# To mow or not to mow, that is the preppers question



## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

This time of year grass grows like crazy. I mow once a week or less to reduce the shagginess. If we ever got into a grid-down or SHTF situation, maybe with shelter in place orders, would you want to mow your lawn?

If you DON'T mow, it makes the place look abandoned, and you might attract looters. You would find it hard to move around the place without leaving tracks through the grass.

If you MOW, it's a dead giveaway that someone is inside with supplies, and you might attract looters. Would you want the noise? Would you want to use the gasoline? Would you want to expose yourself?


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

I mow to keep the snake traffic out of my yard.


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## Notsoyoung (Dec 2, 2013)

Why were lawns mowed in the first place? Maybe to keep the wild life and grass fires from getting to close to the house.


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## MaterielGeneral (Jan 27, 2015)

Mow, you will want a neat and tidy lawn during Armageddon. :armata_PDT_36:


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## Tennessee (Feb 1, 2014)

I would not waste the resources to mow in a SHTF event. You could do what they do in third world countries burn your lawn.


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## Jakthesoldier (Feb 1, 2015)

As I watch the walking dead I wonder... who the hell has been cutting the grass this whole zombie apocalypse?


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## kevincali (Nov 15, 2012)

IF I had grass, I'd have an old school reel mower. Even if the S didn't HTF, I'd have one. I'm a cheap bastard though haha. 

Maybe if you were mowing with a reel mower during SHTF, they looters would pass you by because they would think you didn't have resources (since you were using old equipment(?))


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Electric mower, they're quite.


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## Diver (Nov 22, 2014)

I'll be replacing the grass with a corn field.


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

sideKahr said:


> This time of year grass grows like crazy. I mow once a week or less to reduce the shagginess. If we ever got into a grid-down or SHTF situation, maybe with shelter in place orders, would you want to mow your lawn?
> 
> If you DON'T mow, it makes the place look abandoned, and you might attract looters. You would find it hard to move around the place without leaving tracks through the grass.
> 
> If you MOW, it's a dead giveaway that someone is inside with supplies, and you might attract looters. Would you want the noise? Would you want to use the gasoline? Would you want to expose yourself?


in a shtf, you would need to rototill and plant potatos


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## Mish (Nov 5, 2013)

Employ some goats!! Cheap labor!!


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

Just burn it off once a month.


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

Reel mower by the house which is basically out of sight. Orchards graze goats for double use. Plant as much of a garden out of sight as possible.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

paraquack said:


> Electric mower, they're quite.


Quite what???

Quite nice

Quite easy too use

Quite Quiet


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

no worries the goats and other meat on the hoof animals will be eating the grass


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

Mish said:


> Employ some goats!! Cheap labor!!


Do goats have a union... what kind of employment contract will you need, what about health care if Obama care is gone???


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

I'll put this post away with the one from the frenzied female prepper concerned about vacuuming her home ....


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## Mish (Nov 5, 2013)

Maine-Marine said:


> Do goats have a union... what kind of employment contract will you need, what about health care if Obama care is gone???


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## TacticalCanuck (Aug 5, 2014)

one of the old style push mowers will go a long way in a grid down situtation


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

By design we only have about 1500 sq feet of grass around the house which easily can be handled with a reel mower. If I figure out how to make bio-diesel I'll probably continue to bushhog some of my roads and fields to keep them clear for shooting game/predators/bad guys. And Yes, I'll weed-eat around the base of the Pikes (with the severed heads atop them). I don't want anyone thinking I'm some sort of a ******* trashy guy.


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

paraquack said:


> Electric mower, they're quite.


May take less fuel to just use a gas mower then to run a generator to charge the electric mower.

A goat is probably the answer.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

HuntingHawk said:


> A goat is probably the answer.


Was the question, "When looking for sex, what do most muslimes prefer?"


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

Post apocalypse mowing is something I have never even considered before. Good question and I like the answers so far. I just looked up to see if the reel mowers are even made anymore. They are, here's one I found for $190: http://www.amazon.com/Fiskars-Staysharp-Reel-Mower-18-Inch/dp/B0045VL1OO

I don't think using fuel to mow after SHTF would be a good idea. I would save mine for the generator.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

We mow 2 acres that is down from almost 3. We are working on reducing that more. Small wedge that was a pain to mow is now rock and a small pond. Planted trees in some of what we no longer mow. I just do not have the time to mow that much


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## Medic33 (Mar 29, 2015)

mow? maybe
not to mow? well I was going to inventory my stash x zombie bullets today, maybe tomorrow I mow.
Goat? no way, not only no, but hell no-goats are evil.
burn it - hum yah, that would work but um green grass doesn't burn so well I'll have to wait a couple months to do that?
use gas to burn it, I think I have better uses for gas than burning weeds and grass.
so yes that is a question a prepper would contemplate.


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## kevincali (Nov 15, 2012)

Diver said:


> I'll be replacing the grass with a corn field.


That's what I did in my back yard. Planted fruit trees galore. I put mulch down a couple years back, but the earth consumed it. My soil is really nice now though haha, so I'll be remulching again here in the next couple months. It helped keep the weeds down for the short time it was there!

I actually traded my mower away because I didn't need it. Still don't.


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## Sharkbait (Feb 9, 2014)

I don't even like mowing now pre-shtf,the only reason I even do is so that our home doesn't look too red neckish.

After shtf/grid down,I will mow around the garden area,which is in back and out of sight from the road.I do own a reel push mower (don't use it,but there when or if I need it).

