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There are basically four types available and they all have their pro’s and cons.

Push Reel Mowers are powered solely by you. There are no cords, no charging, no awful gas and oil fumes and they’re very quiet. If you enjoy a good workout this could be the ideal mower for you. If however you have a reasonably extensive lawn maybe not! They are also not very effective if your grass is longer than about 2 ½ inches.

Electric Mowers need a power source and they can be limited by the length of the electrical cord, available power points and items that may snag the cord. If your lawn area is reasonably small and you’re not into workouts an electric mower is the right choice for you.

Cordless Mowers are powered by rechargeable batteries which on some mower models can be removed and charged wherever you like. With cordless mowers you do not have the hassle of plugging in the lead and having to be constantly aware of where your cord is lying but battery life can become an issue. If you have a larger than normal lawn you may not be able to complete the mowing on a single charge.

Gas Mowers are normally more powerful which is best if your grass is tall and thick but then you have to be able to tolerate the fumes and stench of gas and oil. These mowers need to be constantly serviced and you will also need a supply of gas and oil readily available.

What do all those power measurements on mowers mean — The only thing that you need worry about is whether the lawnmower blades spin fast enough to cut the grass, but there are some points to keep in mind when you’re intending to buy.

With gas mowers there are three measurements to consider — horsepower (hp) which is the power output of the motor, torque which is the amount of power transferred to the blade and cc (cubic centimeters) which is the measurement of the motor output based on the displacement volume of the motor’s cylinders. You also have the two-stroke and the four-stroke where the two-stroke is believed to have a higher power output but also gives off more pollutants.

With cordless and electric lawnmowers power is measured in volts, amps or watts. To calculate horsepower consider that gas mowers have horsepower ratings starting at three horsepower. An electric mower using 6.5 amps generates about one horsepower and a 12 amp model generates nearly two horsepower. To calculate the horsepower of your electric mower multiply the amps by the volts and then divide that figure with 746. Having more horsepower does not necessarily mean more cutting power. For this reason most manufacturers started rating walk-behind mowers in torque power or cc’s, and a higher ‘cc’ usually means higher torque.

When deciding on which lawnmower to purchase buy according to features, the available warranty and the reviews for that model and not only on the power measurements.

The features to look for are as follows: —

The Cutting Deck refers to the blade housing. The wider the cutting deck equates to how many passes are required to mow a certain area. However if your mower has a wide deck it could be difficult to maneuver the mower into smaller areas.

Mulching or Bagging. Choose a mower with a rear or side bag option to collect cuttings alternatively if you would like to naturally fertilize your lawn with the clippings get a mower that can also mulch. A mower with a 3in1 feature will bag, mulch or side-discharge.

For lawns with an undulating terrain choose a mower with at least 7-inch diameter wheels and preferably with ball-bearings.

Most mowers also allow you to adjust the cutting height which is the distance between the blade and your grass. Therefore you need to decide on how much range you need.

Another good feature is a rubber flap at the back to block objects thrown up by the mower blades. Always follow the manufacturers safety instructions and always wear safety goggles to protect your eyes.

When buying a cordless mower consider purchasing an extra battery to enable you to finish mowing your lawn if the battery runs out. You can then keep one of the batteries on charge at all times while using the other. Typically a 24-volt mower will run for about 90 minutes and cut up to a third of an acre and a 36-volt will run for about 3 hours and cut up to half an acre.

When buying a corded mower ensure it has a cord holder to keep the cord under control when mowing.

Gas mowers are available with recoil (or pull cord) or with an electric starter. Preferably go with an electric mower as the mower is started with a push of a button or turn of a key.

Push or Self-Propelled

A self-propelled mower will move forward without you having to push it. All that is required of you is to steer. If you have a relatively flat lawn save some money and do without this feature. If your lawn has a lot of slopes or rough terrain go for a self-propelled mower. Mowers in this category that have rear wheel drive usually offer better traction. If you do choose a self-propelled mower choose a model with variable speed so that you can adjust the mower to a speed that is comfortable for you.

