What’s Your Pucker Factor?

[jimh406]

I wouldn’t run that hill like that way either. I wouldn’t even run my riding lawn mower that direction considering it is much safer to go up/down the hill.

 

[RCW]

With my BX, I don’t think I’d have an issue mowing Henro’s spot. Doubt I’d take my old Moline on it.

Slopes are really hard to gauge in photos. I might have a different opinion in person.

 

[Magicman]

Got training wheels??

 

[Henro]

With my BX, I don’t think I’d have an issue mowing Henro’s spot. Doubt I’d take my old Moline on it.

Slopes are really hard to gauge in photos. I might have a different opinion in person.

I think you are absolutely right! I am pretty sure with the extra weight I have so low, that I could do steeper slopes without issue. BUT my pucker factor will not let me...LOL.

I checked the slope by lining up my camera frame with the roll bar at a distance. I really should have placed it on the tractor I suppose. The display said 26.2 degrees. I assume that is pretty close.

Cut that area again today...still moving slow as usual...seat belt on...did not cross my fingers though as I do not feel it is really that bad...except in my mind...

 

[RCW]

Henro - you should NEVER do something with your tractor if you feel unsafe....period.

Don’t come here asking if “is this too much, or not enough?!?”

Even though I said I’d mow that doesn’t make it right for you... I can still hear my mother asking “if your friends were jumping off a cliff, would you do it too?!?”

If your pucker says this is enough, that’s all you need to know!!! I don’t care X-degrees or or X++-degrees.

It’s what you’re comfortable with. 5 degrees is okay, if that’s what works for you.

Not being derogatory at all. Just mean that as as friendly bit of advice.

Folks die on tractors doing stupid things. First indication of “stupid” is listening to that “pucker.”

I’ve driven old farm tractors for 50 years. Sometimes that familiarity is a prelude to recklessness.

I’m still very aware of the capabilities of my machine to avoid catastrophic outcomes.

I try to stay away from the pucker all together.

Best wishes, and stay safe my friend!!

 

[Daylight]

I'll pass and do it diagonally or up-and-down until Kubota brings us a miniature version of the Laverda harvester (now copied by other brands like Deutz-Fahr and NH):

 

[Henro]

Henro - you should NEVER do something with your tractor if you feel unsafe....period.

Don’t come here asking if “is this too much, or not enough?!?”

Even though I said I’d mow that doesn’t make it right for you... I can still hear my mother asking “if your friends were jumping off a cliff, would you do it too?!?”

If your pucker says this is enough, that’s all you need to know!!! I don’t care X-degrees or or X++-degrees.

It’s what you’re comfortable with. 5 degrees is okay, if that’s what works for you.

Not being derogatory at all. Just mean that as as friendly bit of advice.

Folks die on tractors doing stupid things. First indication of “stupid” is listening to that “pucker.”

I’ve driven old farm tractors for 50 years. Sometimes that familiarity is a prelude to recklessness.

I’m still very aware of the capabilities of my machine to avoid catastrophic outcomes.

I try to stay away from the pucker all together.

Best wishes, and stay safe my friend!!

RCW, I hear you and never meant to imply I thought I was doing something unsafe.

I definitely was not in any way asking “is this too much, or not enough?!?”

My analytical side tells me I am well within the safe range of operation of my BX, due to effectively having an extra 500+ pounds located at, or slightly below, rear axle height.

My post was about pucker factor, not meant to be a “can you do something more dangerous than me?” thread.

That being said, afterwards I wondered if by posting that picture it might somehow encourage someone to do something that might be dangerous, not realizing I have the foam filled tires (about 400 lbs) and a couple inches of extra rear wheel width.

I actually view the pucker factor as one of my most important safety devices. With my larger tractor it comes into play probably at ten degrees. To the point where I look at the ground and ask myself “can you seriously feel like this on such a slight slope?” I think this may be because I have a guard above my head that swings side to side a lot more the actual tractor does. Similar to a canopy or cab roof.

I guess I am trying to say I think we are both on the same page, and suspect you misinterpreted whatever i was trying to say.

Most importantly, I am glad you took the time to post, as it will only be helpful to help discourage some from doing what is best not done.

 

[RCW]

Henro -

Point taken.

I got where you were coming from.

Unfortunately, in retrospect, my response was poorly worded and relayed/portrayed an unintended/undeserved message.

My sincere apologies for the diversion.....

 

[NetMagi]

Mowed a slope that varied 22-28 degrees for 5 yrs on my BX with mmm, but in 4wd straight up and down. Would never sidehill it like that but my slope was loooong. If i rolled i would have gone over 4-5x before i got to the bottom, which was a paved public road.

Sold the BX and moved up to an L for tractor duties and picked up a steering wheel ZT to mow with. Best decision I've ever made. ZT does the yard in an hour, instead of 3, and the L is so much more capable for tractor duties.

