A relatively new class of products in the commercial grounds maintenance industry is the self-propelled spreader and/or sprayer. This kind of equipment can potentially reduce the effort required to apply fertilizer or pesticides to lawns, but it comes at a substantial cost and will require some trade-offs in operating mode.

Hedge trimmers are perhaps not as popular now as a few years ago. Many people now realize that it is healthier for plants to be selectively pruned rather than sheared. Nevertheless, there are some situations where shearing plants to shape is appropriate. A hedge trimmer is usually the best tool for the job.

As with any power tool, string trimmers are capable of causing injury if not used in a safe manner. String trimmers will last much longer and give more trouble-free service if used and maintained properly.

A string trimmer is a useful addition to almost any gardener’s toolshed.

There are two ways to trim and edge turfgrass around sidewalks, flower beds, trees, buildings, etc. You can trim the turfgrass mechanically with a string trimmer and/or an edger, or you can use a non-selective herbicide such as glyphosate (Roundup® and similar chemicals).

Turfgrasses grow fast and aggressively in the South. If not edged back regularly, Southern turf will grow right over sidewalks, driveways, flower beds, etc.

ZTR mowers have taken over the commercial riding mower market. In the past, there were few low-cost models available to homeowners, but this has changed. Low-cost homeowner models are now available from several companies.

To get the best performance and longevity from your tiller you need to properly maintain it. You also need to be aware of some of the dangers involved in using a tiller, and take steps to protect yourself and others.

Factors such as price, performance and durability are important considerations in choosing garden tools and power equipment, but if a tool or machine is uncomfortable or awkward to use, you will regret buying it. The interaction between you and the tool or machine is called ergonomics.

Whether you buy, rent or borrow a tiller, you will find that it has a wide range of uses. It can be a general purpose garden tool.

Loading equipment onto a truck or trailer usually requires the use of loading ramps. There are some safety issues involved in using ramps.

The right rotary tiller can make the job of gardening much easier, but if you choose the wrong tiller for the job, it can make your job more difficult.

A common problem with hydraulic cylinders is rust and pitting of the cylinder rods. If equipment that incorporates hydraulic cylinders is stored outside with the cylinder rods extended, the rods are exposed to weathering. Eventually, the rods will begin to show specks of rust that develop into pits. Once rusting and pitting occur, the rod will destroy the cylinder seal the next time it is activated.

Spreader.EZ is a computer program that allows you to analyze the patterns from broadcast fertilizer spreaders, determine the uniformity of the patterns, and select the effective swath width.

Two questions of interest to prospective purchasers are: How much do riding mowers and small tractors in the various classes cost and how long can I expect one to last?

Many growers pick up plastic mulch but several machines are available for this job. Work at the LSU AgCenter has demonstrated that, in some cases, plastic mulch can be picked up by a hay baler.

The advantages of an ASAE standard quick hitch include faster, easier and safer hitching. To use a ASAE standard quick hitch, the implement hitch geometry must conform to the ASAE standard.

Some grounds maintenance equipment is designed with metric components. This has some ramifications for service and parts.

Three types of rear tires are available for compact utility tractors, and at least five types are available for the front. The different types of tires serve different purposes. You can select agricultural tires for general farming, turf tires for use on turfgrass, or compromise with an industrial tread.

Chainsaws tend to require more maintenance than most other lawn and garden equipment. Proper maintenance will not only prolong the life of the saw and make it easier to start but will also make your work easier.

Although chainsaws are handy, they are potentially dangerous and must be used carefully to avoid serious injury.

Chainsaws are popular homeowner tools. When selecting a chainsaw, consider the power requirements and safety features.

Walk-behind rotary lawnmowers can handle clippings in one of three ways: they can mulch them, bag them or discharge them to the side. Some mowers can do any of the three with minimal adjustment. Any of the three modes can be useful in some situations.

Walk-behind home lawnmowers are covered by safety standards and regulations, but the real responsibility for safety rests with you, the operator.

If you have a small lawn and are willing to get a little exercise while mowing, a good manual push mower can be a good alternative to a powered mower.

The tractor by itself is of limited use. The tractor furnishes the power, but the implements allow the tractor to do useful work. Varied implements are available for compact tractors from both the tractor manufacturers and short-line manufacturers.

Many people use a rotary cutter (often referred to by the copyrighted name “Bush Hog”) to cut grass and weeds, but, in too many cases, the implement is not correctly adjusted. This can cause premature wear, poor quality of cut, and an excessive power requirement.

