2016 Lawn thread
Discussion
NickCW said:
Can't believe I have just found this thread, reading with interest..
It's amazing how many car enthusiasts are also lawn saddos, myself included. I've got some building work going on at home and they're making a right mess of my lawn, it's quite distressing! I keep thinking that I'm going to have to aerate the trodden areas, reseed the patches where they's dropped splodges of concrete, and woe betide the next builder who leaves a pile of bricks on my grass and disappears for a couple of days.
I learned about blunt blades this last week or so. Managed to hit a tree root two cuts ago and forgot to check it and sharpen the blade. Last cut and the lawn is full of brown tips, the blade was quite bad, but I didn't really believe it would have such an effect!
Blade sharpened now and will be cutting those tips off tonight.
Blade sharpened now and will be cutting those tips off tonight.
RYH64E said:
It's amazing how many car enthusiasts are also lawn saddos, myself included.
I've got some building work going on at home and they're making a right mess of my lawn, it's quite distressing! I keep thinking that I'm going to have to aerate the trodden areas, reseed the patches where they's dropped splodges of concrete, and woe betide the next builder who leaves a pile of bricks on my grass and disappears for a couple of days.
Recently had all my fascias done. The guy put a whole house worth of long planks of upvc and gutting on my lawn, the set up his little workshop of planks and bins on the lawn. Wasnt that happy, very yellow where the upvc had been sat for 2 weeks(moved it once) then his bin totally killed where it had been sat, had to re seed. All fine now a month or so later.I've got some building work going on at home and they're making a right mess of my lawn, it's quite distressing! I keep thinking that I'm going to have to aerate the trodden areas, reseed the patches where they's dropped splodges of concrete, and woe betide the next builder who leaves a pile of bricks on my grass and disappears for a couple of days.
jagnet said:
There is one final, faster way to deal with the problem which I've discovered quite by accident this year: move house.
Thanks for the interesting stuff! Perhaps this year I'll refrain from scarifying, because (a) I could do with saving the money anyway and (b) with the lawn being relatively new it isn't desperate for it. And if scarifying will help Poa annua then it could be good to avoid it.
The tricky thing is that my only other weapon - namely the germination inhibitor - is incompatible with various lawn maintenance activities. Obviously you can't scatter seed after using it; well you can, but you can't expect any of it to germinate successfully! And also because of the way the inhibitor works you shouldn't disturb the soil surface for a few months afterwards - it works by creating a film on top of the soil that interferes with the establishment of the emerging seedlings, and disturbing the soil breaks up that film. So full-on scarification is out.
So I will have to choose what to do in autumn. I have already bought a load of seed, but I'm wondering whether to use the germination inhibitor in August or September in an attempt to prevent further Poa annua, and then again in early spring to prevent late-germinating P.a. and any other weed grasses.
I suppose it depends a lot on how bad the existing patches of P.a. are, and whether there's any of the desirable grasses mixed in or if it's verging on 100% P.a.
Either approach is going to impact on the undesirables, but gut feeling is to perhaps overseed in the autumn as you have the grass seed to hand and follow on with the pre emergent in the spring. With casting worm activity likely to be an issue again in the autumn, disrupting the pre emergent barrier, this may be a slightly more effective way to go about it. As I say though, gut instinct, finger in the air, etc.
Whilst scarification can give the P.a. a competitive advantage, if areas are predominantly P.a. already then scarification/raking/etc of those areas isn't going to make it much worse provided that work doesn't drag seeds onto better areas. Sowing some chitted seed may help the desirables germinate all the sooner and gain a jump, or at least negate the advantages, on the P.a. seed bank.
Either approach is going to impact on the undesirables, but gut feeling is to perhaps overseed in the autumn as you have the grass seed to hand and follow on with the pre emergent in the spring. With casting worm activity likely to be an issue again in the autumn, disrupting the pre emergent barrier, this may be a slightly more effective way to go about it. As I say though, gut instinct, finger in the air, etc.
Whilst scarification can give the P.a. a competitive advantage, if areas are predominantly P.a. already then scarification/raking/etc of those areas isn't going to make it much worse provided that work doesn't drag seeds onto better areas. Sowing some chitted seed may help the desirables germinate all the sooner and gain a jump, or at least negate the advantages, on the P.a. seed bank.
Dammit my mower wont start! I took the chance of buying a Mountfield Empress petrol for £40 off a facebook group. Changed the oil and spark plug and been using it for a month or so but yesterday I got it started after a bit of effort, mowed the front, then it cut out suddenly on the rear. Was a bit low on petrol so topped it up, but then couldnt get it going again. Thought it might be flooded, but an hour later still no go.
I guess I need to try and clean the carb, never done that before but a few videos online looks pretty straight forward, er I hope. Trying to avoid taking it somewhere otherwise it becomes a pricey project and will be wishing Id bought new.
I guess I need to try and clean the carb, never done that before but a few videos online looks pretty straight forward, er I hope. Trying to avoid taking it somewhere otherwise it becomes a pricey project and will be wishing Id bought new.
