NFT: Some lawn care 101 questions-

1.) Mulch, its free fertilizer
2.) Battery trimmer - 40v Ryobi. Blower - gas Husquavarna
3.) Blow back onto the yard if you can

In comment 13968808 Bockman said:

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1.) Mulch, its free fertilizer 2.) Battery trimmer - 40v Ryobi. Blower - gas Husquavarna 3.) Blow back onto the yard if you can

+1.

So does my father in law. It’s great. He also has a trimmer from Ego. You can use the same battery and charger for both.

and really should be cut twice a week; although I only have time to cut it once a week. As a result, there is always some that doesn't finely mulch. When that happens I drive over a second time to pickup the grass that clumps on the surface. I usually get 1-2 bags of clippings when I do it this way; I would get 10-12 bags of clippings if I bagged without mulching.

if you don’t let your grass grow too high and go anything more than 5 or 6 days between cuts. If you mulch after 10 days you are going to have piles of grass that will make lines all over your lawn and won’t decompose quickly...it will look like shit.

I like cutting twice a week, or if only once, make sure it’s a trim that’s not too much lower the the current height. Otherwise just bag it.

In comment 13968826 UConn4523 said:

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if you don’t let your grass grow too high and go anything more than 5 or 6 days between cuts. If you mulch after 10 days you are going to have piles of grass that will make lines all over your lawn and won’t decompose quickly...it will look like shit. I like cutting twice a week, or if only once, make sure it’s a trim that’s not too much lower the the current height. Otherwise just bag it.

I agree with this based on my experience thus far. I mowed Friday after work due to the weather being shaky and saw a brief window, but the lawn was still slightly wet and left significant clippings.

I’d rather cut every 5-6 days and it be a relatively easy experience than waiting longer and dealing with long/thick grass.

It might be standard now, but if not make sure to get a 4A battery with it.

[quote]1. So you prefer to bag your grass or mulch? If mulching, do you leave the grass clippings in the yard?[/img]
Huh? How do you mulch and NOT leave the clippings? The opposite of not leaving the grass clippings in the yard is bagging.

Honda mower, Stihl trimme, stihl blower and red max blower (great machine) I have been doing it for many years. I’ve learned to buy quality and keep it maintained. In the long run it lasts.

So I mulch. Why waste good money.

I bought a kobalt 40 volt at lowes to replace my ancient craftsman 2 cycle. I returned it and bought an Echo 2-cycle at home depot. The kobalt just didn't have enough power compared to the gas ones. It was particularly noticeable when edging. The Echo will destroy anything in its path.

In comment 13968821 superspynyg said:

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So does my father in law. It’s great. He also has a trimmer from Ego. You can use the same battery and charger for both.

Yup.

but some mowers might require a special or different blade to mulch instead of bagging.

Right now I have an Ariens 42" tractor mower (same as Husqvarna) and I have a special mulching blade. Also the advice on mowing multiple times per week in the Spring is important for mulching since even with most non-commercial grade mulching blades if you go a week or longer the grass will be too long to mulch (even at the highest setting on many mowers).

You'll need to mow it twice or more in some cases to avoid bagging.

For a trimmer (just my opinion) depending on your property a battery powered trimmer might not be suitable. I had a Black and Decker 40v with two 2.5AH batteries. I have around 3/4 of an acre with what I'd call medium amounts of area that need trimming/weed whacking/edging and I would routinely go through both batteries and not quite be finished.

I now have a Stihl gas trimmer and it does a better job, and worst case is I refill the gas. Only complaint is the trimmer line, after all these years trimmer line is still a pain in the ass. You figure they'd find a way to fix that (or it's just me).

Blower I have a Stihl gas blower and I have no complaints, if this is just for lawn use this is the area (blower) I'd be least worried about, whatever blower you get should be able to blow cut grass clipping back onto your lawn. If you plan to use it for leaves and have a lot of trees then I'd definitely go gas and the most power your budget allows for.

as long as your blade is sharpened regularly, you should be able to mulch without leaving large pockets of clippings.

I sharpened my blades Sunday AM, and cut in the rain. I was going on nearly 8 days since the last cut, so you could imagine the lawn was like a forest. I thought I was doomed trying to mulch, but my mower never jammed up and I had minimal piles of clippings.

My biggest issue was a few blades not getting cut. If I'd see a line of them, I'd go over it twice.

who developed products at Ryobi and swear by them for the average consumer, but I've never advocated battery trimmers. Get a gas one.

When I was designing trimmers for Ryobi, I'd have a ton of competitive models in. I still have in my garage two that have been running fine since 2005 - a Ryobi gas trimmer (it was a prototype that you can't buy). And a Stihl gas trimmer.

I bought a trimmer and blower 15 years ago and they are still going strong.

Mixing the 2 cycle fuel is a bit of a pain, but they start easy and just run.

I recommend Honda mulching mowers. Same reason as above.

In comment 13969684 FatMan in Charlotte said:

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who developed products at Ryobi and swear by them for the average consumer, but I've never advocated battery trimmers. Get a gas one. When I was designing trimmers for Ryobi, I'd have a ton of competitive models in. I still have in my garage two that have been running fine since 2005 - a Ryobi gas trimmer (it was a prototype that you can't buy). And a Stihl gas trimmer.

It's not just Ryobi, it seems the reviews on all battery powered trimmers and blowers tend to suck, and the push is usually towards gasoline powered alternatives. I have some One+ and Milwaukee M18 tools, and ended up with a blower from Milwaukee since I found a great sale on the bare tool, but it's borderline useless.

Is there an engineering reason why that's the case? Does it have something to do with trying to make something portable and powerful while remaining reasonably priced, or is it unrelated to cost and just a size thing? I've always wondered why they can make such good lawn mowers that are battery powered, but can't figure out the rest.

tough to crank out the power needed for sustained runs, especially as the blades in mowers run up against resistance. It is sort of the same thing you see when you try to run a Tesla for long periods at high speeds vs. a sports car. It is only sustainable with battery power for so long.

On the string trimmers, the battery differences are less noticeable on general trimming, but when it comes to edging, there's a huge dropoff in performance.

Basically, the battery products were designed more as a replacement of corded, electric products, of which they are world's better than now. They never were really meant as a substitute for motors.

The advancements in battery life and consistency (with Lithium and others) have pretty much made corded things an afterthought and likely obsolete in several years. But they still need some technology advances vs. motors. Ryobi products are also designed mainly for consumers with the expectation of a finite lifespan. When we bought Milwaukee Tool, it allowed us to diverge brands and focus one of consumers and other brands on the professional user.