No grass in beds!?

[Grassboy]

Hey I have a few customers, all residential, that have yelled at me for putting grass in their mulch beds. I have been trying not to as hard as I can, but I can't find a way that effectively blows out the grass or keeps it from going in. AND I DON'T WANT TO BAG IT. Sometimes i even can't bag it, no where to dump it. How do you handle this??? How is the most efficient way to handle it.

[Bobby]

Hey Grassboy. Be sure you arn't cutting to low. A half inch can make a big difference. I modified my side chute so when it's down, it drops the grass just a couple inches away from the deck. Also try some gator blades.<p>----------<br>Bobby <br>Ft Lauderdale

[bridges]

hey bobby what are these gator blades and we do you get them

[Administrator]

Go to search just above and type in gator as the search topic. You will find plenty of discussions on the topic.<p>

[Bobby]

Bridges,they are blades that chop the grass into smaller bits than standard blades. Any Lawn&Garden shop should be able to get them for you. If you cant find them, call 1-800-305-9255 and they will ship em to you.<p>----------<br>Bobby <br>Ft Lauderdale

[Charles]

you can use regular blades instead of high lift. Wont throw the grass as far and turn it away from the beds. or make u a screen and put it over the chute. or quite doing such small yards.

[Matt]

What you gotta do, if you dont already is do the perimeter runs in a direction that discharge chute is aiming to the middle of the lawn... hope this is your problem, makes for a very easy fix!

[lawnforce1]

There is no way around getting some grass in beds, on driveways and in the road. One thing that we do is make an effort to make sure that we mow with the discharge facing the other way. Sometimes this does pose a problem but it's worth the time saved not having to blow too much mulch on the yard.

[Lazer]

OCDC - Look at Eric's page for more info.<p>I'm convinced that only reason every other mower manufacturer doesn't offer this must have something to do with the discharge chute or OSHA regulations.<p>The thing makes so much sense.

[Grassboy]

Lazer:<p>I can't make any sense of the page. I don't even know if i was at the right page or not. Can you just explain it to me.

[southside]

Grassboy,<br> Like Matt & Lawnforce1 said,the <br>easiest way is to do your first cut with the<br>discharge chute facing inwards.Any other grass that ends up on the beds,you can blow<br>off.<p>Karl<br>

[Eric ELM]

Grassboy, What Lazer was telling you about is the OCDC (Operator Controlled Discharge Chute). It can be opened and closed from the seat. This comes standard on most Dixie Choppers and could maybe be modified to fit on your machine or maybe you can make one. I don't know what page you looked on, but it's on the last page,OCDC page on my website. On this page I'm showing a modifcation I came up with for keeping it open, but easy to close. Click on the OCDC picture link to see the picture. Does it make more sense now?<p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.townserver.com/elm/&quot;&gt;Eric@ELM&lt;/a&gt;<p>

[little green guy]

try making two perimiter passes around bed if you can then if you do get grass in the beds blow it out and if there is a little bit of grass just fluff the mulch with your hand.

[steveair]

It sounds to me like the customers might be real nit pickers. Maybe explain to them that you can't keep every, single, little, itty, bitty, piece of grass out of their beds, so if they don't like it you can gladly remove the grass from the beds (by raking) for a extra charge, or explain to them that you will have to bag it and have to charge extra then. Usually, when people here the term &quot;extra charge&quot;, they will drop the subject pretty quickly. <p>As long as you aren't blowing have the lawn in the beds and running the mowers with the shoots blasting into the beds, there is nothing else you can do but this or maybe you should just drop them if they are that big of a pain. <p>One more question, when you blow sidewalks and drives off, are you blowing it in the beds too. Sometimes, if you have other help, the guy with the blower gets lazy and blows it right into the beds.<p>steveair<p>

[MOW ED]

Its just grass that turns to mulch anyway. Tell them its better than mulch from the beds in the grass.

[Gus]

i first make a perimeter pass and if im cutting at a 90 degree angle to the beds i make sure when i make the turn for each pass that the discharge chute is always pointed away from the beds

[Grassboy]

The problem I have mainly lies in the fact that my customers have a lot of mulch beds! They have them around the perimeter of the house and while I trying to miss those I have to point it towards another &quot;island&quot; mulch bed in order to keep up the consistency of the striping I know it can be done in my neighborhood because my customers keep saying&quot;the other business I used to have didn't put the grass in the beds!&quot;

[cantoo]

Maybe the reason you are cutting their lawn now and not the old company is that the customer's are too picky and can't be satisfied.

[accuratelawn]

You say that you don't want to bag it, but if you bag just around the islands and other mulched areas it will save you all this grief.<br>Or get a mulch kit for your mower.<br>Go out and find a solution..... four nights of this on this topic!

[Grassboy]

Cantoo,<p>I am almost certaing that is the case. I have thought that for a long time. And I want to &quot;do out w/ the annoying, and in w/ the good customers&quot; but I don't have enough time organize the stopping of mowing of the unwanted ones, and starting the process of mowing the new ones for the whole season. You ever want to here some pickiness stories ask me! I have a customer who insist the reason his lawn isn't perfectely flat after being mowed is because of my mower, when in reality, his lawn is full of holes and bumps, it is a piece of crap! Who ever seeded it didn't roll it very well afterwards.