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HopeHoops

(47,675 posts)
88. Our 20+ year old push mower is only about 16" wide. It would take forever.
Tue Oct 9, 2012, 09:58 AM
Oct 2012

The gas mower has a 22" deck and I've got a 18" electric as backup. The gas one is awesome. It's got an electric starter motor (battery) for the B&S 7.5hp, rear wheel drive (large rear wheels), one-handle height adjustment, rear bagger (I don't use), and four speeds (two speed grips, two settings each). The electric has the flip-over handle so you don't have to turn it around and fuck with the power cord when you hit the border. It's also a twin-blade housing. As for the push mower, it's in storage right now, but it still works fine. I just have to sharpen the blades.

We've also got a SCREAMING old tool I've never seen before, but it works too. I found it in somebody's trash many years ago and "liberated" it. It has a wooden handle with handlebars. The tool part is a wheel (about the size of a training wheel) that spins a push mower type wheel about 5" long and also has a knife blade on the underside. It edges at the same time as it trims the grass just to the side of the walkway. Brilliant invention and it works really well. I'm amazed that nobody has come up with an electric version.

The other edger we have (manual) is a foot-pedal at the end of a handle with a curved blade along the bottom. Line it up, step down, move on - and made in the USA! I forget the company name, but it's the same one that made our dandylion puller - think of a small tomato cage that squeezes in like a tree extractor. Again, just step down and pull. It gets almost all of the root every time. We only use it in garden beds, but it works like a charm.

I'd love to say we still use just the push mower, but even with a 22" gas mower the yard takes over an hour (and is often rather thick). We used almost all of the time in New Hampshire because the "soil" was just rock and sand. What little grass there was grew tall, but not thick. Actually, it didn't even look like a "lawn". On the plus side, it was covered in snow for half of the year so mowing wasn't necessary. It's almost mid October and we have to mow again here. (groan)

