About 3 acres of my 5 acre property is left natural with just trails cut through it. I am having a big problem with cutleaf teasel taking over and choking out everything else. My plan of attack was to try and keep then cut down for a few years to prevent them from going to seed. I have a 60” 3pt mower that I had originally thought I could lift and back through the area. I thought this would cut down the ones that are there (they are about 5-6’ tall) and then also cut off the smaller ones that were growing. Well, that doesn’t work. The edge of the mower deck pushes them over, but they are too tall to get cut.
Has anyone else dealt with these successfully? I know I can spray and kill them, but it will kill the other plants too, which I don’t want to do. My only other thoughts would be to use something like a sickle mower (which I don’t have) to cut them off, or look for some kind of attachment for my weedeater that could cut the tall ones down,
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If you want to mow them, you need a rough cut rotary mower (bush hog, brush hog, slasher), flail, or sickle. Regardless of width, finish mowers are generally not deep enough to effectively cut things that that are taller than the deck is deep. It’s no problem at all to mow saplings and forbs 9’ tall with a brush hog (so long as the stem thickness of saplings doesn’t exceed rated capacity of the mower). A light duty brush hog is likely the cheapest option for mowing, particularly if you can find one used. BTW, I’m aware you didn’t say the 3 point deck you’ve used with unacceptable results is a finish mower. If it isn’t a finish mower and it won’t cut the stuff in your photo, there’s something wrong with it.
One issue you may run into if you successfully mow: Mowing forbs too low over a period of a year or two can interrupt their growth cycle and effectively kill them off, leaving the area with grasses only (or worse, nothing). It may be difficult or impossible to selectively control forbs by mowing. You might check with your local ag extension service on effective strategies to achieve your goals as they should be familiar with your local fauna. Specifically ask about mowing height for encouraging native forb growth. Suspect you’ll find most finish mowers won’t mow that high with the gauge wheels anywhere near the ground, but I’m not in your area so could be wrong. If you want grass only, mow it a few times a year at about 4”.
Noticed you mentioned possibly selective mowing with a weedeater. Maybe that’s an option if you don’t have a ton of it? If your weedeater is big enough to use blades, get a grass blade for it (one of the steel triangle type blades or something similar). If you don’t know if your weedeater is set up for using blades, check the owner manual. That will easily take out forbs, heavy grass, and small saplings. If your weedeater is too small to use blades, a bigger weedeater is a lot cheaper than a flail or bush hog. I have a Stihl FS70R that I use with a grass blade to mow the grass, forbs, blackberries, and saplings on our pond dam once a year as it’s not tractor friendly territory. Takes about 2 minutes to swap the trimmer head for a blade. Works very well and a quick Google search indicates Ace Hardware is willing to part with one for $379.99; pretty cheap compared to a tractor type mower or even any significant quantity of chemicals. Most any straight shaft weedeater will run a blade, but check specs to be sure.
I know these may be gratuitous photos as I’ve posted them recently, but maybe they’re relevant. You’re running a 60” 3 point deck of some sort that just lays over the stuff in your photo and won’t cut it. BTDT with a ZTR. This is my old, beater of a 60” light duty (1.5” or 2”, I forget) rotary cutter. If I sold it tomorrow, I’d probably lose money on the tail wheel frame and fork I just put on it.
This is stuff I mowed with it a few days ago. Sweet gum saplings the height of the loader arms, grass around 24”, and unidentified forbs of various heights up to around 9’.
This is how it ended up. Ran over most of it once. Some of the taller sweet gums, I ran over twice to chip the stems better. Full pedal in low range is about right for thorough mulching and a decent cut quality.
