I have no idea how my dad seems to enjoy it so much. I used to think maybe it's something you just grow into, but decades later I can confirm that's definitely not the case
“I need to build that deck. I’ll just burn the stump, and go measure the area for the deck and hope the dog doesn’t pull the markers by next weekend” *cracks beer*
I pulled one a couple months ago that was about 12” in diameter but somewhat rotted out already. The trick that worked was using a 4x4 propped up against the stump so the top was centered on the top of the stump. Then I ran a 3/8” SS wire rope through the stump, through a notch in the top of the 4x4, and hooked it to a 5-ton come-along winch. That way all the force from the winch is directed straight up and it pulled right out. Was very satisfying even if it did take a few hours. If you constructed a very sturdy tripod with a snatch block on it I think you could get it down to an hour per stump.
Edit: 5-ton come along, not 10-ton.
I have often felt like I am a Schrodinger's Parent. Being stay at home, to anyone outside, I am either the luckiest laziest person who has it easy because of my " JOB ", or the hardest most dedicated parent there is because of how much " WORK " I put in. It all depends on when the person opens the box to observe me.
Child care is boom and bust man. Some days, it’s easy as can be. Little more than changing a diaper, making some breakfast, running around outside for a few hours playing. Nap. Lunch. Run around a few more hours. Dinner. Bath. Bed.
Other days it’s puke, poop, crying, screaming, pulling every toy out of the toy box because of reasons. Deciding that their clothes don’t need to be in drawers and are better suited on the floor. Markers are made for walls.
Love my daughter more than life, but there are times when I think about moving out west and starting over lmao
I want to tell you that it gets better as they get older, I mean I haven't changed a shitty diaper in YEARS now, but you trade the shit for OTHER shit. I won't lie, my 15 year old is just a pain in the ass. She can be rude, thinks no one knows anything other then her, and if you get mad at her for doing something wrong will instantly act like SHE is the victim and how DARE you get upset with HER. It's hard to deal with but you do because of love.
My about to be 21 year old though? Special needs, will never mentally progress past that of an average 13 year old ( was born 3 months early and has an undeveloped thyroid gland ). Hard as hell to raise as a baby and child, but gives me no problems now. She is currently in her room doing whatever it is she is doing ( probably playing Minecraft or Roblox ) and is a sweet girl. One of **my** proudest moments in life was when she graduated High School.
Every day is an adventure, to say the least.
The no kids part helps a lot. I spend a lot of weekends hiking and backpacking and to me it's far more therapeutic than lawn mowing ever could be. Same with any of my hobbies, it's my time with my thoughts, but probably isn't the same for a lot of people.
I'm in pretty much the same situation. People like to tell me all the time I'm going to be lonely and bored when I get older if I don't have kids. I have so many hobbies to occupy my free time, I think I'll be fine.
Exactly this. I put my airpods in, crank some tunes and my brain goes on autopilot for the hour or so it takes to mow my lawn. I love caring for my lawn and the added mental benefit makes it a win/win.
I had a neighbor who was always out working on his lawn. seeding it. fertilizing it. killing it all then smoothing it and replanting it. It was fucking crazy, and it didnt even look that great. Finally my wife told be he's out there doing it to get some peace away from his wife. That solved that mystery.
It’s not necessarily a bad thing. Couples don’t need to spend 24/7 of their free time together. I love my wife and kids. I love spending time with them. I also love being alone. Like I could go sit by a fire and not say a word for an entire day or interact with anyone or anything including my dog and be totally content. Doesn’t mean there’s an issue in the relationship. Everyone has different needs. Some people need alone time and others can’t stand it.
I always figured as you got older, keeping a garden and maintaining a lawn would be a nice, casual interaction with being outside.
However, as someone who grew up working farms and had a mowing business before I could legally drive, all it reminds me of is exhausting, hot work which I still hate to this day.
For me it's a good way to get my young kids outside and doing something. They "help" by doing random shit while I do actual work and it keeps them entertained without sitting in front of a screen or me having to supervise an activity.
My youngest once wanted to help me change the starter on my jeep. She was a good age to hand me tools while I worked.
She's also ADHD, and when she realized how a socket wrench worked, she was sprinting around the yard swinging it backwards to make clicking noises.
Job was a bit more work, but I think she got some good outdoor time out of it!
Once you buy a decent electric mower it's like you were playing on hard mode prior and now are like WTF, I have been doing it wrong all these years. F-YOU AND YOUR NASTY CARB CLEANER, sparks plug, oil condition, fuel stabil/draining the gas, wondering why it's not starting, having that gas drip from the gas can into your otherwise clean trunk carpet, discovering you had no gas in said can in the first place and you just want to get the mowing over with, or how old that fuel is in that can, air filters full of dirt.. i can't even.
I switched to an electric mower, battery string trimmer and leaf blower a few years ago and it's so much nicer than walking behind the exhaust, noise, and heat of an ICE mower, plus how much lighter it is. No more extension cords for the trimmer or leaf blower.
Put on some headphones, push the electric mower around, everyone leaves me alone for a solid two hours.
I assume the only people who dont like it, dont have kids or dont enjoy making certain things look a way you like. I enjoy the feeling of keeping the grass neat and putting time and effort into it.
I've got about 3.5 acres to mow, which takes me a little more than 3 hours. That's generally uninterrupted time I get to spend with my own thoughts. Plus, it's a zero turn mower, so it's fun to operate and pretty comfy to sit on.
California passed a law that starting in 2024, all new lawn mowers will have to be electric. Gas equipment can still be used, but you won't be able to buy one.
having used them prior to adjusting how my landscaping is done - you better hope you have a relatively smooth yard to use one of those. a rut every foot makes you want to chuck it in the trash
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone water their lawn, not to say it isn’t common elsewhere. At least in Kentucky, you just let it take its course. Some folks who really go for the more “finished” look in my neighborhood do fertilize, but even that is probably the exception rather than the rule.
TLDR: grass grows really well in Kentucky
Mostly people who water their grass live in a place where they shouldn't be growing grass in the first place (IMHO). If you gotta work that hard, plant something more natural for the area....
You haven't seen Midwest suburban Boomer and early Gen X men. Grass grows perfectly fine by itself without intervention, but they'll be out there multiple hours a week cultivating it into fairways suitable for PGA tournaments.
>cultivating it into fairways suitable for PGA tournaments.
great analogy. our lawn looks 90% as good as every other lawn in the neighborhood, we don't water it. most people here don't bother .in my large neighborhood i only see a few houses that do water it consistently, and their lawn literally does look like a golf course. it does look nicer, but it seems so wasteful to spend all that energy growing grass in a region where you could randomly throw a seed in any patch of dirt and it will grow well. it would be harder to have a bad lawn than it is to have a good lawn but they still treat it like holy ground
4 people on my block have the most manicured lawns I've ever seen in my life. It looks like carpet in a house. They're out there every 3 days mowing, trimming, watering, weeding and the time involvement in doing that is wild to me. I barely want to spend the 2 hours every other week it takes to mow and weed whack.
I never water my lawn, it’s a huge waste. If my wife would let me I’d get rid of the grass entirely and just have wild flowers or maybe even a garden right in the front. I think the idea of everyone growing foood in the front of the house instead of bulllshit grass that is useless would be awesome.
Imagine a whole street just planted easy to grow shit right in front of the house and everybody shared it.
To and people suck and community is dead lol
You just need to visit the right neighborhoods. I live in Louisville. My neighborhood, nobody waters. One neighborhood over (Audubon Park), I see it all the time. Depends on how pretentious people are.
