# What's your 1/2 acre to 1 acre mower?



## Clover13 (Mar 25, 2019)

What model mower are you mowing your 1/2 acre to 1 acre with?
How's the cut quality? 
How many obstacles?
How long does it take you?
Anything you wish you had over it?


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

I would probably be looking at a nice used Toro or JD trim/surrounds mower - whether it be a rotary or reel model.


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## jdc_lawnguy (Oct 30, 2018)

I have an acre and about half is woods, I have about 13M of grass.

I have a Deere D130. Takes about 45 minutes to mow. I have a large driveway and a good area of beds, or soon to be beds.

I do kind of wish I had a zero turn, because it would be easier to change up mowing directions to ensure I am not always mowing in the same direction. My yard sets up in a way that is easy to mow in certain directions, but not so much in other directions. Some of that would be solved with a zero turn.

When I start mowing low, I will follow @Ware's suggestion


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## 95mmrenegade (Jul 31, 2017)

Ware said:


> I would probably be looking at a nice used Toro or JD trim/surrounds mower - whether it be a rotary or reel model.


Do they make grass catchers for the 3100d reel?


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## chrismar (May 25, 2017)

I've got an acre of property total, 22K of which is turf.

I use a Bobcat 36" commercial walk behind (Bobbi). It takes me about 1.5 hours for a trim, mow (in 3rd gear) and blow. If and when my knees finally give out I'll probably move to a zero turn of some sort, but I don't anticipate that happening for a good 15-20 years.


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## Clover13 (Mar 25, 2019)

chrismar said:


> I've got an acre of property total, 22K of which is turf.
> 
> I use a Bobcat 36" commercial walk behind (Bobbi). It takes me about 1.5 hours for a trim, mow (in 3rd gear) and blow. If and when my knees finally give out I'll probably move to a zero turn of some sort, but I don't anticipate that happening for a good 15-20 years.


Hello fellow NJer! :mrgreen:


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## Pete1313 (May 3, 2017)

What model mower are you mowing your 1/2 acre to 1 acre with?
John Deere 2500B




How's the cut quality?
Really good!


How many obstacles?
Lots of trees and mulch rings

How long does it take you?
Just about an hour for almost an acre.

Anything you wish you had over it?
Nope, love the machine!


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## chrismar (May 25, 2017)

Clover13 said:


> Hello fellow NJer! :mrgreen:


 :wave:

Be sure to join us in the NJ hometown discussion!


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## Clover13 (Mar 25, 2019)

Pete1313 said:


> What model mower are you mowing your 1/2 acre to 1 acre with?
> John Deere 2500B
> 
> 
> ...


Very nice looking lawn! My property is similar, just a little under 3/4 acre. Same kind of mulched tree obstacles and very flat. My winter lawn looks a lot like yours but my summer lawn doesn't look nearly that dense/tight filled with grass. I'll often see the ground between the blades of grass. I'll be taking pictures as things green up more and looking for feedback. Just trying to plan out a mower for the property, I've been all over the place from a simple lawn tractor, to adding a MMM to my Kubota B2650 to getting a ZT to looking at the Walker riding/dump mowers. So many options, and most have pretty big price tag commitments!


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## Clover13 (Mar 25, 2019)

chrismar said:


> Clover13 said:
> 
> 
> > Hello fellow NJer! :mrgreen:
> ...


I posted a hello over there, thanks for the link! :thumbup:


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## CenlaLowell (Apr 21, 2017)

Clover13 said:


> What model mower are you mowing your 1/2 acre to 1 acre with?
> How's the cut quality?
> How many obstacles?
> How long does it take you?
> Anything you wish you had over it?


1)



2) average to really good
3) plenty of flower beds look at my journal
4) about 2 hours
5) wright stander, gravely HD, and Toro commercial


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## datcope (Oct 29, 2018)

John Deere S-240 w/ a 48" deck


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

I have just over an acre and use Torro equipment for the most part...ZT4 is the SS4225


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## HoosierLawnGnome (Sep 28, 2017)

You can get catchers for the 3100D.

That's what I use to mow over an acre. It takes about and hour and change to mow, but I have few obstacles.


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## Clover13 (Mar 25, 2019)

HoosierLawnGnome said:


> You can get catchers for the 3100D.
> 
> That's what I use to mow over an acre. It takes about and hour and change to mow, but I have few obstacles.


