[MAtractor]

HI All,

I have the 48inch edge extra deck with Power-flow and 7 bushel bags on my X540. I use it to cut the grass, and collecting leaves for the last two years. Everything works well, except I now have a huge pile of smelly grass clippings.

So I thought it might be a good idea to consider mulching. I estimate it might take about 1 to 2 hours of work to remove the PowerFlow and install the mulching kit, and then reverse the process if I want to bag again.

So here are my question:

1) Is there a way to turn off the power flower without removing it? Is there a manual for the power-flow?

2) Is it possible to install a mulching cover (like the D100 series mulching cover) on the 48in edge deck? The D100 series mulching cover is just a piece of plastic cover with the rubber clips.

In the ideal world, if I can turn off the power-flow, and install the mulching cover, then I mulch and then quickly reverse it for bagging. Is this a workable solution?

What's the easiest way to switching between mulching and bagging? I see John Deere now offers "mulching on demand", but it is for the commercial mowers only as far as I can tell.

Let me know if you guys have some suggestions.

 

[SEVA318]

When I want to mulch leaves with my 318 I put a piece of 1/2 inch mesh hardware cloth over the discharge chute. Never done the bagging.

 

[UpstateTony]

I’m not aware of any easy switch. The 100 series mulching plug only does a so-so job on mulching. ( with a 48 inch deck you will have massive blow out under deck)Plus you’ll want some mulching blades. Before this year I always bagged, had the mulching insert ( and mulching blades) put in on my x590 and 48 inch deck. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised how well it works on grass. Leaves are just starting to come down and so far doing a decent job- but I really have to go slow and make a few passes to completely mulch leaves- so jury still out on leaves( in my case still have bagger on LA135 so I can use that occasionally to suck up mulched leaves)

 

[Mach-1]

There is no easy switch, unfortunately. I bag in the spring, then mulch most of the rest of the time. I've been pretty happy with the results the mulcher gives. Getting the best results mulching means you need to have the baffles and correct blades installed - none of which work when you want to switch to bagging.

Switching from one to the other on my X720 means going through a rather sucky deck re-leveling process. The weight of the powerflo really makes this difficult. You have to jack up the right side of the deck so high to get it level and account for the weight of the Powerflow, that things are really whack when you take it off. Maybe an X540 is different and that process is easier, I don't know.

 

[MAtractor]

To UpStateTony:

Have you used the mulching kit during the spring time when the grass is growing like crazy?

During the fall, I have a lot of oak leaves, oak nuts, and pine needles. I don't know how in the world the mulching kit can handle that. My guess is that it won't. But do let me know if your X590/Mulching kit is up to the task or not.

As Mach-1 said, switching between mulching and bagging 3,4 times just seemed too much work. I thought about buying a second mower and set it up for mulching, but it is hard to get the wife to agree, and there is the extra effort with maintenance on 2 riding mowers.

 

[mrmagloo]

Interesting topic, and there is certainly an opportunity here for an enterprising engineer with some smarts. On my old LX188, the mulching kit there was a metal insert under the deck, and a discharge plug. I used to use G5 gators and it worked great with and without the plug. In the spring when the grass was very moist and would clump, I'd remove the plug and it worked great with the standard discharge. Certainly the G5's were not as good as pure multi-level mulching blades, but they still did a decent job.

As the summer began and things started drying out, I would add the plug and the set up worked quite well. Then in the fall, when the leaves fell, the set up worked pretty good on leaves too.

I was hoping for the same kind of a set up with the x540, but seems they only have the plastic insert, which I think doesn't play nice with the G5's. I too thought about making up some kind of a discharge plug, but just ended up getting the powerflow bagger that I'll use in the fall. I think I might give this a little more thought but I'd definitely use something more substantial than chicken wire. I believe the holes in the LX188 plug were around 1/2" but they would plug pretty quickly if the grass was the least bit wet. So I might try to go to some kind of a 3/4" perforated sheet and see how that works. Might be a good winter project.

 

[UpstateTony]

To UpStateTony:

Have you used the mulching kit during the spring time when the grass is growing like crazy?

During the fall, I have a lot of oak leaves, oak nuts, and pine needles. I don't know how in the world the mulching kit can handle that. My guess is that it won't. But do let me know if your X590/Mulching kit is up to the task or not.

As Mach-1 said, switching between mulching and bagging 3,4 times just seemed too much work. I thought about buying a second mower and set it up for mulching, but it is hard to get the wife to agree, and there is the extra effort with maintenance on 2 riding mowers.

