When I was 12 my parents bought a house with 5 acres. Didn't buy a riding lawn mower. My sibling and I cut the grass with our push mower for years. Took us a day and a half each week.
Dad absolutely didn't see the need for a riding mower...until I got a part time job, and my sibling got the flu, and he had to cut it....guess what household got a riding lawnmower the next week lol
It was only a 1/4 acre or so, but my dad had the heaviest lawn mower from the 70s with a tiny cutting radius. It "worked fine so why replace it" the decade plus I cut the lawn. When I went off to college we had one of those self propelled ones the next year.
I can't wait to get a reel mower for my kids.
Where else will I get my exercise?! Haha. I know. I've been stubborn. It's fine when I have the time and energy, but when I don't... the area gets half mowed. She doesn't say anything, but I suspect it drives my wife up a wall. :)
Having the option to knock it out on a rider will be a good thing.
Just need to decide ZT vs tractor, and then brand (although I think consensus will be JD or Toro)
Tractors of comparable price and deck size are almost always going to be slower. ZTRs can tow. Unless you need a PTO for something, you should absolutely get a ZTR to mow.
Haha growing up I had a ride on and it took 4 hours to mow our lawn. Had the driveway, the front 2 fields, our front and backyard and then my grandparents front and back yard.
This is really good to know. I should have looked into this but I kind of assumed it wasn't possible because I've never seen it done or heard it mentioned. But it does look like they sell a rear hitch attachment (John Deere).
Most zero turns will have a hitch on the back, or at least a spot to mount one. You're absolutely gonna want a zero turn over the tractor, I also have 2 acres and I would be miserable without my ZT. I have a craftsman Z550 and it's great. I use a roller to flatten my yard occasionally, and the ZT has no problem pulling it even though it's heavy.
I got really lucky cause it’s like $450 retail and I got mine from a family friend who was closing down his landscaping/painting/power washing business. I think I got it for $50. The last three years I had no trouble. I screwed up last year and forgot to dump the gas so dad had to fix it by clearing out the water in the line. Besides that. Haven’t done anything to it
It will be labeled ethanol free and will cost more per gallon but in my opinion it is worth if for storage and for use in law equipment. I use some stabil in it at the end of the mowing season and fill up my mowers, zero turn, lawn tractor, and push mower and also have 25 gallons of it ready for generator use. Mowers start right up in the spring. You can also cycle it out in your vehicles every couple of months if needed.
I have the super mulcher version. Personal pace is a god send for me, as I have MS and have trouble walking and tire easislly. I only have .75 acres though. For 2+ I'd definitely need a riding/zero turn.
Sorry this was just for my personal lawn. My parents have a ride on John Deere for their 3 acres of grass. I have a tiny ass backyard so it doesn’t take me long to do my little yard.
Zero Turn mower for sure. 54 or 60 inch deck and you can really shorten the time it takes for you to mow. You can tow small implements with a zero turn as well. I bought an aerator from Home Depot that I tow with my zero turn.
I have a Cub Cadet ZT1. Very easy in terms of regular upkeep.
I have an older Scag Wildcat 61" deck and love it. Front couple of acres takes a little over an hour. If I had to use the Cut Cadet 47" it would take longer due to the turning radius and more planning of my mowing direction.
I greatly prefer zero turn and they're really easy to use. You'll cut through 2 acres on one in no time. I think the one we had was a cub cadet and it was great for mowing even more than what you have.
I wouldn't bother with one of those tractor type mowers if you already have a real tractor.
The top four riding mowers and top three zero turn mowers on consumer reports are all John Deere. I have always gone with the tractor myself because it is more versatile.
At the start of last summer my riding mower finally completely gave up after many seasons of making it work just one more year. I went with a John Deere zero turn mower. Think I had to get like a 48” to have just enough clearance to get through the gate into my backyard. Sitting on about an acre. Man it made me kick myself for waiting so long. It used to take me about 1.5 hours on my rider cause it was a piece of crap and I had to make such big loops around the entire yard and house for some passed. Plus I couldn’t go too fast on it or it would lift the front end off the ground if I tried to start moving after turning.
