jad n rich

Just searched a few of the old threads but weve just found 12 acres, 4 of which are cleared and flat and grassy . Well I think its 4 cleared, 200m X 70 M.

The men folk are excited , I see this in summer (phew) as being a lot of work, this is the sort of grass that would be 4 - 6ft high after 2 months of summer rain etc.

So can you get wide ride on mowers with a VERY wide slasher type attachment, or does one need a tractor . Other threads are saying $8000 for a good ride on which I am worried may not be big enough for these proportions.

I can see the good points, that much space, 100% privacy on this one, motorbikes... , and its only 8klm to surf beach and major shops but dont know if we have the time/dedication to size of the land so all thoughts appreciated especially on mowing and how long it takes would be good!

JackTheLad

200m x 70m = 28,000 sqm = roughly 7 acres. It takes JTL about 1 1/2 hours to cut 3/4 acre of grass. Oh, that's three quarters of an acre, not 3 or 4 acres. Assuming your 7 acres are mostly regularly shaped, I think it would take JTL and a domestic size ride-on mower 4-5 hours. :scared: And you'll probably need to reapply sunblock a couple of times during the job!

Let's wait and see what Mrs Dagboy or Arkon has to say...

Mrs JTL

MrsDagboy

We have 2.5 acres, of which 2 acres is of the type of grass you describe.

4 acres of couch would be lovely, you'd mow it in 2-3 hrs on a largish ride-on.

4 acres of clumping or feed grass like rhodes, paspalum or guinea like ours would be an absolute nightmare. It takes us the equivilent of most of a full day just to cut ours with our ride-on (it's a 48" cut, Toro brand & yes, cost around $8K), we are seriously considering getting a horse on agistment to try to keep it down. And that's not including the whippersnipping which takes as long again. Winter isnt so bad, but summer it has to be done weekly really, if you leave it for 2 weeks it's starting to get too long to cut easily.

With 4 acres I would seriously consider a tractor & slasher or look at the really really big industrial ride-ons that the councils use, my nephew has one on his farm (look at http://www.toro.com.au/consumer/content.cfm?page=31), but be prepared to part with some serious serious money for one of those. BTW, where it gives you a time per hour to cut an acre (notice it says "up to"!!!), that is for a completely flat square area with short grass & no obstacles (like trees, fences etc) in the way - not what most people have in their yards! According to them we should be able to get ours done in something like an hour & a half - in our DREAMS!

If anyone knows how to get rid of feed grass so we have nothing but couch left - please let us know!

Still wouldnt go back to living on a normal sized block for all the tea in China though!

moneypenny20

What does he use?? Hubby does our's (probably about 1/2 an acre of grass in about 1/2 an hour on our 40" ride on (cost about $2,400)

JackTheLad

But if someone gives you all the tea in China you'll be able to afford an even larger property with someone full time mowing your garden and handpicking all those nasty weeds! You can always have a normal sized block in the middle of the 12 acres of cleared land!

Mrs JTL

P.S. Did I mention in my last post Mrs D was going to respond?!

MrsDagboy

Hey MrsJTL, think having a baby has affected your maths abilities , 200 x70 is 14,000 which is just about 3.5 acres & if it takes JTL an hour & a half to cut 3/4 acre then it would take about 7.5 hrs to cut 3.75 acres . You are very lucky with your block too as its all mainly short grass, not too hard to mow like ours .

Hard to compare though as you have one of the tractor type mowers which are alot slower than the zero turn radius ones.

jad n rich

OMG :scared: and JL says its more like 7 acres cleared. Blooody noorah

See this is what I feared, lovely property but unless we take on a few horses it sounds impossible in reality, but I was thinking that in this climate horses = flies, think that many flies close to where you live would be unpleasant perhaps.

Edit just seen thats been corected to only! 3.5 acres of mowing, still sounds bad, wonder if you could churn it all up and plant something else
thats low flat and grows slow

MrsDagboy

LOL, first time I have been online for more than a couple of minutes for days actually, been busy with Dagboy's mum & dad here & he's just taken them to the airport so I sat down & this was at the top of the list .

OK you are right, if I had all the tea in china I could afford to pay someone to come & cut the grass for us! That's if I could FIND someone that is .

MrsDagboy

Hahaha, nahhh 4000sqm is 1 acre, MrsJTL's maths was a bit out .

The flies would be slightly worse, we don't have a real lot of flies, nothing like Perthites describe :scared: & we have a horse next door, but yes, certainly worse than suburbia.

JackTheLad

Yes, I blame it on Coffee Bean! I saw and typed the number "2" and thought 4! I'm learning to count like my daughter... And the fact that I'm in Hong Kong doesn't help either, being 2 hours behind you all!

Mrs JTL

annqldau

Horses in field next door but not too many flies in North Brisbane. Think you can't have an acre plus without the ride on but then all men want a ride on so that’s not a problem. And, it is the man that rides on it not the woman so wouldn't get to het up about the size as you will be sat on the veranda watching the man with your G&T or Red Wine in hand... .

The longer the grass the more chance of snakes I do believe. We did look at 23 acre property at one stage but would only ever of cut the grass on 2 acres the rest could have gone bush. Sense prevailed as, as we lack a horse we decided we didn't need that much land and settled for two.

JaneandJim

We've got 5 acres and the only grass we're going to have is the nature strip out the front. 4 acres is rainforest and we're planting the front with waterwise tropicals. $8000 will buy an awful lot of plants instead of a ride-on. It just depends what you want your garden to look like and how much work you want to do on it.

The guy across from us, who hasn't even started building yet, comes and mows his nature strip (200m x 4m) every weekend with an ordinary pushy mower. If he misses a weekend and there's been rain it gets pretty high so you'll need to mow at least once a week, like Mrs. D. said.

Jane

MrsDagboy

Forgot you were in HK, hope you are having a good time & CB is behaving herself .


One point to consider if anyone is interested in planting something that will eventually turn into a tropical rainforest garden or buying acreage that includes alot of bush area is that it will be a breeding ground for mozzies in summer because of the shade, undergrowth & dampness.

I'd rather have flies than mozzies :scared: .

Wol

12 x llamas!

JaneandJim

We don't really have either. We have lots of lovely birdlife and frogs eating them all. Our neighbour's had lawn grubs roughly once a month since he's laid his turf, though. Anyways, I thought mozzies liked water, not tropical plants?

Jane