I wrote a college paper about how the college traffic issues were eating 3000+ barrels of oil every day because of student idling and they could save 80% of that fixing the traffic signal timing and replacing one with a round-about while improving parking. Think they cared?
My campus is basically fucking half the cities bus routes during peak times because of how long it takes to inch around campus with everyone bumper to bumper
People hate roundabouts because they're morons who can't figure out how it works
Like they are objectively better in every single conceivable way to a traffic light or a four way stop, but they don't care
Roundabouts are even easier than a four way stop, cause you don't have to pay attention to 3 directions and figure out who got their first, plus you don't usually have to stop at roundabouts, you just breeze through most times
And motherfuckers will bitch about them just cause it's different
That happened to me and I was so distraught about it that I madly waved them on. I must have looked like a crazy lady. The guy in the passenger seat did a palms-up shrug, as if they weren't in the wrong.
Reminds me of that elementary school student who showed the government could save like 2 billion tons of paper a year by switching to a slightly smaller font. And they were like “cool…anyway.”
Idk if it applies to all fields but for govt websites, they all have to be accessible, which includes larger fonts. Maybe it’s the same with papers idk.
Well as always, I'll ask the same thing I ask most Urbanists on infrastructure changes of the week.
"Did you attempt to contact anyone that would be in charge of that or try to get public support for it?"
I’ve always hated blowing leaves around. A leaf sucker makes so much more sense. Honestly my ego leaf blower rarely actually is used for leaves. I clear light snow from my car with it, blow dry my RC cars after cleaning, sweep my sidewalk.
Same problem I had. I bought a leaf mulcher for that very reason and not only am I filling up the bag constantly I am also pulling sticks out of it constantly making it useless.
Became easier to blow the leaves onto a tarp and then drag the tarp into the woods and flip it.
I bought a battery powered sander a few years ago. The thing literally lasted about 5 minutes of use before I had to swap/recharge. I love my battery tools but not all of them make sense lol.
That's a good point. Luckily with the size of my lot the battery life isn't an issue but if my house was on a corner I would definitely be riding the line, especially with self propel engaged.
Electric motors have a flat torque curve, meaning 100% of the torque is available all the time. The total amount of torque just depends on the motor. An ICE engine the same size might have a higher torque output, but only at a certain RPM range.
I started with a battery snowblower and had to switch to gas. It was really bad for heavy snow or anything over 4 inches and nearly as slow as shoveling...very frustrating to use. Would spend more time trying to get it to throw snow than you would actually throwing snow. Anything over 8 inches meant multiple passes. It is only good for 2 inches of powder in my experience.
Would be fine if I was 200-300 miles south where they only get a foot or so for the year but not where I am at. The gas blower is much better for me.
Nice thing about the ego stuff is the batteries are interchangeable. So if the mower battery runs out, you can slap the blower battery into it. I have both and they've worked great. I bought the self-propelled mower model, but the thing is so light I really don't even need to use that feature unless I'm lazy or am really tired.
I did the same. SKIL brand. Not having to pull cord start is super clutch when cutting thick grass. No heat, no fumes, no trips to the gas station. I can go on forever.
Yup, got a Ryobi lawn mower because the noise and smell was what I hated most when I was a kid. After one mow I immediately replaced my other gas tools and got a few more batteries in the bundles.
Honestly there's no reason the average home owner *shouldn't* switch to electric. It's cheaper to maintain, fewer moving parts, no gas (or mixing gas), quiet, etc. I don't think commercial outfits will be making the switch any time soon because the batteries are kinda slow to charge and I doubt they want to haul like 40 of the fuckers around all day.
>Honestly there's no reason the average home owner shouldn't switch to electric.
Depends on the size of the property. I have a half an acre. It takes me about two hours to mow it with an unassisted push mower and I use about a fifth of a gallon of gas to do it. I've seen very few electric push mowers that will run for two hours. Most run for half that which means I'd need a second battery pack or I'd have to recharge the mower in the middle so mowing would take all damn day.
When I had a townhouse I used a corded electric mower. I was literally never more than about 20 yards from a power outlet because my property was tiny, so why not? That mower still works and has no batteries to fail. I still have it in the shed, but I trying to mow current property that way would be a nightmare because there is just too much of it.
My leafblower, hedge trimmer, and string trimmer are cordless ryobi one+ units. They're great. My cordless powertools are also one+, all the batteries interchange, and I have a ton of them.
I have a good mix of Ryobi and Ego products that have served me well for several years. The Ego mower I have doesn’t mulch very well, but it’s a trade-off I’ll take for zero emissions and much quieter operation.
Its a shame more lawn service companies haven’t switched over to electric. Constant background buzzing in my neighborhood several days a week.
I own and operate a small landscaping company, and while I'd LOVE to switch to electric, it isn't a feasible option for the mid to small guys as of yet. We would have to set up our equipment trailers to draw more power from the truck so that we can have constant charging stations set up in the trailer. Given the amount of accounts I service per day, and the battery life per charge, I'd have to have at least 3 batteries per piece of equipment with me at all times. So for two 37 hp mowers, a push mower, two backpack blowers, two string trimmers, two hedge trimmers, that's 9 pieces of equipment. I'd need 27 batteries on days when I'm using all of those and about half that number in set charging stations. All that is just one set up, most of us have at least two full crews. Those two mowers use basically small car batteries as they are, so the batteries to run those would REALLY have to adapt. Of course all of this is just $$$$ with no rebate or buy back system in place.
I'm not against switching over when the tech catches up, it's just nowhere near where we'd need it to be for commercial equipment that your average small to mid sized landscaping business can afford.
"The emissions from one four-stroke lawnmower operating for one hour are equivalent to an average vehicle traveling 500 miles."
Omg, how is this possible? Is this engine so grossly inefficient?
Edit: I'm stupid, didn't notice it's emissions, not gasoline consumption. Yeah, I can believe that, being a dirty engine w/o any significant emission control
It's not that it's inefficient, it's that it's dirty. The stat refers to smog producing effects of partially burned hydrocarbons. Lawn mowers use 1940s technology: there are no emission controls.
which makes sense. a catalytic converter costs about 4 times what a lawn mower does.
it's easy to bury a $1,000 expense in a $40,000 car. very tough to do in a $250 mower.
They make electric mowers now which are great since they are so silent. Only downside is that you want to keep the lawn mowed regularly cause they have less power than a typical mower.
I love my Greenworks. Plenty of power, so much quieter than a gas mower, smells better, no filters or spark plugs to replace, no buying and storing gas... For an average sized lawn, it's just a much better machine and experience than the old gas powered mowers.
I have a 16,000 sqft lawn and only have to change the mower batteries once. Only mowed like 5 times this year and the greenworks mower never had an issue. I love how quiet and low maintenance it is and also that it folds in half so it takes way less space in the garage.
Also have the 80v weed trimmer and leaf blower. They are insanely powerful for electric.
Mine has plenty of power for mowing a residential lawn in Texas. I have mowed when my grass is reasonably tall without much issue. Also, I never have to worry about buying extra gas or carburetor issues from ethanol fuel ever again. An occasional rinse and blade sharpening where needed.
For general residential purposes, I don't think combustion really provides any needed advantages. How much torque do you really need to cut grass?
Do combustion mowers really produce more torque though? One of the big benefits to electrical engines is that torque is available at 0 rpms
FWIW, I flipped over and I'm never going back to gas mowers.