What width do you mow with? If I'm looking correctly the 3100D comes in 72 and 85 currently? I'm surprised (a little?) over an acre would take that long with those kind of widths, but I don't know much about greens mowers, maybe they just take that long.


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## HoosierLawnGnome (Sep 28, 2017)

Clover13 said:


> HoosierLawnGnome said:
> 
> 
> > You can get catchers for the 3100D.
> ...


72??? Honestly it's about the same time as when I cut with my 42in ZT, mostly because i go slower. The increased cutting width doesnt make that huge of a difference. Plus I raise and lower the arms on every 180 degree turn.


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## Scagfreedom48z+ (Oct 6, 2018)

Scag Freedom z 48"
30k square feet


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## Clover13 (Mar 25, 2019)

Was reading some more, and it seems like for a ZTR that 46-50" range is pretty good for up to an acre. I would have thought wider, but I see some of you use in that range and I guess with the speed anything bigger is unnecessary and probably decreases cut quality. I'm definitely looking for something that cuts nicely, but don't think I'm ready for the greens mower investment. I'll likely start with a ZTR or similar and see how it goes, if I want to get more OCD than I already am, I'll look into the greens mowers down the road :mrgreen:


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## Dkrem (Mar 16, 2019)

Clover13 said:


> Was reading some more, and it seems like for a ZTR that 46-50" range is pretty good for up to an acre....


Up to? Something in that class will do well over 5 acres easily, more than anything I think mower selection depends on your time and enthusiasm budget.

For reference I have a 2014 Hustler Raptor SD in 54" and my normal mow session is a little over an acre. 3/4 of that is my house and fenced yard, the rest is a pasture/road area I maintain. The whole thing start to finish is about 45 minutes of seat time at relaxed pace, and at least 1/3 of that is slower speed trimming and weaving around fence posts. I could do the whole yard and area with my Lawn-boy walk behind, but the ZTR cuts at twice the ground speed or more, and at three times the width per pass. ZTR = 45 minutes, 21" = 4.5 hours or more.


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## Clover13 (Mar 25, 2019)

Sorry, that was poor wording. I meant for my case of up to (my) acre. They can definitely do more than that, many are used on several acres 

I don't think you really need bigger than that for an acre. In my mind, 42" just seems small.

I think I'm most interested in quality of cut, ease of maintenance...I can forego some time to have those two things as long as it's under an hour for an acre with few obstacles. One other nice thing I've seen is the ease of enabling mulching (blades aside) with either a manually removable side discharge mounted "blocker" or the automated one like the JD ZTrak has, however I'm not really looking to spend that kind of money (ZTrak). I'm all for commercial grade equipment but don't think I need that at all. Just balancing out the features/value with the price tag.

Man there are a lot of ZTRs out there...


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## HoosierLawnGnome (Sep 28, 2017)

I will say a quality engine is important if you are going to mow twice a week and pull a spreader or sprayer with it. You will burn an engine up quickly that was only designed for weekly mowing.


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## metro424 (May 26, 2017)

HoosierLawnGnome said:


> I will say a quality engine is important if you are going to mow twice a week and pull a spreader or sprayer with it. You will burn an engine up quickly that was only designed for weekly mowing.


I would be more worried about the hydros, many of the residential zero turns run hydros that are not as serviceable. That extra weight from towing a 50gallon sprayer @8lbs/gallon really add up especially if you want to drag it up hills.

But back on topic I bought a huskvarna mzt 52 for $5200ish and it has been worth the money. I would put it in the semi commercial category and it's available for not much more than a residential mower from Lowe's but also gives you better serviceability including greasable spindles and heavier duty front forks.


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## Clover13 (Mar 25, 2019)

So non-serviceable hydros you just run them until they die? Literally no way to maintain them?
Engine wise, I've been trying to stay with Kawasaki.


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## metro424 (May 26, 2017)

Clover13 said:


> So non-serviceable hydros you just run them until they die? Literally no way to maintain them?
> Engine wise, I've been trying to stay with Kawasaki.


https://www.hydro-gear.com/891c7626a8_sites/hydro-gear.com/files/BLN-52622_ZT2100_ZT2200.pdf

The hydro gear EZT transaxles are the ones most commonly found on residential zero turns they actually have more serviceability than I thought according to the manual. Still might be pushing weight capacity of the hydros with some towable equipment. It lists a max vehicle weight of 900lbs. I would assume that would be the weight of the vehicle and operator?


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## Dkrem (Mar 16, 2019)

Yep, operator included.


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