Mid-mount mowers for lawn, garden, and compact tractors typically have (two or) three blades and are designed for quality mowing of turfgrass. They are not designed to cut tall, weedy grass. They have multiple gage wheels and rollers that allow a relatively low cutting height with minimal scalping.

Finish (or grooming) mowers typically have (two or) three blades and are designed for quality mowing of turfgrass. They are not designed to cut tall, weedy grass. They have multiple gage wheels and rollers that allow a relatively low cutting height with minimal scalping.

In many neighborhoods, the roar of lawnmowers has been joined by the howl of leaf blowers. "The primary complaint with leaf blowers is noise," says Dr. Dick Parish, an engineer at the LSU AgCenter’s Hammond Research Station.

Farm and grounds maintenance equipment is often exposed to rain, high humidity, fertilizer, pesticides and corrosive plant materials (such as grass clippings). The manufacturers of that equipment have taken steps to try to protect the equipment and reduce the potential for corrosion.

While equipment companies are doing their part to reduce corrosion of tractors and farm equipment, how well you maintain your machinery will determine its useful life. Here are some rust prevention tips.

Although most people opt for small engine-driven generators, there are some real advantages to a generator that connects to a tractor power-take-off (PTO).

Some spreader experts and some spreader and granular material operating instructions advise you to go over your lawn twice when spreading fertilizer or granular products, with the two trips over the lawn made at right angles to each other. Don’t do it!

Most turf fertilizers contain controlled-release nitrogen fertilizer. There are two types of controlled-release fertilizer and one type can be damaged by your spreader.

To obtain the best results from your granular fertilizers and pesticides, you have to apply them at the correct rate. One easy step you can take to help assure that your spreader delivers the correct rate of material is to calibrate your spreader.

In some situations, a hand-cranked spreader is more practical than a wheeled model. When spreading granules in nurseries, beds of flowers and ornamentals, and other restricted areas, a wheeled spreader can be difficult or impossible to use. Hand- or strap-carried, hand-cranked spreaders are a viable option in such cases.

The more you learn about lawn spreaders, the more you realize how complicated they really are. The LSU AgCenter has published a bulletin that summarizes 24 years of research on spreaders.

Most garden tools have fixed handles. Some tools, however, are available as separate handle and toolhead components that can be interchanged.

When performing such light-duty operations as mowing grass or making hay, it is sometimes possible to reduce fuel consumption by shifting to a higher gear and reducing engine rpm.

Digging post holes is a common do-it-yourself project. You have many choices as to how to dig your holes. Unfortunately, the inexpensive methods involve hard work.

When you buy a walk-behind lawnmower, you benefit from safety standards and regulations from two sources: The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

A properly designed and operated irrigation system will ensure that the critical factor of soil moisture will be there to sustain healthy plant growth.

A sharp mower blade produces a prettier cut with less stress on the turf plant. Sharpening a reel mower blade assembly is difficult and best left to a professional, but sharpening a common rotary mower blade is not a big problem.

There are three primary transmission systems used in riding mowers and the various classes of mowing tractors.

Many lawnmowers, string trimmers, leaf blowers, and other lawn and garden equipment with small engines were inundated during the flooding from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In many cases, that equipment can be salvaged.

Pine straw makes an excellent mulch and is much in demand for landscaping. If you own some land with pine trees, you can easily rake your own pine straw.

Depending on the type of ditch or trench you need and the size of the job, you have many choices of available tools. All of the do-it-yourself methods involve hard work, but some are not as hard as others.

Electric tools eliminate the fire hazards associated with gasoline, but introduce the hazard of electric shock or electrocution. There are some steps you can take to improve the safety of electric tools.

Garden tools will last longer if we take good care of them, but it can be a real bother to do so. A simple trick will make it much easier for you to keep your shovels, hoes, trowels, etc. clean and protected.

If you grow a vegetable garden, you probably get tired of bending over placing seeds in a furrow. Perhaps you are also tired of making the planting furrow and then covering it over and tamping. If so, you might be interested in one of the garden seeders on the market.

Plans are provided to allow you to build a hydraulic lift boom to mount on a category II or category III-N 3-point hitch.

A dirt scoop is a handy attachment for small tractors. It will allow you to dig, move, and dump small quantities of soil, gravel, sand, or other materials much easier than you can do with a shovel and wheelbarrow and much less expensively than with a front-end loader on your tractor.

Carefull examination of the spark plug(s) can yield insights into other maintenance needs on your engine.

