LAWN MOWER BUYING GUIDE
Walking on the perfectly edged green grass of your lawn, chilling in the lawn under the sun and cool breeze of air seems very lovely but the work behind maintaining those lawns is quite hard and for which proper and persistent care is required and an ideal mind to select the best tools for your lawns.
Lawn mowing is not a child’s play; it requires hours of work under the scorching sun in a week to maintain that perfect edge cut grass on your lawn. In the following section we will talk about:
•Why is mowing necessary?
•What are factors you should consider before buying a lawn mower?
•List of some of the best lawn mowers you could go for.
•WHY IS MOWING NECESSARY?
Imagine not cutting the grass of your lawn straight for 1 or 2 months. What will happen? Of course, your lawn will look dull with the tall grass growing within it, making it difficult to enjoy your favorite activities on the lawn. Yellowish-colored grass will build upon your lawn called the Thatch. Thatch will ultimately compete with the roots for water and nutrients and thus the fertilizer will be insufficient for the proper growth of your lawn grass.
Moreover inconsistent mowing of the lawn will increase the stress on the lawn and ultimately damage the roots of the grass. Thus, to reduce the stress of the lawn and to get rid of the unwanted weeds growing in your lawn mowing is very important. One should at least mow their lawn 2 times a week for nearly one hour though the time varies with the size of your lawn.
Lawn mower buying guide
•FACTORS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER BEFORE BUYING A LAWN MOWER:
1.MULCHING PROPERTY OF THE MOWER: mulching can be very helpful for your lawn while maneuvering it but only under a specific set of conditions. Avoid mulching if the grass on your lawn is too long and in the rainy season. Other than these conditions mulching can add nutrients to the lawn by adding those grass clippings back to it and you can have continuous mowing but at a reduced speed because the engine has to do a lot of work.
2.GRASS BAG: Mowers with a grass bag give a fine cut to the grass and can be used in all conditions. Mowers with a grass bag are fast-moving and clear all the debris. Problems can arise if you live in an area where you do not have the facility to dump the grass clippings and debris, also mowers with a large grass bag could hamper the speed of the mower as it gets filled with the clippings and debris.
3.SIDE DISCHARGE: Mowers with side discharge maneuver the lawn in all conditions with a fine cut and are fastest moving but the problem arises if you have small lawns then the grass clipping because of the side-discharge could create a mess.
4.COMFORTABLE HANDLE: A properly padded and comfortable handle is also a prerequisite to buying the mowers. Especially in push mowers where maximum work is manual the quality of handle becomes necessary.
5.WASHOUT PORT: Always look for a washout port in your mower. It makes it easy to clean your mower after work. You have to just connect the hose pipe to the wash-out port and the water will clean the blades of the mower and will give a sharp cutting on the next mowing.
6.BLADE SIZE: The sharper the blade is the fine will be the cut and edging of the grass. The mulching mower requires various sets of blades to work. Blade size of 14-18 inches is minimally required for a fine cut of the grass in the lawns.
7.POWER OF MOWER: Usually people go for high power for their mower but it’s a misconception high power is not related to the performance and efficiency of the mower. A mower within the range of 4-6HP is sufficient.
Mowing is not just about cutting the grass, it’s a lot more than that. You should look for the perfect edging of the grass, mulch the lawn and finally clean up the lawn with proper disposal of grass clippings. All of this takes approximately 1 hour for a lovely look at a medium-sized lawn.
•LIST OF SOME BEST LAWN MOWERS YOU SHOULD GO FOR:
1.PUSH LAWN MOWER: push mowers come under the category of the manual mower. It uses the revolving blades and crosses scissors to cut and mow the grass but the mower needs to be pushed by the individual and requires a good amount of strength. It also comes with a grass bag or slate to easily dispose of the grass clippings later on.
Material: mild steel
Cutting height: 3-4 inch
Speed: 2-3MPH
Capacity: approx 2 Acre/hr
Price: 3000-4000 INR
Disadvantage: • Requires manual strength. Sometimes it becomes tedious and tiring.
•Not a good option for large lawns of more than 25000 sq ft.
2.SELF PROPELLED MOWER: The self-propelled mower is comparatively easier to use than the push mower because here you don’t need to use that much manual strength. The wheels of the self-propelled mower take up the power from either the battery or engine. It is advisable to buy rear-wheel drive instead of the front wheel for easy turns and because the rear wheels are always engaged with the ground, unlike the front wheels that leave up the ground during turns. Self-propelled mowers are easy to use and can give your lawn a fine and sharp cut-edged grass.
