[Wayne195]

Just wondering if you fellos let your grass clippings lay or bag them. I normally put the bagger on and pick the clippings up about every other mowing. I've heard it's good to let the clippings lay occasionally. It supposedly acts as a fertilizer.

 

[Hokiefyd]

I either bag or mulch. I never side-discharge and let long clippings lay. Too many clippings can contribute to thatch buildup. I generally only mulch in the very hottest part of the summer, because that's when you get the fastest breakdown of that organic material.

 

[Kingwood990]

I side discharge my yard and my neighbors (8 acres total), and in the fall I mulch leaves in half of my yard (3 acres).

 

[Fireman993]

I mulch in the summer, and part of the fall then I switch to bagging because if I mulched all the leaves I would have 6 inches of leaf mulch!

 

[junebug1701]

I bag the front yard, because that's what everyone sees. The back yard is bigger so I use the side discharge there. No complaints from the dog so far!

 

[baron]

Side discharge. Mostly because my mower has no mulch plate and my bagging attachment is back in Texas with my parents. If I had my way, I'd mulch every day.

 

[Old Dennis]

Mulch

I always mulch. Then twice a season I apply a Jerry Baker formula on the yard that dissapetes the thatch.

 

[dustycarter]

I just mow once a week(try too anyway) and so I just side discharge. Used to bag but whats the point. If it gets too big and thick then I use a sweeper

 

[Wayne195]

I know with some mowers it can be quite a bother to use the bagger...especially when the grass is high and it has to be emptied often.

 

[dustycarter]

Now used to when we had cows I bagged and fed it to them. But they have moved on so I just discharge. Now sometimes I sweep up the fresh stuff and give it to my chickens. If it's real fresh then they will eat it. The white chickens will be green and they smell real good.

 

[gcbailey]

do you all use gator blades? I bagged for years then invested in a gator blade and wanted to see it's mulching capability... It's definitely a huge difference. I can't say how much difference it would make if all you have is side discharge, but with a mulch plug clippings get cut up to around 1" long...

 

[dustycarter]

do you all use gator blades? I bagged for years then invested in a gator blade and wanted to see it's mulching capability... It's definitely a huge difference. I can't say how much difference it would make if all you have is side discharge, but with a mulch plug clippings get cut up to around 1" long...

We had an old IH Cub lowboy that we used to have gator blades on. They were ok but I really didn't tell a difference except the price. We used them for 2 years. They took rocks, cable and roots. We have an old field where it used to be cows and they messed it up and now its real nice and flat. But we sold that cub a few weeks ago. Heres a picture of it.

 

[dustycarter]

Oh and my grandfathers John Deere, we put gator blades on them the 2nd year we had it. We used those. We usually mulch his yard with his L120. I don't have pictures of it though. It has a 48inch cut and is 20hp intek Briggs and stratton.We usually just put the mulcher on and in real high grass we usually go over it maybe 2 times or so. But thats about it. Now I know they worked good. We had to special order them form lowes. The didn't have any in stock.

 

[Fireman993]

I know with some mowers it can be quite a bother to use the bagger...especially when the grass is high and it has to be emptied often.

One of my Craftsman have an annoying bag setup. It's tough to get it to seal just right.

 

[NoRider]

I usually bag the first cut of the year (because I was late getting to it) and them mulch for the rest of the season.

When we first got this place, there were two composters in the back yard. I thought... Great, we can just put the cuttings into the composter and have garden fertilizer for the summer.

Gave up on that plan when the first composter was full after 6 cuts across the back lawn.

 

[Wayne195]

That's a nice tractor there, Dustycarter. I'd like to get one sometime but I don't have room to store it.

 

[occupant]

This old Sensation mower only has the bagging, no side discharge or mulching. It's a rear bag, pretty heavy canvas, looks nice but it will certainly fill up fast with a double lot like we have. Since my kid killed this thing before I could use it at the new house, I don't know how many bags I would go through, but I can't wait to find out.

 

[mrbeal]

Hi, Steve here, new member..... I just wanted to chime in on the Gator Blades. I had them on my Craftsman 42" and they lasted almost a whole season. I had to replace them a couple weeks ago with some mulcher blades (discharge block to be intstalled soon) because they were all chewed up. Some of the "teeth" were actually missing!! I'll stick with the cheaper blades from now on, especially if they only last 1 season.

 

[Lan4cr]

do you all use gator blades? I bagged for years then invested in a gator blade and wanted to see it's mulching capability... It's definitely a huge difference. I can't say how much difference it would make if all you have is side discharge, but with a mulch plug clippings get cut up to around 1" long...

Hi! I too use gator blades and I really like them. I always mow with the discharge shoot to the inside so that with each round I am remowing my clippings. I have found that by mowing this way I do not need to pick up my clippings. I have not noticed much in the way of thatch being a bother but I do thatch my lawn in the spring once the lawn has had a chance to dry and then I do however use my sweeper to pick up leaves in the fall and I will use my chipper/shredder and add the leaves to my compost pile.

 

[Maplekid]

I bag jat because I use a walker commercial mower and it can only bag. It does a great job though. In te fall my leaf cleanup is easy. Blow all the leaves onto the lawn from the driveway and flower beds then mow and it sucks them all up. And then they go into the farms several hundred yard compost windrow.