my lines as well, but mainly so my arms don't get tired constantly swerving back and forth.

 

[MossRoad]

So, when you're cutting a field/yard/other..... many times the field isn't square with straight sides, so you have to curve in/out along the edges to dodge aggressive branches.

Question.... do you FOLLOW that pattern throughout the cut so the field has wavering lines all the way through or, do you "waste" a round or two so you can cut the rounded part off to square up the line so you then leave the field looking nicer?

I'll admit, I'll spend the extra time to straighten out the edges. I figure I don't mind cutting (I enjoy it) and it really doesn't take that much more effort to change the cut pattern to give it a nicer look.

Maybe I can throw my mother under the bus?? As a teenager when I was cutting the back yard, (with a push mower), I once looked at it as having different sections. There was the section between the garden and the brick retaining wall, another section that was the hill, a large back flat section that could be split into two areas for ease of cut.

I took each section and simply pointed the clippings to the outside and made smaller & smaller turns creating a bit of a spiral appearance. I went to the next section and did same, then the next section.

When I was done, the yard had a bit of an appearance of those "crazy glasses" where you have that spiral into infinity.

My mother got home and went ballistic on me. To the point she said she wanted me to go BACK out there and recut the entire yard to ostensibly "erase" those circles and replace them with more straight lines.

I don't recall that actually happening but she really got bent out of shape over nothing on that, after all, a week later it will need cut again and I can fix it then!

So now, I figure if I'm going to spend three hours cutting a field, I may as well spend those three hours cutting in a fashion that at least makes it more pleasing to look at rather than a hodge-podge of cutting. Therefore, I square up the sides and generally try to make nice clean straight lines (with a flexwing, verses finish)

Who else is willing to admit to their being OCD enough to do that??!!

Sometimes I mow on a diagonal back and forth. The next time I'll mow the opposite diagonal. The next time I'll do outside-to-inside continuous circle. And sometimes I mow north south or east west. Just depends on what I want the yard to look like. If I'm in a hurry, it's the outside-to-inside continuous route. It has the fewest reductions in speed for me.

 

[zoltanthegypsy]

Sometimes I mow on a diagonal back and forth. The next time I'll mow the opposite diagonal. The next time I'll do outside-to-inside continuous circle. And sometimes I mow north south or east west. Just depends on what I want the yard to look like. If I'm in a hurry, it's the outside-to-inside continuous route. It has the fewest reductions in speed for me.

Like this. I use my "rolling strips" technique up-thread and alternate directions w/each mowing.

Works just fine on my ~1/2 acre lawn that's nowhere near rectangular.

Z.

 

[LD1]

Is the BX hydrostat or is it a gear where you are trying to avoid reverse?

Simplest answer is the most efficient way to mow.....is the way that you can keep the mowers full width cutting the the most. And when you get to an end or need to make a turn.....whatever way works for YOUR machine and YOU operating it to get the FULL width iof the mower back to work again. That is gonna be the most efficient.

Now on fields that are rectangle....more than 2x longer than wide....I try to focus on the long runs. Lets say it takes you 90 seconds to mow long run and 10 seconds on a turn around.....thats 90% efficient. IF the short runs only take you 40 seconds to mow....but the turn still takes the 10 seconds....you have just doubled the time you spend NOT mowing and dropping to 80% efficient.

Zamboni works for tillage because they are usually LOOONNNNGGGG runs down and back a field with minimal waste.

With a mower....trying to leave strips its easy to mis-judge. You have a 54" mower.....what if you get a few areas where you left it 56-58"? Now you are wasting a whole trip across a field to mow 4" of uncut grass. Or what if you leave it too small. Mowing a 42" strip with a 54" mower is equally inefficient.

With a HST machine I do down and back passes like a ZTR striping a lawn. Is there a reason you cannot blow ONE pass in then the next out? Is the grass that thick that its causing you issues? I do down and backs and even with a 8' bushhog I leave some pretty good looking stripes on some of the bushhog jobs I do. Customers are impressed....but at the end of the day it is the most efficient way to mow

 

[tshep]

It's HST, a joy to drive.
And, it's a remote field, we trailer to it once a month or so.
Wanna' cut FAST!

Corners are a problem - little else.

 

[LD1]

It's HST, a joy to drive.
And, it's a remote field, we trailer to it once a month or so.
Wanna' cut FAST!

Corners are a problem - little else.

Once a month with a belly mount finish mower just sound slow. Is it very thin and sparse? Anything around here....if you wait a month....it's slow going with a lawn mower.

But still....the fastest way is quite simply the way in which you spend more time cutting and less time in turns.

Good news is you have several cuttings left. So you can try what has been suggested here and compare the different styles and what is the most efficient

 

[RalphVa]

So, currently 'cutting in' the perimeter, as non-discharge side allows, then counter clockwise in shrinking perimeter. I wanna' go the 9 miles an hour.
Problem is the corner radius does not work, pass to pass. Even a wide swept corner eventually becomes too tight a radius to cut., This leads to either K turns, 270's, or wide-swinging that leaves what becomes 'lobes to be cleaned up every few passes.

On 'paper', I think a short interior pass, K turned to another, and again eventually becomes a radiused rectangle for speed later in the day.

Like hdbikercouple suggested: Mowing - Efficient mowing pattern? anyone familiar?

BX23, 54 belly mower, right side discharge

Just plug up the outlet and mulch them. First thing I did on the Ryobi ZT was to put the plug in place and to remove the discharge flap.

 

[diesel85]

I can turn my BX2200 into a mulcher in 2 minutes with a piece of sheetmetal and a C-clamp. Cost me nothing, because I found both at the junkyard in a retired service van.