One of the most important things you can do to maintain your small engines is to service the air filters as needed.

Putting the correct grease in your grease gun and using it religiously can prolong the life of your equipment.

Maintaining quality turfgrass sometimes requires that lawn waste be picked up. This trash can include leaves, pine needles and grass clippings as well as twigs, seed pods from trees and pine cones.

Pruning shears come in two basic styles and in a wide range of sizes and price ranges.

One of the most hazardous substances most of us have to deal with is gasoline. We tend to take it for granted since it is so common and familiar, but we should pay it more respect.

Several heavy-duty hand tools canl help you with intermediate pruning jobs and allow you to avoid the cost and hassle of a chainsaw.

These photos and drawings show how to use an ASAE standard 3" x 8" hydraulic cylinder to provide a power-adjustable upper link for a tractor 3-point hitch.

Several models of small walk-behind stump grinders are aimed at homeowners, rental use and smaller professional operations. Most are reasonably safe if used carefully, but a few are not safe no matter how they are used.

One of the factors that most affects both the capability of a lawn/garden tractor, and the price, is the engine.

All compact tractors currently sold have Rollover Protective Structures (ROPS), and most larger zero-turn mowers now have this safety feature also. A ROPS that is properly designed and used can prevent serious injury in most overturn accidents. One of the most important considerations in ROPS protection is to wear your seatbelt.

Removing the bucket from the front-end loader on your tractor is very easy (on newer loaders) and makes your tractor much more maneuverable. You should develop the habit of removing the loader bucket whenever you use your tractor for mowing, tilling, etc.

Post hole diggers mounted on tractors and powered by the tractors’ PTO shafts are useful tools for setting posts, planting trees, and other uses, but they can cause serious injury if not used correctly. The Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association (FEMA) is an organization whose members manufacture post hole diggers. They have developed some guidelines to help you use their products more safely.

One of the handiest implements you can put on your tractor is a lift boom for the 3-point hitch. In some areas these are called boom poles or gin poles.

Compact utility tractors are small diesel tractors with less than 40 horsepower. All current models come equipped with two important safety features: a rollover protective structure (ROPS) and a seatbelt. These two safety components can go a long way toward protecting you in case of an overturn - if you use them.

A simple hand spreader is often the best tool for applying granular fertilizer or pesticides.

A simple but accurate way of checking the output of your sprayer is the H 128 method of sprayer calibration.

A tractor 3-point hitch is handy and versatile. The upper link of a 3-point hitch is a turnbuckle that allows adjustment of the angle of the implement on the hitch. It is possible to replace this link with a hydraulic cylinder.

Compact utility tractors are popular with farmers, landscape contractors and rural landowners. In fact, compact tractors are by far the best-selling tractor category. These small tractors are virtually useless by themselves, but they are versatile when equipped with the proper implements and attachments. This publication discusses the selection of suitable implements for use with compact tractors.

FWA provides four-wheel-drive when engaged. FWA substantially increases the cost of a tractor, but it provides some important benefits.

You will save money in the short run at discount stores and mass merchandisers. You will pay more but get better quality equipment and service with dedicated lawn and garden dealers or farm equipment dealers.

You have many choices when it comes to shovels. The type you need depends on the job you have to do.

Most professional applicators use rotary spreaders. Rotary spreaders are not only faster than drop spreaders, but are more forgiving of small errors in swath width.

A good lawn spreader is a precision tool and should be treated accordingly. Your lawn spreader doesn’t need a great deal of time-consuming maintenance, but a few simple steps can preserve the life and precision of your spreader.

Some high-quality plastic spreaders have precision equivalent to the better homeowner metal spreaders. There is a tremendous difference in performance among brands and models.

People tend to walk at different speeds. When you are pushing a spreader, this difference in walking speed can cause problems.

Rotary broadcast spreaders offer many advantages for turf professionals. There are also some disadvantages including pattern skewing and the need to develop pattern settings for each product to center the pattern. Pendulum-action spreaders overcome those problems.

Mid-mount rotary mower decks are common on lawn tractors, garden tractors, subcompact tractors and smaller compact utility tractors. There are two ways that these decks can be mounted, and the mounting method affects adjustment and operation.

Leaf blowers are efficient, useful tools that annoy some people. Be aware of the problem, and use your leaf blower responsibly to avoid losing the privilege.

Electrical units are fine for small lawns, gasoline hand-held units are the best choice for larger home sites and backpack blowers are a good choice for professional users.

