Top Electric Tools for the Flower Farm
Using the Kobalt 80-V Electric Lawnmower
May 5, 2024
We use a ton of electric tools on our 1-acre flower farm in Burt, NY. Early on in my farming career, I never thought I would use some of these tools on our farm — in my mind, they were more synonymous with backyard maintenance, but boy have I found usefulness in these tools on our working farm. In this post, I’ll share which electric tools have been indispensable for growing cut flowers and maintaining a neat working farm space.
We just had a new electric service installed on our farm this past week to power fans and automated vents and roll-up sides in our new 96’ x 30’ high tunnel. Wahoo! I requested extra outlets so we can charge our electric tools, phones, and plug in the water bubbler to make compost tea. Having electricity on the farm is going to be a game changer and I’m so excited!
Related: Choosing a Tractor for the Flower Farm
Why Electric Tools are Awesome
We use all kinds of electric tools on our farm and in our home backyard. There are lots of reasons why we use electric tools over gas-powered tools:
Electric Tools are free from fossil fuels. This comes with a ton of benefits:
We don’t have to buy gas or diesel
We don’t have to change motor oil
We aren’t breathing in exhaust fumes nor polluting the environment with fumes
The tools actually weigh less because they aren’t filled with gas
The tools are cleaner/free from chemicals because they aren’t filled with gas, motor oil, and greaser
You can buy one or two batteries that interchange between all of your tools. We use the Kobalt 80-Volt Battery for all of our electric tools. All of our tools are the Kobalt brand and work with this same battery. With multiple batteries, you’ll always have enough charge on hand.
Electric tools are quieter and don’t require using earplugs nor safety headphones
Top Electric Tools We Use on the Flower Farm
Here are the electric tools we use; scroll down for a description of how we use each one.
Using a Hedge Trimmer on the Flower Farm
The Kobalt 80-V Hedge Trimmer is our #1 useful electric tool on the flower farm. We use this hedge trimmer for a whole program of important tasks and couldn’t live without it in the field. We use the hedge trimmer for:
Terminating cover crops before silage tarping. Once cover crops have begun flowering and are in their “milky stage,” we run the hedge trimmer back and forth through the cover crops so they fall and decompose in place. Then we either let them regrow or cover with a silage tarp to prepare a new planting area.
Cutting down all annual plants at the end of the season. We leave plant roots in the soil to decompose over winter. Running the hedge trimmer down each row of plants a few inches above the soil line makes removing annual plant debris super quick.
Pruning shrubs we grow for flowers and foliage in mid-winter. When growing shrubs for productive foliage cuts, many shrubs must be cut back during the dormant season to produce the maximum amount of stems for the following season. We have hundreds of shrubs on our farm that are cut back every winter, so instead of doing this by hand with pruners or loppers, we run the hedge trimmer down each row and it is so quick and efficient.
Cutting back all leftover dead stems in early spring. We leave all of our herbaceous perennials alone until early spring when the plants begin waking up from their winter dormancy. Leaving the plants alone allows bees and other insects to nest in the debris over winter and birds may also eat the leftover seeds. In early spring, when plants begin waking up at the crown, we run the hedge trimmer down each row to cut back the dead stems from the year before.
Controlling any overgrown weedy area. When an area of the farm becomes overgrown with woody plants, we control it using the hedge trimmer.
Using a String Trimmer (Weed Whacker) on the Flower Farm
The Kobalt 80-V String Trimmer has become an indispensable tool on our working flower farm. We use the string trimmer (which I refer to as “the whacker”) for cutting weeds down around the bases of our shrubs where the String Mower can’t reach. It’s also useful for trimming other hard-to-reach areas, such as around the water hose bib, down the sides of the high tunnel, around fence posts at the fence gate entrance, and at the edges of landscape fabric where we didn’t want to get too close with the lawn mower blades.
Using an Edger on the Flower Farm
The 80-V Kobalt Lawn Edger is a useful tool for keeping living pathways under control. If you grow clover pathways on your farm, you know that clover will eventually grow into the beds — it requires maintenance to keep under control. Running a lawn edger down each growing bed that is next to the clover will slice the clover roots and make pulling it out much easier.
Using an Electric Lawnmower on the Flower Farm
The 80-V Kobalt Electric Lawnmower is a great lawnmower — we used to use it for mowing our clover pathways on our farm before we purchased an Earthquake String Mower (honestly, the String Mower works better, despite that it is not an electric tool — I wrote a whole post about mowing clover pathways with a String Mower).
We do, however, use the Kobalt Lawnmower at home, where we have 1/2 acre of grass between our front and back lawns. I personally love the Kobalt Lawnmower because it is super easy to start with a switch (no pull string), and is lightweight and easy to maneuver around the yard. I recommend having two 80-Volt Batteries if you have a large yard.
Using a Leaf Blower on the Flower Farm
The 80-V Kobalt Leaf Blower is awesome if you have a lot of trees on your property and want to collect the leaves to make leaf mulch. We use tons of leaf mulch on our farm to cover our annual planting beds at the end of the season, along with mulching our perennial plants during the growing season to keep weeds down and moisture in.
Using a Leaf Mulcher on the Flower Farm
Last, but definitely not least, is the Landworks Electric Leaf Mulcher, which is a plug-in machine that finely chops leaves and other clippings so you can add them to your planting beds as mulch. If you have a ton of leaves on your property, or if you have a source of whole leaves, this machine is worth having because chopping up those leaves is one of the best sources of organic matter and nutrients you can add to your planting beds over winter. We never skip a season without adding a thick layer of leaves to our beds.
Here is another post about our Favorite Tools & Resources for the Garden or Flower Farm, including hand tools, supplies, books, etc.
peace, love & happy electric tool hunting,
Fran Parrish