[thegogetter222]

Hey gents!
well... here it is. I need to ask the audience what your opinion would be for my unusual lawn that I'm honored to mow. Our property has a very high water table and consequentially, the grass I mow, even when dry, is slightly wet. This means that my deck is constantly caked with grass buildup, discharge chute plugs when mowing, and grass bombs are present all over the yard. This is not a rain/mud issue, just the reality of the type of ground I have.

So my question is, what are my realistic options for dealing with this? Are there special blades? Is there a special coating I can use for grass buildup? (I tried POR15 and that didn't work at all) Is a lawn vacuum an option (I also tow a trailer with tractor so can't deal with assembling and disassembling any contraptions)?

I mow 3 acres with my GT2000 w/ 54" deck.

Thanks in advance! :dunno:

 

[SimpMan]

I would guess that vacuum/bagging would be your best option. Is the entire 3 acres like that?

I too deal with a low/wet area in my yard that is just as you described. I am lucky in that it is less than a 1/4 of what I mow, so I don't really pay too much mind to it.

 

[thegogetter222]

I would say 80% of my yard is like this unfortunately. My concern is that the grass is wet and from what I've read, these vacuums don't receive the highest reviews. Plus I'm not 100% sold on paying over $1k for something like this.

 

[Ray2]

I have about the same problem only with shade trees, after a rain the soil is slow to drain, and with the shade keeping the sun from drying it out, I am always mowing damp grass.......
My only solution was to go to gator blades to reduce the size of the clippings, slow down, and raise up the deck
1/2 inch or so........works OK now.....

 

[rcbe]

I would say 80% of my yard is like this unfortunately. My concern is that the grass is wet and from what I've read, these vacuums don't receive the highest reviews. Plus I'm not 100% sold on paying over $1k for something like this.

wet grass - particularly this time of year - best bet is weedburner electric fencing and a small flock of sheep - if your local regs will allow.

 

[Sergeant]

I would say 80% of my yard is like this unfortunately. My concern is that the grass is wet and from what I've read, these vacuums don't receive the highest reviews. Plus I'm not 100% sold on paying over $1k for something like this.

Have You considered Gator Blades for Your deck. Don't Know If they Have them yet for the Fabricated decks But there Pretty good for cutting wet Grass:thThumbsU

 

[savageactor7]

I often cut wet grass too. Sharp blades make that chore cleaner looking but you're still going to have some chunks. Going slow and sometime cutting just half a bite will also make a difference.


<---- If you have any standing water you can carefully shave a little water at a hover and that does an excellent job at cleaning the under deck. We've been doing that forever.

 

[Diesel332]

Go slow, use two of the blades, and run the engine full blast.

 

[Lonstar]

In my experience - sharp blades, and put a bungee on the chute to keep the discharge open fully. And sharp blades.

If I forgot to mention it - sharp blades. That's key.

 

[blown4pt3]

Same problem here. I've attached a picture of what I was dealing with just last Monday. I mow my in-laws property and long story short, past renters used to mow this part of the property but not any more. After mowing with the deck all the way up, then sweeping, mowing again, sweeping, mowing again, sweeping... I was thinking there has to be a better way. I spent 10 hours over 3 days cleaning up maybe 1.25 to 1.5 acres.

After some searching, I'm thinking I will try painting the underside of the deck with a graphite paint... if you search for "Ez-Slide Alkyd Graphite Coating" on Amazon.com, you'll see a paint that supposedly is good for mower decks. And after talking to some farmers, supposedly this is very similar to the paints used on the inside of grain wagons. Its like 20 bucks or so for a quart. I figure its cheap enough to try. This paint and some gator blades just might do the trick.

Oh, and notice the chute is bungee-corded up...

 

[Ray2]

I have tried the "lube spray" we use in our planters....doesnt seem to last much longer than all the other products on the market..........it just doesnt stay dry under a deck, and thats why it works in seed hoppers......
with a max cut of 5 1/2 or 6 ", there just isnt any way around it
fast rpm's..slow ground speed......raise deck.......cut more often..

Tip...I invested in a 4 ft wide aluminum ruler at Lowes..
it just fits in the lips on my 54" deck and bends enough
to keep all of front edge clean, and most of the underside of the deck, I too hold discharge chute wide open with cord........

 

[blown4pt3]

Well I just ordered the EZ-Slide graphite coating stuff. Since its paint like, I am hopeful it works better than the "lube sprays" or "cooking oil". It should be in next week some time. So if all goes well, I'll be able to report back on how it works in about 1.5/2 weeks.

Where I took that picture is an area that is always wet. The lawn is about 1 foot above the pond where I was standing taking the picture. If this stuff works there, well, hopefully it will help others with the same problem.

 

[thegogetter222]

Tip...I invested in a 4 ft wide aluminum ruler at Lowes..
it just fits in the lips on my 54" deck and bends enough
to keep all of front edge clean, and most of the underside of the deck

I also have the 54" deck, so I'd be interested in hearing more about your roller. How does the roller keep the underside of the deck clean??

 

[CADplans]

The wetter, the better!!

42" cut, :dunno:

 

[Kbeitz]

Flat blades and rear discharge deck...

 

[leeave96]

I have some of the same problem with my yard. It's nice and green due the water table being high - when my neighbors yards are dried out in August.

In addition, many times work keeps me off the tractors until late in the evening when I have to deal with dew on the grass or a thunder storm coating everything with water.

This time of the year, I mow like crazy to keep up as there is plenty of sun and moisture for the grass.

There are several things I am doing to combat build-up and deck rust and the general apparent of the grass, i.e. clumping.

1. I mow as often as possible to avoid enough grass build-up to clump.

2. I have several tractors, which I'll explain later. They give me options for what to use when cutting the grass. When I say several tractors, all but one are old iron tractors - which are very inexpensive to buy and refurb to running condition.

3. For my old iron tractors, I have accumulated spare mowing decks - so if one rusts out, not a problem, I've got a spare or two. But - I do try to paint the underside of my decks with Slip Plate every years.

4. I've got a CC LTX 1042 lawn tractor. It is a two blade deck and is domed tightly around the blades. I get almost ZERO build-up under it - mowing soggy wet grass or dry. It's amazing as compared to my old iron tractor decks where they have lots of corners and crevices to have grass build-up in. Reason I mention this deck is that it gives an INCREDIBLE cut for a cheap MTD lawn tractor painted Cub Cadet yellow. That same 42 inch deck with the GT mounting hardware is available for your tractor.

5. I have a Wheelhorse tractor with a rear discharge deck. I have two versions, a 36 and 42 inch deck. FWIW, the 36 lets me get the tractor and deck on my little Nissan truck as the deck fits between the fender wells. The beauty of the RD decks are that they don't blow any grass against anything. I can mow any direction and no rocks hitting the car or house. The other beauty of the RD decks are - that you can pull a sweeper while mowing at the same time. RD decks and sweepers don't care how wet the grass is when being used. I have mowed in the rain with this combo with GREAT results. Also, you can stripe your yard with a sweeper too. So while you don't have this tractor set-up, if your yard clippings get to clumpy, but are to wet to bag, a sweeper will do the trick.

Hope this helps.

Good luck,
Bil

 

[thegogetter222]

Bill, thank you very much for your thorough explanation. I was strongly considering a brush hog, but maybe I should consider a rear discharge. thanks again Bill.

 

[CADplans]

Meg-Mo blades, Google it.

Super for wet!! :fing32:

 

[thegogetter222]

Meg-Mo blades

Very interesting...

 

[Ray2]

I live near where the MegaMo blades are made, I stopped in and checked them out...pricy.......210.00 for my 54".......