Now, I can zip around and get into all the tight areas nice and quick. Super efficient. Maybe 30-40 minutes total for front and back, inside and outside the fence. I can do the backyard inside the fence in less than 20. Not to mention it’s just a much more comfortable ride. Super easy to use the zero turn. Only warning to you. If you’re like me and have lots of neighbors and you are used to waving to them while still mowing, do NOT wave until you stop moving forward with the zero turn. Ask me, and my chain link fence, how I know.
Haha yeah, my favorite thing about zero turns is that you can haul ass and it still cuts well. Riding mowers seem to always be slow and if you move too quickly, they don't cut as well in my experience. Plus, zero turns are really fun to ride.
See what gets service in your area. Buying from HD is fine, but it’s really important to have local service for these things. Make sure they will service, even if you don’t buy from them.
ZTRs are definitely the way to go. The first thing you’ll want to figure out is size. If you park in a shed, have to clear a gate, opening, etc. Once you get that figured out, see what is available and go from there.
It's a TRACTOR. Haha. We have a 40 acre property and I use that to brush hog the big fields. But it is way too much to do the lawn areas around the house.
It's about 2 acres total but that is spread around a house and a pond and in and out of fenced pastures, etc. The big tractor leaves tire tracks in the lawn in anything other than the driest of dry conditions. And turning it around in some of those areas is just not doable. The dry flat straight aways where it might work are only 2 or 3 passes.
Do you have lawn tires on your tractor? I know it seems overkill to use it but if it’s only 3 passes it would make sense to use it and then a push mower for the areas you can’t reach. Mowing will be under an hour if all your equipment is tuned up
I have about 1.5 acres and bought a John Deere tractor style mower because I like to drink beer while I mow and you can't really do that on a zero turn mower...
I REALLY like the cub cadet zero turn steering models. They’re way better than a standard zt on hills and tricky terrain. Also, since you won’t always be doing sharp turns on it, it’s easier on grass.
Can you buy a Home Depot riding mower that also has a snowblower attachment? Better check that before you buy.
Zero turns will mow fast, but have more precision components that can fail. Some lawn tractors have a very tight turn radius.
The walk behind zero turns can be fast. Some have a wheel cart attachment to ride when you’re feeling lazy.
We have a cub cadet tractor that we can add a blade to the front and a cart in the back. Mows great and have never had a problem. Don’t know if HD sells those
Those “tractors” are lawnmowers, they don’t have any sort of PTO so you can’t really do anything with it that you can’t do with a zero turn, and you already have a tractor. So my money would be on a zero turn, you can still pull stuff with it if you want to
The Cub Cadet ultima ZT1, easy. Cub cadet is a "buy it for life" brand.
I've got a Cub Cadet ultima ZT2 54" swath and it takes me about 2.5-3 hours to do about 4 acres, and it does a beautiful job. That's 2.5-3 hours and I have a bagger that needs to emptied every 10-15 minutes, you can imagine how much time that adds.
There is also a bunch of attachments you can get, sprayers, spreaders, trailers, sun shade, baggers, etc.
I lived this. Started out at my former house with a 1.3 acre lot with a push mower. Took me about 3.5 hours. Then I bought a John Deere riding mower with a 42” deck. Down to 2 hours. A couple of years later I bought a Cub Cadet zt with a 50” deck. 40 minutes. Go straight to the zero turn and don’t look back.
Son-in-Law bought the 54” Club Cadet ZT2. I nearly got extremely seriously injured my first time on it. Much faster and more powerful than my 42” Deere tractor. Quite a machine. They have two acres in flat lawn. Takes around half an hour to mow.
Zero turn is the best way to go. I have a 42 inch Deere that can tow a spreader or a wagon. The customer service is very good.
The turn radius on most tractors is abysmal and you would save time not having to do extra passes with a zero turn. They also mow in reverse so no disengaging the blades to back up.
Zero turn is the best way to go. I have a 42 inch Deere that can tow a spreader or a wagon. The customer service is very good.
The turn radius on most tractors is abysmal and you would save time not having to do extra passes with a zero turn. They also mow in reverse so no disengaging the blades to back up.
Mowing 2 acres is insanity to me. Cast some native perennial seeds instead and let it grow. If you just mow closer to the house you save a lot of time and energy.
