Submitted by Pancake108 t3_125nbci in pittsburgh
I don’t wanna be premature with my seasons first cut. The lawns growing green, we got decent weather, I’m jones’n to cut some lines and have a nicer yard than that ol’ dick Randy across the street.
Submitted by Pancake108 t3_125nbci in pittsburgh
I don’t wanna be premature with my seasons first cut. The lawns growing green, we got decent weather, I’m jones’n to cut some lines and have a nicer yard than that ol’ dick Randy across the street.
My half acre yard gets covered with violets and the bees are always about, I make sure to wait to start mowing. My neighbor will never understand!
My back is shady and has tons of violets and clover. I can ignore it throughout a lot of the year. The front though is a shitty monoculture and I have to mow it pretty much every week in spring. I need to bring that shade to the front.
This is the way.
How do I get past this paywall?
‘I’m mowing the air Rand, I’m mowing the air.’
Mister Lahey!!!
Ask me if I care! Go ahead ask me. Yeah. Go ahead ask me.
All I really wanna do is get high and mow lawns at the trailer park
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Please wait. Grass lawns are afwul for native plants and pollinators but if you can let it grow until June they will have a chance to get a head start. Also please try not to clean up old leaves, branches, etc until the weather warms up since there are many critters that use that shelter to overwinter and they have nowhere to go yet if displaced.
This post is absolutely kryptonite to boomer brains lol
Lawns are my favorite “brainwashed by capitalism” topic in the US. I’m so glad people are becoming more aware and are trading high maintenance, imported grasses for native ground cover.
And it is a huge waste of fossil fuels
How much of the total fossil fuel consumption is represented by residential lawn care? I'd have to imagine significantly less than 1%
Running a gas powered leaf blower for 30mins emits the same amount of pollution as driving a ford 150 raptor for 3,800 miles.
https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/emissions-test-car-vs-truck-vs-leaf-blower.html
This is an insane fact
Electrifying lawn equipment should be priority #1 as opposed to electric cars
EV has to happen too, but if we can make a similar emissions reduction with products that are well within the budget of your average family ($50 leaf blower vs $50,000 car) and have a battery that is several hundred times smaller than your average EV that is a huge climate win
That's what CARB is trying to do and people still complain. All of my yard power tools are electric and the reduction in noise pollution alone is worth it.
> Electrifying lawn equipment should be priority #1 as opposed to electric cars
No. That's misunderstanding the problem.
The Edmunds article is talking about pollutants like carbon monoxide and NOx and so forth. They're high because gas lawn mowers don't have the emissions control systems that cars do. Some places do encourage people not to use gas lawn equipment on air-quality alert days.
Climate change is about CO2 emissions. Emissions control systems do basically nothing to reduce the amount of CO2 emitted, it's a straight function of how much gas has been burned. The only real way to reduce CO2 emissions is to burn less fuel, and cars and trucks burn way more fuel than lawn mowers.
That said I've literally never owned a gas mower, I've been using some form of electric mower for about 15 years now.
CO and NOx emissions both also net contribute to global warming via catalytic effects and are also worse for human health than CO2. And this doesn't even mention the host of other greenhouse gases we emit every day (methane, HFCs, etc). Climate isn't just about CO2
However I do agree that trucks burn way more fuel and produce way more CO2, but the production of electric trucks is also far more ecologically destructive than production of consumer grade electric lawn and garden equipment which is why I'd posit they're still a climate win (although it's just a reasonably informed hunch and not backed by research or anything).
And again - EV transition still needs to happen, but the ROI on smaller, cheaper sources of pollution is probably higher in many cases
Transportation accounts for about 27% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Americans burn about 135 billion gallons of gasoline per year, and lawn equipment uses an estimated 800 million gallons. Hundreds of billions versus hundreds of millions, it's not even a close comparison.
Saying that electrification of lawn equipment is more important to combat climate change than vehicles is just flat out wrong.
I'm not saying it's more important.
What I am saying is that lawn equipment is a low hanging fruit with a high value impact
I'm saying every home and apartment in America has the capability of charging a small leaf blower battery without landlord consent or service upgrades or waiting for public charging infrastructure investment to kick in.
I'm saying you can probably go to home depot and buy an electric weed wacker tomorrow with your weekly budget. You probably cannot go buy a new car tomorrow
I'm saying that producing a 100kwh battery, 2 tons of steel, 4 tires and some paint is unbelievably destructive to the environment.