What maintenance and servicing is required differs from model to model. Always purchase a mower with a manufacturers warranty and follow the maintenance instructions rigidly to avoid any issues when a manufacturing problem arises. In general do the following —

Clean the mower after use

Keep the engine properly tuned (gas mowers)

Keep the battery charged according to the instructions (cordless mowers). In case of a manufacturing problem refer to the manufacturer’s website or manual to find the list of the closest service centers.

CARB-Compliant: What does it mean?

CARB is an acronym for the California Air Resource Board whose strict air-quality standards have been adopted in many states. If the state you live in requires compliance for gas mowers, confirm that the model you intend buying is CARB-Compliant. While these compliant mowers do run cleaner they still do give off pollutants. Rather purchase an electric or push reel mower and do your bit to save our fragile environment.

To read in depth reviews of the top electric lawnmowers available and where you can purchase them for a discount of up to 57% go to www.electriclawnmowerreviews.net now.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/shopping-articles/which-lawnmower-should-i-buy-electric-lawnmower-reviews-4182159.html

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1. Mowers

First of all, you can find numerous types of mowers – riding lawn mowers, trail mowers, walk-behind mowers, gang-reel mowers. Lawnmowers contain spinning blades on a horizontal axis. Whichever the design, they’re extremely suited to a specialized function. The littlest type of lawn mowers are meant for individuals and so are ideal for residential gardens and lawns while the ride-on lawn mowers tend to be suitable for larger backyards and municipal recreational areas.

2. Weed Sprayers

The kinds of sprayers are spot sprayers, tree sprayers, portable sprayers, and broadcast sprayers.. You can also find sprayer pumps, sprayer tanks and sprayer guns. Sprayers are components of lawn equipment that are utilized in order to administer fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides to garden plants. The actual measurements vary from individually-portable units to self-propelled units such as the tractors.

3. Tillers

Tillers are utilized to till the ground in order for the plants to get extra natural light, water and fertilizer. They are designed like lawnmowers. Tillers contain functions which you can use in order to cut smaller gardens throughout the yard with minor trouble.

4. Wagons and Carts

Think about those carts and wagons that you had while you were a young child. These grass care tools are helpful in bringing fertilizer from one location into the other. These haul rock, dirt, fire wood, and animals from the roughest terrain. Select wagons and carts which have steel frames, wide track tires and hubs that will have grease fittings. Test whether or not it tilts and pivots for easy loading and unloading.

5. Chippers and Shredders

Here are machines used to be able to reduce raw wood to more compact components like saw dust or wood chips. These are portable and are installed on wheels or behind vans or pickups. The chips exit through the chute and straight to the ground. Most chippers and shredders are powered by gasoline or diesel engines. Generally equipped with rollers, shredders and chippers grasp the limbs and leaves at a steady pace so that it is much easier for any garden enthusiast to chip and shred.

Now that you’re confident you know just what exactly they carry out, you can look to the nearest store and get those you require.

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But this behavior is undergoing yet another rapid change. The wide use of social media sites is once again changing the landscape, and a profile on a dating website online is no longer the only way that people judge your attractiveness as a mate.

Fact Checking with Social Media

These days it has become very easy to check the facts of online dating profiles. When you email someone you find attractive, they need very little information to search the web for a glimpse at your personality. With only your name they can find your profile on MySpace or Facebook. With only your handle, they may be able to find your Twitter account or Hi5 profile. There are a lot of ways to locate individuals and make sure they are who they say they are.

For many, this can only be a benefit. Provided you represent yourself honestly, these users will see evidence that you are who and what you say you are, and this evidence will lead to improved trust between the two of you. However, if you misrepresent yourself on the dating website online, you will easily be busted.

Still, fact checking has become much easier. Provided your facts are accurate, your potential partner will see that you are trustworthy. And with some sleuthing skills of your own, you should be able to ensure that the person you meet online is who they say they are.

