The size of your lawn mower determines the area you can cover. What size mower do I need for 1.5 acres?
We have to consider some important factors that can determine the size of mower you need for your lawn.
What size mower do I need for 1.5 acres?
Before you make the decision of the mower you need, you should consider the following:
Lawn Size
People with large lawn should get mowers with wide cutting deck size. This means that the larger size let you to cut through a lawn without difficulty.
So, you should consider the lawn before you pay for that lawn mower. For example, a small,1/2-acre lawn can fit a deck size of 40 inches or fewer.
Also, people with ½ to 2 acres can use a lawn mower fitted with a deck that is 42 to 48 inches wide. When you have a 3 acres or larger, 50 inches wide deck could make the difference.
Time Factor
If the strip of grass is wide, you need a cutting deck that can mow it in a single pass. This means you have to spend less time mowing.
Some brands state that you can use a 42-inch deck mounted on any standard garden tractor. With this tractor, you can mow 1 acre of lawn within one hour.
Another example, you can mow that same lawn with a 46-inch deck. This means that a mower can the time by 10 percent.
If you use a 50-inch deck, you tend to reduce the time by 17 percent. Hence, you have more time to relax after mowing your garden or acre.
Smaller Deck Plus More Horsepower
When you have a large deck, it does not mean you would mow faster. However, using a wider deck in your lawns with lots of trees or flowerbeds, or small lawn could leave you backing up the riding mower a lot to make tighter turns.
Property owners with lots of landscape features can mow when they pick a mower fitted with a small deck.
The reason for the small deck is that they are easier to maneuver. However, it may not cut as much grass as you expect in a single swath.
You can increase your mowing speed when you pair the small deck with a bigger horsepower engine.
When you have more horsepower, you can cover more grounds mowing in a reduced time.
Mower Type
You should know that deck width can influence the speed of your mowing. Also, the type of mower you use and its deck can determine how fast you can go.
Lawns with slopes more than 10 degrees require mowing in a reduced speed, especially with zero-turn-radius mowers.
You should know that the most of the weight would be on the rear wheels that are responsible for machine.
This cause the lawn mower to be difficult to control if you try to mow downhill. Hence, slowing down is necessary in such terrain.
Even though you would spend more time mowing, your safety is assured. You can save time and stay safe when you match the mower’s size to the amount of area you want to mow.
Zero-turn mowers offer different mower engine sizes and decks. If you must get the right one for mowing 1.5 acres, you have to match the deck width and engine speed to your yard’s size and terrain.
Size Up the Deck
The size of deck width would decide how long it takes to mow your lawn. For example, a wider deck can cut a wider swath of grass.
You can save time when you mow. Most manufacturers recommend that we consider a deck width between 48 and 54 inches to mow 2.2 acres.
A 54-inch deck works 7 percent faster than a 50-inch deck. This means that it can take you at least two hours to mow 2.2 acres with a 50-inch deck, the 54-inch deck cuts the time to by a little under 10 minutes.
Consider Obstructions
You have to consider obstructions when mowing 1.5 acres. People with tight spaces should buy mowers with smaller decks.
You should consider using a wide deck to cover more ground, except where you cannot enter with your mower.
When you have such situation, you should use a push mower or string trimmer to handle such place.
Also, you can cut the time spent mowing with a smaller deck when you pair it with an engine with more horsepower.
Ground Speed
When we talk about the ground speed, it should the speed of the mower in miles per house.
If you have an engine with more horsepower, you would mow faster. Keep in mind, that using mulching blades on the mower, halfs the speed than when using regular blades.
The reason is that mulching grass demands for more horsepower. A residential zero-turn mower with a top ground speed of 8 mph must be run at 4 mph when mulching grass.
Consider Hills
People who use zero-turn mower spend less time handling lawns with a lot of obstacles. Moreover, a hill acreage using a zero-turn mower can reduce your speed.
Zero-turn mowers are hard to control on slopes greater than 10 degrees. When mowing downhill, these mowers lost control when making a sharp turn to avoid a hazard.
Therefore, manufacturers recommend mowing hilly terrain at a much slower speed and only when grass is dry.
Some manufacturers recommend not using zero-turn mowers on slopes greater than 15 degrees.
How long does it take to mow 1.5 acres?
Mower Type | Pace |
54 inch lawn tractor | 1.5-2.5 acres per hour |
54 inch zero turn | 3-4 acres per hour |
66 inch zero turn | 4.5-6 acres per hour |
72 inch zero turn | 5.2-6.6 acres per hour |
From this table it means that it can take at least 101 minutes If you use a push mower, it would take 40 minutes.
To mow an acre of lawn with a 21″ mower deck at 3 mph, will take approximately 1 hour and 55 minutes. At this rate, you will only be able to mow about 4 acres in about an 8 hour day.
Finally, when it comes to the deck that would fit your lawn areas, you should research the lawn mower that can handle your area.