My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

wexfordman2

I've noticed my lawn has quite a few weeds and clover so am looking to treat it. The problem is that most treatments say not to mulch for 2 lawn cuts following treatment!!

Anyone know how to manage this without a traditional lawnmower, or if there is a treatment you can use and continue to mulch ?

eyeball kid

Hi,

Just wondering if any of the lawn mowers here would be able for the incline in my garden (see attached).

Lawn is roughly 1800sqm and takes over 2.5 hrs to mow every week which is a pain.

Thanks...

KCross

eyeball kid wrote: »

Hi,

Just wondering if any of the lawn mowers here would be able for the incline in my garden (see attached).

Lawn is roughly 1800sqm and takes over 2.5 hrs to mow every week which is a pain.

Thanks...

No problem from what I can see. I've much steeper slopes to that. Most can handle 35deg slopes. Some upto 45deg. That slope is about 30deg?

The only possible issue with the pic (and its hard to tell) is if thats a long narrow passage? Long narrow passages are more difficult for automowers with their random cut patterns so it would get into the passage less often than maybe it needs to... GPS assisted mowers help with that problem.

Shane732

I've sure this has been asked before but I'm looking at getting a robotic lawnmower - I have two areas(a front and rear garden) which are pretty flat and probably 0.4 of an acre in total.

My main question is whether the robot can find it's way around the house to cut the front lawn? Is that possible?

vidukasp

Shane732 wrote: »

I've sure this has been asked before but I'm looking at getting a robotic lawnmower - I have two areas(a front and rear garden) which are pretty flat and probably 0.4 of an acre in total.

My main question is whether the robot can find it's way around the house to cut the front lawn? Is that possible?

It is possible, but you have to use guide wire.

vidukasp

Very useful video for the installation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEqLl74C1IY

MuddyDog

My friend got a Husqvarna automower 420 installed for about 3k recently. My garden is about 0.60 of an acre. It's all connected so no need for the mower to find its way from one garden to the next. Are there any cheaper self install options that may fit my needs? Looking online there are plenty of these robo mowers for like 1-2k. Can anyone recommend one for me or perhaps a better deal than 3k for a Husqvarna with installation.

Thanks!

bauney

Hi boardies,

I intend to get a 430x in few weeks for my 2000sq meter garden.
I have a standard play house, swing set and slide in the back. I also need to provision for inground trampoline which will be fitted soon (see in blue below where it will be placed)
I have a question of how best to set up the boundary wire for this area. 
Do i 
#1 simply put in a large boundary area to exclude the whole around e.g.
#2 put in closer boundary to the items on the ground
#3 just do the trampoline area.

See photos


I am just wondering if anyone has something similar and would recommend one or the other. 
obviously the less i have to cut with the manual mower the better but wondering if  having so many islands is an issue or not.
Ideas would be great?

Zzippy

bauney wrote: »

Hi boardies,

I intend to get a 430x in few weeks for my 2000sq meter garden.
I have a standard play house, swing set and slide in the back. I also need to provision for inground trampoline which will be fitted soon (see in blue below where it will be placed)
I have a question of how best to set up the boundary wire for this area. 
Do i 
#1 simply put in a large boundary area to exclude the whole around e.g.
#2 put in closer boundary to the items on the ground
#3 just do the trampoline area.

See photos


I am just wondering if anyone has something similar and would recommend one or the other. 
obviously the less i have to cut with the manual mower the better but wondering if  having so many islands is an issue or not.
Ideas would be great?

I can't really make it out from the photos, but would the mower damage anything there by driving over it? - can't see what the blue circle is made of.
If not I'd just run the wire around the boundary and let the mower bump into the garden furniture there - it won't damage things by bumping into them and will cut under and around them saving you the hassle, except for strimming the bits immediately adjacent to legs etc that the mower can't cut.

Lumen

The blue circle is made of pixels. It's where a sunken trampoline is going.

bauney

Yes, the blue area is where the inground trampoline is to be placed roughly.
I know i have to make an island around this area as it could be flush with the ground, so i have to make sure mower stays away.

I am not too concerned with having things left out on around this area, I will try to police my 2 young kids :-).

I was more interested in how the mower will fair out with constantly hitting the timber frame of the play house, climbing frame, timber ladder and plastic slide.