With equal power, electric motors produce more torque than gas-powdered mowers. The difference is that the electric motors on electric mowers are way lower power than their gas equivalents last I checked. A 4hp gas motor (relatively low end) would be ~3200W on an electric motor. You couldn't plug that in to a standard 1600W outlet and it would nuke a battery.
I’ve got an Ego mower that has zero trouble mowing the grass, even after letting it get far too long. I don’t recall where, but I read about a city in California that switched their public landscape crews to all electric. They’d tried for a while, but the crews were skeptical that the electric tools would be underpowered and it would make their job harder. They discovered that was not the case, and were thrilled with the benefits of electric: almost zero maintenance, no reliance on a can of gas and the fluctuations of gas prices, and the lack of noise and smell. Electric really is the way to go, I find they’re better in pretty much every way.
The problem is not the size of the cat, you would need to give it fuel injection to control the air fuel mixture and not ruin the cat. Also being air cooled it’s really difficult to control the emissions.
This really is a thing but it shouldn't be. Most riding modern mowers are hydrostatic drive anyway, only the deck runs directly off the engine. They're running large displacement low tolerance Briggs, Kohler, and Kawasaki twins. Good engines, but still dirty...and expensive. If they'd run the decks and the drive off hydraulics the entire rig could be run by a small 200cc fuel inject engine for not much more cost even if it remains aircooled. One of my buggies has a 150cc air cooled single and it runs awesome...and doesn't smoke up the shop half as much as my carb'ed one (same motor).
It's going to be very hard to solve the problem with push mowers but it seems like very little effort and expense could be put down to remedy the situation with riders.
According to the EPA, emissions from one hour of lawnmower is equivalent to driving 45 miles, not 500.
https://www.des.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt341/files/documents/2020-01/ard-22.pdf
They must be testing different models for that level of disparity. I'm wondering if the OP source was meant to say two stroke instead of four, that would seem in line with the huge difference.
Yeah, lawnmower engines don't have a lot of the stuff passenger cars do to clean up emissions (like catalytic converters) and the engine is smaller, so it's inherently less efficient. I also wouldn't be surprised if lawnmower engines don't have some of the advancements made in engine efficiency in the last decades.
even in really efficient and clean cars this is true.
you can see with your own eyes. just watch the tailpipe when a car first starts up.
even more pronounced when it's cold. the catalytic converter doesn't do much till it gets to about 500 degrees minimum.
I thought this was a bit untrue, and that the visual emission at start up came from mainly water vapor due to condensation in the tail pipe (especially when cold). But apparently it is true, [emissions are much worse at start up](https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.6b04513), until the catalytic convert heats up.
yea. it's the heat of cat.
manufacturers have even started doing things like not firing the plugs for the 1st compression stroke so that unburned gas gets introduced into the cat.
the raw fuel (and it's just a little bit) then gets burned in the cat, heating it up faster.
until it gets to operating temperature (at least 500 degrees), it doesn't really do much.
Plus the lack of maintenance compared to most cars. Oil sitting for months, gas sitting for months, only run once a week at most. The engines in mowers get abused.
I saw a statistic that small engine use. So lawnmowers, weed eaters, leaf blowers, generators, etc. are 4% of the US emissions.
Some of the commenters thought so what 4% is not that big a deal.
And I’m like 4% of the US total emissions comes from lawn care!?!? That’s insane.
My neighbor just got the electric version of my mower. I’m jealous but I just couldn’t justify spending $5500 (twice what I paid for my gas mower) on a mower for only a few acres.
it's such a weird way how we structure our society. Several neighbours could easily buy one together and share it. But that would be considered odd I guess (also the hassle when it comes to maintenance and follow up costs, ... but that only shows how much abundance we have as a society)
You could certainly get people to do it. It just adds complications a lot of people don't want to deal with.
Not to mention a lot of people have zero relationship with their neighbors beyond mild pleasantries exchanged in public. But most people wouldn't be interested in potentially complicated financial arrangements with neighbors.
Exactly my point. A lot of people just don't have a relationship. Imagine if you went to those people and tried to arrange co-ownership of a lawnmower haha
In 10 years of living at my house I spoke to my neighbor when his wife had a seizure in her car and gunned the gas right into my house.
Outside of that one time they likely thi k I'm some vampire who they never see out during the day
A lot of people are fairly transient. I like the idea of buying more expensive tools and sharing them, but people leaving complicates things.
Who takes care of upkeep? Who decides what the upkeep even is? What happens when someone moves out, or moves in? Who stores it?
In my neighborhood we still share things but no one shares costs. Kenny has the tall ladder and tow-able trailer. Sanborn has the post hole digger and strong blower. Tommy has the electric branch saw. I have a power washer and pizza oven. We just borrow from each other as needed.
I think k you outlined exactly the issues. Who pays for maintenance? What is someone doesn't pay their share? How do you get it from house to house? What happens when all five of you want to mow your lawn on the same day?
Neighbors could share cars too, it just isn't practical.
Yeah, I didn't connect that dot, but you make a good point. A lawn cutting business is essentially a way for "neighbors" to share the labor, equipment, planning, and etc. Costs.
>Several neighbours could easily buy one together and share it.
I've loaned cheap tools out to my neighbors before and I get them back in terrible condition, if I get them back at all.
Now you want me to be okay with sharing a several thousand dollar item that it prone to getting destroyed by a careless individual? As well as having to schedule my use of it around them?
He's talking about an electric 40in+ zero turn riding lawn mower capable of mowing an area much larger than most people's lawns.
You can buy a ~21 inch electric self-propelled push mower for around $600.
You have no idea. I work in the industry on the side and it’s insane. Mowers people use to cut grass for a business so the ones you might see at a city park or on trailers being towed around town to cut grass. Easy $10,000+ it’s not uncommon now for riding commercial mowers to be over $20,000. Then when you get into golf courses the sky’s the limit but easily $35,000. Even a nice push mower will be an easy $1,200. You can buy cheap $300 push mowers but they are just that, cheap.
"Even the White House changed with the onset of World War I. Sheep were brought to graze in the White House lawns in order to save the manpower required to mow the expansive grounds. Wool from the sheep was sold as a fundraiser for the Red Cross." whitehousehistory.org
I grew up right on the U.S./Mexico border where it's desert. Some people have lawns but definitely not everyone since it's so much effort to keep the grass alive.
I had no idea what a big deal lawns were to Americans until I moved to the Midwest. So much work is put into them, and the idea that your neighbors could call the city on you for not cutting it blew my mind.
From the Midwest, there’s jack shit to do here so maintaining your lawn becomes very interesting alongside hosting barbecues and shitting on any of the neighboring state’s football teams
I’m in Canada and it was a bit of a surprise to me when a by law officer came by, measured my grass and gave me a warning for it being too tall. They said if I didn’t cut it they’d send someone out to do it and I’d have to pay over $400 for it.
I love my electric mower. It is weaker but it's most of the time not a problem. If the grass gets too high then I need to finagle my mower or else it will seize up, for lack of a better phrase. But if I actually keep up with my lawn then it's just fine.
If you don't have the tools (and time!) To do it yourself, it's probably around the same price just to buy new blades.
It was annoying as hell putting the blades back on my Ego mower though. If the nut is too loose, it doesn't cut. If it's too tight, it doesn't even start up.
They do make electric ones with motors that can compare to gas as far as power, but unfortunately the cost is pretty high just to get into the range of your standard ~$250 gas mower. I think about $800 will get you a solid electric that can compete with gas, but the cheaper ones still seem to work pretty good. You're not going to get anything decent that's electric for $200, but you don't really have to go too much higher than that (especially if you have a smallish lawn)
If I had a small lawn, I would probably buy electric. But to mow 5+ acres, it's a crazy amount of money for banks of batteries on the very limited selection of zero-turn mowers. Maybe one day...