The ZT’s with steering wheels are amazingly good on slopes. Very low CG, and very maneuverable.

 

[Martin35]

And only two days ago I finished my pond with a small waterfall and fish. It turned out super, as there will be an opportunity, I will attach photos. While I was making the pond, I found the site https://mygardenzone.com/best-pond-liner/. Actually, thanks to the information I read, I made it much faster. I just wasn't sure what material to make the base seal.

 

[NCL4701]

And only two days ago I finished my pond with a small waterfall and fish. It turned out super, as there will be an opportunity, I will attach photos. While I was making the pond, I found the site https://mygardenzone.com/best-pond-liner/. Actually, thanks to the information I read, I made it much faster. I just wasn't sure what material to make the base seal.

This is a bit off topic for the original thread but the original thread seems to have gone dormant and I’m actually a bit curious about the info in the pond liner link, which I did check out.

We live on family land my father purchased around 35 years ago. There was a pond on it when he bought it. No clue when the pond was built or who built it. It was stocked with large mouth bass, brim, and crappie sometime before he arrived. Only evident issues were overgrowth of aquatic vegetation and some moderate sized trees on the neglected dam so he introduced sterile grass carp and cleared the trees off the dam. We haven’t restocked the carp but aquatic vegetation hasn’t been a problem since and we still see a giant carp in the shallows once in a while. The pond still has good sized fish, soft shell turtles, snapping turtles, frogs, ducks, and geese. It is fed by a spring that originates about 50 yards up the natural cut that was dammed to create the pond. None of that fauna is credited to our stellar management as we do absolutely nothing other than repairing the drain pipe one time several years ago, skidding out a few trees that have fallen in it over the years, and keep trees off the dam to keep the state dam inspectors happy. Sometimes I wonder if we should be doing more to manage it but it seems to be going pretty well without our intervention.

Looking at the link, they seemed to be advocating the use of pond liners, and I may have missed it, but didn’t see any suggestion of size limitation beyond which a liner would be ill advised or impractical. Having a hard time imagining lining a pond of an acre or three.

Not that I’m pondering draining the pond and lining it; more a curiosity thing as I know little about aquaculture. No clue how big your pond is, so please don’t take this as a “that’s not a pond, this is a pond” kind of thing. For all I know, ours is a mud puddle compared to yours. Ours is below just as a point of clarity. I honestly can’t imagine the pile of paperwork it would take to build it today.

I really am curious if our pond was being built today would we really line it?

 

[motionclone]

I bought some of these angle gauges and put them on my tractor on 2 axis. https://www.amazon.com/Sun-Company-...ords=angle+bubble+gauge&qid=1622076168&sr=8-1

Then i tested the limits of my tractor (L345dt w/AG tires so tall) and i found my pucker factor at 15 degrees and my hell no more at 20 degrees. I mow side slope in a field i own in northern Maine and since i found that the tractor handles 20 just fine i feel more confident when i mow.

 

[BigG]

This is a bit off topic for the original thread but the original thread seems to have gone dormant and I’m actually a bit curious about the info in the pond liner link, which I did check out.

We live on family land my father purchased around 35 years ago. There was a pond on it when he bought it. No clue when the pond was built or who built it. It was stocked with large mouth bass, brim, and crappie sometime before he arrived. Only evident issues were overgrowth of aquatic vegetation and some moderate sized trees on the neglected dam so he introduced sterile grass carp and cleared the trees off the dam. We haven’t restocked the carp but aquatic vegetation hasn’t been a problem since and we still see a giant carp in the shallows once in a while. The pond still has good sized fish, soft shell turtles, snapping turtles, frogs, ducks, and geese. It is fed by a spring that originates about 50 yards up the natural cut that was dammed to create the pond. None of that fauna is credited to our stellar management as we do absolutely nothing other than repairing the drain pipe one time several years ago, skidding out a few trees that have fallen in it over the years, and keep trees off the dam to keep the state dam inspectors happy. Sometimes I wonder if we should be doing more to manage it but it seems to be going pretty well without our intervention.

Looking at the link, they seemed to be advocating the use of pond liners, and I may have missed it, but didn’t see any suggestion of size limitation beyond which a liner would be ill advised or impractical. Having a hard time imagining lining a pond of an acre or three.

Not that I’m pondering draining the pond and lining it; more a curiosity thing as I know little about aquaculture. No clue how big your pond is, so please don’t take this as a “that’s not a pond, this is a pond” kind of thing. For all I know, ours is a mud puddle compared to yours. Ours is below just as a point of clarity. I honestly can’t imagine the pile of paperwork it would take to build it today.

I really am curious if our pond was being built today would we really line it?

View attachment 60591

That is not a pond. That is heaven!

 

[NHSleddog]

This is a bit off topic for the original thread but the original thread seems to have gone dormant and I’m actually a bit curious about the info in the pond liner link, which I did check out.