Many implements are available for rear mounting on compact utility tractors, including mowers of various types, tillers, angle blades, box blades, cultivators, bedders and rakes. These machines add versatility to your tractor, but mounting them to the tractor’s 3-point hitch can be a hassle. A quick hitch can make your job much easier.

Varying your mowing pattern can cause you to spend a little more time mowing, but the result will be a greatly improved appearance in your turfgrass.

Riding mowers, lawn tractors, lawn and garden tractors, and garden tractors are covered by several safety standards that are designed to protect you, the operator.

Finishing (or grooming) mowers typically have (two or) three blades and are designed for quality mowing of turfgrass. They have multiple gage wheels and rollers that allow a relatively low cutting height with minimal scalping.

The EPA found that small spark-ignition engines of 25 hp or less contribute about 20 percent of hydrocarbon emissions and 23 percent of carbon monoxide emissions from all mobile sources. As a result of this perceived problem, the EPA has issued new regulations on small engines.

Do you get what you pay for when buying a mowing tractor? There is certainly a wide range of prices; in fact, you can easily pay twice as much for a lawn tractor at a major farm equipment dealer as you would pay for a lawn tractor with the same horsepower and mowing width at a discount store. What do you get for the additional money?

One of the major distinctions between low-quality and high-quality tools is the way the toolhead is manufactured.

Homeowners and gardeners often use wheelbarrows and garden carts to move materials. This article describes advantages and limitations of each.

With fall comes yard and garden cleanup – especially leaves. For many homeowners, a leaf blower can be an efficient and effective grounds maintenance tool, according to Dr. Dick Parish, an engineer at the LSU AgCenter’s Hammond Research Station.

Centrifugal clutches are common on many grounds maintenance machines including string trimmers, chain saws, and some lawn mowers.

If you want to apply granular products correctly, you will need to use the correct spreader pattern setting, swath width, and rate setting. This article will tell you how to achieve this.

A power lawnmower requires regular maintenance if it is to provide reliable service. Most of the maintenance steps are easy and can be done by a reasonably handy homeowner.

Power lawnmowers are available with a wide array of features. Some of the features are helpful; some less so. It can be a challenge to optimize both features and price.

A small, hand-held sprayer is available that will spray herbicides uniformly and with a relatively uniform droplet size.

Loading equipment onto trailers and trucks presents a safety challenge. Loading the right way can reduce the risk of overturn and operator injury.

Mowing grass is the most popular way that homeowners use compact utility tractors. Different types of mowers serve different purposes, and you should choose the correct mower for your needs.

You might think that riding mowers and lawn/garden tractors are small and low to the ground so overturns are not a problem. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Riding mowers and small tractors can overturn to the side or rear fairly easily.

Calibration of vehicle-mounted boom-type sprayers is simple and can be very accurate. Calibration of hand-carried sprayers is much more subjective, but it is simple to do.

Implements, including mower decks, can be attached to tractors in several ways and in several locations. The larger the implement and tractor, the more likely an upscale, easy-to-use hitch will be provided. Naturally, the upscale hitch systems cost more.

Non-powered wheeled sprayers offer homeowners an easy and relatively inexpensive way to apply the correct rate of fertilizer and pesticides uniformly to home lawns.

Whether you have a few rose bushes beside your house or a half-acre garden, you will need a sprayer to take care of your plants.

Drop spreaders are best suited to small lawns where you want uniform patterns or have many obstacles to trim around. Rotary spreaders are generally best for large, open areas.

Walk-behind lawn spreaders are designed to be pushed, not pulled. The delivery rate from drop spreaders and the pattern from rotary spreaders are distorted if a spreader is pulled backward.

It seems obvious that a wider or faster mower will cover a lawn faster than a narrower or slower mower, but this is not always true - and seldom will the increase in cutting rate be proportional to the increase in width or speed.

If you have a small garden, many manual cultivation tools are available for your use.

The World Wide Web is a great source of information on many subjects, including tractors.

Although there are some imported compact tractors available under $10,000, most compact tractors from major manufacturers are in the $10,000 – $20,000 range. Older farm tractors can be a less expensive alternative to compact tractors.

All rotary cutters are inherently dangerous. The thrown object hazard is not fully recognized by everyone, yet it can cause injury, blindness or even death.

Riding mowers, lawn tractors, lawn and garden tractors, and garden tractors are large and powerful. They can be dangerous if not used safely.

A mower deck can’t cut grass unless it is connected to the tractor engine. This is usually done in one of two ways, with some possible permutations.