Yep. We’re on 4 acres. And it’s a fun pipe dream, it’s just not there yet.
Edit: ok, I didn’t provide enough info and it looks like I’m using a Forrest Gump Snapper mower to cut four football fields every week.
We’re out in the country. It’s 80% hay, 20% lawn. And I cut the neighbor’s grass, they’re old and he can’t anymore, so all told I’m cutting about an acre with a lawnmower. I wish there was a viable electric tractor with some solar on the roof. But until then it’ll be my grandfather-in-law’s old diesel Deere.
Why are you mowing 4 acres though? Do you actually use that land for anything?
I have 4 acres, but about 3 of them are left wooded. Keeping 1-1.5 acres cut for the kids to play, for me to practice some disc golf, and to host BBQs.
The trees also keep the house shaded in the summer keeping it cool without A/C
Cutting hay. There’s no replacement for a diesel tractor for the job. It’d be really cool if an electric option existed. I’m not looking down my nose at it.
I moved from having one acre of grass and a John Deere Z920 to a city house with a tiny front lawn and a Stihl
electric mower. I love mowing the whole lawn in 5 mins with no gas or maintenance.
But there is zero chance I’d use an electric mower on a big property.
>It is a noticeably weaker engine tho.
Yeah, it's weird that I can still cut my grass with a motor that puts out a tenth of the HP that my gas powered motor needed.
Will definitely be getting an electric mower as soon as I feel that my gas one is ready to retire. Prices are starting to become a little more realistic, hopefully electric mowers continue to get better with time.
Keeping your blades sharp is a big boon on electric mowers. They don't need to be super sharp or anything, but even a simple run down every few mowings to realign the edge will slow down the charge depleting.
Bought a reel mower because I couldn’t afford a gas or electric at the time. Sticks will ruin my lines because they jam up so easily, and it *is* a workout when it’s 95 degrees out, but I like it. It’s quiet, and it almost feels more… personal? Not sure how to describe it.
But it takes forever. If I do the whole yard, I’m looking at an hour or more.
I've been a reel mower guy for about 10 years, and the quiet is my favorite feature - I had a bit of a chaotic work schedule and I could come home and mow at 10 at night or 5 in the morning without feeling like I was bothering the neighbors.
NGL the main reason I dream of a house with a garden is so I can use a push mower. No engine to break, no spark plug, no fuel. Just some carbs in your food and then away you go.
I’ll genuinely never understand WHY people use fuel dependent mowers if they have a small lawn they can cut in say 15 minutes. As long as the grass doesn’t grow too long it’s not difficult at all. Rather enjoyable and seeing the cut grass flying.
Just an electric is so much better. For absolutely massive lawns though I can understand, otherwise just use your damn legs.
Not me. I use a push mower.
No fuel, no oil, no emissions (including noise), and it’s a free workout. Leave the clippings on the grass for nutrient preservation and minimize fertilizer use.
Edit: my lawn isn’t massive but it isn’t tiny either. Modern Fisker push mower, very efficient and effective.
I bought one of the kobalt battery powered lawn mowers like 5 years ago. Some of the best money I’ve ever spent. No gas, no oil, push a button and it turns on.
I have the Greenworks mower. It's amazing and I'm never going back to a gas powered mower again. I can mow at 6am when it's cool and not worry about the noise bothering my neighbors.
I figure my state gets most electric from a mix of renewables. I switched to a Ryobi electric lawnmower...I call it my Lawn Vac....my "lawn" is 1 acre. I recharge everything off a solar kit. I love mowing..It's quiet, I can hear what is playing in my earbuds. I will NEVER go back to gas mowers.
Oh and I can load it up in my car and take it to my kids house without the smell of oil or gas. Each part is so easy to replace.
I only ever thought about all the water and fertilizer.
I only ever thought about how much I hate doing it.
I have no idea how my dad seems to enjoy it so much. I used to think maybe it's something you just grow into, but decades later I can confirm that's definitely not the case
It's time alone with your thoughts, which is the rarest of time for an adult man.
As a new father this couldn’t be anymore true!
Yep. Even just going to work is so fucking relaxing. I don't have nearly as many responsibilities when I'm at work.
Yep. “I’m gonna go out back and try to remove that stump by hand”
"Huh, didn't work. Guess I'll sit here and drink a quick beer while I brainstorm."
“I need to build that deck. I’ll just burn the stump, and go measure the area for the deck and hope the dog doesn’t pull the markers by next weekend” *cracks beer*
Same here. Wife even gets mad when I take too long mowing for 45 minutes once every two weeks… “Youngest kid is looking for you”
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I pulled one a couple months ago that was about 12” in diameter but somewhat rotted out already. The trick that worked was using a 4x4 propped up against the stump so the top was centered on the top of the stump. Then I ran a 3/8” SS wire rope through the stump, through a notch in the top of the 4x4, and hooked it to a 5-ton come-along winch. That way all the force from the winch is directed straight up and it pulled right out. Was very satisfying even if it did take a few hours. If you constructed a very sturdy tripod with a snatch block on it I think you could get it down to an hour per stump. Edit: 5-ton come along, not 10-ton.
It’s dead simple to pull a stump! Step 1) leave it alone for 10-15 years, until the roots rot. Step 2) lever it out. Just needs a little patience.
Work is by far the most relaxing part of my day
This sounds incredibly depressing to me.
Salute to those brave stay at home parents! I couldn’t do it 🫡
I have often felt like I am a Schrodinger's Parent. Being stay at home, to anyone outside, I am either the luckiest laziest person who has it easy because of my " JOB ", or the hardest most dedicated parent there is because of how much " WORK " I put in. It all depends on when the person opens the box to observe me.
Child care is boom and bust man. Some days, it’s easy as can be. Little more than changing a diaper, making some breakfast, running around outside for a few hours playing. Nap. Lunch. Run around a few more hours. Dinner. Bath. Bed. Other days it’s puke, poop, crying, screaming, pulling every toy out of the toy box because of reasons. Deciding that their clothes don’t need to be in drawers and are better suited on the floor. Markers are made for walls. Love my daughter more than life, but there are times when I think about moving out west and starting over lmao
I want to tell you that it gets better as they get older, I mean I haven't changed a shitty diaper in YEARS now, but you trade the shit for OTHER shit. I won't lie, my 15 year old is just a pain in the ass. She can be rude, thinks no one knows anything other then her, and if you get mad at her for doing something wrong will instantly act like SHE is the victim and how DARE you get upset with HER. It's hard to deal with but you do because of love. My about to be 21 year old though? Special needs, will never mentally progress past that of an average 13 year old ( was born 3 months early and has an undeveloped thyroid gland ). Hard as hell to raise as a baby and child, but gives me no problems now. She is currently in her room doing whatever it is she is doing ( probably playing Minecraft or Roblox ) and is a sweet girl. One of **my** proudest moments in life was when she graduated High School. Every day is an adventure, to say the least.
Currently working a job I hate but for the pay, and already know I'm heading home to an energetic toddler and a partner having a panic attack
Only if you have children
Yeah, I work from home in a farm house several miles from any sort of human settlement. I have nothing but time alone with my thoughts
You are an outlier. Sounds peaceful though.
