Low HP flail mower

[IslandTractor]

Now that the TBN guru on flail mowers, Leonz, has shown up, you guys will get more detailed info on flails than you will know what to do with. I'll defer to his recommendations so long as he doesn't try to convince you to go on treasure hunts in old barns to find abandoned flail mowers in need of "a little" work.:laughing:

 

[GolfAddict]

Well, just heard back from our local dealer. They contacted Befco who told them that they were confident the 60" would not have a problem with the Kubota BX SCUT sized 3pt hitch. But I did choke a bit on the price... $2900.

 

[IslandTractor]

For honeysuckle, my vote goes to RoundUp and subsequent fabric control

//greg//

Better living through modern chemistry!

 

[SI2305]

Greg_g,

I think we have the same problem with the honeysuckle. I have patches that are simply overgrown with the vines. I have pulled the vines up and new vines appeared. I have selectively used Roundup, unfortunately it sometimes (usually?) grows next to something I want to keep and I am always afraid the Roundup will kill the good plants with the bad. I know you can set the sprayer to just a very fine stream, but that would mean individually killing acres of plants while avoiding the desired plants right next to them. My best luck has been in:

1) going after vines as they go vertical. At least in this case I can concentrate my efforts on the really bad offenders as they often will wrap themselves around a trunk.

2) Roundup areas completely dominated by honeysuckle

3) Mow before it grows--basically maintain those hedges so they don't completely succumb to vines.

4) controversial--burning. Though I have not tried this, there have been controlled burns in the woods near my home and while they do have some honeysuckle, it is NOTHING like the literal other side of the road that was not burned. My understanding is that most of our native plants were adapted to the great plains and therefore developed some degree of fire resistance. Either it did not ignite easily, was fertilized by the burning, kept part of the plant under ground or otherwise protected from fire. Japanese honeysuckle, however, was adapted to a more moist environment and actually developed an oil to protect it from excessive rain (though I never understood how that would harm the leaves). Consequently, when fire is set, the Honeysuckle burns and dies. You can try it yourself, but it might be better for the professionals. I am seriously considering a controlled burn due to this darned invasive, but first I am going to continue my present project--reclaim as much of the woods as I can.



Part of my woods project is to cut lanes--partly for access, and partly as burn barriers. I have approximately 3 acres of woods and so far (last 3 weeks) I have managed to clear perhaps 1/4 acre. Part of this is because I finally got a chainsaw in action and used my log trailer to remove logs that were blocking the path of my 2305 (HUGE PROBLEM). Now, some of those problematic logs are now retaining walls for my garden beds--I figured this was a big WIN-WIN for me. The going is slow as I have LOTS of various barriers--timber, gullies, hidden stumps and terribly dense vegetation. However, as I clear more land, I gain maneuverability and I have gotten a smaller brush cutter (Stihl) with a square blade that just melts its way through the brush I can't reach with the LX4.

This weekend I intend to cut up and take out some of the bigger logs in my path and see how far I can shred with the LX4. A major challenge is that a small creek runs through the middle of the woods. The creek is only roughly 2' wide and frequently dries up in summer,, but it has been very rainy here and I have never had my 2305 in the woods this deep before so this will be quite the test. I am also concerned about crossing that stream and the possibility of getting stuck in the mud in a place I likely could get no towing assistance.

I have rambled on even for me. I will update as the project evolves.

SI2305

JD 2305
200CX, LX4, 60" Grader blade, 60" LandPride finish mower that replaced our old lawn mower, middlebuster, home made grass rake for long field grass collection, and now a specialized trailer to move heavy logs

 

[IslandTractor]

Well, just heard back from our local dealer. They contacted Befco who told them that they were confident the 60" would not have a problem with the Kubota BX SCUT sized 3pt hitch. But I did choke a bit on the price... $2900.

There is also a China flail that some TBN members have bought. I haven't heard much about them for the past year but the initial reports were positive. Some guy up in ?Washington state was importing them and selling via eBay as I recall. I forget the exact name as it sounded like Befco...?Bestco or something like that. Those mowers were about half of what Caroni's cost but I would be fearful of needing parts five years from now with a one man operation as the importer.

 

[greg_g]

I have selectively used Roundup, unfortunately it sometimes (usually?) grows next to something I want to keep and I am always afraid the Roundup will kill the good plants with the bad.

I understand, RoundUp kills indiscriminately. Not its fault, that's what it was designed for. No problem though, use 2-4-D instead. It only attacks broadleaf, leaves grasses untouched.

//greg//

 

[SI2305]

Golf Addict:

We can commiserate together. The dream is just within reach, but the price of the implement makes for a good down payment on a much larger tractor (even if I bought a larger tractor, I would not get rid of my 2305--it is just too maneuverable and infinitely handy. I can do full size tractor work in small pieces just perfectly for my property. Do you agree about yours?). I think that that price is slightly more than I paid for the other two mowers I have. I originally bought the 2305 with the loader (a no-brainer for me) and the LX4 to cut my field areas. at that time we also owned an L-120 garden tractor that was a fine mower and handy for my wife to operate pulling a small trailer. We actually put quite a bit into that machine, but the tranny went and it was the type that was basically sealed at the factory and had no easy or economical way to fix. Instead we bought the LandPride RFM60. I have learned to really appreciate LandPride as they are well built like my Deere, but not nearly as costly. To replace the loss of the L-120 we had 3 options

1) new garden tractor--$2700

2) Deere RFM--$2300

And then I got the idea of checking with the local Kubota dealer

3) LandPride RFM 60--$1700!!

That closed the deal right there, save a thousand bucks!