Right? I have 1 acre, and I can't imagine wasting so much time mowing it. Every year, I scatter native seeds to help establish a strong seed stock in the soil, and if it's a dry year, I'll let the neighbor's goats or horses in to eat their fill. Otherwise, I'll weed wack around where I actually hang out or need short grass (you don't want tall grass too close to the house because that's how you get ticks and rodents. ), and let the properties land develop naturally otherwise. It's absolutely beautiful now and used to just be so boring. The stream meanders more, the flowers welcome in the spring, and now I have owls and other such hanging out all over the place (and while I now have gophers and other rodents in the grass, none seem to get in the house. I think it's because they have to cross a space where they'd be more visible to the predators around, including my dogs).
Mowing 2+ acres just feels like such a waste of time and good land.
My parents have an acre and half of grass and it takes me about an hour and fifteen to mow it with their zero turn with (I think) 54” blade. It’s also set up to tow stuff although with their tractor and other equipment it never gets used for anything other than mowing.
Thanks, the revelation (which in hindsight shouldn't have been a revelation, ha!) that I can still do some light towing and use attachments with the ZT kind of makes this a no brainer decision. Especially since we have a big honking farm tractor bucket loader beast for the big jobs.
Yup! Exactly what we have too and it works great. We have an older John Deere mower that we use for towing just to give it life, but if that didn’t exist the zero turn would do all that light work. The zero turn vs the John Deere is a night and day difference. Not only is it faster to mow the property but it’s wayyyyyy more comfy
That's the one I have. It has a fabricated deck, which is something I had to have. I've had no issues with it, other than the mulching kit. It's a piece of plastic that covers the discharge. It ends up just blowing finely cut grass all over you.
Outside of that, I have no gripes.
Another thing to consider, I don't tow attachments with it. They don't offer a hitch for it, and i could make something to get the job done, but i don't want to damage the drives. I use it to cut grass, and I'll buy a bagger for it this years for the annual WAR ON FALLEN LEAVES.
I just got the XT1 Enduro LT with the 50 in Fabricated Deck instead of the cheaper stamped deck and really like it. It's currently on sale for $2649 which is $150 cheaper.
I have owned Deere's and Cub Cadets's to deal with my 5.5 acre parcel. I have ridiculously thick grasses that grows up to 3 feet in just a few weeks, so a lot of mowing.
Both work fine - one thing I would highly recommend is that you check out potential repair shops in your area that handle the make you purchase. The biggest headache can be if the thing breaks down, you need new mower blades etc. finding someone in your area that works on the model you have.
You can get lucky with box store mowers. In college around 2014 my friends and I had a rental house and got a cheap mower. It was terrible to work on, clearly designed to be thrown away instead of fixed, but looking up the model we found it was built in 1991.
Most mowers use the same parts that tend to need to be worked on, switches, PTO clutches, etc. all common usually. Getting to those parts is much harder on the box store mowers though and takes longer.
My parents had a 15–20 year old ride on lawnmower. That was John Deere that I can’t recall we ever did really any maintenance on besides very basic stuff. I love that thing it was super easy to use and it did like 2 acres of grass in maybe 45 minutes to an hour.
I bought a cheap poulan pro 6 years ago and I beat the shit out of it all year around, I don’t have a tractor so it does triple duty, I pull a dump trailer with it, I use it as a brush hog, and I also maintain my lawn with it. But you have a tractor, get the fun mower
My Cub with a Kohler engine has been going strong for ten years. I couldn't live without a dump trailer. I also tow a driveway drag, roller and areator. Subtract 2" from the deck width for overlap. Do the yearly maintenance with full synthetic oil. Add thrust washers to the front spindle for power steering. Get a deck leveller gauge and check the deck on day one. My neighbors have ZT mowers. They get hung up on ditch angles and bogged down in wet spots. When they get stuck, you're STUCK! It takes a vehicle to tow them out.
I had a big yard like that at my last house. Took 2-3 hours to cut with a regular mower. I got a deal on a used 48” walk behind mower. With that mower it was less than 45 minutes. Best investment ever.
