ridgerambler
New member
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2008
- Messages
- 15
- Location
- Taylors SC
- Tractor
- John Deere 5205, John Deere 450C, Farmall 140, Allis Chalmers D-15 II
Large brush will be hard on flail mower. I am retired from state highway department and we used heavy commercial flail mowers and the large overgrowth caused constant maintenance problems. The flail mower is not really designed for that type of mowing, but DOT's use them because of safety--they throw debris vertically to the ground instead of horizontally (out into traffic). The best bet would be boom mower mounted to the side but they require large heavy tractors and are single use because of the offset weight opposite the mower--not practical for your application unless you found a unit at a government surplus sale. I have a similar application on my farm and I have used the Stihl Kombisystem to great advantage. You buy the power head and with that you can get brush cutter and various attachments that you can use for other things-like a pole pruner for tree trimming. For heavy brush around the water's edge, I have found the power scythe or ever hedge trimmers work well and you can get additional reach with shaft extensions. And you don't run the risk of getting too close to the edge with the tractor (and that offset weighted flail mower) and perhaps having a bad day. Echo and other vendors have similar systems and the cost is reasonable when you consider the additional stuff you can do with it. It is a little more labor intensive, but I have a smaller pond than you do. Good luck!New tractor owner looking for some advice. I have an issue around my pond with some plant I can't recognize that likes to grow right on the water's edge. They can get quite large if left unchecked. I let them get a bit out of hand last summer and had to spend many hours with the chainsaw addressing the issue over the winter. Now there's small stumps and the freaking buggers are starting to come back again. I'd rather not have to back a bushhog up and down the bank over and over and larger the batwings seem like a bit much for my needs. Anyone have any suggestions? would a flail work well?
Note, my tractor doesn't have remotes or a 3rd function, but I've considered adding them, if needed.
Also, I'm aware of the laneshark, but I'm seriously wondering if it's worth the price. For most of my cutting needs, a bushhog would work very well. I only need something like this for the pond banks.
The pond is roughly 5 acres. Some of the bank edges have a ~1 - 2' drop to the water.