I'm saying that for $7,500 the government could offer an ev tax credit for one car for one person or they could straight up buy 40 electric push mowers for 40 people
And I'm also saying that CO2 isn't the only emission that matters. For public health reducing the prevalence of NOx, VOCs, CO and other toxic gases emitted by two stroke engines is also essential
I'm also gonna add that biking, walking, scootering, taking a train (and probably even a diesel bus) are all still far better for the environment than driving your own electric car. That battery came from somewhere. That energy came from somewhere. We need to focus on reducing per capita energy consumption in addition to greening our energy supply
Anyway don't let perfection be the enemy of progress. We have a long way to go in the climate fight, and I just think we should maximize our financial and ecological ROI
> What I am saying is that lawn equipment is a low hanging fruit with a high value impact
That's the problem though, it's not a high impact at all. It's very low impact.
I've owned nothing but electric lawn equipment my entire adult life, but I'm not going to pretend it's more important than it actually is.
You're not listening. Or at least you've chosen not to address my actual points
However due to their lower price and the ability to charge indoors from a regular wall socket just about anyone with a lawn can probably own electric lawn equipment right now (unless they need a riding mower I guess)
And again, I understand that transportation is one of the largest source of emissions for most households (along with heating/cooling) and that EVs are still good and still necessary. But in many circumstances (but not all) the return on investment is going to pencil out well for electrifying those smaller miscellaneous uses like lawn care. And in literally all circumstances not driving at all and getting around via transit, bike or on foot is more sustainable
I'm listening, I'm saying you're wrong.
> the return on investment is going to pencil out well for electrifying those smaller miscellaneous uses like lawn care
You've said that without providing any evidence whatsoever.
Whereas I've actually provided you concrete numbers that lawn equipment is less than a fraction of a percent of gasoline usage, which itself is only a portion of transportation carbon emissions, which itself is about a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions.
You're chasing percentages with too many zeroes at the front to make a bit of difference. Climate change is not an "every little bit helps" problem, the only real solutions involving going after the big ticket items.
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Yes it's a big problem but also yes every little bit does help.
Switching to an electric car is a good thing. But for a variety of reasons, not everyone can own an electric car right now. It is still ok to reduce your climate impact elsewhere.
I'll admit I need to go touch grass (pun intended) instead of getting in dumb reddit fights so apologies for the tone. I just think we should be doing everything we to can reduce emissions as soon as possible and as efficiently as possible, and clearly gas powered lawn equipment is an easy thing to phase out
I've struggled to reckon the ROI on continuing to use my second-hand gas mower vs buying an electric mower. When do the emissions of my existing equipment outweigh the emissions of manufacturing something new?
If you are a first-time buyer, I totally recommend electric. I borrowed my buddies to test out and it worked perfectly fine, although it was a bit over 10Ah of batteries for about 1/10 acre.
Agreed. It's the same argument as with phasing out gas stoves/water heaters etc. The ecological cost of a brand new one is higher than continuing to use the one you have, but new ones should all be electric (hence the ban on gas appliances in new construction in a some states/cities). I suppose this also depends on how the old equipment is up/downcycled (stripped for parts, etc)
You're probably fine to continue using the old one but if/when replacement becomes necessary electric is definitely the way to go
Honestly, for a 1/10 acre skip the battery and just use a cord. You'll probably need to get an expensive one for higher amp draw. For instance, I got one of those leaf blower/vacuum things because I have a below grade driveway and leaves get piled up down there. Use it a couple times a year so no leaf blower hate plz. For comparison, my lot is 7000 sqft, which is about .15 acres.
Anyhow, it draws a lot of amps (around 15 amps) and I need 100 feet to reach all of my yard with ease. So you need a cord with larger guage wires. 12 guage for around 15 amps and 10 guage for anything over that up to 20 amps (has one of the prongs sideways). Because the longer the cord, the more voltage drop which can damage the tool. Anyhow, the extension cord will usually have labeled the amp rating it's designed for. Heavy duty is usually designed for these amps.
The batteries for tools are decently expensive, and lithium ion is only good for full capacity up to maybe 500 full cycles. Corded tools are also cheaper for a comparable battery powered tool. And fewer rare earth metals for environmental responsibility if that's your angle.
I was gifted a 40V Ryobi string trimmer and already have two batteries, but good input.
Our property is also challenging with slopes and retaining walls that would make a cord a bit of a headache. Working to slowly lessen the overall area of turf though.
