Mowing problems

[Roboturner913]

My wife and I have recently moved into a new house (renting). We are responsible for yard care. I haven't mowed grass since I moved out of my parents house.

The problem I am having is that there are tiny rocks in the yard........EVERYWHERE. The driveway is made of these rocks and I guess at some point before we moved in they got scattered throughout the yard.

I'm slinging rocks all over the place, hitting the house, hitting my car, the neighbors house, pretty much nothing within a 100 ft radius is safe. They're not big enough to do any major damage to property but I caught one in the nether regions today and it hurt like hell. I would hate to hit somebody that happened to be walking by or one of the neighborhood kids.

Any thoughts on what to do about this? The rocks are so small that a rake doesn't really do any good, and raising the deck on the lawnmower doesn't seem to make much difference.

[emmettlodge]

Buy a mulching mower with no discharge chute.

[spockcat]

Raise the mower blade up so it cuts grass, not the dirt and rocks.

[unimogken]

You could lay down an inch or so of topsoil on top of the grass then overseed it.

My Honda mower has 2 blades and the upper blade is a suction blade.
You could see if you can replace your suction blade with one that has a lower suction rating so you wouldn't pick the rocks up!

[Roboturner913]

Raise the mower blade up so it cuts grass, not the dirt and rocks.

Already addressed this, the deck height is not the issue. I'm on the middle notch.

Suggestion about the mulching thing might work. I have the mulching cover the mower came with, I guess all I need to do is buy new blades?

[Roboturner913]

You could lay down an inch or so of topsoil on top of the grass then overseed it.

If we were planning to stay in the house long-term I'd definitely want to do something, but I can't see spending that kind of money on a rental house.

[Tinker Toy]

Is the yard small enough to use a reel mower? If you looked around, it might be possible to find an old one powered with a gasoline engine. It should not pick up rocks.

Another option would be a bagger rotary mower. Use that until the supply of rocks is cleaned up and in the bag.

[Markos]

I would recommend that you go to a rental place and rent a lawn vacuum. Although I've never used one, I suspect that it would do the trick. It shouldn't cost more than $50 for a few hours, probably $100 for the whole day. Unless you have more than .25 acres of actual grass, it probably won't take more than a few hours.



My yard is naturally rocky, and I also have 2 yards of pea gravel in a play area. My son likes to drop these rocks all over the yard. I actually took my shop vac to the perimiter of the play area. It worked quite well. I didn't use a bag. Once done, I dumped the contents into a 5 gallon bucket. I then filled the bucket with water and let the hose run. This allowed the dirt and grass to float away, leaving the rocks. Once done, I dumped the rocks back into the play area.

You could do the same with the yard vac and put the rocks back in the driveway.

[HookedOn16v]

I would recommend that you go to a rental place and rent a lawn vacuum. Although I've never used one, I suspect that it would do the trick. It shouldn't cost more than $50 for a few hours, probably $100 for the whole day. Unless you have more than .25 acres of actual grass, it probably won't take more than a few hours.



My yard is naturally rocky, and I also have 2 yards of pea gravel in a play area. My son likes to drop these rocks all over the yard. I actually took my shop vac to the perimiter of the play area. It worked quite well. I didn't use a bag. Once done, I dumped the contents into a 5 gallon bucket. I then filled the bucket with water and let the hose run. This allowed the dirt and grass to float away, leaving the rocks. Once done, I dumped the rocks back into the play area.

You could do the same with the yard vac and put the rocks back in the driveway.

I didn't even know they made such a thing.

We have our grass covered in glass after a house fire, this thing would be fantastic.

[Markos]

I didn't even know they made such a thing.

We have our grass covered in glass after a house fire, this thing would be fantastic.

Crazy! Did your windows explode or something?

[HookedOn16v]

Crazy! Did your windows explode or something?

Yeah, most did blow out. The ones that didn't blow were demo'ed by the fire teams going in. Gigantic mess.

Going to look at the renting that vacuum and cleaning up. Tilling the entire yard this weekend and starting over from bare land. 8 months away does bad things to landscaping, haha.

Definitely appreciate you posting that thing, going to make life easier!

[Roboturner913]

I didn't even know they made such a thing.

We have our grass covered in glass after a house fire, this thing would be fantastic.

Me neither, that looks awesome!

I could see myself getting this and getting carried away, end up doing my entire neighborhood.

Sorry to hear about your house, that sucks.

[Markos]

Me neither, that looks awesome!

I could see myself getting this and getting carried away, end up doing my entire neighborhood.

Sorry to hear about your house, that sucks.

Sweet! Looks like they have these at Sunbelt Rental for under $60 for the whole day.

http://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipm...ry.aspx?id=s91

[unimogken]

A cool trick with Sunbelt rental is to find one that is closed on both Sat and Sun! Rent the tool on Fri and return Mon morning for the price of 1 single day!

I do it all the time when I rent a log splitter!

[Mk1Racer]

Already addressed this, the deck height is not the issue. I'm on the middle notch.

Suggestion about the mulching thing might work. I have the mulching cover the mower came with, I guess all I need to do is buy new blades?

You could try mulching blades, or you raise the deck to a higher setting.

I would recommend that you go to a rental place and rent a lawn vacuum. Although I've never used one, I suspect that it would do the trick. It shouldn't cost more than $50 for a few hours, probably $100 for the whole day. Unless you have more than .25 acres of actual grass, it probably won't take more than a few hours.



My yard is naturally rocky, and I also have 2 yards of pea gravel in a play area. My son likes to drop these rocks all over the yard. I actually took my shop vac to the perimiter of the play area. It worked quite well. I didn't use a bag. Once done, I dumped the contents into a 5 gallon bucket. I then filled the bucket with water and let the hose run. This allowed the dirt and grass to float away, leaving the rocks. Once done, I dumped the rocks back into the play area.

You could do the same with the yard vac and put the rocks back in the driveway.

The above item is a chipper/shreader/vac. It's designed to suck up leaves and small twigs and chop them up. If you use it to suck up rocks/glass, it's going to kill the blade and create a ton of small glass shards. What would be better would be a decent blower. Either a backpack or push blower. I like the backpack ones, as they're a bit easier to maneuver and control. That, and a leaf rake.

[Markos]

Okay, poor picture example. They do exist however without the blades, it with blades that can disengage. Call the rental place.