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Now for something completely different

Discussion in 'General' started by ungwaha, Sep 7, 2019.

  1. ungwaha

    ungwaha Well-Known Member

    I need a new riding mower and leaning towards a ZTR but I need a bagging attachment for 1 billion leaves that fall.

    What do y'all recommend?
     
  2. eggfooyoung

    eggfooyoung You no eat more!

    I recommend buying a set of good mulching blades and mowing more often.
     
    BigBird, Metalhead and CRA_Fizzer like this.
  3. ungwaha

    ungwaha Well-Known Member

    The baggers would be used when the leaves fall. I average about 130 bags per year and the county will only take 14 a week. I found with my old mower and bagger I do about 35 bags since the leave are chopped up.
     
  4. Banditracer

    Banditracer Dogs - because people suck

    There's been several mower threads in here, do a search.
     
    ducnut likes this.
  5. ChemGuy

    ChemGuy Harden The F%@# Up!

    [​IMG]
     
  6. PMooney Jr.

    PMooney Jr. Chasing the Old Man

    What egg said, just mulch em and leave em, it's good for the lawn anyway. Bagging leaves is absurd, I know you've got better shit to do than that. ZTR's are awesome.
     
    BigBird and Metalhead like this.
  7. Ducti89

    Ducti89 Ticketing Melka’s dirtbike.....

    Mulch them. Especially over dead or dying spots in the grass. Ive did that last year and when the grass came back in the spring it was lush and thick.
     
    Metalhead likes this.
  8. dieterly

    dieterly Well-Known Member

    I think the bagging is northern thing, you se the same thing when they me own down to Florida. It’s in their nature by over complicating things, look, they even like paying income tax twice.
     
    PMooney Jr. likes this.
  9. simmoto

    simmoto Member

    Bagging is a pain. I like gator blades. Unfortunately, they don't make them for my current zero turn. They turn leaves damn near into dust, unless it's stupid Magnolia leaves.
     
  10. rd400racer

    rd400racer Well-Known Member

    I agree with everybody else. I’ve got three acres in the suburbs, so a clean lawn comes with the territory. I have trees galore and I’ve mulched for 25 years. You gotta be nuts to bag leaves.
     
    Metalhead likes this.
  11. zamboiv

    zamboiv Well-Known Member

    What are these leaves you’re talking bout?
     
  12. Spitz

    Spitz Well-Known Member

    We always have an west wind so they conveniently get pushed away from the house and the wind takes them to the neighbors yard. :D
     
    badmoon692008 likes this.
  13. ducnut

    ducnut Well-Known Member

    As mentioned, there are mower threads around.

    You’ve not stated anything about property size, topography, budget, etc.

    I can easily recommend the Cyclone Rake Z-10. I had one mounted behind a Hustler X-ONE 60” and cleared ~21 acres, multiple times, fall and spring. It has many advantages over other vac/bagger systems.

    Mulching has been promoted, for years. However, it’s the worst thing one can do. Clippings turn to thatch, chokes a lawn, prevents naturally occurring seed from making soil contact, promotes fungi, builds up, causes thinning, changes pH, among other issues. A bagged lawn is much healthier, especially if one employs a treatment program appropriate for the property. That doesn’t mean I bagged every lawn.

    Gator blades only work on certain decks. For instance, two of my mowers cut like garbage with them and one will only cut WITH them.
     
  14. speedluvn

    speedluvn Man card Issuer

    That’s not what I’ve been led to believe. Thatch is the dead grass that dies off, not grass clippings. I’ve been mulching for nearly two decades. They even say that mulching allows you to skip a feeding.
     
  15. ducnut

    ducnut Well-Known Member

    But, the clippings don’t just disappear. Some of it breaks down, but, not all of it. What’s left is considered thatch; it’s not just dead grass. There are organics available that are supposed to promote reduction/breakdown of clippings. I know a guy using one of them, but, so far, it’s not working, as I recently showed him. He’s going to have to mow short and bag off his lawn, dethatch, bag off that debris, top seed, and fertilize, to get back the density he had. Healthy lawns produce more clippings than can breakdown between cuts.

    Whoever “they” is has been pushing it forever. I get tired of trying to explain why it’s not all what it seems. Again, I can drive a person around and show mulched versus bagged lawns, all around where I live. Likewise, there’s not a single lawn around here where the fall leaves have been mulched and the grass is healthy.

    At one time, I had 31 properties I cared for. I’ve not seen everything, but, I’ve seen a lot more than most.
     
  16. speedluvn

    speedluvn Man card Issuer

    I don’t believe in bagging. And what about aerating the soil. Does that help any?
     
  17. ducnut

    ducnut Well-Known Member

    You don’t have to. That’s fine. I’m just trying to explain why your alternative can cause issues and isn’t always applicable, especially on thick, healthy lawns.

    I’m not a fan of aeration, because of the amount of damage it does to the grass.
     
    BigBird likes this.
  18. ungwaha

    ungwaha Well-Known Member

    As you stated before in the thread the ph in FL from the oak leaves kills my lawn. Plus it is hard to mulch 1" of leaves that fall per week for about a month. That is the reason for bagging.

    I've tried the mulching them and damn near killed my lawn.
     
    ducnut likes this.
  19. K51000

    K51000 Well-Known Member

    I always mulch my grass, never bag it. SW Milwaukee area.
    Then, this fall, I'll mow over the millions of leave from 3 big maples, chop em up best I can with the mower; BUT then I use this lawn sweeper I've had for years- brushes/throws them up into the big bin I pull behind my riding mower! Then, it easily dumps the leaves onto a mulch pile near my brush line in back. When I do it its at least 3-4 ft high. Next season, it has degraded to about a foot or less.
    If I need soil, I dig down in there. LOTS of earth worms!

    It's like this product, the depth of the brush is easily adjustable.
    If you have very many leasves- this is the ticket! No raking, etc.
    I guess you could bag 'em from there if you needed to.
    But mowing over the leaves shredds them up, MUCH less space involved!
    https://www.ebay.com/itm/253576097042

    OH yea, I had a nice leave blower/vacuum. Bag around you shoulder, empty it all the time.
    NEVER use it now I have this sweeper product. I just drive/mow over them all to shop them up, then sweep em up. Then I pull this one line that dumps it when I back up to my brush line and area I use for a compost. Life is good with this!
     
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2019
    JBall likes this.

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