But for the front,I'm thinkin I will let it grow for a natural barrier (we have plenty of thistles) and rose bushes that surround my front porch as well as well as under a few selected windows.The way my house sits off the road,I think this would help to funnel any z's to my driveway/lane,which has a great line of sight for me and my prepping neighbors from many angles.


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

I'd do away with lawn and flower gardens. Don't spend your time and resources unless you can eat it.

I do have a couple of push mowers to keep things down right around the house , but some goats or sheep would be better option


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

HuntingHawk said:


> May take less fuel to just use a gas mower then to run a generator to charge the electric mower.
> 
> A goat is probably the answer.


 And then you can eat the Goat .


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

Slippy said:


> Was the question, "When looking for sex, what do most muslimes prefer?"
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Actually we do our best to have lush grass, and we hardly ever mow. Because we have two horses that mow and fertilize at the same time.
We had three, but Sugar was 32 years old and had a major medical issue, so we did what was right for her. She now rests in a sunny spot near the garden.
During any kind of SHTF event i would have to guard the horses to keep anyone from shooting them.

Oh, and goats? Anyone even thinking about keeping goats better do some research. Goats can be some nasty, evil tempered, critters.
We were going to have a couple goats for milk and meat until we did some fact finding.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Camel923 said:


> Slippy said:
> 
> 
> > Was the question, "When looking for sex, what do most muslimes prefer?"
> ...


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

Depends on the goat in question. They can be nice or nasty. They will also eat/chew almost anything. I've lost more than a few leather work gloves to them.

Sheep are more docile but rams can be nasty too. I remember one that would bowl you over if you turned your back on him, this was fun if you were mucking the barn and he tried to land you onto a floor full of manure. I also saw him get up a full head of steam in a pasture and bowl over a horse. Poor horse never saw it coming and was laid out flat.

As I said if you are going to grow something and put time and effort into it, grow something you can eat. That is why I don't fertilize/pesticide/herbicide my lawn nor remove most of the weeds, in fact I encourage some weeds like dandelion and plantain that I can eat.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Sheep are much easier to deal with than goat. They also taste better IMO


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## alterego (Jan 27, 2013)

If you do a little research you will find that lawn grass started from people herding sheep.


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## Medic33 (Mar 29, 2015)

I think it also came from clearing the woods 100 yards around the house.


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## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

I consider mowing as a way to get red meat.... got so many fat rabbits in the tall grass I can eat a meal for every pass I make with the mower.... sometimes they are a little chewed up but then I just make stew.


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## GTGallop (Nov 11, 2012)

When I had grass on the field (no bald jokes - please!), I always mowed on the tallest setting to choke out weeds and minimize water use. Tall St. Augustine grass in Houston can develop its own micro-climate that causes condensation and dew that almost perpetually waters it self. When it was time to replace a broken wheel on the mower, I even opted for a little bigger wheel to give me another half inch of grass height. I always mulched my clippings back into the lawn and added Milorganite and Ironite to keep the grass healthy. I was that guy - the one you could never get your yard to look as good as. Some people even accused me of being retired.

As a result - when we were grid down after a hurricane, my yard was pretty tolerant of not being watered (it had just had 26" of rain or something crazy like that) and had no weeds to look shaggy. Since it was already tall, it never really grew much higher and got too unkempt. At the time, I would mow it twice a week, but after the storm we all (whole neighborhood) rationed gasoline so no yards were mowed. I went 14 days or what would have been 4 mowings and it was still "nice" looking at the end. I think I might have had another 14 days that I could have gone if I needed to but at that point it would have taken some care to get back in shape.

If I was still w/o power after that kind of time - almost 30 days - I'd be less concerned about the grass and more focused on hedges and things that can be quietly pruned by hand. And the drive there is mainly for security. Good, healthy grass is really a very low maintenance covering. I think I'd opt to never mow again if the grid failed.

Now I have Arizona Desert Lansdscape. Minimal water and I only have to buy a bottle of roundup once a year to get the occasional weeds. So still - no mowing.


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## Gunner's Mate (Aug 13, 2013)

mow.... less cover for a clearer field of fire


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

So far my wife has to do all the grass trimming, at least since my back surgery.
View attachment 10747


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Slippy said:


> Camel923 said:
> 
> 
> > Yes, it falls under the domestic partner program of oblamercare. Some Christians got in trouble for not baking a cake for muslimes when they married their goats and the libtards got all pissy. Strange times my friend, strange times...
> ...


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## jimLE (Feb 8, 2014)

*to me,mowing a yard in a shtf situation is a all around bad idea,for 2 reasons.1st,and more importantly.someone if comes along and see's a nicely mowed yard.it screams we have extra gas.come and get it..in which that can get a person killed in a shtf situation...2ndly.that gas can help me to bug out if needed.oh another thing.sound travels very far at night,and when there's not traffic on the road.so any running mower will be heard.in which that attracks trouble.. *


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

For me, i would not mow, as stated, will attract looters, by sight and sound if using gas. 
I would throw trash outside the windows and doors to give the appearance of prior looting.
Only the most desperate would recon the otherwise looted home.
Those perps will have to taken care of with the .303 solution.
I would trim enough growth (location dependent) to give good fields of fire without being obvious.
If growing crops, leave enough grass or other vegitation around plots to hide them as much as possible.


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## Pengyou (Nov 28, 2012)

I would ditto on the idea of replacing your grass with something that is low growing and doesn't need maintenance. If you start growing some kind of bush that has thorns randomly on your property- even rose bushes - you can create a nice obstacle course for anyone who wants to come snooping around.


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