trojan9 muttered:


Hi,

I am going to "do my bit" for the environment, and make sure my new
lawnmower can mulch the grass.

I save lots of time, with no grass collection or disposal, and so.....

Which mulching lawnmowers can you recommend?

I need petrol, with approx 20 inch or so cut.

It MUST last a lifetime - my current model is some 15-20 years old!
I'd like a grassbox option - but rarely intend to use it!

I have seen on the web an husqvana, and honda models but am drawn to
John Deere model JS63 - just trust john deere!

Seriously, though, how on earth can I find our and compare these models
and others - buying a mower is an expense and i do not want to waste
money!

Any experience of JDeere?
http://tinyurl.com/5upob

the husqvana:
http://tinyurl.com/5yjsa

the honda:
http://tinyurl.com/3v48h

We've got a ride on John Deere 350, my husband chose it because it had the
toughest construction e.g. the cutter deck's made of 3 mm pressed steel and
it has a cast front axle. We have what used to be a field to mow and is
littered with submerged tree stumps, the grass has improved no end with just
a year's mulching. I'd give it a definite thumbs up.

Hi,

I am going to "do my bit" for the environment, and make sure my new lawnmower can mulch the grass.

I save lots of time, with no grass collection or disposal, and so.....

Which mulching lawnmowers can you recommend?

I need petrol, with approx 20 inch or so cut.

It MUST last a lifetime - my current model is some 15-20 years old!
I'd like a grassbox option - but rarely intend to use it!

I have seen on the web an husqvana, and honda models but am drawn to John Deere model JS63 - just trust john deere!

Seriously, though, how on earth can I find our and compare these models and others - buying a mower is an expense and i do not want to waste money!

Any experience of JDeere?
http://www.mowers-online.co.uk/itm01258.htm

the husqvana:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...0770 887&rd=1

the honda:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...0753 762&rd=1

In message , trojan9
writes
I have seen on the web an husqvana, and honda models but am drawn
to
John Deere model JS63 - just trust john deere!

We have a John Deere and I love it - I had found emptying the grassbox
on our mower more and more tiring and difficult, and of course with
mulching you don't need to empty it - but the best thing on our John
Deere that I hadn't seen anywhere else is the swivelling front wheels,
which make turning really easy. We have a back lawn with a tree stump in
the middle, and I can just go round and round in ever widening
circles... (you can lock them if you want to go straight). I now expect
to be able to mow until I'm in my dotage!
--
Klara, Gatwick basin

"Magwitch" wrote in message
...
trojan9 muttered:


Hi,

I am going to "do my bit" for the environment, and make sure my new
lawnmower can mulch the grass.

I save lots of time, with no grass collection or disposal, and so.....

Which mulching lawnmowers can you recommend?

I need petrol, with approx 20 inch or so cut.

It MUST last a lifetime - my current model is some 15-20 years old!
I'd like a grassbox option - but rarely intend to use it!

I have seen on the web an husqvana, and honda models but am drawn to
John Deere model JS63 - just trust john deere!

Seriously, though, how on earth can I find our and compare these models
and others - buying a mower is an expense and i do not want to waste
money!

Any experience of JDeere?
http://tinyurl.com/5upob

the husqvana:
http://tinyurl.com/5yjsa

the honda:
http://tinyurl.com/3v48h

We've got a ride on John Deere 350, my husband chose it because it had the
toughest construction e.g. the cutter deck's made of 3 mm pressed steel
and
it has a cast front axle. We have what used to be a field to mow and is
littered with submerged tree stumps, the grass has improved no end with
just
a year's mulching. I'd give it a definite thumbs up.

I have a Snapper ride on (with Briggs & Stratton 12hp 4 stroke engine). It
has exchangeable blades and so can collect or mulch. We have a very large
and sloping garden, which it has coped with well for 6 years. First year I
collected the grass, then ran out of patience, and have mulched ever since,
and the lawn is no different to when I was collecting, but the work is a
hell of a lot easier.
Whatever you get, I think it is worth spending a little extra to get
something robust, as there's nothing more annoying than having machinery
break down, and the grass doesn't stop growing while repairs and spares
proceed in their own time. Always keep a spare drive belt in the cupboard,
together with any other vulnerable parts. Some tyre seal is a good idea too
if, like me, you have a lit of thorns to go over.
Good luck!

"trojan9" wrote in message
...

Hi,

I am going to "do my bit" for the environment, and make sure my new
lawnmower can mulch the grass.

I save lots of time, with no grass collection or disposal, and so.....

Which mulching lawnmowers can you recommend?

I need petrol, with approx 20 inch or so cut.