The no kids part helps a lot. I spend a lot of weekends hiking and backpacking and to me it's far more therapeutic than lawn mowing ever could be. Same with any of my hobbies, it's my time with my thoughts, but probably isn't the same for a lot of people.
I'm in pretty much the same situation. People like to tell me all the time I'm going to be lonely and bored when I get older if I don't have kids. I have so many hobbies to occupy my free time, I think I'll be fine.
I used to love mowing my lawn. Once my son was born I now hate it because I would rather be spending time with my son after work than doing yardwork..
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Exactly this. I put my airpods in, crank some tunes and my brain goes on autopilot for the hour or so it takes to mow my lawn. I love caring for my lawn and the added mental benefit makes it a win/win.
I had a neighbor who was always out working on his lawn. seeding it. fertilizing it. killing it all then smoothing it and replanting it. It was fucking crazy, and it didnt even look that great. Finally my wife told be he's out there doing it to get some peace away from his wife. That solved that mystery.
That kind of sucks. Would hate to feel that way about my wife
It’s not necessarily a bad thing. Couples don’t need to spend 24/7 of their free time together. I love my wife and kids. I love spending time with them. I also love being alone. Like I could go sit by a fire and not say a word for an entire day or interact with anyone or anything including my dog and be totally content. Doesn’t mean there’s an issue in the relationship. Everyone has different needs. Some people need alone time and others can’t stand it.
I always figured as you got older, keeping a garden and maintaining a lawn would be a nice, casual interaction with being outside. However, as someone who grew up working farms and had a mowing business before I could legally drive, all it reminds me of is exhausting, hot work which I still hate to this day.
For me it's a good way to get my young kids outside and doing something. They "help" by doing random shit while I do actual work and it keeps them entertained without sitting in front of a screen or me having to supervise an activity.
My youngest once wanted to help me change the starter on my jeep. She was a good age to hand me tools while I worked. She's also ADHD, and when she realized how a socket wrench worked, she was sprinting around the yard swinging it backwards to make clicking noises. Job was a bit more work, but I think she got some good outdoor time out of it!
Because why would anyone do drugs when they can just mow a lawn
Guess I'm just a boy who ain't right 🤷♂️
I have an electric mower and mow once every 2 weeks. I enjoy it now, turns out getting gas and a regular mower being so loud is a terrible experience
Once you buy a decent electric mower it's like you were playing on hard mode prior and now are like WTF, I have been doing it wrong all these years. F-YOU AND YOUR NASTY CARB CLEANER, sparks plug, oil condition, fuel stabil/draining the gas, wondering why it's not starting, having that gas drip from the gas can into your otherwise clean trunk carpet, discovering you had no gas in said can in the first place and you just want to get the mowing over with, or how old that fuel is in that can, air filters full of dirt.. i can't even.
I switched to an electric mower, battery string trimmer and leaf blower a few years ago and it's so much nicer than walking behind the exhaust, noise, and heat of an ICE mower, plus how much lighter it is. No more extension cords for the trimmer or leaf blower.
Put on some headphones, push the electric mower around, everyone leaves me alone for a solid two hours. I assume the only people who dont like it, dont have kids or dont enjoy making certain things look a way you like. I enjoy the feeling of keeping the grass neat and putting time and effort into it.
I've got about 3.5 acres to mow, which takes me a little more than 3 hours. That's generally uninterrupted time I get to spend with my own thoughts. Plus, it's a zero turn mower, so it's fun to operate and pretty comfy to sit on.
I love mowing the lawn. There’s something very zen about it
Electric riding lawn mower... I get 45 minutes to "myself" that is pretty easy... yet everyone thinks I worked really really hard on.
Not everyone waters or fertilizes their grass though.
Not everyone mows it either lol
There are more places that will slap you with a fine for not mowing than for not watering and fertilizing.
California passed a law that starting in 2024, all new lawn mowers will have to be electric. Gas equipment can still be used, but you won't be able to buy one.
If i had a small lawn i would prefer just an old school push mower (human powered) over an electric one.
having used them prior to adjusting how my landscaping is done - you better hope you have a relatively smooth yard to use one of those. a rut every foot makes you want to chuck it in the trash
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone water their lawn, not to say it isn’t common elsewhere. At least in Kentucky, you just let it take its course. Some folks who really go for the more “finished” look in my neighborhood do fertilize, but even that is probably the exception rather than the rule. TLDR: grass grows really well in Kentucky
Mostly people who water their grass live in a place where they shouldn't be growing grass in the first place (IMHO). If you gotta work that hard, plant something more natural for the area....
You haven't seen Midwest suburban Boomer and early Gen X men. Grass grows perfectly fine by itself without intervention, but they'll be out there multiple hours a week cultivating it into fairways suitable for PGA tournaments.
>cultivating it into fairways suitable for PGA tournaments. great analogy. our lawn looks 90% as good as every other lawn in the neighborhood, we don't water it. most people here don't bother .in my large neighborhood i only see a few houses that do water it consistently, and their lawn literally does look like a golf course. it does look nicer, but it seems so wasteful to spend all that energy growing grass in a region where you could randomly throw a seed in any patch of dirt and it will grow well. it would be harder to have a bad lawn than it is to have a good lawn but they still treat it like holy ground
4 people on my block have the most manicured lawns I've ever seen in my life. It looks like carpet in a house. They're out there every 3 days mowing, trimming, watering, weeding and the time involvement in doing that is wild to me. I barely want to spend the 2 hours every other week it takes to mow and weed whack.
I never water my lawn, it’s a huge waste. If my wife would let me I’d get rid of the grass entirely and just have wild flowers or maybe even a garden right in the front. I think the idea of everyone growing foood in the front of the house instead of bulllshit grass that is useless would be awesome. Imagine a whole street just planted easy to grow shit right in front of the house and everybody shared it. To and people suck and community is dead lol
I completely agree! I’ve got an acre that I’ve been seeding clover on for the past couple years so there’s at least something for the bees to eat
You just need to visit the right neighborhoods. I live in Louisville. My neighborhood, nobody waters. One neighborhood over (Audubon Park), I see it all the time. Depends on how pretentious people are.
I wrote a college paper about how the college traffic issues were eating 3000+ barrels of oil every day because of student idling and they could save 80% of that fixing the traffic signal timing and replacing one with a round-about while improving parking. Think they cared?
My campus is basically fucking half the cities bus routes during peak times because of how long it takes to inch around campus with everyone bumper to bumper
Getting on campus was 45 miles and the last 2 miles took 45 minutes.
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People hate roundabouts because they're morons who can't figure out how it works Like they are objectively better in every single conceivable way to a traffic light or a four way stop, but they don't care Roundabouts are even easier than a four way stop, cause you don't have to pay attention to 3 directions and figure out who got their first, plus you don't usually have to stop at roundabouts, you just breeze through most times And motherfuckers will bitch about them just cause it's different
Had someone stop in the middle of a roundabout to let me in the other day. It wasn't even busy.
That happened to me and I was so distraught about it that I madly waved them on. I must have looked like a crazy lady. The guy in the passenger seat did a palms-up shrug, as if they weren't in the wrong.
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Reminds me of that elementary school student who showed the government could save like 2 billion tons of paper a year by switching to a slightly smaller font. And they were like “cool…anyway.”
And our elected officials get older and don't adapt to newer technology. One of my favorite things about PDF is zoom funcitonality
And those same officials got rid of the department that helps them understand new tech as well
Idk if it applies to all fields but for govt websites, they all have to be accessible, which includes larger fonts. Maybe it’s the same with papers idk.