8-P said:
Dammit my mower wont start! I took the chance of buying a Mountfield Empress petrol for £40 off a facebook group. Changed the oil and spark plug and been using it for a month or so but yesterday I got it started after a bit of effort, mowed the front, then it cut out suddenly on the rear. Was a bit low on petrol so topped it up, but then couldnt get it going again. Thought it might be flooded, but an hour later still no go.
I guess I need to try and clean the carb, never done that before but a few videos online looks pretty straight forward, er I hope. Trying to avoid taking it somewhere otherwise it becomes a pricey project and will be wishing Id bought new.
Has it got a shut off device on the handle? If so, check the adjustment to make sure it's fully disengaging.I guess I need to try and clean the carb, never done that before but a few videos online looks pretty straight forward, er I hope. Trying to avoid taking it somewhere otherwise it becomes a pricey project and will be wishing Id bought new.
8-P said:
Dammit my mower wont start! I took the chance of buying a Mountfield Empress petrol for £40 off a facebook group. Changed the oil and spark plug and been using it for a month or so but yesterday I got it started after a bit of effort, mowed the front, then it cut out suddenly on the rear. Was a bit low on petrol so topped it up, but then couldnt get it going again. Thought it might be flooded, but an hour later still no go.
I guess I need to try and clean the carb, never done that before but a few videos online looks pretty straight forward, er I hope. Trying to avoid taking it somewhere otherwise it becomes a pricey project and will be wishing Id bought new.
Where's the fun in buying new?I guess I need to try and clean the carb, never done that before but a few videos online looks pretty straight forward, er I hope. Trying to avoid taking it somewhere otherwise it becomes a pricey project and will be wishing Id bought new.
Check list:
Spark
Fuel
Spark easiest to check, when it gets dark tonight, plug out, earthed and between you / the missus try to start it with plug out. If there's any isses with the dead man's handle, or the ignition you can rule em all out at once.
fuel - if it's actually run dry, sometimes a capful (5ml max) of fuel directly into the carb will be ebough to get it to splutter into life. I do this for the first mow of each year. 1980's era briggs and stratton, which has never been serviced =)
Some Gump said:
Where's the fun in buying new?
Check list:
Spark
Fuel
Spark easiest to check, when it gets dark tonight, plug out, earthed and between you / the missus try to start it with plug out. If there's any isses with the dead man's handle, or the ignition you can rule em all out at once.
fuel - if it's actually run dry, sometimes a capful (5ml max) of fuel directly into the carb will be ebough to get it to splutter into life. I do this for the first mow of each year. 1980's era briggs and stratton, which has never been serviced =)
Thanks for the tips. Yes spark is fine, I checked that, new plug too. Sounds like we have a similar mower then. I filled up the fuel tank but no joy. Should I put a cap full of fuel as you suggest into the carb anyway and give it a crack?Check list:
Spark
Fuel
Spark easiest to check, when it gets dark tonight, plug out, earthed and between you / the missus try to start it with plug out. If there's any isses with the dead man's handle, or the ignition you can rule em all out at once.
fuel - if it's actually run dry, sometimes a capful (5ml max) of fuel directly into the carb will be ebough to get it to splutter into life. I do this for the first mow of each year. 1980's era briggs and stratton, which has never been serviced =)
Oddly enough, my Dad has near as dammit the same mower. He starts his with the throttle on full, mine wont start like that, always mid position.
The petrol into the carb thing only works if petrol isn't getting to the engine. It can happen if it's been sat over winter (carb dry), or on mine if I let it run totally out of petrol.
You can check to see if petrol is getting to the engine easy - pull 5 times on full choke, whip plug out. If it's not wet, then the petrol trick might just work!
You can check to see if petrol is getting to the engine easy - pull 5 times on full choke, whip plug out. If it's not wet, then the petrol trick might just work!
So I bought some carb cleaner and gave it a blast, fired up first pull! Hooray, no died after 5 or 6 seconds, so I think the engine was running on carb cleaner for that period.
Going to take the carb off tonight and start my investigations, seems like fuel therefore isnt getting to where it should.
Going to take the carb off tonight and start my investigations, seems like fuel therefore isnt getting to where it should.
Some Gump said:
When you take the jet(s) out, wind them in gently all the way - and count how many turns (exactly, e.g 1 5/8th turn etc). Put them back in that position.
If you're stripping it apart, a garage air line down the jet holes etc etc can work wonders.
Im totally lost at this point. I think Im going to take it to a place locally. They want £22 to look at it initally, but when I told him the age he immediately told me a new mower was £150 and they charge £50 an hour or some such. The thing is, a new Mountfield or similar with a roller is more like £400 and quite frankly this was doing nicely until now.If you're stripping it apart, a garage air line down the jet holes etc etc can work wonders.
Esseesse said:
How much are some new parts on eBay?