It MUST last a lifetime - my current model is some 15-20 years old!
I'd like a grassbox option - but rarely intend to use it!

I have seen on the web an husqvana, and honda models but am drawn to
John Deere model JS63 - just trust john deere!

Seriously, though, how on earth can I find our and compare these models
and others - buying a mower is an expense and i do not want to waste
money!

I have had a Husqvarna (like the one in the photo but ehhh different;
different model; no idea which one) for 10 years and it is very good. I
have had it serviced just once and otherwise cleaned it out once every 2
years and generally mistreated it thoroughly and it works great.


Any experience of JDeere?
http://tinyurl.com/5upob

the husqvana:
http://tinyurl.com/5yjsa

the honda:
http://tinyurl.com/3v48h


--
trojan9

In article ,
trojan9 writes:
|
| I am going to "do my bit" for the environment, and make sure my new
| lawnmower can mulch the grass.
|
| I save lots of time, with no grass collection or disposal, and so.....

By all means leave the cuttings on the lawn, but don't delude
yourself and any naive readers. Most readers of uk.rec.gardening
will compost the grass cuttings, which is environmentally much
the same as letting them lie. And, if you actually measure the
time that you save, you will find that it is small - especially
as you will have to collect the grass anyway if you need to cut
long, lush grass (e.g. due to a sustained period of warm, wet
weather preventing regular cutting).


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Thanks Klara and others for their replies.

It seems like my hutch to trust john deere is well placed.

I must say, the JS63 model - I hadn't considered the option of the swivelling front wheels - it just looks so odd and I thought it might be weak and likely to break etc - after all, I am looking for 20 years service from my mower.

Having said that, I can see the real benefits and will now think VERY seriously about the JS63 model that has those swivel wheels instead of the one I had been thinking of without them.

Cheers!

Any ideas of recs on best place to buy?

In message , Nick Maclaren
writes
And, if you actually measure the time that you save, you will find that
it is small - especially as you will have to collect the grass anyway
if you need to cut long, lush grass (e.g. due to a sustained period of
warm, wet weather preventing regular cutting).

In our case the saving in time (and energy) is more than fifty percent:
our is a very long narrow garden, 2/3 acre, much of it lawn, so the
clippings had to be ferried all that length to the compost. It used to
take up to 6 hours, it now takes less than 3. Admitttedly we still have
the old mower, which we use early in the season or occasionally if the
grass gets out of hand. The lawn is the same it was when we collected:
full of moss...
--
Klara, Gatwick basin

In message , trojan9
writes
I must say, the JS63 model - I hadn't considered the option of
the
swivelling front wheels - it just looks so odd and I thought it
might
be weak and likely to break etc - after all, I am looking for 20
years
service from my mower.

Having said that, I can see the real benefits and will now think
VERY
seriously about the JS63 model that has those swivel wheels
instead of
the one I had been thinking of without them.

Cheers!

Any ideas of recs on best place to buy?


It does seem very sturdy to me, with proper maintenance I think it
should last as well as any if not better.

I find the swivel wheels brilliant, especially as our lawn is very
inconvenient for straight lines.

Don't know where you are. We found the mower at the Chelsea show some
years back, got a 20% off voucher :-)) and then bought the mower
itself from Godfreys in Sevenoaks. The John Deere site has a dealer
locator.

http://www.deere.com/en_GB/dealer_lo...hom/index.html

--
Klara, Gatwick basin

On Tue, 12 Apr 2005 12:25:43 +0000, trojan9
wrote:


Having said that, I can see the real benefits and will now think VER
seriously about the JS63 model that has those swivel wheels instead o
the one I had been thinking of without them.


Any ideas of recs on best place to buy

The best price I can find it for is £499

I have had one or the John Deere machines and found it really good, very sturdy and did a reasonalbe job of mulching, I did however manage to 'break' the engine but I was using it commercially and they are after all only a B & S 100 hr engine so did pretty well. Should last years in normal domestic use.

The best one I've had was a Toro 600 mulching mower, also collected the grass (not brilliant at it but excellent at mulching) It has a really good B & S 1000hr engine which is still excellent although the handles etc are beginning to get a bit loose, will last a lifetime if well serviced and the engine can be rebored if required. Special 'kickers' undre the deck help the mulcjing action, need to keep the blades sharp for best results. 3 speed box so can be really quick.

No experience of the Honda or Husquavarna one, but I do have a cheap (£250) Mountfield 6hp mulching/collecting mower at the moment which seems really good as well, always starts and quite quick. Think it was afactory return or something as one of the wheel covers was missing as standard!

Dave