Hi All, the young man who helps me w outdoor work I can’t do just told me he hates weed eating the creek line. It’s really sort of a drainage grass waterway for the farmland around me, but the sides are too steep to mow. I’ve gotten him three different weed eaters to try to make it easier including a self propelled DR trimmer (waste of $). Anyone have ideas as to how to manage this? It runs through the middle of my property and had to be done. Thx!
goats are the only safe way, personally I knew two men who were killed cutting pond/creek banks when their equipment rolled into the water penning them under water
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Gosh, what a terrible accident! I’m so sorry. I think I am not describing it accurately. It’s more like a drainage ditch and only has water in it after a big rain and id never ask him to trim it then. Thank you for the thought of goats. It’s not fenced and I’d worry about goats just tied. I’m going to amend the title to ditch. Thanks again.
Something like that accident just happened by me at a marina. They weren’t trimming grass but doing a project near the shore. The equipment flipped and it was the same outcome. Not to be messed with - water and machinery.
OP is there any way you can just let that area grow wild? Is it visually unappealing or is there another reason you want that area trimmed? Maybe plant wildflowers?
Not sure what your budget is, or what other equipment you have available, but these boom mowers are a very good solution. The tractor and person are on level ground and the mower moves on a boom to accommodate the slope.
https://www.rhinoag.com/products/boom-mowers/
Or you could kill the vegetation and rock the slope and eliminate the need to mow at all.
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I understand what you are saying - I’m still not describing it well enough to give you a good picture. I know someone whose tractor slid into his pond w him on it. He was fine. The tractor-not so much.
It’s like a ditch along the road- not very deep at all, and not wide. Most of the time it’s dry, or has an inch or two of water in it. I’m 5’2” and 112 pounds. I can safely use a push mower to mow it, but it’s hard on my neck. I was wondering if someone knew of a growth retardant that could safely be used. When he weedeats it, he just walks in it and goes side to side w the weed eater. He wears tennis shoes as it’s dry. Does this help?
You don’t want to put herbicides into your water system.
Why do you need to mow it at all?
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If you can use a push mower, why can’t your guy?
There’s not really stuff that makes grass grow slower. You could kill the grass and replace with something short (contact your ag extension office?) or kill the grass and replace with rock to prevent erosion.
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Agreed- no herbicides in the water. Smikie, that’s the 64 thousand dollar question. He doesn’t want to (and I’m a coward and he does many other things well), so I told him I’d look into options. It is very unsightly if it isn’t mowed. I have planted lilies and iris but it takes time for those to spread. I thought I’d post here as people have so many ingenious ideas I’ve not thought of…,but I may be wasting everyone’s time. I’m sorry about thatðŸ¤. Thank you all for your thoughts, though,
Actually, I googled it. Apparently there is something made for golf courses to retard growth. I will call a golf course supply place tomorrow to look into it. If it’s safe, I’ll post it in case it’s helpful to someone else.
@NaturallyHappy what are the “weeds” that you are trying to control? I would recommend knowing what you are trying to retard so you can make an appropriate choice with the retardant product you use.
I was curious as I am aware of herbicides but not chemicals that retard growth and went searching and found this article with some good information (research based).
http://turf.cals.cornell.edu/pests-and-weeds/plant-growth-regulators/
I have a similar ditch along the road in front of my property and while I would not consider it hazardous - it’s definitely a PITA to mow (or weed whack) for just the reasons you describe. My solution was to hire a lawn service and let them deal with it - they use a weed eater type thing and I am sure it’s no one’s favorite task, but as it’s in the front of the property I want it to be presentable and not overgrown. We actually looked into doing the rocks to replace the grasses, but it’s a fairly long stretch and the quote to do that work was well into the thousands of dollars.
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Wow, Where’sMyWhite! Thank you very much!!! That is right along the lines of what I was looking for. I skimmed the article and will read it more carefully tomorrow. The “ditch” if you will is just grass…but I don’t know what kind. Again, thank you so much. This was what I was hoping/looking for.
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Lucassb, thank you! That option is also one that is on the table. I’m appreciative that you understood what I was trying to ask.
No problem. It’s such a funny thing but the first day that service came and did that mowing and trimming, I was unreasonably happy about it!!
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We (really meaning almost always my husband, not me, since the vibration gets to me) employ a string trimmer mower in the spots where we’re not comfortable using the tractor. Works great.
But, that may be what you referred to as the DR mower.
Thanks, Jarpur! We use those already. The young man who helps me doesn’t like to do it. He does so many things well, I told him I’d look for alternatives. I wish I could do it myself but physically, I can’t.
I get it – beats me up, too, and perhaps that’s what your worker doesn’t like about it, either.
I did, years ago, once try the Round-Up with Extended Control (includes a Pre-emergent), mainly on fencelines and our gravel driveway. Wasn’t all that and a bag of chips, and perhaps shouldn’t be used where water runs.
Another thought is that, in some of our taller grass areas (wouldn’t work on brush, or in a rocky spot), my husband uses a long-handled swinging weeder (can find images on-line using that phrase in a search) successfully.
The user simply swings this tool back and forth, which chops down the grass. This has the added benefit of working on my husband’s golf swing at the same time, lol. Perhaps your guy would like this better.
Jarpur-very cool. I’ll look. Thank you very much!
What does the guy who does this work want to use on this area? Since he’s so against the options you do have (and have purchased specifically for this, and him, how generous!) he should really know what exactly he WANTS to use? This seems like an expensive game of 20 questions as is.