Hydraulic cylinder rods have traditionally been coated with highly polished hard chrome. This surface provides reasonable corrosion resistance and good sealing in hydraulic cylinders, but the material can corrode. An alternate approach now used on some new equipment, including loader cylinders on compact tractors, is a sprayed-on tungsten carbide coating.

If you have frequent flat tires on tractors, implements, or other off-road equipment you might want to consider using a tire sealant.

Hydraulic hoses can be a weak link in your tractor’s hydraulic system. The exposed hoses are very vulnerable to wear – and thus leakage and failure. Nylon sleeves over the hoses can dramatically increase hose life.

It is not necessary to buy all the equipment you need for your lawn and garden. In many cases, renting can be a practical option.

Oil is the lifeblood of any engine. Neglecting your oil can be a costly mistake.

Some companies now offer landscape bedshapers designed specifically to lay out and maintain landscape beds. These machines are generally heavier, more powerful and more versatile than turf edgers.

You may be able to improve the performance of your compact utility tractor by ballasting the tractor properly.

Most small, hand-carried lawn and garden tools use 2-stroke engines and most larger machines such as lawn and garden tractors use 4-stroke engines. The reason for this has to do with the weight ratio of the engines.

Rotary spreaders offer the advantages of wide, fast coverage and forgiving patterns, but they are not well suited to working along turf edges. Some spreaders offer a pattern cut-off mechanism to address this problem.

Some rotary spreaders can deliver a reasonably uniform distribution pattern with some products, but not with others, and some homeowner rotary spreaders don’t deliver a good pattern with any product.

When you buy a bag of fertilizer or granular pesticide to spread on your lawn, it will usually have a label on the back of the bag with settings for several common fertilizer spreaders. Do you know where those settings come from, how they were developed or how reliable they are?

One of the most important things you can do to maintain your small engines and tractors is to service the oil and fuel filters as needed.

Utility vehicles are popular and handy. They are making inroads on the use of ATVs for hunting and can also be used for many chores around a small acreage (or a large farm). Utility vehicles are somewhat similar to the small vehicles used on golf courses for decades, but use ATV components to provide more power and versatility.They aren’t cheap, but they are useful and fun to use.

Lawn fertilizers and pesticides are more easily applied as granules rather than liquids, but broadleaf herbicides need to be sprayed in many cases. A push-type walk-behind sprayer that resembles a spreader meets this need.

ZTR (zero turning radius) riding mowers can do a wonderful job of maintaining turf, but the rapid response and maneuverability that make them so handy can cause problems if you aren’t careful.

Zero-turning-radius (ZTR) mowers are popular among professionals and homeowners with larger lawns. ZTR manufacturers offer many new and/or optional features on their mowers that further increase their versatility and ease of use.

Zero-turning-radius (ZTR) mowers are available in two configurations: mid-mount decks and front-mount decks. Each configuration has advantages and disadvantages, and each has proponents.

Zero-turning-radius (ZTR) mowers are somewhat different from conventional tractors. Their short wheelbases and narrow wheel spacings can contribute to overturns.

ZTR (zero turning radius) mowers, like all lawnmowers, operate in a dirty environment. Proper and regular maintenance is needed to keep your mower operating at top efficiency and minimize costly repairs and downtime.

Some ZTR mowers are designed with a serious fire safety hazard. These models should be avoided.

ZTR stands for "Zero Turning Radius." ZTR mowers have separate hydraulic pumps driving the left and right tires, and each side is controlled separately. One tire can be turning forward while the other is turning in reverse, thus the mower can pivot around its own center. This feature allows amazing versatility in trimming while mowing.

Commercial-size riding mowers, including the popular ZTR (zero turning radius) mowers, are covered by a safety standard promulgated by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Even though many of these mowers are used by homeowners, those that are designed primarily for commercial use are considered commercial machines and they fall under a commercial mower standard.

There are some simple steps you can take before storage to make your equipment easier to start when you need it again.

This publication is intended to help you select the correct zero turning radius mower for your purpose, then use it and maintain it correctly and safely. (PDF Format Only)

Front-wheel-assist (FWA) is a popular option on many compact utility tractors, and it’s standard equipment on several models. It’s also available on some lawn and garden tractors.

The information should make it easier for anyone using a fertilizer spreader to select an appropriate type of spreader and to obtain optimum performance from the selected spreader. This bulletin summarizes 24 years of design, study, research and teaching about fertilizer spreaders.

Louisiana residents can learn how to operate chainsaws more safely through workshops offered by the LSU AgCenter.