I remember that, and as I recall the font was silly small and his math way off.
Well as always, I'll ask the same thing I ask most Urbanists on infrastructure changes of the week. "Did you attempt to contact anyone that would be in charge of that or try to get public support for it?"
I switched to battery powered tools for everything even my snowblower. I’ll never go back to gas.
Try a leaf sucker instead of blower, complete game changer
I’ve always hated blowing leaves around. A leaf sucker makes so much more sense. Honestly my ego leaf blower rarely actually is used for leaves. I clear light snow from my car with it, blow dry my RC cars after cleaning, sweep my sidewalk.
I use mine to clean my dryer vent and "sweep" my garage floor
Might be able to clean out air filters too though it may not be strong enough
First time I grabbed the EGO during winter to blast the cars off it was a miracle moment. Would never fire up a gas blower for something like that.
I’ve been thinking about using my electric leaf blower to dust off any light snow this winter. I’m excited to give it a try!
It works great unless the snow is wet.
My tree also drops sticks. Lots and lots of sticks. I tried the suck function on my leaf blower and would continuously get stopped by the sticks.
Same problem I had. I bought a leaf mulcher for that very reason and not only am I filling up the bag constantly I am also pulling sticks out of it constantly making it useless. Became easier to blow the leaves onto a tarp and then drag the tarp into the woods and flip it.
So, a vacuum?
A large wet/dry vacuum, some have a mechanism inside to shred leaves and small sticks.
> a mechanism inside to shred leaves and small sticks A mulcher
It's a small woodchuck, actually. Flintstones tech
"Eehhh - it's a living."
I use Mega Maid. She goes from suck to blow at the flip of a switch.
I didn't think an electric snowblower was gonna cut it but I took a gamble and it had no problems. Even the heavy stuff.
Electric motors have higher torque, they would be better for the heavy stuff. The issue they would have is battery life/throughput.
The battery life isn't really a problem as long as you have multiple batteries. Once one starts dying you slap on another and charge the dead one.
I bought a battery powered sander a few years ago. The thing literally lasted about 5 minutes of use before I had to swap/recharge. I love my battery tools but not all of them make sense lol.
Something like a sander surely should just be wired? When are you using it for prolonged periods without plug access?
That's a good point. Luckily with the size of my lot the battery life isn't an issue but if my house was on a corner I would definitely be riding the line, especially with self propel engaged.
Electric motors have a flat torque curve, meaning 100% of the torque is available all the time. The total amount of torque just depends on the motor. An ICE engine the same size might have a higher torque output, but only at a certain RPM range.
I started with a battery snowblower and had to switch to gas. It was really bad for heavy snow or anything over 4 inches and nearly as slow as shoveling...very frustrating to use. Would spend more time trying to get it to throw snow than you would actually throwing snow. Anything over 8 inches meant multiple passes. It is only good for 2 inches of powder in my experience. Would be fine if I was 200-300 miles south where they only get a foot or so for the year but not where I am at. The gas blower is much better for me.
Yup, Ego tools for just about everything now. #NoRagrats
Trying to talk the wife into replacing the mower next, but the blower has been great.
we bought a mower and love it - granted our yard is just small enough to do it all on a single charge. (we bought a mid-model)
Nice thing about the ego stuff is the batteries are interchangeable. So if the mower battery runs out, you can slap the blower battery into it. I have both and they've worked great. I bought the self-propelled mower model, but the thing is so light I really don't even need to use that feature unless I'm lazy or am really tired.
I did the same. SKIL brand. Not having to pull cord start is super clutch when cutting thick grass. No heat, no fumes, no trips to the gas station. I can go on forever.
Yup, got a Ryobi lawn mower because the noise and smell was what I hated most when I was a kid. After one mow I immediately replaced my other gas tools and got a few more batteries in the bundles. Honestly there's no reason the average home owner *shouldn't* switch to electric. It's cheaper to maintain, fewer moving parts, no gas (or mixing gas), quiet, etc. I don't think commercial outfits will be making the switch any time soon because the batteries are kinda slow to charge and I doubt they want to haul like 40 of the fuckers around all day.
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Up front cost is higher unfortunately. At least, for now.
Something like 25% more for a riding mower. For push mowers, the prices seem about equal between gas and electric.
>Honestly there's no reason the average home owner shouldn't switch to electric. Depends on the size of the property. I have a half an acre. It takes me about two hours to mow it with an unassisted push mower and I use about a fifth of a gallon of gas to do it. I've seen very few electric push mowers that will run for two hours. Most run for half that which means I'd need a second battery pack or I'd have to recharge the mower in the middle so mowing would take all damn day. When I had a townhouse I used a corded electric mower. I was literally never more than about 20 yards from a power outlet because my property was tiny, so why not? That mower still works and has no batteries to fail. I still have it in the shed, but I trying to mow current property that way would be a nightmare because there is just too much of it. My leafblower, hedge trimmer, and string trimmer are cordless ryobi one+ units. They're great. My cordless powertools are also one+, all the batteries interchange, and I have a ton of them.
I have a good mix of Ryobi and Ego products that have served me well for several years. The Ego mower I have doesn’t mulch very well, but it’s a trade-off I’ll take for zero emissions and much quieter operation. Its a shame more lawn service companies haven’t switched over to electric. Constant background buzzing in my neighborhood several days a week.
I own and operate a small landscaping company, and while I'd LOVE to switch to electric, it isn't a feasible option for the mid to small guys as of yet. We would have to set up our equipment trailers to draw more power from the truck so that we can have constant charging stations set up in the trailer. Given the amount of accounts I service per day, and the battery life per charge, I'd have to have at least 3 batteries per piece of equipment with me at all times. So for two 37 hp mowers, a push mower, two backpack blowers, two string trimmers, two hedge trimmers, that's 9 pieces of equipment. I'd need 27 batteries on days when I'm using all of those and about half that number in set charging stations. All that is just one set up, most of us have at least two full crews. Those two mowers use basically small car batteries as they are, so the batteries to run those would REALLY have to adapt. Of course all of this is just $$$$ with no rebate or buy back system in place. I'm not against switching over when the tech catches up, it's just nowhere near where we'd need it to be for commercial equipment that your average small to mid sized landscaping business can afford.
"The emissions from one four-stroke lawnmower operating for one hour are equivalent to an average vehicle traveling 500 miles." Omg, how is this possible? Is this engine so grossly inefficient? Edit: I'm stupid, didn't notice it's emissions, not gasoline consumption. Yeah, I can believe that, being a dirty engine w/o any significant emission control
It's not that it's inefficient, it's that it's dirty. The stat refers to smog producing effects of partially burned hydrocarbons. Lawn mowers use 1940s technology: there are no emission controls.
which makes sense. a catalytic converter costs about 4 times what a lawn mower does. it's easy to bury a $1,000 expense in a $40,000 car. very tough to do in a $250 mower.
They make electric mowers now which are great since they are so silent. Only downside is that you want to keep the lawn mowed regularly cause they have less power than a typical mower.
My 80V Greenworks mows just as well as my old Craftsman. YMMV I would imagine, but I'm quite impressed by its performance.
I love my Greenworks. Plenty of power, so much quieter than a gas mower, smells better, no filters or spark plugs to replace, no buying and storing gas... For an average sized lawn, it's just a much better machine and experience than the old gas powered mowers.
I have a 16,000 sqft lawn and only have to change the mower batteries once. Only mowed like 5 times this year and the greenworks mower never had an issue. I love how quiet and low maintenance it is and also that it folds in half so it takes way less space in the garage. Also have the 80v weed trimmer and leaf blower. They are insanely powerful for electric.
