| Sickle Mower for Clover- Non Motorized? |
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By:
Hunt98
Date:05-Jun-15
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I'm not a motor mechanic and it seems like I always have issues with engines. I like to keep things simple when possible. I have an acre of clover.
Would this work (see picture) if I could pull it with my truck to cut clover?
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By:
M.Pauls
Date:05-Jun-15
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You'd be ultra cool in my books!
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By:
dm/wolfskin
Date:05-Jun-15
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You would need to rake it and remove the cut clover.
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By:
Coccon Man
Date:05-Jun-15
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It will work I used one before I got a bush hog. As said in previous post you will need to rake and pick up the cut clover.
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By:
gobbler
Date:05-Jun-15
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Sickle mowers don't work well for clover plots unless as above you intend to rake and remove what you cut. Everything that you cut , clover, grass, weeds just fall over and can cover up and smother what is left behind. It's not like a rotary mower that chops everything up into small pieces or mulch.
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By:
Urbncwby
Date:05-Jun-15
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It will work. When my family got their first tractor, they used the horse drawn equipment with it.
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By:
Hunt98
Date:05-Jun-15
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Urbncwby- do you actually need someone on the back or can I just hook it up to my truck and go?
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By:
greg simon
Date:05-Jun-15
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If it is in working order that machine will cut without a rider in the seat. Set the sickle bar at the level you want to mow and engage the drive. Since it is ground driven it will slide the cutter bar as soon as you start moving. Remember it is meant to be pulled by a horse, think less tha 3 miles per hour! I would recommend talking to a farmer like stated above. Good luck!
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By:
Urbncwby
Date:06-Jun-15
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Yes it will work without an operator. Key is yo ho slow, like stated above, horse speed. The operator would be to engage/disengage the drive gears and watch for problems, in case it clogs up or you hot something. In decent shape, these are worth a pretty penny too.
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By:
Urbncwby
Date:06-Jun-15
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Yo ho = to go
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By:
Urbncwby
Date:06-Jun-15
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Hot= hit Auto correct is killing me this morning.
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By:
dm/wolfskin
Date:06-Jun-15
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Sickle cuts are really for putting up hay which clover is good stuff.
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By:
Bow Crazy
Date:07-Jun-15
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It will work, it will work good. Keep it moving slow and turning with your truck won't be tight. I think its a great idea and wish I could find one. Another opinion, you don't have to remove the cut clover and grass. We never do with our DR mower and I leave quite a pile. When cut it dries up and loses most of its mass. Nothing get smothered, the sunlight easily penetrates. With this mower you won't leave piles, just a even level of cutting which will dry up and cause no issues. When cut ours when it's 1 foot to 18" high down to about 4" and have never had an issue, never. BC
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By:
gobbler
Date:07-Jun-15
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Well that's good to know. I guess when I used one and the clover turned yellow and died from lack of sunlight it was just a coincidence. That's good to know. All these years I had thought it was from the cut material shading out the living plants preventing it from producing chlorophyll from the sun.
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By:
Bow Crazy
Date:09-Jun-15
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gobbler sounds like you've killed off your several plots over the years by cutting and not removing. If true, what took you so long to learn from your mistake(s)? I would have learned after the first year not to do it again.
I've never had an issue, never, not once. I only post things from my experiences, not from something I read in a book or magazine. If he wants to spend time "harvesting" the cut clover and grasses, I don't care. I was only posting something that has worked for me for many years. BC
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By:
gobbler
Date:09-Jun-15
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I've been planting plots since 1990. One year a gear broke in my bush hog and I borrowed a sickle mower from a neighbor to cut the clover while waiting for the part to come in. I have 9 different clover fields and lost about 40% overall. That was my one and only experience using a sickle mower in my clover plots. That was enough to convince me not to try it again.
Sickle bars were made and developed for cutting to put up hay. They cut low to leave long plant stems that can then be raked and baled. You can't lower and raise them like a bush hog off of a 3 pt. Hitch. You want to keep clover about 6-8 inches, just to trim the tops to stimulate new growth and to keep grass and weeds from developing heads that go to seed. Most sickle bars that I'm familiar with are not height adjustable for the entire length of the bar to do that.
Again, just my opinion.
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By:
South Farm
Date:10-Jun-15
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Guys, it's like your lawn...let it grow too tall and the better option is to bag it and get it off the lawn so not to smother it, but if you cut it before it gets out of hand you can let it lay and new growth will not be stifled. I used to mow ditches with a sickle and within a couple of weeks you couldn't tell it had been mowed, the new growth finds its way up and out eventually. Worse case, try it, and see what happens.
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By:
Bow Crazy
Date:11-Jun-15
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Here is a photo of an overgrown clover field that I cut with my DR Mower. It's not adjustable, cuts 4" high - not sure. As I said before I've never picked up the cutting. In the photo you can see how high and thick the clover/weed field is. The DR Mower leaves a very thick strip of cuttings. Never an issue for me, never. I've been doing it for about 8 years or so. BC
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By:
Bow Crazy
Date:11-Jun-15
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Here is a photo of a field with different mixes of rape, turnips, radishes, Berseem clover, Rye, Winfred Brassicas, etc. - a fall planting really. I planted in the spring for a cutting in August experiment. I used the same DR Mower, same experience, no issue with anything dying under the cuttings. You can see how thick this was before I cut and how thick it is on the ground. A sickle mower would leave a thinner covering, much thinner. I would think it would be as good if the cover was thinner, maybe not.
On a side note, this field grew back after this cutting in August. I left some of the tall stuff and had lush, young stuff on the rest. BC
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Date:12-Jun-15
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If you are going to use a "sickle mower" to cut clover, it must be in tip top shape. Sickle sections, new and or sharp and new or good "ledger plates" You have to cut slow and even a mouse nest can cause you to plug up...if you try to cut an acre of clover with that yard ornament...you will be cussing like a sailor. Trust me I cut a lot of hay a year....hire it done, or look for a different option. Good luck
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By:
Hunt98
Date:18-Jun-15
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I ended up borrowing a sickle mower driven by three horse power (motorized that is). It worked pretty good for the most part. Some of the clover was over 2' feet high.
Time will tell if the cut clover will smother the uncut portion. I left some standing test strips as well.
True to form, the mower worked good until I was using it on another plot. It then would not stay running.