Social Media Helping Next Steps

Social media profiles have also helped people expand their relationship. Simply add the people you meet on Facebook or MySpace and their current relationship status is known to you. Being single groups people together, and these social media profiles give you instant access to the marital status of the people you meet. As a result, it is not uncommon for single men and women to use these sites as though they were a dating website online – meeting people in person, adding them immediately on Facebook, and hoping their profile says they are single.

What We Can Expect from the Future

As social media expands, they themselves may be used as their own dating sites. Within the next few years, one can expect Facebook and MySpace to create single groups on the website itself, encouraging members to introduce themselves to other members. It may be a while before single groups will be seen in the same light as an online dating site, but in the next decade or so, once can expect that all of these social media websites will start to take over some of the functions of dating websites online, and when that occurs, the online dating landscape will change forever.

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If you neglect spring lawn care, you could end up paying for it the rest of the year.

Most of you will need to implement only about half of the following ten tips for spring lawn care, depending upon your own unique circumstances.

Spring Lawn Care Tip #1: Raking

Raking will be your first task of spring lawn care. Raking is for more than just removing leaves: it is for controlling thatch, too. Discovering a thatch build-up of more than 1/2 inch while raking indicates the need to dethatch!   I use an organic bio-enhanced liquid dethatcher.  It is more effective than mechanical dethatching, and it puts all the nutrients and trace elements captured in the thatch back into the lawn soil creating fertile humus.

There is another good reason for a spring raking if you live in colder climates. As you survey your lawn in spring, see if there are any matted patches, in which the grass blades are all stuck together. This can be caused by a disease known as “snow mold.” New grass may have difficulty penetrating these matted patches. However, a light raking will be sufficient to solve this problem.

Spring Lawn Care Tip #2: Check for Compaction

• Aerate your lawn – Compacted soil hinders water, nutrients and air available to the plants and deters root growth.  Bio-enhanced liquid aerators are much more effective than core aerators and less expensive to utilize.
  • Core aerators are less efficient (2-3 inch penetration)
  • Promote lawn weeds
  • Are very messy
  • Aerate only I inch every 6 inches
    • Liquid aerators penetrate 8-12 inches
    • Aid in natural dethatching
    • Leave no lawn mess
    • Afford 100% lawn coverage

Spring Lawn Care Tip #3: Check and adjust your soil pH

All grasses do not have the same ideal pH requirements.  They range from 5.4 for Centipede Grass to 7.2 for St. Augustine Grass.  In addition, most broadleaf weeds such as Crabgrass like a soil pH greater than 6.6.

I use Liquid Lawn Sulfur to lower pH and Liquid Lawn Lime to raise pH.  Pelletized lime and sulfur can take years to change pH.  Chelated sulfur and lime take only days.

Spring Lawn Care Tip #4: Over seeding

Is your lawn riddled with bare patches due to dog spots, heavy traffic or neglect? If so, you may need to apply grass seed to fill in those bare patches. This solution is known as “over seeding lawns.” Apply an organic fertilizer when you over seed.

Spring Lawn Care Tip #5: Fertilizing

Lawns can be fertilized organically by using compost teas and mulching mowers.  Chemical fertilizers are rapidly becoming outdated.  Eleven States have banned the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.  I use bio-enhanced liquid fertilizers.

Spring Grass Care Tip #6: Applying Pre-emergent Herbicides

If you know that you have a problem with the annual weed, crabgrass, then fertilization in spring should go hand in hand with the application of pre-emergent herbicides. As their name suggests, pre-emergent herbicides address weed control not “after the fact,” but before their seedlings can even emerge. Pre-emergent herbicides accomplish this by forming something of a “shield” that inhibits seed germination.

Over seeding is incompatible with the application of pre-emergent herbicides.

Spring Grass Care Tip #7: Organic Weed Control

We can tell the health of the soil below a lawn by the weeds that are successful in the competition for space.  They are a problem because they are not as effective as grass in achieving the desired results of a lawn.  Safety, erosion control, water purification, water infiltration, atmospheric carbon reduction and other environmental benefits that are the result of lawn grasses are reduced by most weeds.