Aren't all modern crops the result of Genetic engineering of one sort or another? el_bryanto Oct 2012 #1
cross breeding naturally is not the same as gene splicing/insertion nt msongs Oct 2012 #2
What about grafting? el_bryanto Oct 2012 #3
Grafting would effect no genetic change. Brother Buzz Oct 2012 #20
Grafting is done to select a tree for it's production, and put it on a sturdy rootstock AnotherDreamWeaver Oct 2012 #44
You're confounding a number of things, and using the naturalistic fallacy. HuckleB Oct 2012 #47
I was answering a question, what is "confounding" about that answer? AnotherDreamWeaver Oct 2012 #54
You weren't answering anything. HuckleB Oct 2012 #63
I have found you are the one on attack, AnotherDreamWeaver Oct 2012 #66
I have grafted many plants, but that has nothing to do with the discussion. HuckleB Oct 2012 #71
Maybe you ate GM material, and it explains your bizarre behavior? AnotherDreamWeaver Oct 2012 #78
I would be proud to have you put me on ignore. HuckleB Oct 2012 #82
maize, corn, has been subjected to thousands of years of forced breeding, cross-breeding, and more ChairmanAgnostic Oct 2012 #55
Animal breeding can be considered "forced" but more often is refered to as "selected" AnotherDreamWeaver Oct 2012 #61
It would be great if they are successful cpwm17 Oct 2012 #4
Indeed. It would be awesome. HuckleB Oct 2012 #5
A much more lengthy article on this from Nature. HuckleB Oct 2012 #6
That is a better article than the one I posted, but AnotherDreamWeaver Oct 2012 #53
I understand your beliefs. HuckleB Oct 2012 #62
"Other researchers are trying to attack the blight with viruses" is the third approach. nt bananas Oct 2012 #94
OK, I had heard that there was some biological suppressor in Europe AnotherDreamWeaver Oct 2012 #95
That was VERY cool DiverDave Oct 2012 #77
That should be 'Selective Breeding', not Genetic Engineering. formercia Oct 2012 #7
One of the other ways Confusious Oct 2012 #86
Under a spreading chestnut tree, the village smithy stands. MineralMan Oct 2012 #8
Selective breeding are the ones being released at this time, not GM... yawnmaster Oct 2012 #9
You could never breed wheat, peppers or grapes with Chestnuts. AnotherDreamWeaver Oct 2012 #67
If it can bring back a tree that was virtually wiped out rox63 Oct 2012 #10
Cross-breeding is an ancient practice. What worries me is laboratory GMOs. HopeHoops Oct 2012 #11
What does something being "an ancient practice" have to do with anything? HuckleB Oct 2012 #12
Cross-breeding is natural, and occurs naturally as well. Genetic modification is NOT natural. HopeHoops Oct 2012 #17
Your just expanding on the fallacy of the ancients by offering up the natural fallacy. HuckleB Oct 2012 #22
Evidence? Ever grow a sweet pepper near a habanero plant? And what fallacy? HopeHoops Oct 2012 #28
I told you what fallacy. HuckleB Oct 2012 #31
Wait a minute. Are you insinuating that lab-inserted genes are equivalent to cross-pollination? HopeHoops Oct 2012 #36
No. HuckleB Oct 2012 #40
Lateral gene transfer occurs in nature. Odin2005 Oct 2012 #80
Indeed, but I don't think he/she cares. HuckleB Oct 2012 #85
Well, I'll admit there are pros and cons to both, but artificial is playing with fire. HopeHoops Oct 2012 #89
Hybrid plants do not destroy insects that are pollinators AnotherDreamWeaver Oct 2012 #18
So, you think debunked preliminary studies are extremely meaningful. HuckleB Oct 2012 #24
I've wondered if it has contributed to colony die offs. I think lawn poisons have. HopeHoops Oct 2012 #34
We've always had plenty of flowers and veggies, less grass every year, as have our neighbors. HuckleB Oct 2012 #37
Anecdotes, perhaps not, but when all of the birds and bees (no pun intended) are in YOUR yard... HopeHoops Oct 2012 #41
I'm confused. You agree, but then you don't. HuckleB Oct 2012 #43
I wasn't either when I was a kid. Nobody poisoned the lawns then. I like your environment. HopeHoops Oct 2012 #46
It is difficult in many parts of the country. HuckleB Oct 2012 #51
ROFLMAO! Yeah, I guess you could get sick of it that way. We rarely mow either. HopeHoops Oct 2012 #56
I have a 20-year-old push mower. It's a good work out, but... HuckleB Oct 2012 #64
Our 20+ year old push mower is only about 16" wide. It would take forever. HopeHoops Oct 2012 #88
Actually, they frequently do contribute to pollinator deaths NickB79 Oct 2012 #91
Very little about agriculture is natural 4th law of robotics Oct 2012 #23
I have enough trouble getting a row of spinach to grow without the rabbits mowing it down. HopeHoops Oct 2012 #29
Well those rabbits were modified by monsanto 4th law of robotics Oct 2012 #33
Impossible. If Monsanto was involved, they wouldn't be able to reproduce so you'd have to buy more.. HopeHoops Oct 2012 #35
I for one welcome our new American Chestnut overlords.. Fumesucker Oct 2012 #13
The American Chestnut was the Redwood of the East Coast, in that it was the overstory tree. AnotherDreamWeaver Oct 2012 #19
That seems like a very extreme viewpoint. HuckleB Oct 2012 #38
Yeah! Look what happened when they tried that with apple trees! Ikonoklast Oct 2012 #42
Then you don't support their return. NutmegYankee Oct 2012 #49
I support the return, I have two orchards of American and Hybrid trees AnotherDreamWeaver Oct 2012 #57
In the grand scheme of things agriculture v no agriculture 4th law of robotics Oct 2012 #58
+1 HuckleB Oct 2012 #73
It's cross breeding, which occurs in nature and has been used by humanity for 1000's of years. NutmegYankee Oct 2012 #59
In post #6, HuckleB posts a link, a paragraph is posted in Message text: AnotherDreamWeaver Oct 2012 #68
I still fail to see the problem. nt NutmegYankee Oct 2012 #69
I don't think there is a problem. HuckleB Oct 2012 #72
the first link in a "Dangers of Genetically Modified Plants" search brought this: AnotherDreamWeaver Oct 2012 #75
Good grief. NutmegYankee Oct 2012 #76
I have no problem with cross-breeding plants and trees AnotherDreamWeaver Oct 2012 #79
How would it ruin it as a food source? NutmegYankee Oct 2012 #83
And yet you can't explain why you have a problem with other procedures. HuckleB Oct 2012 #84
Sorry to break it to you, but you've got some mixed life forms inside you NickB79 Oct 2012 #92
X-D Nine Oct 2012 #30
this is called hybridizing .... Botany Oct 2012 #14
Nobody wants to eat 'heirloom corn'.. X_Digger Oct 2012 #15
It's easy to create fear and confusion. HuckleB Oct 2012 #16
There are several posts about this trouble with Genetically Modified crops AnotherDreamWeaver Oct 2012 #21
I'm aware of those posts. HuckleB Oct 2012 #26
If you read the article it says these are hybrids 4th law of robotics Oct 2012 #25
And what if the trees currently growing were GMO? HuckleB Oct 2012 #27
It wouldn't 4th law of robotics Oct 2012 #32
Indeed. HuckleB Oct 2012 #39
That is a very poor article, but check the Nature article in post #6 AnotherDreamWeaver Oct 2012 #60
Ah, but you didn't know that, until I posted an article with more than a couple paragraphs. HuckleB Oct 2012 #74
Rachel Carson’s dream of a science-based agriculture ... HuckleB Oct 2012 #45
There is no other option. The original tree is nearly exinct from the blight. NutmegYankee Oct 2012 #48
I've been following chestnut research for a decade or more Nevernose Oct 2012 #50
Crossbreeding is not the same as Genetic Engineering! Lydia Leftcoast Oct 2012 #52
Thank you, AnotherDreamWeaver Oct 2012 #70
Get SyFy on the phone! I give you Mega-Chestnut vs. Gatoriod! FSogol Oct 2012 #65
Weird that. Some are being grown up the street from me and it is massively low tech. Warren Stupidity Oct 2012 #81
Any news on the American elm? mitchtv Oct 2012 #87
On GMO's: http://gmoawareness.org/gmo-facts/ AnotherDreamWeaver Oct 2012 #90
I'm always amazed by how few people know of lateral gene transfer NickB79 Oct 2012 #93
Link to Institute for Responsible Technoloty AnotherDreamWeaver Oct 2012 #96
Thought I would add a link about toxic GMO crops for all those enablers who posted here AnotherDreamWeaver Jun 2013 #97
Russia Warns Global War over "Bee Apocalypse" AnotherDreamWeaver Jun 2013 #98
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