I had one of those Ryobi string trimmers and I had to use it pretty frequently. The motor only lasted a year for me, hopefully the made them better in the time since. But yeah, one you have is better than one you have to buy. I'm working on shrinking the amount of lawn I have to maintain too.
Consumption and emission are not the same thing.
Gas powered lawn equipment has no emissions restrictions, so actually a lot more than you'd think
especially anything with a 2stroke motor
The point of emissions and impact on the environment is certainly the most important aspect of the discussion. But the call out was waste, and the amount of consumption vs total, especially for energy production has to be small.
I wasn't really arguing for lawns or fossil fuel, moreso looking for perspective on the actual consumption amounts because I was curious
You are correct, everyone replying to you is missing what the post you commented on actually said.
Yes lawn equipment has an outsized pollution footprint since those engines don't run clean but they do not have a huge actual fuel consumption footprint.
Gas-powered lawn and garden equipment is responsible for 24-45% of non-road carbon emissions, about half of other forms of air pollution, and 4% of total C02 emissions. Gas-powered mowers and leaf blowers are among the least energy efficient, most polluting combustion engines in existence. Operating a lawnmower for an hour produces the same amount of emissions as driving a typical car for 500 miles.
That's not taking into account the harmful effects of monoculture grass lawns on native species and pollinators anyway. Lawns are truly one of our dumbest hobbies.
I hate my lawn and I wish it was clover. Or gravel
r/nolawns has some great resources! Clover is wonderful.
Clover is ok. It is just as invasive and non-native as grass. At least it sometimes has some flowers, but they often get mowed off anyway. They have a whole writeup about it in that sub.
You could make that happen.
Lay a tarp over it on a hot day, then rake it out and seed with clover. If that's what you really want, it's honestly not too difficult to accomplish
It's 3/4 acre, so it would take a lot of iteration, but I wouldn't have expected it to be that easy.
An electric dethatcher might make it a bit easier; I can understand the reluctance to tackle that large of an area. The non-difficulty I was referring to was the game plan, certainly not the physical labor of the task
> Gas-powered lawn and garden equipment is responsible for 24-45% of non-road carbon emissions
Correction: Your link says that gas-powered lawn and garden equipment is responsible for 24-45% of non-road gasoline emissions. Not non-road carbon emissions.
There are only so many things that use gasoline besides cars, and of those things lawn equipment is the largest consuming category.
> Operating a lawnmower for an hour produces the same amount of emissions as driving a typical car for 500 miles.
Health impacting pollutants like VOCs, yes. Climate change causing greenhouse emissions, not even close.
The average vehicle on American roads gets about 25mpg, so that 500 mile trip is burning about 20 gallons of gasoline.
I've always owned electric lawn equipment so I'm honestly not sure what's typical, but I'd guess that most people aren't burning 20 gallons in their lawn mower in an entire year.
For us, with the mild winter and occasional 50F+ days in the last two months, our lawn was over 8" in areas. Mowing now should help with dandelion and clover competition.
Also, so many hidden dog poops.
How are grass lawns bad for native plants?
Most grass isn’t actually native to the region and takes up the space native plants used to inhabit
Edit: downvote me all you like but the above statement is simply a matter of fact
I am gradually replacing most of my grass with native pollinators, year by year. It will improve over time.
But I had to mow yesterday because I have a tiny dog with an acorn brain who won’t go into the yard to poop if the grass touches his belly.
He is descended from wolves and we ruined his bloodline.
I agree, but tell this to the communities like mine that warn people for long grass. 🙄
I wish you were my neighbor. My wife complains because the neighbors complain.
At least my lawn isn't homogenous.
Keeping your grass super long is basically an invitation for snakes and ticks which isn't great if you have a dog.
It's not like it's going to be a meadow by memorial day. It probably won't even violate city code. I typically only mow once every 3 weeks and it's never higher than maybe 4 or 5 inches. Depends on the grass type, shade vs light, the amount of rain, etc. Some places like Mt Lebanon are stricter than the city. But it's doable and not a snake and tick haven by that point.
We play a weird game of chicken in my neighborhood to see who caves first and gets the mower out. My hunch April 8.
I'm avoiding it as long as I can, because once we start, we don't stop until... what? October, now?
NO MOW MAY!!
I've been no-mowing May since before it was cool (I hate mowing the lawn).