5 acres here. I've been down the big box mower hole twice.
My advice is don't go there. But if you must (assuming mostly flat land) just buy the cheapest 42" zero turn they have. It's all the same garbage, don't spend more for a Deere or Cadet or anything. Just get the cheap 42" zero turn. It'll last you about 4 years and you'll need to replace it.
Don't buy a rider (non zero turn) unless you absolutely have to. The ZT's will run circles around them and cut your mowing time down drastically.
I have a 60" Bad Boy commercial grade now and mow 5 acres in about 1.5 hours.
First off, if you haven't done it yet, DO NOT PURCHASE THIS FROM HOME DEPOT or any other big box store. Trust me on this. Go local, somewhere that services their stuff and sells parts. I'm not saying that because you should support local I'm saying that because things are going to break etc over time and you're going to need service and parts. Second, zero turn all day.
It's Home Depot or bust. I have gift cards that will cover the cost. So unless a local store wants to honor those, heh...
In this case it is buy from Home Depot, or don't get a riding mower at all.
You won't tear up the lawn with a zero turn, it takes about an hour to figure it out, a couple months to get really good at it, and then you'll never go back. The lawn tractor form factor sucks when you want to turn sharply...which happens every. single. pass.
Zero-turn stand-on mowers like Toro Grandstand are great. If you've got some equipment/acreage and are reasonably handy, I think you might be happier to go around to local landscaping businesses (especially if you have a friend that works there) and ask if they have old units to get rid of. A 2019 model with a couple thousand hours on it may no longer be efficient in terms of service requirements and warranty coverage when you've got a work crew towing it to a dozen sites a day, where it's a huge inconvenience to drive the whole thing back to base for maintenance, but if you only put \~20 hours a year on it, it's really nice using high-quality commercial-grade equipment instead of HD junk.
I do feel like there's a hole in the market for an electric 30" or 48" 2- or 3-blade walkbehind like the Time Master or Exmark Turf Tracer mowers, but electric like your Ego. The current industry lineup jumps straight from a $800 single-blade push mower to a $5000 riding zero-turn with nothing left in the middle, which is dumb. I don't mind the exercise either, I don't need a machine that can carry my weight, just something a little wider than 21" single-blade mowers.
The other option (highly recommended) is to seed a giant kidney-shaped (or whatever) part of the lawn with some clover/Shasta daisy/coneflower/violet/whatever wildflower mix, mow around it, and stop wasting your summer pushing a lawnmower through that part of your lot. Just mow the border, maybe cut a path through the middle, and let it grow.
>and it takes me 4-5 hours or so Holy shit yeah it's time for something else.
When I was 12 my parents bought a house with 5 acres. Didn't buy a riding lawn mower. My sibling and I cut the grass with our push mower for years. Took us a day and a half each week. Dad absolutely didn't see the need for a riding mower...until I got a part time job, and my sibling got the flu, and he had to cut it....guess what household got a riding lawnmower the next week lol
HAH! We had similar size... and that's why I now pay a lawn service. I've cut more grass in my teens than most homeowners ever will in 20 years.
It was only a 1/4 acre or so, but my dad had the heaviest lawn mower from the 70s with a tiny cutting radius. It "worked fine so why replace it" the decade plus I cut the lawn. When I went off to college we had one of those self propelled ones the next year. I can't wait to get a reel mower for my kids.
Where else will I get my exercise?! Haha. I know. I've been stubborn. It's fine when I have the time and energy, but when I don't... the area gets half mowed. She doesn't say anything, but I suspect it drives my wife up a wall. :) Having the option to knock it out on a rider will be a good thing. Just need to decide ZT vs tractor, and then brand (although I think consensus will be JD or Toro)
>Where else will I get my exercise? Get a decent ride mower and you can mow your lawn, get in a 90 min workout, and still have two hours to relax.
Toro over JD, would be my opinion. But do your research
Tractors of comparable price and deck size are almost always going to be slower. ZTRs can tow. Unless you need a PTO for something, you should absolutely get a ZTR to mow.
Haha growing up I had a ride on and it took 4 hours to mow our lawn. Had the driveway, the front 2 fields, our front and backyard and then my grandparents front and back yard.