We live on family land my father purchased around 35 years ago. There was a pond on it when he bought it. No clue when the pond was built or who built it. It was stocked with large mouth bass, brim, and crappie sometime before he arrived. Only evident issues were overgrowth of aquatic vegetation and some moderate sized trees on the neglected dam so he introduced sterile grass carp and cleared the trees off the dam. We haven’t restocked the carp but aquatic vegetation hasn’t been a problem since and we still see a giant carp in the shallows once in a while. The pond still has good sized fish, soft shell turtles, snapping turtles, frogs, ducks, and geese. It is fed by a spring that originates about 50 yards up the natural cut that was dammed to create the pond. None of that fauna is credited to our stellar management as we do absolutely nothing other than repairing the drain pipe one time several years ago, skidding out a few trees that have fallen in it over the years, and keep trees off the dam to keep the state dam inspectors happy. Sometimes I wonder if we should be doing more to manage it but it seems to be going pretty well without our intervention.

Looking at the link, they seemed to be advocating the use of pond liners, and I may have missed it, but didn’t see any suggestion of size limitation beyond which a liner would be ill advised or impractical. Having a hard time imagining lining a pond of an acre or three.

Not that I’m pondering draining the pond and lining it; more a curiosity thing as I know little about aquaculture. No clue how big your pond is, so please don’t take this as a “that’s not a pond, this is a pond” kind of thing. For all I know, ours is a mud puddle compared to yours. Ours is below just as a point of clarity. I honestly can’t imagine the pile of paperwork it would take to build it today.

I really am curious if our pond was being built today would we really line it?

View attachment 60591

From Google,

Ponds, according to limnology (the study of water bodies) are shallow enough where plants could conceivably grow across the entire surface. This area, where plants could grow is known as the “photic zone,” meaning where the sun’s rays can reach the bottom.

A lake, by contrast, has an “aphotic zone,” meaning there is an area deep enough that sunlight can’t reach the bottom.

As a result, there are some very small bodies of water, less than an acre that are deep enough to be called lakes. Conversely, there are some very large, but shallow water bodies, particularly in the south that are technically ponds, (though they’re called lakes) because their “photic zone” expands the entire length and width.

 

[bmblank]

Would a well be considered a lake???

 

[jimh406]

If you do a search for pond, you’ll find lots of explanations that conflict with the limnology definition from a variety of sources. So, unless you are a limnologist I don’t think their definition matters.

 

[NCL4701]

From Google,

Ponds, according to limnology (the study of water bodies) are shallow enough where plants could conceivably grow across the entire surface. This area, where plants could grow is known as the “photic zone,” meaning where the sun’s rays can reach the bottom.

A lake, by contrast, has an “aphotic zone,” meaning there is an area deep enough that sunlight can’t reach the bottom.

As a result, there are some very small bodies of water, less than an acre that are deep enough to be called lakes. Conversely, there are some very large, but shallow water bodies, particularly in the south that are technically ponds, (though they’re called lakes) because their “photic zone” expands the entire length and width.

That is quite interesting. So by that definition, our pond at 20’ max depth (unless it has silted in some in the 15 or so years since I last checked) is technically a lake even though it’s only a few acres (really don’t know how many as I’ve never even tried to measure it’s surface area). I would think the photic zone stops somewhere above 20’ although I haven’t personally been to the bottom to check the light level. Lake Mattamuskeet in the Fairfield area of NC, which covers hundreds if not thousands of acres is technically a pond because it’s maximum depth is around 3’.

If it’s a lake maybe we should consider naming it. There’s already a small local lake named after my family (long story) so we’d have to get creative with the name. Something else to think about…

Edit: After reviewing jimh406 post, maybe we’ll just keep calling it “the pond” as I’m not a limnologist.

 

[Henro]

“I really am curious if our pond was being built today would we really line it?”

I think you only use a pond liner when you really need to. Over the years my little pond has had its depth decrease due to sediment dropping out from the spring that feeds it. A liner would just disappear under the sediment.

I think those of us that have ponds that didn’t need a liner should consider ourselves fortunate.

 

[NCL4701]

“I really am curious if our pond was being built today would we really line it?”

I think you only use a pond liner when you really need to. Over the years my little pond has had its depth decrease due to sediment dropping out from the spring that feeds it. A liner would just disappear under the sediment.

I think those of us that have ponds that didn’t need a liner should consider ourselves fortunate.

View attachment 60610

That is quite picturesque. Very nice!

 

[GeoHorn]

It’s my belief that “liners” which are natural (clay, bentonite, etc) are preferred to synthetic or man-made materials because they better cooperate with nature and allow natural aquatic development. Synthetic/man-made liners are better for “water features” ... eye candy such as koi or goldfish..... rather than for organic water impoundments.
. YMMV

NCO4701 has what I’d call a beautiful small lake. Henros’ gorgeous pond is lovely. IMO