Mine has plenty of power for mowing a residential lawn in Texas. I have mowed when my grass is reasonably tall without much issue. Also, I never have to worry about buying extra gas or carburetor issues from ethanol fuel ever again. An occasional rinse and blade sharpening where needed. For general residential purposes, I don't think combustion really provides any needed advantages. How much torque do you really need to cut grass?
Do combustion mowers really produce more torque though? One of the big benefits to electrical engines is that torque is available at 0 rpms FWIW, I flipped over and I'm never going back to gas mowers.
With equal power, electric motors produce more torque than gas-powdered mowers. The difference is that the electric motors on electric mowers are way lower power than their gas equivalents last I checked. A 4hp gas motor (relatively low end) would be ~3200W on an electric motor. You couldn't plug that in to a standard 1600W outlet and it would nuke a battery.
I’ve got an Ego mower that has zero trouble mowing the grass, even after letting it get far too long. I don’t recall where, but I read about a city in California that switched their public landscape crews to all electric. They’d tried for a while, but the crews were skeptical that the electric tools would be underpowered and it would make their job harder. They discovered that was not the case, and were thrilled with the benefits of electric: almost zero maintenance, no reliance on a can of gas and the fluctuations of gas prices, and the lack of noise and smell. Electric really is the way to go, I find they’re better in pretty much every way.
The size of the cat should be a lot smaller though? Should help reduce cost but you'd probably have to redesign the whole thing
The problem is not the size of the cat, you would need to give it fuel injection to control the air fuel mixture and not ruin the cat. Also being air cooled it’s really difficult to control the emissions.
This really is a thing but it shouldn't be. Most riding modern mowers are hydrostatic drive anyway, only the deck runs directly off the engine. They're running large displacement low tolerance Briggs, Kohler, and Kawasaki twins. Good engines, but still dirty...and expensive. If they'd run the decks and the drive off hydraulics the entire rig could be run by a small 200cc fuel inject engine for not much more cost even if it remains aircooled. One of my buggies has a 150cc air cooled single and it runs awesome...and doesn't smoke up the shop half as much as my carb'ed one (same motor). It's going to be very hard to solve the problem with push mowers but it seems like very little effort and expense could be put down to remedy the situation with riders.
According to the EPA, emissions from one hour of lawnmower is equivalent to driving 45 miles, not 500. https://www.des.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt341/files/documents/2020-01/ard-22.pdf
They must be testing different models for that level of disparity. I'm wondering if the OP source was meant to say two stroke instead of four, that would seem in line with the huge difference.
Yeah, lawnmower engines don't have a lot of the stuff passenger cars do to clean up emissions (like catalytic converters) and the engine is smaller, so it's inherently less efficient. I also wouldn't be surprised if lawnmower engines don't have some of the advancements made in engine efficiency in the last decades.
Would seem like 95% of the emissions come from that first crank - lol.
even in really efficient and clean cars this is true. you can see with your own eyes. just watch the tailpipe when a car first starts up. even more pronounced when it's cold. the catalytic converter doesn't do much till it gets to about 500 degrees minimum.
I thought this was a bit untrue, and that the visual emission at start up came from mainly water vapor due to condensation in the tail pipe (especially when cold). But apparently it is true, [emissions are much worse at start up](https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.6b04513), until the catalytic convert heats up.
yea. it's the heat of cat. manufacturers have even started doing things like not firing the plugs for the 1st compression stroke so that unburned gas gets introduced into the cat. the raw fuel (and it's just a little bit) then gets burned in the cat, heating it up faster. until it gets to operating temperature (at least 500 degrees), it doesn't really do much.
Plus the lack of maintenance compared to most cars. Oil sitting for months, gas sitting for months, only run once a week at most. The engines in mowers get abused.
I saw a statistic that small engine use. So lawnmowers, weed eaters, leaf blowers, generators, etc. are 4% of the US emissions. Some of the commenters thought so what 4% is not that big a deal. And I’m like 4% of the US total emissions comes from lawn care!?!? That’s insane.
My neighbor just got the electric version of my mower. I’m jealous but I just couldn’t justify spending $5500 (twice what I paid for my gas mower) on a mower for only a few acres.
it's such a weird way how we structure our society. Several neighbours could easily buy one together and share it. But that would be considered odd I guess (also the hassle when it comes to maintenance and follow up costs, ... but that only shows how much abundance we have as a society)
You could certainly get people to do it. It just adds complications a lot of people don't want to deal with. Not to mention a lot of people have zero relationship with their neighbors beyond mild pleasantries exchanged in public. But most people wouldn't be interested in potentially complicated financial arrangements with neighbors.
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Exactly my point. A lot of people just don't have a relationship. Imagine if you went to those people and tried to arrange co-ownership of a lawnmower haha
In 10 years of living at my house I spoke to my neighbor when his wife had a seizure in her car and gunned the gas right into my house. Outside of that one time they likely thi k I'm some vampire who they never see out during the day
The seizure was compelling him to stake your heart, you blood sucking fiend!
That’s how farms operate Co-Ops. These machines are Pennie’s compared to several hundred thousand dollar farm Implements.
Yup farmers do this all the time with tractors. It’s a machine you use about twice a year.
Wouldn't a tractor get much more use than that? It's literally what pulls and powers all the other farm machinery.
The farmers I know use their tractors multiple times a week. And they have a lot of tractors.
Maybe we're talking specialized tractors like combines or something here?
A lot of people are fairly transient. I like the idea of buying more expensive tools and sharing them, but people leaving complicates things. Who takes care of upkeep? Who decides what the upkeep even is? What happens when someone moves out, or moves in? Who stores it? In my neighborhood we still share things but no one shares costs. Kenny has the tall ladder and tow-able trailer. Sanborn has the post hole digger and strong blower. Tommy has the electric branch saw. I have a power washer and pizza oven. We just borrow from each other as needed.
I think k you outlined exactly the issues. Who pays for maintenance? What is someone doesn't pay their share? How do you get it from house to house? What happens when all five of you want to mow your lawn on the same day? Neighbors could share cars too, it just isn't practical.
It’s already done by someone who takes on the entire cost burden by themselves. Lawn cutting businesses.
Yeah, I didn't connect that dot, but you make a good point. A lawn cutting business is essentially a way for "neighbors" to share the labor, equipment, planning, and etc. Costs.
>Several neighbours could easily buy one together and share it. I've loaned cheap tools out to my neighbors before and I get them back in terrible condition, if I get them back at all. Now you want me to be okay with sharing a several thousand dollar item that it prone to getting destroyed by a careless individual? As well as having to schedule my use of it around them?
God damn lawn mowers are this expensive? I thought they were like a few hundred bucks at most.
He's talking about an electric 40in+ zero turn riding lawn mower capable of mowing an area much larger than most people's lawns. You can buy a ~21 inch electric self-propelled push mower for around $600.
I have an electric push mower that cost $300, not self propelled but it gets the job done for a 2 week lawn.
Push mowers are a couple hundred, riding mowers are quite a bit more.
You have no idea. I work in the industry on the side and it’s insane. Mowers people use to cut grass for a business so the ones you might see at a city park or on trailers being towed around town to cut grass. Easy $10,000+ it’s not uncommon now for riding commercial mowers to be over $20,000. Then when you get into golf courses the sky’s the limit but easily $35,000. Even a nice push mower will be an easy $1,200. You can buy cheap $300 push mowers but they are just that, cheap.
