Mobile commerce is here! or just around the corner…
EcoMowers Mobile Commerce
EcoMowers.com has been selected to be a participant in the Volusion mCommerce beta test period. This means anyone with a smartphone can purchase their new eco friendly reel mower ANYWHERE, ANYTIME. The optimized mCommerce web store is currently running on a separate web server (not yet at ecomowers.com) – stay tuned for the “official” mCommerce store launch coming soon to an iPhone near you!
Andy Humphrey of EcoMowers.com: “Thanks to Volusion mCommerce, my customers will be able to buy as soon as they have a need for a product. This is a huge advantage for my company since it removes all obstacles to purchasing and expands potential sales opportunities to anywhere, anytime.”
Ok, we know how fun it is when you get a new toy – especially a new lawn and garden tool like a cordless electric string trimmer. Because we are now on the verge of spring we are reminded to use such tools with caution and care. Eye protection, ear plugs, blah, blah, blah you’ve heard this a million times right? What about the safety of your trees and shrubs?
It is important to be cautious with your plant material and not get carried away in the sunshine of a new spring day. Caution should be used when trimming around the base of plants – string trimmers can girdle young trees without you even realizing the damage because the grass and weeds returns upright after being cut and hides the damage to the bark. Use a trimmer guard or protective sleeve around the trunk to reduce this type of injury.
Earthwise Cordless Electic String Trimmer
Scientifically speaking (okay I’m a geek and I have horticulture degree) the cambium layer is active in the spring and early summer and impact to the bark can cause slipping and the bark can loosen or be torn off.
So get out your electric string trimmer and tear up those weeds and edges – but don’t touch those trees!
We recently read in a SafeLawns.org blog post about the 2010 launch of Firebelly Organics. Tom Kelly of Milford, N.H., a former pesticide applicator has much of New England buzzing over his revolutionary, easy-to-use lawn care program made from 100 percent organic ingredients.
After a few phone and email conversations with both Tom Kelly and his wife Debra (Sales & Marketing), we are impressed and excited to share their company and their story with the ecomowers.com community. Signing up for their monthly lawn care program might just be the perfect complement with your ecomower.
About Firebelly Organics:
Fire Belly Organic Lawn Care honestly believes we can make the world a much better place by simply changing the way we treat our lawns. When we eliminate the overuse of dangerous pesticides and chemical fertilizers we are taking a step towards saving the environment and creating a healthier world for our children, pets and families.
Located in New Hampshire, Fire Belly provides a seasonal, do it yourself, six step organic lawn care program to customers all over The United States and Canada. We are also a leading provider of organic lawn care products to the organic lawn care applicator industry. By simplifying process in which you can treat your lawn organically Fire Belly leads the way in converting turf care programs from a dangerous chemical process to a safe natural approach.
Firebelly Organics
Fire Belly is dedicated to providing effective environmentally responsible products that address soil biology. Our horticultural products feed the soil through the introduction of select beneficial microbial species allowing them to facilitate the natural processes inherent to healthy plant growth. We blend a diverse array of beneficial soil microorganisms with natural plant extracts and organic nutrients to create microbial systems. These natural systems simultaneously feed the soil and the plant, which allows plants to grow to their full genetic potential
We not only want to provide you with the proper products to treat your lawn but we also want to help you with any and all concerns when it comes to the care of turf. When you sign up for the Fire Belly program you are getting many years of agronomic experience that we hope you will put to use by constantly asking questions. When outstanding products come together with outstanding education and information you can have an outstanding lawn…naturally.
The new Fiskars Momentum reel mowers are now ready for your purchasing pleasure. We are gearing up for the summer 2010 mowing season, which means our stocking supply of momentum mowers will be here in just few weeks. We have partnered with Fiskars to make online ordering easy – you can even order your mower before our supply arrives!
The new Momentum mower has similar characteristics to the Scotts, Brill, Sunlawn, and EASUN mowers – however, it aims to target these reel mower ‘pain’ points, mainly bogging down in tall grass and clogging on small twigs. The Momentum® Reel Mower combines patent-pending technologies and Fiskars expertise in ergonomics to dramatically improve ease-of-use and cutting performance.
