[platinumaa]

greetings all.. newbie here, lots of reading but 1st post...

I did a search and found little on this topic.. i mow about 6 acres on my propery and use a riding cub cadet super lt 1550.. it handles it ok, but takes a little long.. and if the grass is wet, or even damp it clumps up..

i realize most people say dont mow in rain.. but when u live in florida and it rains almost every single day in the summer.. sometimes u have too..

2 questions

1) is it the mower or the deck or the blades that makes a difference of handling wet grass?

2) i am looking into a new mower.. what can yall recommend for a new riding mower-zero turn, (nothing high end commercial since it is for personal use) that will do well for 6 +/- acres and handle wet grass well and will mow faster than what i have now.. i dont have an issue with getting a new mower and replacing with different blades if it is the blades that make a difference with mowing wet grass

i appreciate the responses.. thanks!

 

[rhenning]

Nothing will work well mowing in the rain. Roger

 

[dbear]

Mowers with higher blade tip speeds will work better when the grass is wet, but as roger said, no mower cuts as well in the rain.

 

[platinumaa]

Maybe instead of mowing in rain i shoulda said

"mowing wet/damp grass.."

 

[dbear]

Maybe instead of mowing in rain i shoulda said

"mowing wet/damp grass.."

My above statement still pertains, and was originally intended to cover both situations.

 

[Austen]

To get slightly better results when cutting wet lawn, try mowing at a slightly higher height and afterwards go back over it again at a lower setting. More work and time, but it will help reduce some of the clumping.

 

[platinumaa]

Just a couple of days ago, tropical storm debbie onsite.. there were guys downtown mowing the businesses while the grass was soaked.. they were 1/2 way done and it looked great.. and they were zooming along pretty fast on those zero turns.. think one said "scug" on the mower..

i realize mowers work best on perfect condtions.. just thought some of yall had mowers that do really well in wet grass, or had input on that.. i guess i was incorrect.. sorry to bug everyone

thanks

 

[dbear]

Just a couple of days ago, tropical storm debbie onsite.. there were guys downtown mowing the businesses while the grass was soaked.. they were 1/2 way done and it looked great.. and they were zooming along pretty fast on those zero turns.. think one said "scug" on the mower..

i realize mowers work best on perfect condtions.. just thought some of yall had mowers that do really well in wet grass, or had input on that.. i guess i was incorrect.. sorry to bug everyone

thanks

That would be Scag, not Scug.

I'm not trying to be a smartass here, but the simple fact is your machine will never be able to not clump, and I say that based upon my once owning a CC GT for 5 years. Again, commercial ZTRs have much higher blade tip speeds than any residential GT, hence a better cut under less than ideal conditions. Blade selection may also influence this as well, but I've never witnessed any difference.

You must be down south, so you're probably dealing with a much coarser type of grass than we do up north. This too can make a huge difference. It's been my experience that in northern grasses, you can never eliminate, only reduce thru use of a better mower, clumping in wet grass.

Austen's advice about cutting higher would help. I've read someplace that you should only be taking about a 1" bite at a time. Even the pros will double cut when conditions dictate.

Probably the most critical factor in determining the extent of clumping is deck design. Even when it comes to commercial units, some brands tend to be more prevalent in certain geographic areas because they perform better in the conditions dictated by the climate. Up here, based upon observing what's on LCO trailers, Exmark, Ferris, and JD tend to be the most popular, and to a lesser extent Scag, Husq, and DC, as I've heard repeatedly they do very well in our grasses. Hustler, while being a great machine hugely popular in other parts of the country, didn't really make it around my area based upon its performance.

If the Scag you saw was doing a good job, maybe you should look into getting one. Scag does offer a line of consumer models, Freedom Z, with professional blade tip speeds.