Do miss having two machines but the RFM is a great mower and the price was right.

Another ramble, but now I have to come up with a really good excuse to add a third mower!

SI2305

JD 2305
200CX, LX4, 60" Grader blade, 60" LandPride finish mower that replaced our old lawn mower, middlebuster, home made grass rake for long field grass collection, and now a specialized trailer to move heavy logs

 

[leonz]

Leonz,

You mentioned weed barrier fabric several times. I am assuming you are referring to the sorta ground carpet put in place to block sunlight. Would it be your intention to put this under/directly adjacent to the hedgerow? I have used these before with varying success and I think you are right, in order for it to work, it must be a high quality one properly installed. My main invasive weed is Japanese honeysuckle. It is a beautiful, fragrant vine that grows all year long, even through snows, takes over hill and dale if allowed and can completely smother an entire hedge. My only success has been at cutting it off at the root level and keep cutting it off. Otherwise, I have seen the stuff take down 40' hardwood trees by chocking them out.

My point. I Think a flail would work nicely for this invasive, but you mentioned the arrival of invasives AFTER mowing. Are you referring to those invasives that will thrive due to increased sunlight? I am not entirely certain what the connection is between flail mowing and invasive species.

You have a wealth of knowledge for the newbies here. We appreciate it.

SI2305

JD 2305
200CX, LX4, 60" Grader blade, 60" LandPride finish mower that replaced our old lawn mower, middlebuster, home made grass rake for long field grass collection, and now a specialized trailer to move heavy logs

The invasive I absolutely hate is poison ivy and it will love you for sunlight.

Not to name drop or get in trouble with Muhammad for mentioning a non advertiser but the high quality weed fabric that Farmtak offers is the best in my opinion and they sell a lot of it to landscapers.


As far as mowing and control the term is Vigilance twice weekly mowing to the sod will destroy a lot of invasives and eliminate any chance of flowering as long as you keep after an area you want to maintain

Dethatching areas gets rid of a lot of weeds like lambs ear and also aids in removing fungus in shady spots too. It is judgement call as to how much work you want to do. As greg said the used of a weed killer will help things along considerably. I use propane and a flame burner when I know there is no Poison Ivy. I use salt water liberally as well.

 

[leonz]

Leonz,

You mentioned weed barrier fabric several times. I am assuming you are referring to the sorta ground carpet put in place to block sunlight. Would it be your intention to put this under/directly adjacent to the hedgerow? I have used these before with varying success and I think you are right, in order for it to work, it must be a high quality one properly installed. My main invasive weed is Japanese honeysuckle. It is a beautiful, fragrant vine that grows all year long, even through snows, takes over hill and dale if allowed and can completely smother an entire hedge. My only success has been at cutting it off at the root level and keep cutting it off. Otherwise, I have seen the stuff take down 40' hardwood trees by chocking them out.

My point. I Think a flail would work nicely for this invasive, but you mentioned the arrival of invasives AFTER mowing. Are you referring to those invasives that will thrive due to increased sunlight? I am not entirely certain what the connection is between flail mowing and invasive species.



You have a wealth of knowledge for the newbies here. We appreciate it.

SI2305

JD 2305
200CX, LX4, 60" Grader blade, 60" LandPride finish mower that replaced our old lawn mower, middlebuster, home made grass rake for long field grass collection, and now a specialized trailer to move heavy logs

What you want to do to save yourself a lot of aggravation and whiplash from stems is decide how wide the fabric must be for you to mow comfortably with or without a canopy of branches at head level.

It took me 10 years and my father nearly losing an eye to convince him to trim his hardwoods back (aspen, red maple -another invasive, paper birch
sugar maples etc., as he let them droop to the ground as we had a very dense close canopy of hardwoods over the established turf at the home place . Your trees will not suffer for trimming as long as they are dormant and you follow the guidelines for the specie involved.

I go powered pole pruner crazy when required as the last thing I need is a branch breaking when the wife or her dogs/freeloaders!!!! areoutside in winter.


the next project is getting the two 8 foot diameter weeping willows down and turned into boiler food!!!!

The nice thibg about pines is they can take a lotof abuse and still give you zero problems and the weeds/invasives cannot grow under them BUT they will wind around the limbs and as along as you clip them(ivy stems) they will rot away eventually.


This is the reason I had the two 100 year old box elders removed one sheared after an ice storm and I did not want to have the possiblity either one breaking and killing my wife or the dogs I had at the time.

The stumps on those things are so big 6 foot plus in diameter they will have to be dug out as they are suckering and I need to have the room for the second hoop shed.


Long branches for hardwoods and soft woods like bix elder and high limbs are pretty to look at in season but they are deadly at any time- several of the trees planted in Central Park in New York City had to be trimmed back past the walkways or removed entirely due thier age and or ice damage and they mananged to kill a couple of folks in the recent past in summer and winter both if I remember correctly. Any tree limb has weight and mass and gravity on its side and they dont take prisoners no matter the season.


I just want you to be an informed consumer.

 

[leonz]

There is also a China flail that some TBN members have bought. I haven't heard much about them for the past year but the initial reports were positive. Some guy up in ?Washington state was importing them and selling via eBay as I recall. I forget the exact name as it sounded like Befco...?Bestco or something like that. Those mowers were about half of what Caroni's cost but I would be fearful of needing parts five years from now with a one man operation as the importer.

Bestco from what I remember of the name, what scares me about them is I saw no weights on the rotor and how thin the mower shroud is on thier flail mowers.

These are the two main issues about thier flailmowers I really shiver thinking about. the one minor issue is the wheel bearings/bushings on these two specific brands that I have talked about previously.