These new technologies include:
InertiaDrive™ Technology: A large diameter cutting reel and heavy blades store energy much like a flywheel, so the Momentum® delivers twice the power to cut through small twigs, weeds or dense grass that clog other reel mowers. The mower also requires 30 percent less push force than standard reel mowers when cutting long grass.
StaySharp™ Cutting System: Precision engineering allows grass to be cut without the blades touching – greatly reducing friction & blade wear. By eliminating the steel-on-steel contact that dulls standard reel mowers, peak performance can be maintained without annual sharpening.
VersaCut™ Design: The Momentum® delivers the greatest cut range of any reel mower with cut height settings ranging from 1 to 4 inches. In addition, it edges three times closer than other reel mowers, and never leaves uncut strips under the wheels.
Fiskars Ergonomics: The Momentum® incorporates a number of best in class convenience features to enhance the mowing experience – including an ergonomic height adjustable handle with a padded grip, a quick and easy one-touch cut height adjustment system, and a grass discharge chute that directs messy clippings forward, away from the user’s feet.
The Momentum® comes with a 4-year warranty – the longest available warranty for any reel mower on the market. Why not put this new reel mower to the test today!
Did you overseed your lawn this fall? How does your grass look now? Did you fill all those bare spots your dog Lizzy so nicely caused this summer? If you planned ahead, purchased choice seeds, and followed a rigid planting strategy your grass probably looks fantastic. However, if you bought cheap seed, tossed it on the ground, and watered it a bit you probably have clumpy & patchy results. Researchers at Kansas State report that fall overseeding is a very common practice and that many may or may not succeed.
K-31 is known to be the most common seed on the market which also makes it the least expensive. One of the disadvantages to K-31 is that it grows fast and you’ll need to mow it a few times after planting. Under stress conditions, K-31 becomes clumpy and patchy and results can be poor.
Kansas State recommends planting at a rate of 50% the recommended rate for new establishment. You should measure the area to wish to plant and accurately calculate the amount of seed you need.
A recent article posted at TulsaWorld features a review of “Route 66″ — a new blend of top-performing Fescue grass cultivars for cool seasons. The name comes from the fact that Fescue grasses were introduced along many Interstate Highways as an important deterrent to roadside erosion. This article reminds us that such grasses are also valuable for the homeowner as well as the highway department. Impressive statistics are cited to demonstrate the powerful air conditioning and air cleaning properties of a healthy lawn. There’s vital energy in that grass!
Fall is the right time for seeding with these varieties, so right about now is when you should be selecting your grass seed.
A recent article featured in Popular Mechanics discusses various lawn diseases and methods of both treatment and prevention.
The article stresses that harmful grass pathogens are constantly present in every lawn and only awaiting the opportunity to become active. Combine a grass variety susceptible to a pathogen with the wrong weather conditions, and presto! Your lawn may soon blossom with harmful microorganisms.
The authors also point out that there are good fungi and bad fungi, how to spot each and how to foster the right kind. When a bad fungi becomes active, it may be spread by weather, grass clippings and even your lawn mower.
The best preventive measures against lawn diseases are:
1. Choosing the proper grass cultivar for your soil and weather conditions.
2. Maintaining a lawn which is well-aerated, has good drainage, and gets plenty of circulated air.
3. Diligent care in your methods of watering, fertilizing, and mowing.
The use of organic composts can help in the prevention of lawn diseases and the authors explain the best methods.
Spring, Summer, and Fall-specific lawn diseases are covered in great detail and well worth the read, as well as conditions such as Fairy Rings, Stripe Smut, Necrotic Ring Spots, and Dollar Spot.
You may read the entire article at Popular Mechanics, and this page features tips on diagnoses with accompanying photographs.
Many of our customers have discovered that cutting the lawn with a Brill Reel Mower is a great way to relax and relieve stress. They like to put on an old pair of shorts, their favorite hat, and get a good bit of exercise while soaking up the sun.
Well, as it turns out, those feelings of calm and satisfaction they get from a freshly cut lawn aren’t all in their heads.
Scientists have recently discovered that a feeling of relaxation and contentment comes from a chemical released from freshly cut grass. The stress-relieving effect of this chemical is so powerful that researchers have decided to bottle it, incorporating it into a perfume they are calling Serenascent.