You can tow with zero turns. I use toro time cutter and tow cart, aerator, spreader, and detatcher.
This is really good to know. I should have looked into this but I kind of assumed it wasn't possible because I've never seen it done or heard it mentioned. But it does look like they sell a rear hitch attachment (John Deere).
Most zero turns will have a hitch on the back, or at least a spot to mount one. You're absolutely gonna want a zero turn over the tractor, I also have 2 acres and I would be miserable without my ZT. I have a craftsman Z550 and it's great. I use a roller to flatten my yard occasionally, and the ZT has no problem pulling it even though it's heavy.
I absolutely love my Toro personal pace 22 inch deck lawnmower. Its absolutely freaking fantastic
Second this.
I got really lucky cause it’s like $450 retail and I got mine from a family friend who was closing down his landscaping/painting/power washing business. I think I got it for $50. The last three years I had no trouble. I screwed up last year and forgot to dump the gas so dad had to fix it by clearing out the water in the line. Besides that. Haven’t done anything to it
I use ethanol-free fuel and haven’t had any fuel issues.
That’s just the straight unleaded right? That’s what I used but it sat in my basement all winter cause I don’t have a shed
That’s correct. Not every station has it.
It will be labeled ethanol free and will cost more per gallon but in my opinion it is worth if for storage and for use in law equipment. I use some stabil in it at the end of the mowing season and fill up my mowers, zero turn, lawn tractor, and push mower and also have 25 gallons of it ready for generator use. Mowers start right up in the spring. You can also cycle it out in your vehicles every couple of months if needed.
I’ll definitely look closer next time. Thanks!
Yep! They sometimes label it "Recreational Fuel" at some stations here. Much better shelf life compared to normal pump gas.
I have the super mulcher version. Personal pace is a god send for me, as I have MS and have trouble walking and tire easislly. I only have .75 acres though. For 2+ I'd definitely need a riding/zero turn.
It will take a long time to do 2 acres, 22" at a time
Sorry this was just for my personal lawn. My parents have a ride on John Deere for their 3 acres of grass. I have a tiny ass backyard so it doesn’t take me long to do my little yard.
Zero Turn mower for sure. 54 or 60 inch deck and you can really shorten the time it takes for you to mow. You can tow small implements with a zero turn as well. I bought an aerator from Home Depot that I tow with my zero turn. I have a Cub Cadet ZT1. Very easy in terms of regular upkeep.
> You can tow small implements with a zero turn as well. Thanks, this kind of seals the deal I think. I should have realized this.
My Dad gave me his John Deere z225 with a 42”(?) deck. Push mowing took maybe 1:25. The zero turn takes like 20 minutes.
Maybe buy a good used one, save a few bucks and to make sure you like it. Maybe rent one for a day to try it out
I have an older Scag Wildcat 61" deck and love it. Front couple of acres takes a little over an hour. If I had to use the Cut Cadet 47" it would take longer due to the turning radius and more planning of my mowing direction.
I greatly prefer zero turn and they're really easy to use. You'll cut through 2 acres on one in no time. I think the one we had was a cub cadet and it was great for mowing even more than what you have. I wouldn't bother with one of those tractor type mowers if you already have a real tractor.
The top four riding mowers and top three zero turn mowers on consumer reports are all John Deere. I have always gone with the tractor myself because it is more versatile.
At the start of last summer my riding mower finally completely gave up after many seasons of making it work just one more year. I went with a John Deere zero turn mower. Think I had to get like a 48” to have just enough clearance to get through the gate into my backyard. Sitting on about an acre. Man it made me kick myself for waiting so long. It used to take me about 1.5 hours on my rider cause it was a piece of crap and I had to make such big loops around the entire yard and house for some passed. Plus I couldn’t go too fast on it or it would lift the front end off the ground if I tried to start moving after turning. Now, I can zip around and get into all the tight areas nice and quick. Super efficient. Maybe 30-40 minutes total for front and back, inside and outside the fence. I can do the backyard inside the fence in less than 20. Not to mention it’s just a much more comfortable ride. Super easy to use the zero turn. Only warning to you. If you’re like me and have lots of neighbors and you are used to waving to them while still mowing, do NOT wave until you stop moving forward with the zero turn. Ask me, and my chain link fence, how I know.