I have no doubt it will keep up in spring- even bagging I had no problem cutting grass twice a week. Key with Mulching is don't take off too much grass at once- if you are type to only mow every 7 to 10 days in spring- then no you probably wont be happy mulching- I have no problem mowing 2 times a week all spring into early summer

As for the leaves- I have a lot of massive maples and oaks out front so I have serious doubts even the X590 can keep up with them ( and again I go out and mulch every night- love the extra seat time) but if it cant I'll use wife's lawn mower the LA135 and its bagger -- actually off to mow front lawn right now

 

[KATT]

Just get another JD dedicated to mulching or bagging… :thThumbsU

Hey, it's your money I'm spending.

 

[MAtractor]

Haha, I thought about buying a robot mower such as this
https://www.deere.com/en_INT/products/equipment/autonomous_mower/tango_e5/tango_e5.page

About the same money as a new D100 series.

 

[Sergeant]

I used & Use Gator Blades On My X485 with 48inch deck In the Past & My current X748 with 54inch & Power flow Really does cut down On your Left over Clipping in the Bag. But My clipping get tilled Into the Garden every year:thThumbsU

 

[Displaced Hokie]

You know you can get this TODAY on an X7...

John Deere MulchControl Puts Mower Operators in Control of Clippings - John Deere MachineFinder

 

[Wfburton159]

Why don't you just remove he power flow and side discharge? If you are bagging grass all summer can't you quit bagging and side discharge the clippings?

 

[jgayman]

Haha, I thought about buying a robot mower such as this
https://www.deere.com/en_INT/products/equipment/autonomous_mower/tango_e5/tango_e5.page

About the same money as a new D100 series.

Consumer Reports just did a review of several popular robotic mowers and the best of the bunch was marginal at best. They then compared them all to a $250 Honda push mower and the push mower won hands down in all respects.

Someday maybe.... but not today.

 

[jgayman]

I was hoping for the same kind of a set up with the x540, but seems they only have the plastic insert, which I think doesn't play nice with the G5's. I too thought about making up some kind of a discharge plug, but just ended up getting the powerflow bagger that I'll use in the fall. I think I might give this a little more thought but I'd definitely use something more substantial than chicken wire. I believe the holes in the LX188 plug were around 1/2" but they would plug pretty quickly if the grass was the least bit wet. So I might try to go to some kind of a 3/4" perforated sheet and see how that works. Might be a good winter project.

I'm just finishing my 2nd full season of using the JD mulching kit on my X500 w/48" deck.

I use it year round. Sometimes I let the grass get a little higher than I should and it still cuts it fine without any clumping. It did a good job on leaves last fall and so far this season it is handling the leaves. Like a previous poster mentioned, you just need to go slow at times.

 

[MAtractor]

You know you can get this TODAY on an X7...



John Deere MulchControl Puts Mower Operators in Control of Clippings - John Deere MachineFinder

Has it been released? There are no reviews of it yet. Hope that works well and the feature makes it down to the X5 decks.

 

[Mach-1]

Why don't you just remove he power flow and side discharge? If you are bagging grass all summer can't you quit bagging and side discharge the clippings?

That's do-able, but if the deck is leveled for a PF, it will go out of level when you take the PF off. At least it does on mine. If you're mowing ugly, weedy areas, this might not matter. On a nice lawn it would affect appearance / quality of cut.

 

[MAtractor]

Side discharge? Since this is my first mower, I have no experience with it. I may give it a try next year.

 

[UpstateTony]

Depending on what type lawn you have huge difference between bagging and side discharge- you will have rows of clumped grass from side discharge. Wont look anywhere near as good as your lawn looks after bagging. Personally I think you should get mulching kit ( plug insert and mulching blades) installed in spring- take PF off--- mulch all year and try it next year with leaves..that’s pretty much what I’m doing, like I said before this year I always bagged—been very impressed by mulching insert and blades, thought by now I wouldn’t be able to keep up with leaves. I will say this I go out every day after work, if I let leaves go 2 or 3 days I don’t think mulching insert could keep up- but that’s just a guess now

 

[Justy37]

I don't bag grass anymore. Unless the grass gets out of control and long. But what I did is took a piece of sheet metal and formed it around the chute so it plugged up. I mulch every time I mow. Got tired of the stinky piles and nothing to use it for. They were getting to be a eye sore, until I burnt it all this spring. You should have seen the mice run out of the pile. We surely do not use cut grass in the garden, did that once and had a huge blessing of weeds. So that ended the bagging idea.

 

[MAtractor]

I will go ahead and order the mulching kit, will try it out next year and see what happens.

Thanks all for the suggestions.