Material: steel, plastic
Cutting height: 4-5 inch
Mowing area: 500-meter square
Speed:2.5-3 MPH
Price: 10,000-45000 INR
Disadvantage: •since if your self-propelled mower takes up energy from the electricity you need a constant source of electricity using a cord.
•Managing the cord while mowing can be sometimes very frustrating, you need to be patient while working.
3.PETROL MOWER: petrol mower is also a type of self-propelled mower which uses the energy from the engine running on petrol to mow the lawn. It’s less energy-consuming, easy to use, and could mow a large area within minutes. The speed of the mower is adjustment able you can move the dial and set the speed according to your preference and the filling of the grass clippings in the bag doesn’t slow down the speed of the mower to a significant level. A Petrol mower is a good option for medium to large-sized lawns.
Material: plastic
Cutting height: 3-5inch adjustable
Power :3.3HP engine
Speed: 3MPH
Price: 15000-45000 INR
Disadvantage: •Since it needs a constant source of energy from petrol it’s not readily used as you need to check whether there is enough petrol or not.
•Quite expensive compared to other manual mowers.
4.REEL MOWER: A reel mower helps to maneuver the yard very efficiently and the cut of the grass is sharper and cleaner than any traditional lawnmower. They are easy to use and operate. Reel mowers are environmentally friendly and produce minimal noise. They are best suited for a medium and small-sized lawn. Most reel mowers run on lithium batteries.
Cutting width: 350 mm
Speed: 2MPH
Price: 7000-12000 INR
Disadvantage: • Runs on battery therefore can get exhausted without warning.
5.RIDE ON MOWER: Ride-on mowers are used for the large lawns because it could be very hectic to mow half of the day standing and pushing or propelling the mowers around the yard. Ride-on mowers are of 2 types: •LAWN RIDERS
•TRACTORS
Before buying a ride-on mower, always check for a comfortable seat matching your height. Check for easy access to the engine and check whether the size of the ride-on mowers could fit into your entrance gate or not. Now-a- days ride-on-mowers are provided with a port to fill the petrol tank thus, no worry of spillage. Since the ride-on mowers come with steering it’s easy to move them around the turns in the big yard.
•LAWN RIDERS: These are used for large lawns with less workload. It comes with a very comfortable arrangement for the individual to sit on it and mow the lawn with minimum effort and high efficiency. Lawn riders come with rear engines. Lawn riders also come with a front seat mower with a go-kart type design and help to maneuver land in sloppy areas and areas with hanging plants.
Height:1.5-4 inch
Seat type:13-15 inch high back seat
Cutting width: 30 inch
Power:17.5 hp
Price: 1lakh onwards
Disadvantage: • Not suitable for large lawns with rough areas.
•TRACTORS: to overcome the disadvantage of the lawn riders, tractors come into play. Tractors are efficient for large lawns with rough areas. It comes with a front-engine and provides a fine cut to the grass. Tractors are very versatile; they are not just used for mowing but for spraying and spreading also.
Cutting height:3-7inch
Engine: 36 Hp
Speed: 31-35kmph
Price: 2.5lakh onwards
6.ZERO TURN MOWER: they are the best mowers to navigate the area of the lawn while maneuvering. They provide the best visibility to the operator while the process of mowing. The speed of the zero turn mower is fast and it’s very swift and quickly helps in mowing the lawn.
Cutting width: 50 inches
Speed: 5-8 MPH
Engine: 20Hp
Price: 2lakh onward
Disadvantage: • It’s difficult to operate for beginners.
•Not steady on sloped areas.
•Small zero-turn mowers can get stuck on the soft area of the yard and the front wheels can pop wheelies because of the absence of weight in front therefore use it carefully on yards.
Always remember before starting the process of mowing, never forget to wear the necessary equipment like eyeglasses to prevent the grass clippings from entering your eyes, an earpad to avoid noise, and a cap if it’s sunny outside.
In this lawn mower buying guide, we have suggested some of the mowers that will be really good to invest in, useful for the beautiful look of your lawn, and will run for a long time. According to the needs of your lawn, select the ideal lawnmower to enjoy maneuvering your yard.