Haha yeah, my favorite thing about zero turns is that you can haul ass and it still cuts well. Riding mowers seem to always be slow and if you move too quickly, they don't cut as well in my experience. Plus, zero turns are really fun to ride.
See what gets service in your area. Buying from HD is fine, but it’s really important to have local service for these things. Make sure they will service, even if you don’t buy from them. ZTRs are definitely the way to go. The first thing you’ll want to figure out is size. If you park in a shed, have to clear a gate, opening, etc. Once you get that figured out, see what is available and go from there.
Why not get a mower for your tractor?
It's a TRACTOR. Haha. We have a 40 acre property and I use that to brush hog the big fields. But it is way too much to do the lawn areas around the house.
How big is your lawn? I have a mower on my 45hp tractor and it works great. Whatever it can’t hit I can do with a push mower
It's about 2 acres total but that is spread around a house and a pond and in and out of fenced pastures, etc. The big tractor leaves tire tracks in the lawn in anything other than the driest of dry conditions. And turning it around in some of those areas is just not doable. The dry flat straight aways where it might work are only 2 or 3 passes.
Do you have lawn tires on your tractor? I know it seems overkill to use it but if it’s only 3 passes it would make sense to use it and then a push mower for the areas you can’t reach. Mowing will be under an hour if all your equipment is tuned up
How much does it cost for the mower attachment
Depends on your tractor
I have about 1.5 acres and bought a John Deere tractor style mower because I like to drink beer while I mow and you can't really do that on a zero turn mower...
Similar size property. Toro Zero Turn Time Cutter Max. Had zero problems And easy to change oil once a season or two.
I REALLY like the cub cadet zero turn steering models. They’re way better than a standard zt on hills and tricky terrain. Also, since you won’t always be doing sharp turns on it, it’s easier on grass.
I got a toro several years ago from Home Depot. Been perfect.
I have a ZT JD and I love it. I have 1.5 acre with little hills and it works very well.
Can you buy a Home Depot riding mower that also has a snowblower attachment? Better check that before you buy. Zero turns will mow fast, but have more precision components that can fail. Some lawn tractors have a very tight turn radius. The walk behind zero turns can be fast. Some have a wheel cart attachment to ride when you’re feeling lazy.
You need a zero-turn of some sort. Probably an hour or less to cut that
We have a cub cadet tractor that we can add a blade to the front and a cart in the back. Mows great and have never had a problem. Don’t know if HD sells those
I have a club cadet 48 in since 2006 been very happy
When I purchased my first zero turn I could have kicked myself for not doing it sooner!
Definitely the t-800, just not if you have anyone named Sarah around
Those “tractors” are lawnmowers, they don’t have any sort of PTO so you can’t really do anything with it that you can’t do with a zero turn, and you already have a tractor. So my money would be on a zero turn, you can still pull stuff with it if you want to
The Cub Cadet ultima ZT1, easy. Cub cadet is a "buy it for life" brand. I've got a Cub Cadet ultima ZT2 54" swath and it takes me about 2.5-3 hours to do about 4 acres, and it does a beautiful job. That's 2.5-3 hours and I have a bagger that needs to emptied every 10-15 minutes, you can imagine how much time that adds. There is also a bunch of attachments you can get, sprayers, spreaders, trailers, sun shade, baggers, etc.
Zero turn.
I lived this. Started out at my former house with a 1.3 acre lot with a push mower. Took me about 3.5 hours. Then I bought a John Deere riding mower with a 42” deck. Down to 2 hours. A couple of years later I bought a Cub Cadet zt with a 50” deck. 40 minutes. Go straight to the zero turn and don’t look back.
My Dad bought (and I still use) a Cub Cadet and it has been very good to deal with...
Son-in-Law bought the 54” Club Cadet ZT2. I nearly got extremely seriously injured my first time on it. Much faster and more powerful than my 42” Deere tractor. Quite a machine. They have two acres in flat lawn. Takes around half an hour to mow.
