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J_nick's Lawn Journal

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21K views 102 replies 26 participants last post by  J_nick  
#1 ·
2017 Renovation

2018 Lawn Journal

2019 Lawn Journal

We've had a very cold and dry winter so I haven't done any work on the lawn this year as green up is way behind last year. I do plan to remove and add some sprinklers in the near future along my south fence but that'll be another day.

For the last couple weeks I've been cleaning up what we call the north pasture. It's a fenced in area north of my main lawn that's about an acre. I've kept it mowed with a rotary and a small area gets watered via an I-25 I installed last year. That's all changing this year. I plan to keep it reel low, I'm not sure how I'm going to handle all the watering since I don't plan to install a irrigation system out there till it gets a full renovation (which it desperately needs). It will most likely be accomplished with a pair of Nelson Raintrains focusing on the 16000 sqft closest to the house/barn.

I've removed ~11 truckloads of limbs over the last 2 weeks. With at least 2 truckloads of small twigs, leaves and debris raked up to be hauled off tomorrow. I originally wasn't going to worry about them since the rotary would either go over them or mulch them up but since the decision was made to go reel low they have to go. Today my little helper and I removed 2 old stumps that the previous owners left. We I dug around the base to get the chain around the base of the stump, luckily they had been there a while and were rotting and came out of the ground fairly easy with the truck without falling apart.



 
#12 ·
Pete1313 said:
Are you planning on using the 220b for the main yard and the 2500E for the North pasture?
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Probably a mix of both for the main yard. The bench HOC vs actual HOC will be different between the 2 mowers with the QA5's being lighter than the 220B I think the QA5's will need to be set lower than the 220B to equal the same HOC. I plan to experiment with it. In the end the main yard is the priority so the QA5's will get set up for it, but I still want to use the 220B for certain directions as the triplex would be a little cumbersome. When it's time to mow out north I'll just raise the front roller to 6-7 and see how it goes, if the cut is unsatisfactory I'll adjust the rear roller worm gear to get a better angle of attack. It would just be so much faster to change the front roller as I wouldn't have to remove the heads from the machine. This year will be a trial of how I can use it best.
 
#13 ·
J_nick said:
It would just be so much faster to change the front roller as I wouldn't have to remove the heads from the machine. This year will be a trial of how I can use it best.
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Either way you adjust it whether front roller or back, you can leave the heads on the 2500E. There may be an issue with the rear slowly dropping until you get the lift arm leak fixed, but the heads will stay in the up position for a while when in transport mode after you shut down the machine. You can get under there to check Bedknife clearance as well without removing them.
 
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#22 ·
Thanks everyone. I was kind of in he market for one if the price was right. Prices were great on the last Weeks Auction so I took the opportunity to pick one up. They had quite a bit of stock at that auction with around 11-12 John Deere 2500 series triplexes and more walk behinds than I would want to count. I think some other members here also got some really good deals.

@HoosierLawnGnome he wasn't happy when I pulled it in the driveway and wouldn't let him drive it. He's 2 and a half and I was going to pick him up and let him ride with me to the shop. He said no and was demanding me to get off of it so he could drive it himself
 
#23 ·
I wouldn't call it a scalp but I took the north pasture down from around 2.5" to 1" this afternoon. I plan to take it down a little more before PreM and some postM go down. I'll maintain it at or around 1". Don't make fun of my rainbow stripes I'm a rookie on the new mower.

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It's lumpy out there but the 2500E handled it pretty well. There are a few spots I knew would give it trouble so I'll be spot leveling the bad spots throughout the year. It desperately needs a reno but that'll have to wait for a few years.
 
#24 ·
Today after I got off work I started my scalp. Took the fixed blade power rake across the lawn in 2 directions. Then cleaned up all the material with the Honda rotary. It was my first time using the fixed blades and I was happily surprised by how well they performed. Tomorrow I plan to take it down to at least 3/8" and maybe 1/4" if time allows and it's going good.

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The square pattern wasn't showing up very well in the photos like it was in person so I took this pic of some still dormant Bermuda that's in the north side of the house.
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Cleaning up with the rotary
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I'm not sure how much material I got out of the lawn today but my long bed truck was mounded where I really couldn't get much more in there.
 
#26 ·
Tellycoleman said:
How long did it take to mow your pastor with your 2500E?
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I have no idea. I was being cautious and watching the heads during the undulations and turns to see how they did. Half the time I had a 2.5 year old on my lap running the raise/lower lever for the heads so it took longer than it should have.

I would say it's faster than my 48" lawn tractor but probably comparable to the 50" ZTR I used to mow it with.
 
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