The best defense against weeds is a healthy lawn, because grass can easily out-compete weeds when conditions are maintained in the grasses favor.  Nutrient deficiencies, nutrient excesses, soil compaction, acidic soils, excessive shade, wet soils, bioactivity and many other problems can be detected by what plants are successful in infiltrating a lawn.  Below is a list of some of the common names of indicator weeds that can help determine what issues are making your lawn less than perfect.  Correct the problem that creates a competitive advantage for the weed and you will have an easier time getting the lawn results you are looking for.

Weeds Associated with Different Soil Problems

Acid soil: sorrel sow thistle, prostrate knotweed, lady’s-thumb, wild strawberries,, plantain, rough cinquefoil ,silvery cinquefoil, hawkweeds, knapweeds

Alkaline soil: field peppergrass, goosefoot, gromwell, true chamomile, bladder campion

Soil pH maintenance has been harmed by the misnomer that turfgrass grows best in a pH of 7.0. The different grass types require different pH soils for best growth, health, weed control and disease resistance.

Wet or poorly drained soil: horsetail, sedges, lady’s-thumb, joe-pye weed, silvery cinquefoil, curly dock, mosses, Pennsylvania smartweed, tall buttercup, creeping buttercup, sheep sorrel, Canada goldenrod, lance-leaved goldenrod, meadow pink, jewelweed, coltsfoot, sweet flag, ground nut, annual bluegrass, common chickweed, crabgrass, goosegrass, ground ivy, mouse-ear chickweed, violets, yellow nutsedge

Dry soil: Virginia pepperweed, rough cinquefoil, potato vine, yarrow, black medic, red Compacted or heavy soil: wild garlic, dandelion, broadleaf dock, creeping buttercup, plantain, annual bluegrass, common chickweed, goosegrass, knotweed, mouse-ear chickweed, prostrate spurge

• A healthy sodded lawn absorbs rainfall six times more effectively than a wheat field and four times better than a hay field.
• A sodded lawn will absorb greater amounts of rain than a seeded lawn; even after three years of growth.

Soil with a hardpan or hard crust: horse nettle, pennycress, quack grass, field mustard, morning glory, pineapple weed

Previously cultivated soil: Lamb’s-quarters, plantain (several species), ragweed, purslane, dandelion, chickweed, pigweeds, carpetweed

High fertility soil: chicory, pigweeds, purslane, dandelion, lamb’s-quarters, burdock, pokeweed, butter print, Queen Anne’s lace, annual bluegrass, bentgrasses, Henbit, yellow woodsorrel, crabgrass, mallow, purslane

Low fertility soil: plantains, red sorrel, white clover

Shaded soil: annual Bluegrass, common chickweed, ground ivy, mouse-ear chickweed, nimblewill, violets

Tip #9: Buying a New Lawn Mower

Get one with a mulching kit.  Mulch your clippings and leaves and put their nutrients and trace elements back into your soil.

Tip #10: Reviewing Lawn Mowing Strategies

PROPER LAWN MOWING

Proper mowing contributes to the overall health and appearance of your home lawn. Here are some mowing basics that will provide you with the best possible results:

• Instead of a clean scissor cut, a rotary-mower whacks the grass blade off.  It is especially important to keep rotary mower blades very sharp.  Remember to balance the blade if you sharpen it yourself.
• You should mow grass in the coolest part of the day for the cleanest cut.  Grass blades are more adversely affected when they are under heat stress.  However, dew interferes with good early-morning mowing, especially if you are mulching your clippings (which you should be for a healthier lawn), so evenings are usually best.  Also mowing under wet grass conditions will aid in the spread of turfgrass disease pathogens that are already present on your lawn.  Always clean your mower deck after mowing for the same reason.

