Zipties on a weed-whacker: an experiment

Have you’ve seen the post going around facebook that shows a homesteader using zipties on a weed-whacker instead of the spool of weed-eater line?

This post came across my facebook feed last week and seemed like an ingenious idea, so this weekend as I worked in the garden I gave it a try to see if it really works.

I removed the spool from my Ryobi weed-whacker, put on a couple of zipties and trimmed them to length. Then I set to work in the garden to knock down some grasses and pig-weed that had gotten away from me.
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The zip-ties cut the grass, but it wasn’t as clean a cut as I get with the weed-eater line, and my trusty weed-whacker made a lot more noise then she usually does─if you can possibly imagine a weed-whacker being any louder. Then, as I went to tackle the pig-weed, I brushed the weed-whacker up against a post in the garden and one of the zipties snapped right off!

After my failed experiment I reviewed the comments under the facebook post and found a few folks who also had tried the zipties-on-a-weed-whacker experiment. They report similar findings─that the zipties broke easily. One person suggested using industrial grade zipties, to which a woman in Arizona reported that the industrial zipties are all they use because in their heat and sun lesser plastics degrade too quickly, and she still had this method fail for her.

I wouldn’t say this experiment was a total fail, it did work and in a pinch you could certainly use the zipties. Probably if you have just a lawn to maintain and were only using your weed-whacker to trim things up after you’ve mowed this would work just fine. However, if─like me─you have a large area to manage, a large garden and more, and you have weeds that sometimes get unruly, I feel like the weed-eater line is still the better option.

Have you tried the zipties-on-a-weed-whacker experiment? If you have any thoughts or suggestions feel free to leave a comment below! Be sure to subscribe to the Runamuk blog by email to receive updates directly to your inbox; OR follow us on Instagram for sneak-peeks into the day-to-day happenings at Runamuk Acres!