As of press time, we don’t know how much a bottle of Serenscent will sell for, but we do know that everytime you cut, you’ll be saving on perfume.
We will continually add to this list of Popular Reel Mower Questions:
What is the difference between old and new cutting technologies?
All reel mowers have curved type cylinder blades that create a cutting action against a fixed plate. The blades make a spiral around the reel axis, and as they spin, the spiral of blades forces grass past the stationary plate.
Contact (friction) Mowers
This is the “older” more conventional form of cutting method. The cylinder blades are in direct contact with the bed knife and scrape across each other very similar to scissors shearing together. There is generally more friction (hence the name) which causes these mowers to be slightly more difficult to push. The friction also causes noise which can vary depending on each model – some are more quiet than others. Friction mowers generally need to be sharpened every 2 to 3 seasons. If you have a yard full of weeds then a friction mower is the best choice.
Contact-Free (frictionless) Mowers
The newer more modern reel mowers use a contact-free or frictionless cutting system. The term contact-free is used to describe a small gap (usually around 0.05mm) between the reel mower blades and the bed knife. The gap is roughly the width of a human hair and small enough to cut grass, yet big enough to eliminate all friction and noise caused by friction. Contact-free reel mowers are easier to push then the older style making them more fun to use and less tiring. Contact-free mowers cut best when used on healthy turf with minimal weeds. These mowers also cut best when used at lower cutting heights. There are some models available today that claim to be used on 2-3″ cutting range, however, much of the grass is left behind. The best cutting height range is 1-1.75″. Contact-free reel mowers usually do not need to be sharpened for at least 5-10 years depending on use.
When Do The Reel Blades Need Sharpening?
Most mowers stay sharp between 2-4 years depending on use. This can vary from lawn to lawn and manufacturer to manufacturer. You can tell when your reel mower needs to be sharpened when much of the grass passes by the reel and is left uncut.
Contact-free mowers do not require sharpening. Instead, it is a best management practice to adjust the gap distance between the reel and the bed knife. This is very easy can be accomplished in less then 3mins and performed as frequently as needed.
Contact mowers require sharpening on the average of every 2 years. You can purchase do-it-yourself sharpening kit and sharpen your own reel mower.
What Is The Best Cutting Height?
This is a very popular question and a topic with a lot of misinformation – especially if you surf around the internet… Reel mowers cut best when the cutting height is set lower then 2″. When set higher then 2inches, some of the grass tends to get “missed” and multiple passes can be required. For more information please visit our section dedicated to Height Of Cut (HOC).
Should I Buy/Use A Grass Collector Bag?
Our general recommendation is no, however, below are list of the pros and cons. For more information please read about Grasscycling here.
PROs To A Grass Bag
-Grass clippings are good for the compost pile
-Can prevent weeds from spreading if cutting the seed stalks
-Slightly “cleaner” look is achieved when removing more then 1/3 the grass height.
-Wet grass clippings can smother together and will not filter down as easily.
CONs To A Grass Bag
-Grass clippings hold valuable nutrients which can be returned to the soil.
-Grass clippings less then 1inch will filter down to the soil.
-Grass clippings DO NOT cause thatch!
-Unlike rotary mowers, grass clippings are not blown into a pile, they are gently scattered (mulched) behind the mower
I have Emerald Zoysia at my new house and I own have a 4 year John Deere 21″ push mower that does okay but I want to buy a new mower. What type of mower should I buy?
If quality of cut is your top priority, then a good reel mower is the only way to go – a rotary, homeowner grade push mower should be your last choice. Zoysiagrass mowed by a rotary lawn mower looks terrible and you tend to get round scalp marks every time you turn the mower…
Rob Anthony, a nationally recognized and respected Horticulturalist and Turfgrass Manager recently joined our team to assist us with content writing! Rob currently serves on the reader advisory board for Turfgrass Trends Magazine, Athletic Turf and Technology Magazine and contributes regularly for the latter as well as the highly respected international publication, Stadia Magazine. His professional experience includes Head Groundskeeper for the Green Bay Packers, and Athletic Turfgrass Development Manager with two nationally ranked Division I Universities.
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