Is it better to protect the mower and make an island around this or is the mower built to hit these objects all the time?

listermint

bauney wrote: »

Yes, the blue area is where the inground trampoline is to be placed roughly.
I know i have to make an island around this area as it could be flush with the ground, so i have to make sure mower stays away.

I am not too concerned with having things left out on around this area, I will try to police my 2 young kids :-).

I was more interested in how the mower will fair out with constantly hitting the timber frame of the play house, climbing frame, timber ladder and plastic slide.

Is it better to protect the mower and make an island around this or is the mower built to hit these objects all the time?

Tbh. I would actually go and buy the rubber tiles and put them all around that play area image rectangular shape. They sell them in Smyth's but providers sell them in bulk. This would remove having to mow that area manually and frankly wear better with kids on it also safety wise . They make them in various colours .


Then exclude it with GPS or guide wire

bauney

We have considered with rubber mats. That would look nice and is practical but its fairly expensive. To cover that area (70 square meters) is approx over 2000 euros. I was considering just getting a few cow mats for the heavy trampled areas when we identify what is damaged most.

You mentioned there exclude with GPS. How do i do this? I wasn't aware of exclusion with GPS. I thought the only way to exclude was with guide/boundary wires to make islands.

Zzippy

bauney wrote: »

Yes, the blue area is where the inground trampoline is to be placed roughly.
I know i have to make an island around this area as it could be flush with the ground, so i have to make sure mower stays away.

I am not too concerned with having things left out on around this area, I will try to police my 2 young kids :-).

I was more interested in how the mower will fair out with constantly hitting the timber frame of the play house, climbing frame, timber ladder and plastic slide.

Is it better to protect the mower and make an island around this or is the mower built to hit these objects all the time?

I have quite a few small trees on my lawn, the mower hits these all the time, reverses and heads off again. It's not going fast enough to do the slightest bit of damage. I've a 430X too, highly recommend it.

blackbox

Does anyone have experience of what an automower does with daffodils growing in the lawn?

Does it simply mow them down or will it avoid cutting them?

Thanks.

jprboy

blackbox wrote: »

Does anyone have experience of what an automower does with daffodils growing in the lawn?

Does it simply mow them down or will it avoid cutting them?

Thanks.

It'll mow them unless they're outside the boundary wire.

All mine are outside the boundary wire except a row inside the front wall which I forgot about when the wire was being laid.

So what I do with these is put a barrier made from parts of an old pallet down in front of them and the mower just bounces off that. Once the daffodils have died back I remove the barrier, blast the area with the strimmer and then let the automower at that area for the rest of the year.

If you have daffodils out in the general lawn area you could put a similar barrier all around them until they die back.

agentblue

bauney wrote: »

Yes, the blue area is where the inground trampoline is to be placed roughly.
I know i have to make an island around this area as it could be flush with the ground, so i have to make sure mower stays away.

---
I was more interested in how the mower will fair out with constantly hitting the timber frame of the play house, climbing frame, timber ladder and plastic slide.

Is it better to protect the mower and make an island around this or is the mower built to hit these objects all the time?

I used to have an island around trees but due to some reconfiguration i removed it temporarily and meant to come back and do it again. That was 18 months ago. Neither the mower or any trees have suffered any damage from being bumped into and it leaves a closer cut also.
The piece in your photo that I'd be worried about is the slide. When (not If) the mower ends up getting under the sloping slide it will eventually get stuck. It mightn't happen too often but it will be a pain in the behind!
I wouldn't worry about the rest of the stuff but if it was me I'd put an island around the trampoline and around the slide segment of the play area. Everything else will be fine.
Good luck with the install.

bauney

Hi agentblue, I presume the bit under the ladder is the same issue as the slide too with regards to the getting stuck.

so i think i will put island around the trampoline, bottom of slide and maybe the bottom of ladder if required.

/thanks

agentblue

bauney wrote: »

Hi agentblue, I presume the bit under the ladder is the same issue as the slide too with regards to the getting stuck.

so i think i will put island around the trampoline, bottom of slide and maybe the bottom of ladder if required.

/thanks

If you are in doubt then go with the islands. It's always a balancing act, you want the mower to do as much work as possible but it's a balls if the mower keeps getting stuck.

