The Green Industry's Resource Center

Darryl G · #1 11-09-2011, 06:16 PM

OK so I hear all these people saying they just mulch the leaves on lawns so I tried it. I putted a pair a Gator blades on it and just randomly ran around the lawn grindering everthing up. There was a lots of leaves and I maid them almost desapper as you can see in the picures.

CHRIS92789 · #2 11-09-2011, 06:18 PM

I couldnt tell if you were being sarcastic or not? lol But yeah your mower mulched them up... just curious does your mower have a shoot blocker on it? If it doesnt i would def. put one on! Makes a world of difference!

MOW ED · #3 11-09-2011, 06:26 PM

The chute blocker is needed as well as slowing down a little and letting the leaves grind in the Gators. It is a proven method and it doesn't take much practice to get good at it. If nothing else you can reduce the volume by at least 10X and bag it or take a good backpack blower and disperse the heavy stuff. Either way it beats just bagging.

JDiepstra · #4 11-09-2011, 06:26 PM

You need a mulch kit and mulch blades. I have found a double mow at perpindicular directions to work the best.

Darryl G · #5 11-09-2011, 06:29 PM

I blocked the discharge. I have a mulch kit but didn't put it on. Gators are mulching blades.

CHRIS92789 · #6 11-09-2011, 06:41 PM

Yeah the gators work great! The biggest problem i have when im using my scag to mulch leaves is the leaves infront of the mower getting pushed forward by the air of the mower. Mulching takes a lot less time to get rid of the leaves, but i find it very hard to make the lawn look clean after the leaves are mulched... jmo

FLC2000 · #7 11-09-2011, 06:47 PM

Mow the yard 3 times in the directions you would as you normally cut. Then start going in circles shooting all the leaves towards the middle. When you get a small pile in the middle throw the bagger on and pick them up.

Note that you can only do this 2 or 3 times before you will start leaving to many ground up leaves in the turf itself which will cause thatch.

ed2hess · #8 11-09-2011, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darryl gesner

and just randomly ran around the lawn grindering everthing up. .

A couple things...you need to go CW only starting on the outside and working towards the middle. I have never heard of those blades just put on mulch blades from Scag. And if you want the best job put on the full mulch kit.

Darryl G · #9 11-09-2011, 07:27 PM

Isn't anybody gonna tell me it looks like crap? lol.

I'll fess up...I was just grinding them up a bit before bagging them. This was 2 weeks worth of leaves and more than I would try to mulch into a thin lawn like this. It's kind of hard because of all the obstacles too, like in the second pic...there are rocks there that my mower wouldn't like. I just let the Ultravac fill up and kept going, dust mask on. Filled the double bagger up 6 times total including some lawn areas not pictured. I'll have to go back for a final cleanup at some point but I treated it as if I wouldn't be coming back, just in case winter pops up again.

I in fact triple cut my own lawn when I got home today rather than bagging. A double cut would have been fine but it was kind of long and damp so I did a 3rd cut to disperse the clippings.