Flail mower: Application, special features and advantages
Soil maintenance with the flail mower - what are the advantages of this mulcher?
Whether on fallow land or in the forest - mulching is a good tool for maintaining areas and improving soil quality at the same time. But how does a flail mulcher actually work and what advantages does it have over a sickle mulcher? Find out in our article.
How does a flail mower work?
The working element of a flail mower consists of a shaft that is driven in the opposite direction to the direction of travel. Many movably mounted blades, the so-called flails, are arranged in a spiral on this shaft. During use, the rotational movement causes the mowed material to be knocked off by the flails, transported around the shaft and shredded by the counter blades. The shredded material is transported to the ground and then pressed down with a roller.
What types of flail mowers are there?
Flail mowers can be used with different shaped flails. There are roughly two categories: Universal flails and knife flails. Universal flails are blunt and smash the crop rather than cutting it. Knife flails, on the other hand, have more of a cutting effect.
Hammer flail
The best-known representative of the universal flail is probably the hammer flail: It has a solid shape and is particularly suitable for coarse cuttings. Even harder shredded material such as sticks are generally no problem for the hammer flail. The flail is very robust and can be easily resharpened. The hammer flail is also characterized by a clean cutting pattern. The major disadvantage is that the individual flails are rather heavy due to the solid workmanship, which is why a powerful drive unit is required.
Y-flail
Among the knife flails, the Y-flail is particularly popular: its low weight makes it suitable for smaller tractors and even for hand-held devices. The degree of shredding is finer with the Y-flail than with the hammer flail, but it is unfortunately somewhat less stable. For this reason, Y flails are primarily suitable for herbaceous vegetation.
Cup flail
The finest cut is achieved with the cup blades: The cutting quality here is very close to that of a rotary mower, but it is less susceptible to stones and roots. Nevertheless, the service life of cup blades is rather short, which is why they are mainly used for grassland maintenance.
What are the advantages of a flail mower?
The flail mower is very popular for maintaining fallow land and grassland. Of course, it is not only ideal for keeping areas clear, but also improves soil quality and protects the soil from erosion by mulching the soil.
In contrast to other mowers, e.g. sickle mowers, the flail mower has a decisive advantage: the flails are very robust, so that they can also process coarser material and are less likely to be damaged by foreign objects such as stones. This special feature also makes flail mowers very suitable for areas that are not characterized by well-kept grass growth, but also for lying or ground-growing crops or heavily woody growth. Even with matted and tall grass, it produces a clean cut.
What are the disadvantages of a flail mower?
The biggest disadvantage of flail mowers is their enormous power requirement. A power requirement of around 12 to 18 kW per meter of working width can be assumed - accordingly, when purchasing a flail mower, it is important to ensure that the tractor can deliver this power.