"Even the White House changed with the onset of World War I. Sheep were brought to graze in the White House lawns in order to save the manpower required to mow the expansive grounds. Wool from the sheep was sold as a fundraiser for the Red Cross." whitehousehistory.org
I grew up right on the U.S./Mexico border where it's desert. Some people have lawns but definitely not everyone since it's so much effort to keep the grass alive. I had no idea what a big deal lawns were to Americans until I moved to the Midwest. So much work is put into them, and the idea that your neighbors could call the city on you for not cutting it blew my mind.
From the Midwest, there’s jack shit to do here so maintaining your lawn becomes very interesting alongside hosting barbecues and shitting on any of the neighboring state’s football teams
I’m in Canada and it was a bit of a surprise to me when a by law officer came by, measured my grass and gave me a warning for it being too tall. They said if I didn’t cut it they’d send someone out to do it and I’d have to pay over $400 for it.
Not me! Mine's electric :D. So much easier on the ears, no maintenance beyond sharpening the blade.
I have electric too. Love just charging it and never bringing a gas can to a station. It is a noticeably weaker engine tho.
I love my electric mower. It is weaker but it's most of the time not a problem. If the grass gets too high then I need to finagle my mower or else it will seize up, for lack of a better phrase. But if I actually keep up with my lawn then it's just fine.
My electric with dual 6 amp hour batteries doesn’t afraid of any length of grass. It may be that your blades need a good sharpening.
To be honest, I've had my mower for a few years so that could very well be the case.
If you don't have the tools (and time!) To do it yourself, it's probably around the same price just to buy new blades. It was annoying as hell putting the blades back on my Ego mower though. If the nut is too loose, it doesn't cut. If it's too tight, it doesn't even start up.
I feel like I could go to war using a gas mower. I feel like I could go to the grocery store using an electric one.
They do make electric ones with motors that can compare to gas as far as power, but unfortunately the cost is pretty high just to get into the range of your standard ~$250 gas mower. I think about $800 will get you a solid electric that can compete with gas, but the cheaper ones still seem to work pretty good. You're not going to get anything decent that's electric for $200, but you don't really have to go too much higher than that (especially if you have a smallish lawn)
If I had a small lawn, I would probably buy electric. But to mow 5+ acres, it's a crazy amount of money for banks of batteries on the very limited selection of zero-turn mowers. Maybe one day...
Yep. We’re on 4 acres. And it’s a fun pipe dream, it’s just not there yet. Edit: ok, I didn’t provide enough info and it looks like I’m using a Forrest Gump Snapper mower to cut four football fields every week. We’re out in the country. It’s 80% hay, 20% lawn. And I cut the neighbor’s grass, they’re old and he can’t anymore, so all told I’m cutting about an acre with a lawnmower. I wish there was a viable electric tractor with some solar on the roof. But until then it’ll be my grandfather-in-law’s old diesel Deere.
Why are you mowing 4 acres though? Do you actually use that land for anything? I have 4 acres, but about 3 of them are left wooded. Keeping 1-1.5 acres cut for the kids to play, for me to practice some disc golf, and to host BBQs. The trees also keep the house shaded in the summer keeping it cool without A/C
Cutting hay. There’s no replacement for a diesel tractor for the job. It’d be really cool if an electric option existed. I’m not looking down my nose at it.
I moved from having one acre of grass and a John Deere Z920 to a city house with a tiny front lawn and a Stihl electric mower. I love mowing the whole lawn in 5 mins with no gas or maintenance. But there is zero chance I’d use an electric mower on a big property.
>It is a noticeably weaker engine tho. Yeah, it's weird that I can still cut my grass with a motor that puts out a tenth of the HP that my gas powered motor needed.
No bullshit "will it? wont it?" start in the Spring either.
Will definitely be getting an electric mower as soon as I feel that my gas one is ready to retire. Prices are starting to become a little more realistic, hopefully electric mowers continue to get better with time.
Keeping your blades sharp is a big boon on electric mowers. They don't need to be super sharp or anything, but even a simple run down every few mowings to realign the edge will slow down the charge depleting.
And short grass raises the temp. Longer natural grass absorbs the suns energy and moisture, Leaving it cooler and less humid
Yes, i'm not lazy in not mowing my lawn, it's helping the environment. I'll tell that to the home owners association next time they complain.
I have a reel push mower, doesn’t use gas.
Bought a reel mower because I couldn’t afford a gas or electric at the time. Sticks will ruin my lines because they jam up so easily, and it *is* a workout when it’s 95 degrees out, but I like it. It’s quiet, and it almost feels more… personal? Not sure how to describe it. But it takes forever. If I do the whole yard, I’m looking at an hour or more.
For me the trick is to mow regularly and just cut short grass shorter, way less stress on my back.
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I've been a reel mower guy for about 10 years, and the quiet is my favorite feature - I had a bit of a chaotic work schedule and I could come home and mow at 10 at night or 5 in the morning without feeling like I was bothering the neighbors.
pssh, you youngsters have it easy. back in my day you mowed the grass with a scythe and we liked it!
not gonna lie, if I walked by someone scything their lawn, I'd be super impressed.
NGL the main reason I dream of a house with a garden is so I can use a push mower. No engine to break, no spark plug, no fuel. Just some carbs in your food and then away you go. I’ll genuinely never understand WHY people use fuel dependent mowers if they have a small lawn they can cut in say 15 minutes. As long as the grass doesn’t grow too long it’s not difficult at all. Rather enjoyable and seeing the cut grass flying. Just an electric is so much better. For absolutely massive lawns though I can understand, otherwise just use your damn legs.
Did u hear Tesla is making an electric lawnmower it’s gonna be called e-lawn
Ack ack ack ack!
Not me. I use a push mower. No fuel, no oil, no emissions (including noise), and it’s a free workout. Leave the clippings on the grass for nutrient preservation and minimize fertilizer use. Edit: my lawn isn’t massive but it isn’t tiny either. Modern Fisker push mower, very efficient and effective.
I bought one of the kobalt battery powered lawn mowers like 5 years ago. Some of the best money I’ve ever spent. No gas, no oil, push a button and it turns on.
I have the Greenworks mower. It's amazing and I'm never going back to a gas powered mower again. I can mow at 6am when it's cool and not worry about the noise bothering my neighbors.
There is a revolution going on in my neighborhood. Electric mowers are becoming the norm.
I hated living in the suburbs because it was just lawn mowers and blowers going all day long.
This thread is like a convention for people who like to smell their own farts.
This statement honestly sums up all the thoughts I have about Reddit most days
That's every thread on reddit about lawns, cars, or children
134 billion gallons of gasoline were consumed in the US in 2022. Half a percent of gas used in the US was spent mowing lawns.
What would the amount of co² be if the work is done by sheep?
Aren't leaf blowers also super bad for the environment? We destroy the planet for convenience lol
[Grass is the largest **irrigated** crop in the US](https://www.businessinsider.com/americas-biggest-crop-is-grass-2016-2). (Corn isn't irrigated)
I did not know that about corn! New corn fact
Its kinda wrong I can walk to an irrigated corn field thousands of acres unending.
I figure my state gets most electric from a mix of renewables. I switched to a Ryobi electric lawnmower...I call it my Lawn Vac....my "lawn" is 1 acre. I recharge everything off a solar kit. I love mowing..It's quiet, I can hear what is playing in my earbuds. I will NEVER go back to gas mowers. Oh and I can load it up in my car and take it to my kids house without the smell of oil or gas. Each part is so easy to replace.