wedding_singer, The load on your transmission doesn't vary all that much according to the grass type. It is true that it is slightly harder on it in thicker grass but it is made to handle this. Additional weight would increase the load but your mower's weight will not vary much beyond what a full bag of wet grass clippings would weigh. There are pre-mature transmission failures in almost all brands so I wouldn't be overly worried about it. If you make it beyond the first few mowings then I think the chances of a pre-mature failure happening become more and more remote. Most lawnmower transmission failure occur from lubrication failures. Lubrication failures can be caused by water from washing, excess dust or dirt that gets through the axle seals, and transmissions that are old and the grease gets stiff and fails to lubricate. Some people have serviced their transmissions by taking them apart and replacing the grease with fresh high quality grease and others have added a grease zerk (drilling a hole and installing a self tapping grease zerk)to the transmission housing and pumping in grease with a grease gun. So you have two choices.........trust the manufacturer and hope the trans holds up. (It probably will) or you can get proactive and add some good synthetic grease before a failure occurs. Avoiding water and excessive dirt is the best thing you can do. Don't get an ulcer worrying about the transmission though.

No, foxesearth, I've not looked on that site but I will. Thanks My fear with the plot is that briars, privet hedge, and youpon will take over. It is a freshly prepared site so there are still many roots and runners underneath the soil. We bulldozed it this winter and had as many stumps removed as possible but unless I use (and I don't even like the word) "ROUNDUP" I know I will have lots of stuff coming back, in fact it already is. So that is why I need to be able to mow. The wildflowers are coming from a man in Missouri that prepared them exclusively for this area. They are in route and should be here soon. Everything he is sending will bloom. No grasses. I will post the details of whats in the mixture as soon as it arrives. We will be having a sister plot that will be seeded grasses for the quail. I can ask my husband what will be in it but I know one of the grasses is millet. we will plant as soon as possible, It's time now. Ed wants to rake it with a rake he attaches to the back of the tractor and then he will use a cultipacker - probably mispelled this- to press the seed into the ground so the rain won't send them to the gulf of mexico. we will sow them by hand but that's no big deal. No fertilizers or anything, we think they will be hardy enough to make it on their own. we are considering irrigation but are not sure at this point. Thats more and time and expense. I am in zone 8. We are in the south mississippi area. McComb/Magnolia to be exact. As for overwintering I know that they will be there in this area even if there is no host plant. Though I'm sure something in there will be a host. Plus you know how they like to crawl off away from the host and that concerns me I hope I've answered your questions. Let me know. Butterflutter

'U' are preaching to the choir here...

Um... okay.