Riding lawnmower grass catchers - blower or no blower?

[Mitchell Andrus]

I'm beginning to think I've got to collect my clippings. Cut after cut.... the brown stuff is laying on top of the lawn and gets added to by each subsequent cutting. It's getting to the point that it's piling up pretty thick in places and raking 2 acres is out of the question.

I've got a Cub Cadet Zero Turn, the one with the steering wheel. Cool machine.

There are some rear bagger attachments that have a blower and some that don't. I'll assume the blower models work better at getting the grass up the chute and in the bin.

My question: Do I really need a blower model or do the standard models work pretty well?
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[David Weaver]

I've only used one with a blower. It worked great. I had to get my fat butt off the tractor about twice a year due to it not feeding, and that was generally when I ran the mower through something I never should've run it through - like a pile of wet leaves with sticks in it.

No ability to get a mulching deck? I haven't had a lick of trouble with thatching since I got a good mulcher, but a mulcher is a heck of a power sucker compared to just discharging the grass.

I didn't mind using the blower, but I hate removing that much organic material from the grass if I don't have to.

[Paul Ryan]

I have a traditional rider/tractor style. I have a 9 bushel bagger on the rear with out a blower. It works great the only complaint I have is how the clippings seem to pile up in my grove. I bag almost every time I mow because I hate mowing and wait until it is too long. My lawn is much healthier now since all of the thatch isn't struck in it. I dont know why a blower would be necessary my bagger will leave the ground completely clean until it needs to be dumped. But you have to dump after about every 1/8 acre if you mow when the grass it about 6" tall.

[Gary Herrmann]

I think needing a blower is dependent on the size of your deck, how well your blades lift the clippings, the baffles on the bottom of the deck and how long the clippings have to travel to get to the bags.

I've only got a 40" deck on my lawn tractor. I think if had the next size up the manufacturer recommends a blower.

You're probably best off checking the manufacturer's site or asking this question on a gardening forum. I like gardenweb.

[John Lohmann]

Buy some gator blades & then make the evaluation, they mulch much better than factory blades.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Buy some gator blades & then make the evaluation, they mulch much better than factory blades.

I considered that. I think though that the clippings (no matter the size) will still sit on top of the grass and wait til the next cut... compounding the problem. Most of my grass is of a wide blade variety and the clippings don't filter through to the ground very well.
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[Mitchell Andrus]

I think needing a blower is dependent on the size of your deck, how well your blades lift the clippings, the baffles on the bottom of the deck and how long the clippings have to travel to get to the bags.

I've only got a 40" deck on my lawn tractor. I think if had the next size up the manufacturer recommends a blower.

You're probably best off checking the manufacturer's site or asking this question on a gardening forum. I like gardenweb.

I stopped by at the dealer this am. He said if the grass is good and dry it shouldn't clog. If the grass is wet or juicy it'll stick to the inside of the chute like fat in an artery. I've had clogs under the deck even 2 full days after a rain.

Dunno.....
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[Mitchell Andrus]

I'm thinking about kit-bashing together a chute and some left-over 6" DC flex and rigid (and a wide-sweep el) just to see if I can get a decent discharge to where a bin would mount. Making a bin is the easy part.

Know any websites for calculating a GC system?
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[David Weaver]

I considered that. I think though that the clippings (no matter the size) will still sit on top of the grass and wait til the next cut... compounding the problem. Most of my grass is of a wide blade variety and the clippings don't filter through to the ground very well.
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I don't know about the gator blades (never seen them), but my mulcher (honda) makes the clippings small enough that they pretty much disappear. I haven't bagged grass in 4 years, and I fertilize at least once a year, sometimes twice, and have a full sun lawn.

That said, my lawn isn't very big, and I'd maybe think twice about it if I had a large lawn that could consume 3 or 4 gallons of gas to mow (as my parents' lawn did). I don't know if it takes more extra go-go juice to mulch grass or run a blower, though. Blowers are gas pigs for their size, just like dust collector systems are power pigs.

[David Weaver]

I'm thinking about kit-bashing together a chute and some left-over 6" DC flex and rigid (and a wide-sweep el) just to see if I can get a decent discharge to where a bin would mount. Making a bin is the easy part.

Know any websites for calculating a GC system?
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Our first bin was a plywood box on a wagon with quarter inch screen on the top. When it got full enough that the air pressure could push clippings or leaves against the screen, you knew your wagon was full.

Make sure if you don't put some resistance to flow on the end of your test system that your bags have free air flow.

[Greg Peterson]

I'd give this riding mower a try.

[Mitchell Andrus]

I'd give this riding mower a try.

Yea, I tried goats but the gentlemen from the humane society said force-feeding a goat from the business end of a mower would not be a good idea.
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[Chris Damm]

I have a 42" deck on my zero turn mower. The mulching attachment works great but if you let the grass get too long you will get clumping of the clippings. I cut my fast growing yard every 4 or 5 days and it works fine. My last riding mower had the bags with no blower. It worked OK but it was only a 36" deck. Watching all that free fertilizer piling up led me to try the mulching attachment.

[Steve Jenkins]

If you decide to go with a blower check out cyclonerake.com

[Paul Greathouse]

Mitchell

We have a mulch kit on our Exmark zero turn and like David said earlier, the clippings disappear but we do cut once a week. There are also a ton of comercial cutters in our town and the majority of them mulch.

I don't know how it would work on your mower but many of the major brands have mulching systems that perform just as well as ours. If your cutting 2 acres, it seems like bagging would be a serious pain.

Maybe you need a portable Cyclone.