Soil compaction.

I would like to know how you guys deal with soil compaction when using the larger ZTR,s like the Dixie Choppers,Turf Tigers,and EX.Lazers.<p><p><p><p><p><p><p>

 

when using big mowers like these you must go a different direction every time you mow. For instense you go paralel with the house one week then the next week you mow back and forth from the house then the next week go the same direction you did the first time. <p>Check out erics website it is explained a littl better<br>

 

If changing directions is not practical, (like in a really narrow area) rather than make a full cut on your second pass make a 1/4, 1/2 or 3/4 cut pass. This will keep you off of the previous mowing's tire path and in turn you will avoid ruts.

 

weed-eat 12&quot;-18&quot; of the beds. Not only will you not compact next to the beds but you will leave better edges with your EDGER.

 

Lazers have less ground psi than the Exmark Truf Tracer walk-behind. All ZTR's are comparitively light for their respective tire size.<p>The other posts offer good info. You can mow over the same &quot;stripes&quot; and offset by 12&quot; and eliminate rutting, while cutting the sam disrection as you did the week before.

 

in seattle i run into alot of soil compaction issues.Most everything i work on is new,our soils have a large % of blue marine clay,plus it is so wet...here's what i do: in the spring i spray everything with ROOTS 1-2-3 :this has a great surfactant in it.Prior to drought time i use about 1oz /1000 of ivory soap-this allows for irrigation water to penetrate and reduces localized dry spot, in the fall once again Roots 1-2-3 and Fe8 with humic and fulvic acids...i like fall-very early fall aeration with overseeding and premie in the spring...i have heard about a product which is ,God help our planet, ground up tires in a fine grain that can added at aeration...i've never used it and wonder about slow release of zinc through this ammendment-haha!

 

The bigger tires have less compaction to them than walking on a lawn. Most of a persons weight is on the heal of the shoe, so you can have as much as 200 or more pounds of weight in a 3&quot; X 3&quot; area. Another thought, when your heal hits the ground,it is doing just that, hitting the ground, where a tire is rolling smoothly over the ground. A big tire has around 300 or 400 pounds over a much larger area, so they don't compact the ground as much as just walking on it. Aerating helps with this and many other things, so my nicer lawns all get spring and fall aerating.<p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.townserver.com/elm/&quot;&gt;Eric@ELM&lt;/a&gt;<br>