I had to give mine a little trim a few weeks ago because my corgi is a snob and wouldn't go in the yard if the grass was too high.
corgi might fear the faeries that live in the tall grass.
This past weekend
I saw a guy out on his riding mower cutting grass this past Saturday.
Seemed a bit early for me but maybe he just had to get out of the house!
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But think of the fresh air
Turf grass grows best between ~60-80F. We've had a mild winter and multiple days in that range. It's also species-dependent. Our shitty lawn / dog bathroom has grass that grows 1" in a few weeks and others in a few days.
Fuck Cutting Grass.
One of the biggest wastes of our time and money in this country. Plus, gas-powered mowers are air-polluters.
Fuck companies like Scotts and TruGreen that try to make you believe having a well-manicured lawn is important.
I really enjoy cutting grass 🤷
I water my lawn with the tears of people like you.
Just more of your usual reactionary outrage
Yeah, “fuck cutting grass” followed by me making a sarcastic remark is totally me being outraged.
Ha ha.
Imma' come piss on your lawn, and then you won't have to worry about watering or cutting it.
Lots of folks, including my neighbor, did this past weekend! I've put down my first fert and this weekend will dethatch where needed and do some general yard clean-up, so I'm eyeing next weekend possibly.
Whenever Doug the grass guy shows up. I love Doug.
Of all the luxuries I am fortunate to be able to afford, my lawn guy is #1. $35 a cut, never have to worry about if it's going to rain over the weekend so I have to do it after work on Thursday, no lawnmower purchase or maintenance, no getting covered in all the nubbins and sweaty.
I tip the shit out of them first and last cut.
I refuse to mow in the month of March.
There's a weird dichotomy of posts in here lol. Who knew cutting your lawn was bad.
It's bad for my free time, so I don't do it until I have to, the environmental stuff aside.
If it were up to me, I'd do it now, but it's not up to me. My landlord will probably do it when the grass is approximately a foot tall.
Over a month ago... my lawn is creeping bentgrass and it looks best when maintained very short. I did a quick pass to knock down the high (>2") stuff.
Replace your lawn with something you don't have to mow
Like dead bodies.
Trying to wait it out as long as possible, but might need to do a little trimming. We have the WORST “grass.” But I want to give the little violets a chance to bloom, and pollinators a chance to do their thing.
When all the bulbs I have in my yard die back
My neighbor was mowing yesterday. Too soon bud!
A few of the neighbors have already done theirs at least once. Mine is already shaggy looking. I was thinking I have maybe a week tops before needing to do it.
For anyone please consider no mow may. The bees will thank you
Looking at the 10 day on weather.com i see april 3rd as the first grass cut
About two weeks after I rip out all of this year's quickweed which returns without fail right about now.
June 1
Two of my neighbors cut their grass over the past weekend...its already started.
My neighbor did his this past Sunday on his riding mower. He's retired and probably did it mostly to clean up the leaves and crap.
Possibly today.
Today
Whenever it needs it. Maybe in a week or 2.
Neighbor already did his ._.
My neighbor has already mowed... twice now. But he is crazy like that. I have a small patch in my backboard, that if I waited until Memorial Day, would be over 2 feet tall. Not sure Memorial Day is a realistic goal.
Dunno. But my clover/dandelion mix usually is mid Aplril.
my idiot neighbor mows twice a month, so long as there is no snow covering the grass.
until it looks to be growing too tall. Just like usual
My neighbor had a service out yesterday
My dad used to say “If you mow before May, you’ll mow everyday.” He hated lawn maintenance and I’m 99% sure that was just his excuse to procrastinate. I also hate lawn maintenance and still use that saying. But it still never holds true.
I just passed your dad's saying to my husband. He didn't make it to May last year, he's really trying to hold out this year.
I had to cut mine yesterday already. And randy to frig off and his dirty burgers suck
Just bought my first house after renting for over a decade, got a lawnmower and weed waxier and now I’m waiting for my neighbors to do it first so I’m not THAT guy lol good luck yinzers
Well, whenever my neighbor is gonna do it, it'll be on my day off. And way too early.
I live in a neighborhood with a bunch of retired people obsessed with yard and garden maintenance, all day, every day, the entire summer. At least 3 of my neighbors already mowed their lawns this past Saturday. I'm holding out until there's something substantial to mow.
Planning on doing beginning of season mower maintenance this weekend. 50/50 whether I’ll squeeze in a quick mow or save it for next week. Have a few spots that are starting to get overgrown.