Adding an Island afterwards is possible if you discover that you might be better off with one in a certain area.

bauney

I will be self installing this, so i want to try to get it as close to right as possible the first time around. I know i will see obviously places that needed changing. I am hoping its relatively simply to change this after a few weeks and months.

Another question, i will be reseeding some a part of my lawn 1000sq meters later in summer. this is effectively a new section of grass in the front of the house. See bit in yellow in the drawing below (existing lawn grass is in green)
question3.JPG


I hope to set up the automower after the new area of grass is seeded as my full boundary will be established and no more work is to be done.
So i am wondering after the new area is seeded, how long before i should let the automower on it?
Because when the new grass begins to grow (if it ever warms up) on this area, then will the automower damage the new grass while its driving over it continously?
Or can i somehow instruct the mower to just do the existing lawn parts for now and wait for the new grass to become more established before letting automower on it? (presume i need to make a boundary wire for this and then change my boundary wire when new grass is at right level)

I am hoping someone encountered this scenario before (running automowever on existing and newly seeded grass)

agentblue

Actually, i did the same thing last year but on a smaller scale. I did what a previous poster did and put a temporary barrier up around the area. it was just a coupe of 6x2" planks that the mower just bumped into. I took these down when the grass was about 3" high. The grass was definitely not very strong at this stage but the mower didn't pull it up.
At the end of the day I know very little about seeding or establishing lawns but the mower didn't do any harm. I don't know would the new bit have thickened quicker if I had left the mower off it for longer but the new bit has totally blended in with the old lawn now.

Live at Three

Is it ok to run power cables for lighting alongside or very close to the boundary wire? And can they go in the same duct for passing under a driveway?

islander222

My installation is only 2 weeks in and pleased with results so far. One thing however is bothering me... how it's dealing with the weeds. I can get over the fact it's missing the daisy's as the cutting blades aren't low enough but the dandelions are getting very tall and they just seem to get bent over by the front of the mower and then missed by the blade.
Is this something that time will resolve... I.e they grow tall/large enough that they eventually get cut?

Zzippy

islander222 wrote: »

My installation is only 2 weeks in and pleased with results so far. One thing however is bothering me... how it's dealing with the weeds. I can get over the fact it's missing the daisy's as the cutting blades aren't low enough but the dandelions are getting very tall and they just seem to get bent over by the front of the mower and then missed by the blade.
Is this something that time will resolve... I.e they grow tall/large enough that they eventually get cut?

Not really, it is one of the limitations of the automower. Because the blades are so far back underneath the body they only cut what is standing up underneath the mower - but the front of the mower hits the dandelion stalks and bends them down, so the blades miss them. As the dandelions die back and the stalks fall over it will get them, it's a short term thing in April/May.

Live at Three

Can anyone tel me what diameter ducting I need for the guide wire across the drive? Kerbs are being laid today. Thanks,

Zzippy

Live at Three wrote: »

Can anyone tel me what diameter ducting I need for the guide wire across the drive? Kerbs are being laid today. Thanks,

It looks like 3-4mm diameter cable, so whatever ducting you have that will allow this to be fed through...

Live at Three

Zzippy wrote: »

It looks like 3-4mm diameter cable, so whatever ducting you have that will allow this to be fed through...

Perfect, thanks

Sean250

I took delivery of two 450x units for two separate premises last week and I am very impressed with the operation and quality of the cut. Had the seller carry out the install with the cable laying machine as it saved me hours of work in what took him an hour or so. Great piece of equipment and I can highly recommend it

WhichWay

Live at Three wrote: »

Can anyone tel me what diameter ducting I need for the guide wire across the drive? Kerbs are being laid today. Thanks,

To join two lawns three wires must cross the driveway. Two perimeter wires and the guide wire. They are very small. I put in a 3foot wide speed ramp level with kirbs. No ducting, I was afraid it would weaken the concrete if it was near the surface. The installers used a consaw to put in 3 simple channels across. No problem so far.

Shane732

Sean250 wrote: »

I took delivery of two 450x units for two separate premises last week and I am very impressed with the operation and quality of the cut. Had the seller carry out the install with the cable laying machine as it saved me hours of work in what took him an hour or so. Great piece of equipment and I can highly recommend it

Where did you get them from? First post - touting some business?