Flail Mower Rotary vs. Flail vs. Sickle vs. MMM

[tom_k]

What are the pros and cons of the major mower types?

I have about 6 acres to mow.
1 is newly established warm season grass, where we need to knock off competing weeds at about 8-12" before they go to seed. Weeds can include tough stuff, and we do not want to leave heavy windrows that will cover juvenile grass.

~2 acres is open woodland with fescue that I'd prefer to cut infrequently. Maybe 1x/month.

~3 acres is fescue lawn and pathways that I like to mow once or twice a week. Some of this area borders hedgerows so it'd be great to have the option of sticking a mower out to the side (like a sickle bar or some flails).

Currently I use a King Kutter 60" free-floating rear-mount finish mower. It does an o.k. (not great) job on the lawn.
Wooden front rollers are a pain (get clogged with grass).
Not really meant for weed-wacking, though I've done it.

So what's the best, most cost-effective solution for my needs,
assuming 1 (or at most 2) mower(s)? My tractor is a new NH TC33DA Boomer. The mid-mount mower looks nice for close-in work, but looks like a pain to get on and off. I'm thinking a flail mower (like NH 918) might be my best all-around choice
for quality of cut & versatility.

 

[slowrev]

I could be wrong, but the flail mowers I have seen work seem to leave a pretty ugly cut. Your best bet might be a sharp rotary cutter. Just my opinion .... It will be a bit harder than the finish mower to keep the cutting height even if your land is not smooth though.
Ben

 

[tom_k]

That's interesting.
In some literature I've seen,
quality-of-cut is said to be an advantage of the flail compared to rotary types.

But there seem to be many varieties of flail.

I wonder if what you saw was the result of dull blades,
or a mower not intended for finish mowing, or if flail mowers in general are just not suited to finish-quality lawn maintenance.

Maybe a good strategy would be to keep my KingKutter for finish work, and use a flail such as NH 918 or Rhino RHD62 to keep hedgerows and tall grass (or weedy areas) in check.

 

[Tom_H]

There are a variety of flail mowers for a variety pf purposes, light duty to heavy duty. I'm oversimplifying, but it basically goes like this. Light duty has a lighter body and knife blades which cut grass stems and leaves a finished look. Heavy duty has a heavier body and hammer blades which break the stems of whatever you're cutting and leaves a rougher looking cut.

My BX2200 has a 60" MMM for the turf, and I have a GearMore rough cutter for the brush. My MMM comes off/on very easily on my smooth concrete garage pad. I set the anti scalp wheels into small sized super-dollies and leave the tractor in neutral so that it's very easy to move the MMM and the tractor into perfect alignment. The MMM comes off or on in less than 5 min. I have the brush hog on a dolly so that it also rolls right into position and comes on or off in less than 5 min. For my own situation, I think the applications are different enough to require an appropriate tool for a specific application. Even if there were a perfect "all in 1 cutter" for all applications, there is still the problem that weed seeds will be picked up out in the rough then dropped into the lawn when the cutter is taken to the turf.

All 4 of the machines you've mentioned can work very well. Still though, each was designed with a specific purpose in mind. Siclebar mowers were designed as a harvesting cutter, trimming close to the ground while leaving the rest of the plant undamaged and ready to be gathered as crop. Maintainence time is when the biggest differences become noticeable. The siclebar teeth have to be sharp and aligned well to give a good scissor cut. Working on so many separate cutting surfaces on either siclebar or flail implements is much more labor intensive than sharpening the rotating blades on a MMM, RFM, or rough cutter. An advantage of these two is the ability to offset. A siclebar, in particular, can do things like reach under a fence line or be lowered between trees then lifted back up. Some flails are even mounted on long boom poles and used to give a "haircut" to the top of tall hedge rows. Siclebars and flails tend to be used by roadside maintainence crews. Most of us are not in need of these exotic applications.

If I absolutely had to go with just one cutting implement, I guess I'd probably find the most heavy duty RFM available.

These are just my 2 cents worth of thoughts. Good luck with your decision.

 

[Tom_H]

I just learned about the Woods RM990. It has the design of a large rear finish mower, but has free pivoting blades like a rough cutter. It is a compromise between the two and may be the best solution to what you're looking for. Apparently it will cut fairly thick stuff and give a semi-finished look. Won't cut as thick as a rough cutter nor look quite as good as a RFM, yet cuts thicker than RFM and gives better look than rc.

It is big though: 90" wide and takes 25-50 hp at pto.

 

[RickB]

I love my RM990, but a TC33 won't run it in the stuff he wants to mow. May not like lifting it either. They act heavier on the hitch than a Bush Hog SQ72.

 

[frank_f15]

no matter what type mower he uses, depending on the type of grass and how high it gets he will not get a perfect cut, unless he keeps the grass short and cuts more often than 1 x a month

 

[Tom_H]

I agree. He says he'll cut his lawn once or twice a week and the fescue out in the woodland every month or so. Sounds like the woodland will have a more rugged look anyway.

Rick, you're not the only person to say that the RM990 needs more hp than advertised. A thread running nearby called "Right Tractor for Woods RM990?" has several people saying the same thing. Those with enough hp seem to love it though.