My next door neighbor mowed today. Always the first one, he can never just be chill. And he’s the oldest guy in the neighborhood, over 80 years old.
I don’t think like a normal grass cutting citizen because the only thing I have to deal with is knotweed. :(
Mine is starting to look rough but I want to delay as much as possible because f**k grass cutting.
I’m guessing next week or so though. ☹️
My mom is cutting hers tomorrow
My husband is trying to hold out until May. Stay strong, everyone!
Fuck Randy cut it tomorrow
Ummmmm…yeah…cut it last weekend…so…yeah 🤓
Me? When it looks more like a shag carpet than a lawn... Junish? lol I want to live near a lawn, not a golf course.
probs this weekend. three of my four neighbors have mowed already. got the mower out and prepped to go. I want to mow at least once before putting down my crab/goosegrass pre/post emergent stuff. plan is to add in microclover seed (5% of total seed per weight when overseeding!) to add some nitrogen and natural weed cover to the yard.
I’m gonna need a 5 inch lawn mower to mow my plants in a windowsill pot thing lol
I'm seeding and my yard is very soft and wet, so no mowing yet, plus the downed tree is a big deterrent.
My apartment started doing it this morning
I think we have some time.. the crab grass is coming up now and the good stuff is still low. I'm guessing sometime in late April I'll fire er up and mow, but we have time.
I was planning on doing mine today..
This past sunday for me.
"Why do drugs when you can mow a lawn" - Hank Hill
The racket and emissions caused by gas powered lawn equipment is an absolute nuisance. Despite only having a few houses on my street, and the properties being very spread out, the noise is disruptive and annoying. I feel for people who live in denser areas, the noise there must be far worse.
It wouldn't be fair to implement in all areas, but I'd support a gas lawn equipment ban in my municipality. Again, this isn't true in all areas around the county, but people in this municipality can afford electric equipment (or to pay landscapers more for acquiring electric equipment), and it would improve quality of life. If some people in this municipality can't afford it, I'd be more than willing to subsidize their shit. I frequently spend time in areas elsewhere in the US with such a ban, and the difference is night and day. So much more peaceful and quiet, not to mention the lack of nasty emissions!
Electric riding mowers are still really expensive, though having that much lawn to mow is already expensive whether they realize it or not. So I can see what you mean there.
But replacing a walk-behind with electric isn't too hard to do. If your yard is small enough you can easily get by with a very cheap, corded mower.
For anyone on the fence, though, my battery mower is a beast and is much easier to use than gas. And there's even less maintenance than a gas mower, which is already low.
I love my electric mower! I’ve had a 60v Black and Decker for 6 years. It quieter and lighter than a gas mower (useful because my yard is hilly) and is super low maintenance. I just need to sharpen the blade.
B&D doesn’t make the batteries for this mower anymore , so I’ll probably have to replace the whole thing once these batteries die. Lack of support after just a couple of years on being able to get new batteries and battery chargers is a definite con for electric lawn equipment, and may make them more wasteful in some ways than gas equipment. My yard isn’t huge, but the grass is thick and grows quickly. I need 2-3 batteries to cut the back and front (and sometimes that isn’t enough and I have to wait for batteries to recharge). I believe the newer models have more efficient batteries.
the 60v toro line is great. I have the mower, leaf blower and snow blower and all three perform extremely well.
Good to know! I was vaguely looking at that and the eGo mower (while hoping this mower will last another season). The eGo is self propelled, which I don’t want? I don’t want to get dragged down the hill.
the toro has self propelling too, but it's based on how much force you push into the handle with. so if you're going downhill and pulling back on it, it won't engage the diff. I have the aluminum deck one (the deck is black instead of the steel ones which are red) and the weight/corrosion resistance are nice features.
It always amazes me how many people enjoy mowing and finicking with grass. I prefer to spend my time outdoors doing things other than lawn maintenance. Good landscapers are worth their weight in gold. You do you though!
That said, thank y'all lawn enthusiasts for your hard work keeping the golf courses in good shape! My slightly above average short game appreciates (and needs) you!
Very funny to look down your nose at people who mow their lawn while also playing golf
Most lawns aren't nearly nice enough to comfortably and consistently hit a perfectly struck flop shot from. If it doesn't look like the fairways at Oakmont, I don't want it.
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drmartykrauss t1_je4z754 wrote
not til memorial day, comrades! stay strong, hold steady!! https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/28/travel/no-mow-may-wisconsin.html