If I could figure out which one I needed it would help. Carbs are no more than about 20 quid, but I dont know which I need. Ive got all the model numbers/serial numbers etc but none seem to match up on ebay listings. Its a Mountfield Empress, probably 20 years old with roller, no drive. So its a Briggs and Stratton engine, mega common I beleive.Ah found the engine - this may help a lot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdFrniPyBwE
Just watched both parts, looks pretty straigtforward so will give it a crack. At the end of the second vid he mentions a screw to wind off a little if you have problems starting it, so Ill try that before taking it apart. Then if that doesnt work, Ill go to town.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdFrniPyBwE
Just watched both parts, looks pretty straigtforward so will give it a crack. At the end of the second vid he mentions a screw to wind off a little if you have problems starting it, so Ill try that before taking it apart. Then if that doesnt work, Ill go to town.
Edited by 8-P on Tuesday 26th July 10:18
So I've fixed it, shame its rained this morning as my lawn long overdue a mow.
Followed the video although turned out mine was ever so slightly different. Thought Id done a spot on job, but it didnt start aghhhhh. So knowing it was a problem getting fuel from the tank to the carb I took the carb back off again. This time I took it to bits further as I couldnt see the carb cleaner coming out another end when sprayed up the intake pipe. Eventually removed the idle screw? Some more squirting and I saw liquid coming out of the other end of the intake pipe. Put it all back together - getting quite good at this now!
Fired her up and normal service has been restored. Actually seemed to be running stronger and smoother than ever, but I bought this second hand and it never started brilliantly and I had some suspicions from day 1. It was utterly caked in oily grass and muck too.
Followed the video although turned out mine was ever so slightly different. Thought Id done a spot on job, but it didnt start aghhhhh. So knowing it was a problem getting fuel from the tank to the carb I took the carb back off again. This time I took it to bits further as I couldnt see the carb cleaner coming out another end when sprayed up the intake pipe. Eventually removed the idle screw? Some more squirting and I saw liquid coming out of the other end of the intake pipe. Put it all back together - getting quite good at this now!
Fired her up and normal service has been restored. Actually seemed to be running stronger and smoother than ever, but I bought this second hand and it never started brilliantly and I had some suspicions from day 1. It was utterly caked in oily grass and muck too.
In an attempt to combat what I believe is an infestation of Poa annua in a couple of patches of my lawn, I am looking for ways to acidify the soil because I've read that it cannot grow in acid conditions - and most fine grasses prefer acid conditions.
For the moment I'm using the tub of ferrous sulphate that I bought last year, but I haven't been very diligent in applying it for green-up purposes. So I've decided to try sprinkling handfuls of it over the problem areas and then watering it in.
Will this have any effect?
The other thing I could try is flowers of sulphur. Again, would simply sprinkling handfuls have any effect? I understand that it needs to be processed by soil bacteria to turn it into sulphuric acid, so it's not going to be an overnight treatment.
Any other thoughts on easy ways to acidify a couple of problem patches, or am I wasting my time?
For the moment I'm using the tub of ferrous sulphate that I bought last year, but I haven't been very diligent in applying it for green-up purposes. So I've decided to try sprinkling handfuls of it over the problem areas and then watering it in.
Will this have any effect?
The other thing I could try is flowers of sulphur. Again, would simply sprinkling handfuls have any effect? I understand that it needs to be processed by soil bacteria to turn it into sulphuric acid, so it's not going to be an overnight treatment.
Any other thoughts on easy ways to acidify a couple of problem patches, or am I wasting my time?
Poa annua can still thrive in quite acidic conditions. My understanding is that it'd be a very narrow window (pH 5 to 5.5) before the bents start to be discouraged, and really no window at all for the fescues.
Certainly acidification of the soil is worth doing anyway if you can to bring it down to around pH 5.5 for a fine turf lawn, but it's impact on Poa annua may be minimal. Flowers of sulphur is worth using, mixing it into top dressing makes life easier to apply it. It is going to be a long slow process, mch more so than trying to raise soil pH. Excessive application of sulphur in one go could increase incidence of disease in turf.
I tend to get powdered sulphur from places that do horse feed / country stores as the big tubs of it works out quite inexpensive from there usually. Just avoid applying before any weekend barbeques as the sulphur smell does take a while to subside
Pushing the shallower rooted Poa annua out of its comfort zone through reduced irrigation / fertilisation is likely to be a (slightly) faster process. Likewise minimizing the number of fresh seeds it can add to the seed bank by light raking before mowing to stand the seed heads up, as well as reducing the opportunities for existing seeds to germinate.
Certainly acidification of the soil is worth doing anyway if you can to bring it down to around pH 5.5 for a fine turf lawn, but it's impact on Poa annua may be minimal. Flowers of sulphur is worth using, mixing it into top dressing makes life easier to apply it. It is going to be a long slow process, mch more so than trying to raise soil pH. Excessive application of sulphur in one go could increase incidence of disease in turf.
I tend to get powdered sulphur from places that do horse feed / country stores as the big tubs of it works out quite inexpensive from there usually. Just avoid applying before any weekend barbeques as the sulphur smell does take a while to subside
Pushing the shallower rooted Poa annua out of its comfort zone through reduced irrigation / fertilisation is likely to be a (slightly) faster process. Likewise minimizing the number of fresh seeds it can add to the seed bank by light raking before mowing to stand the seed heads up, as well as reducing the opportunities for existing seeds to germinate.
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