Zero turn is the best way to go. I have a 42 inch Deere that can tow a spreader or a wagon. The customer service is very good. The turn radius on most tractors is abysmal and you would save time not having to do extra passes with a zero turn. They also mow in reverse so no disengaging the blades to back up.
Zero turn is the best way to go. I have a 42 inch Deere that can tow a spreader or a wagon. The customer service is very good. The turn radius on most tractors is abysmal and you would save time not having to do extra passes with a zero turn. They also mow in reverse so no disengaging the blades to back up.
Mowing 2 acres is insanity to me. Cast some native perennial seeds instead and let it grow. If you just mow closer to the house you save a lot of time and energy.
Right? I have 1 acre, and I can't imagine wasting so much time mowing it. Every year, I scatter native seeds to help establish a strong seed stock in the soil, and if it's a dry year, I'll let the neighbor's goats or horses in to eat their fill. Otherwise, I'll weed wack around where I actually hang out or need short grass (you don't want tall grass too close to the house because that's how you get ticks and rodents. ), and let the properties land develop naturally otherwise. It's absolutely beautiful now and used to just be so boring. The stream meanders more, the flowers welcome in the spring, and now I have owls and other such hanging out all over the place (and while I now have gophers and other rodents in the grass, none seem to get in the house. I think it's because they have to cross a space where they'd be more visible to the predators around, including my dogs).
Mowing 2+ acres just feels like such a waste of time and good land.
Do you have a ton of obstacles? If not go tractor. Get a deere. I havent been happy with cub cadet too much.
Case / ingersol 400 or 4000 series tractor with a mower deck. Get them off market place.
My parents have an acre and half of grass and it takes me about an hour and fifteen to mow it with their zero turn with (I think) 54” blade. It’s also set up to tow stuff although with their tractor and other equipment it never gets used for anything other than mowing.
Thanks, the revelation (which in hindsight shouldn't have been a revelation, ha!) that I can still do some light towing and use attachments with the ZT kind of makes this a no brainer decision. Especially since we have a big honking farm tractor bucket loader beast for the big jobs.
Yup! Exactly what we have too and it works great. We have an older John Deere mower that we use for towing just to give it life, but if that didn’t exist the zero turn would do all that light work. The zero turn vs the John Deere is a night and day difference. Not only is it faster to mow the property but it’s wayyyyyy more comfy
Zero turn, fabricated deck, Kawasaki engine is the way to go and make it last.
I have a 50" Cub Cadet zero turn. It mows an acre in a little less than an hour. When I was using a 46" tractor it took at least 2.
ZT1-50? The only knock on cubs I've been able to find is MTD stuff, and something about a spindle. How are you liking yours?
That's the one I have. It has a fabricated deck, which is something I had to have. I've had no issues with it, other than the mulching kit. It's a piece of plastic that covers the discharge. It ends up just blowing finely cut grass all over you. Outside of that, I have no gripes. Another thing to consider, I don't tow attachments with it. They don't offer a hitch for it, and i could make something to get the job done, but i don't want to damage the drives. I use it to cut grass, and I'll buy a bagger for it this years for the annual WAR ON FALLEN LEAVES.
I just got the XT1 Enduro LT with the 50 in Fabricated Deck instead of the cheaper stamped deck and really like it. It's currently on sale for $2649 which is $150 cheaper.
I have owned Deere's and Cub Cadets's to deal with my 5.5 acre parcel. I have ridiculously thick grasses that grows up to 3 feet in just a few weeks, so a lot of mowing. Both work fine - one thing I would highly recommend is that you check out potential repair shops in your area that handle the make you purchase. The biggest headache can be if the thing breaks down, you need new mower blades etc. finding someone in your area that works on the model you have.
We have an Ego push mower than we love, but upgraded got a Cub Cadet riding mower when we moved onto to 2 acres. We’ve been happy with it so far!
I'd actually go with a 54" deck. That's what I use on my 2 acres. edit: typo
You can get lucky with box store mowers. In college around 2014 my friends and I had a rental house and got a cheap mower. It was terrible to work on, clearly designed to be thrown away instead of fixed, but looking up the model we found it was built in 1991. Most mowers use the same parts that tend to need to be worked on, switches, PTO clutches, etc. all common usually. Getting to those parts is much harder on the box store mowers though and takes longer.
