Hey guys,

I've been mowing our 2,200 foot 100 foot wide grass runway with a Ford 8N tractor and a brush hog. Unfortunately each time I mow it the trailing wheel rips up chunks of the ground so its been difficult keeping a nice runway so I decided to go another route which may or may not have been a good idea. I picked up a Toro 3100 Fairway Mower at auction for a really good price. I'm not sure how well this will maintain a runway, but I figure if it can mow fairways all day then it can handle my runway. Thoughts?.... I'll be using it sometime this week so I will update you with my first impressions. Here's a picture of a similar mower.

Looks good. I don't have the time to mow with a small mower like that. I use a 15' wide pull schulte mower. I like the job it does and it only takes a few passes. I also like that it leaves the grass a bit longer.

A1Skinner wrote:Looks good. I don't have the time to mow with a small mower like that. I use a 15' wide pull schulte mower. I like the job it does and it only takes a few passes. I also like that it leaves the grass a bit longer.

I bet that 15' mower is awesome! My brush hog gives my 8N more than it can handle at times

It does work great. I'm fortunate as its the farms and they let use it. If I had to pay for it I'd be doing it with my little Z - Trac JD with a 52" deck. Haha.

Remember the old push mower with a bunch of blades in a circle? It would cut every blade exactly the same. But it would jam if you choked it in too heavy grass. Make sure you police all the rocks and twigs and mow often to stay ahead of the grass. If it gets too high you will have to knock it down with your brush hog first.

contactflying wrote:Remember the old push mower with a bunch of blades in a circle? It would cut every blade exactly the same. But it would jam if you choked it in too heavy grass. Make sure you police all the rocks and twigs and mow often to stay ahead of the grass. If it gets too high you will have to knock it down with your brush hog first.

Thanks for the tips!

Well that's a no brainier. Those front end reel mowers are better any day. Pto mowers don't follow the contours of the ground very well if its lumpy, and you gotta take care when maneuvering around structures, as the thing swings wildly hanging off the ass end. Its as good as, land your plane, break out the golf clubs, and start pitch'in. Id sink a few holes in strategic areas in your strip.

Here's the new 20 ft. mower I just bought to keep weeds down on the 100 acres of CRP I'm planting this year.

Sidewinder wrote:Well that's a no brainier. Those front end reel mowers are better any day. Pto mowers don't follow the contours of the ground very well if its lumpy, and you gotta take care when maneuvering around structures, as the thing swings wildly hanging off the ass end. Its as good as, land your plane, break out the golf clubs, and start pitch'in. Id sink a few holes in strategic areas in your strip.

Your post brought a smile to my face

Marty.... That is what I'd like to call a MAN MOWER! That thing is legit.

LOL
I have an 8N and 6' Brush hog and it is usually the wildest ride of the spring and summer!

DCO-65 wrote:LOL
I have an 8N and 6' Brush hog and it is usually the wildest ride of the spring and summer!

I agree, I've almost been tossed off mine a number of times. Those small bumps are real back breakers on a 8N.

I used to have a 3300ft grass strip on the farm, including the taxiway, there was 7 acres to mow. I had a good sized John Deere lawn mower with 60 inch deck and pulled 2-60 inch tow behind mowers behind it. It did a great job and was lite, not leaving any tracks like a larger tractor would, with a lawnmower finish and did not take very long to knock out the 7 acres with it. http://www.mowersdirect.com/lawn/tow-be ... owers.html

Steve

steve wrote:I used to have a 3300ft grass strip on the farm, including the taxiway, there was 7 acres to mow. I had a good sized John Deere lawn mower with 60 inch deck and pulled 2-60 inch tow behind mowers behind it. It did a great job and was lite, not leaving any tracks like a larger tractor would, with a lawnmower finish and did not take very long to knock out the 7 acres with it. http://www.mowersdirect.com/lawn/tow-be ... owers.html

Steve

Sounds like a good option

Hello Backcountry Pilots,

I put 400 pounds of nitrogen fertilizer on my runway again this spring. Got a good deal on the fertilizer at $14 per 50 pound bag. The turf is really getting better, but still have a lot of rock picking parties. Very happy with my Ford 8N with a 4 foot John Deer brush hog. Just closed on the Clear Creek house last week. We are very blessed.

James
Clear Creek, Idaho
Picture May 2014:

Sidewinder wrote:........ land your plane, break out the golf clubs, and start pitch'in. Id sink a few holes in strategic areas in your strip.

The state-owned airport at Skykomish WA has or at least had a little chip-n-putt golf course on it that the locals devised. I went up there once years ago and orbited several times trying to figure out what was going on with all the people out on the runway. They finally got out of the way after a low pass or two and I landed. Got some dirty looks taxiing by, it turns out they were having some sort of tournament. No NOTAM or anything, of course, as I'm sure WS-DOT doesn't know about the golfing. Thought it was pretty cool, just wished they hadn't been assholes about getting out of the way -- after all, it is a public use airstrip originally intended for emergency use. If I'd had to dead stick it in there, I don't think it would have turned out too well.

Ya know, if you guys would just use a standard Toro 26" walk-behind mower, you wouldn't need Zane's weight watcher diet plan. 'Course, there might not be much time to fly, either--that would be a real bummer.

Cary

Super-Maule wrote:Hello Backcountry Pilots,

I put 400 pounds of nitrogen fertilizer on my runway again this spring. Got a good deal on the fertilizer at $14 per 50 pound bag. The turf is really getting better, but still have a lot of rock picking parties. Very happy with my Ford 8N with a 4 foot John Deer brush hog. Just closed on the Clear Creek house last week. We are very blessed.

James
Clear Creek, Idaho
Picture May 2014:

I need to get some advice from my farmer neighbors, or from you all here, as to what I can do to my native grass strip to pump it up a bit. NOT looking for a lawn, just something that would encourage what is already there. What that fertilizer due to any weeds, encourage them or does the stronger grass keep them down? I notice a bare spot later in the season, where I touchdown every time. I don't like seeing that as I am concerned with erosion as it is on a slope. The good thing is the slope has a dual fall line/ side slope, so it runs off to the south and not straight down the length of the strip. 18' wide and 400' long, so I can probably afford to fine tune it a bit. I've got a nice little spray rig for the Kubota, with a PTO driven pump, 50 gallon tank, and 10' of coverage. So far I've just used it for killing grass in town at my crane yard.

I have initiated a new procedure the last few landings, rather then aim for the same spot every time, I am landing way short and then fast taxiing up to the hangar, on the theory that it's the tires touching down initially that causes the wear, not so much the rolling afterwards.

This rig was operating right south of my place, about 1/4 mile from my property. Same exact type of vegetation my strip is comprised of, same slope, etc. What they spraying, liquid fertilizer or some kind of herbicide? The spray driver didn't speak English, but his boss man is the farmer I bought my place from. I need to check in with him, no use re-inventing the wheel. Since they took the ground all around me out of CRP and started working it, getting one crop a year (dry farm) of baled grass, I have made it a point to see how it has changed, and it seems to be all for the good, no more thistles, even fewer critter mounds.

A friend of mine with a 502 Air Tractor just applied dry urea granules to a pasture in NW Mo yesterday. Bet it's liquid N and maybe some herbicide----24-D or Tordon that you saw.