• The longer the grass, the deeper the root.  Cut turfgrass at the highest setting possible.   2-1/2 to 3 inches is the ideal height for most home lawns.  Grass growing in the shade needs to be cut as long as possible, since it needs more leaf area to intercept limited light.  Most broadleaf weeds are deterred by the shade generated by higher grass heights.
• Never remove more than 1/3 of the height of the grass at a time.” (Example: If you are mowing your lawn at 3 inches, always cut it before it gets beyond 4-1/2 inches in height)
• Mulching your clippings helps return nutrients to the soil.  For thick thatch conditions apply a bio-enhanced dethatcher (this aids soil biolife to turn thatch into healthy humus.
• Don’t refuel mowing equipment on the lawn in case there is a spill.

Tip #11Water Your Lawn Properly

• Water your lawn properly. 
  • Water early in the day- By setting irrigation systems to run early in the morning (4:00am to 6:00am) we can maximize water usage by preventing the evaporation that’s common in the heat of the day. Early morning watering is also recommended by plant pathologists, since evening irrigation can encourage lawn disease development.
  • Water infrequently- Most Pennsylvania lawns and ornamental plants require approximately one inch of water per week during the growing season. During periods when rainfall is less than this amount, it may be necessary to provide an equivalent amount to keep lawns and plants looking their best.
  • Water thoroughly One thorough watering per week is more beneficial to lawns and plants than several light watering’s. Light watering’s can promote shallow roots, making plants more vulnerable to drought stress. 
    To prevent water from running off the soil surface, consider setting your sprinkler system to run two or three times the same morning, allowing time in between cycles for water to soak into the soil.
  • Override device Consider adding an override device added that will deactivate your sprinkler system if there’s been adequate rainfall. Most devices are simply small cups that hold rainwater, and once the rainwater evaporates, the system is reactivated.

Tip #12 Raise the Brix Level of your Turf

• Increase the Brix level of your turf.
  • Brix is the sugar concentration of the sap in your lawn
  • Most grasses have such low Brix value (typically no greater than about 6 or 8 and often much lower) that insects will feed on them all day long.
  • A Brix value of 12 or higher is all it takes to eliminate most insect infestations of any plant
  • Raising the Brix of a plant is really quite simple. Provide good nutrition, including a balanced diet of macro and micronutrients and trace elements.
  • Nature’s Magic is probably the best soil amendment package on the market today

Why should you switch to organic lawn care?

What are the Benefits?

• It is safer for humans, pets and the environment than synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
• It improves the quality of the soil, which will have an increased ability to retain water and nutrients.
• You will enjoy significant financial savings by transitioning from synthetic to organic lawn care, especially after the first year of use.
• Organic products will significantly reduce pests by restoring balance to your lawn’s ecosystem. You will benefit from reduced maintenance in mowing, watering and fertilizing because you will have a naturally stronger and healthier lawn.
• A report by the National Academy of Sciences shows that the health of 1 in 7 people is negatively impacted in some form by lawn pesticides.
• Numerous studies link lawn chemicals to cancers and other long-term diseases.
• Several studies also link exposure to artificial lawn chemicals to an increased risk of cancer and other health problems in pets.
• Children are especially at risk for negative health consequences due to their size, physiological development and proximity to the ground.
• Synthetic pesticides and fertilizers destroy the naturally present beneficial organisms in a healthy lawn’s ecosystem. This destruction then transforms your lawn into an increasingly needy “junkie,” requiring more and more chemicals to sustain it.
• Organic lawn care focuses instead on soil management techniques and long-term results, building up the nutrients and organisms in the soil in order to make your lawn better able to withstand drought, pests, and other common problems.
• Organic lawn care also eliminates damage to the environment and to human and animal health caused by synthetic lawn care products.
• Organic products function by building up “life in the soil,” or soil biology, their payoff is more long-term and lasting.
• Synthetic products, by their nature, are instantaneous and must be frequently reapplied in greater amounts to maintain the appearance of the grass. Due to the need for frequent reapplications and the reduced effectiveness of synthetic chemicals.
• The user of organic products will spend considerably less money on lawn care over a two-year period than the user of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

Steve

The Organic Lawn Care Store

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