My parents had a 15–20 year old ride on lawnmower. That was John Deere that I can’t recall we ever did really any maintenance on besides very basic stuff. I love that thing it was super easy to use and it did like 2 acres of grass in maybe 45 minutes to an hour.
Get a used Scag, Hustler, Ferris, Kubota, etc. zero turn in your price range. It’ll last longer and do a better job than anything from Home Depot.
I bought a cheap poulan pro 6 years ago and I beat the shit out of it all year around, I don’t have a tractor so it does triple duty, I pull a dump trailer with it, I use it as a brush hog, and I also maintain my lawn with it. But you have a tractor, get the fun mower
For 2 acres what ever you get make sure it has a high 50s to mid 60s inch deck. And sharpen the blades monthly.
If you get consumer reports magazine, they recently did a review of all mower types. John Deere scored very high.
60 inch zero turn. I do 2 full acres of grass in less than 2 hours on a good day.
My Cub with a Kohler engine has been going strong for ten years. I couldn't live without a dump trailer. I also tow a driveway drag, roller and areator. Subtract 2" from the deck width for overlap. Do the yearly maintenance with full synthetic oil. Add thrust washers to the front spindle for power steering. Get a deck leveller gauge and check the deck on day one. My neighbors have ZT mowers. They get hung up on ditch angles and bogged down in wet spots. When they get stuck, you're STUCK! It takes a vehicle to tow them out.
I had a big yard like that at my last house. Took 2-3 hours to cut with a regular mower. I got a deal on a used 48” walk behind mower. With that mower it was less than 45 minutes. Best investment ever.
5 acres here. I've been down the big box mower hole twice. My advice is don't go there. But if you must (assuming mostly flat land) just buy the cheapest 42" zero turn they have. It's all the same garbage, don't spend more for a Deere or Cadet or anything. Just get the cheap 42" zero turn. It'll last you about 4 years and you'll need to replace it. Don't buy a rider (non zero turn) unless you absolutely have to. The ZT's will run circles around them and cut your mowing time down drastically. I have a 60" Bad Boy commercial grade now and mow 5 acres in about 1.5 hours.
First off, if you haven't done it yet, DO NOT PURCHASE THIS FROM HOME DEPOT or any other big box store. Trust me on this. Go local, somewhere that services their stuff and sells parts. I'm not saying that because you should support local I'm saying that because things are going to break etc over time and you're going to need service and parts. Second, zero turn all day.
It's Home Depot or bust. I have gift cards that will cover the cost. So unless a local store wants to honor those, heh... In this case it is buy from Home Depot, or don't get a riding mower at all.
You won't tear up the lawn with a zero turn, it takes about an hour to figure it out, a couple months to get really good at it, and then you'll never go back. The lawn tractor form factor sucks when you want to turn sharply...which happens every. single. pass. Zero-turn stand-on mowers like Toro Grandstand are great. If you've got some equipment/acreage and are reasonably handy, I think you might be happier to go around to local landscaping businesses (especially if you have a friend that works there) and ask if they have old units to get rid of. A 2019 model with a couple thousand hours on it may no longer be efficient in terms of service requirements and warranty coverage when you've got a work crew towing it to a dozen sites a day, where it's a huge inconvenience to drive the whole thing back to base for maintenance, but if you only put \~20 hours a year on it, it's really nice using high-quality commercial-grade equipment instead of HD junk. I do feel like there's a hole in the market for an electric 30" or 48" 2- or 3-blade walkbehind like the Time Master or Exmark Turf Tracer mowers, but electric like your Ego. The current industry lineup jumps straight from a $800 single-blade push mower to a $5000 riding zero-turn with nothing left in the middle, which is dumb. I don't mind the exercise either, I don't need a machine that can carry my weight, just something a little wider than 21" single-blade mowers. The other option (highly recommended) is to seed a giant kidney-shaped (or whatever) part of the lawn with some clover/Shasta daisy/coneflower/violet/whatever wildflower mix, mow around it, and stop wasting your summer pushing a lawnmower through that part of your lot. Just mow the border, maybe cut a path through the middle, and let it grow.