mower leaves uncut leaves

[prs]

Apologies to wdwurker for stealing his post title; well sort of.

I have a lot of new grass freshly germinated a few weeks back over several acres. I also have lots of oak and chestnut trees that drop their leaves rather late and over an extended time. Our recent warm and clam weather has about 1/3 of the leaves still on the trees. But, the young grass was covered and getting smothered. So, I fire-up the Ventac and begin mowing to chop-up the leaves. Well how did that go? NOT TOO GOOD. This thing SUCKS at mulching-up leaves. It is not the Ventrac power unit, its the big contour mower. So, after finishing a lousy job, I re-did it with my old John Deere 650 and its rear mount finish rear discharge mower. The difference is that Ventrac provided blades with practically NO lift and the mower on my J.D. has normal blade lift geometry. I wonder why Ventrac choose to use such flat blades?

prs

 

[murphy1244]

Try a set of gator blades. :-]

 

[brucet47]

Ventrac makes an optional high lift blade for the 60" & 72" mowers. Perhaps this option is available for the contour mower. In my opinion they make a big difference in cut quality. They also reduce mower clogging. Not sure about leaf mulching as I use the turbine blower to clear leaves.

Bruce

 

[prs]

Murph, you reckon they make gator blades in such a short version. 7 foot cutting swath mower with 6 blades so each blade is probably only 14.5 or 15 inch.

Bruce, I can always ask my dealer or maybe our factory member, 4500Z. will chime in with insider information on why such may or may not be the way to go. It cuts lawn and field grass very well the way it is.

prs

 

[JackIL]

prs,

A Mulch Kit is available for the Contour Mower. It consists of a set of additional vanes to help retain the material under the deck longer. It does not include different style blades. See the Parts Section of your Operators Manual.

Also, this deck was designed and is primarily used for golf course mowing where leaf mulching is ususally handled by other means.

JackIL

 

[Raw Dodge]

I don't know how much the mulch kit costs,but I'd try it if it's not that much. I have a toro 4000D at our golf course and it has a mulch kit on it,we use it every day in the fall for leaf control.its 11ft cut makes it pretty productive to use in leu of pto blowers especially when there isn't anyplace to blown the leaves.If I double cut with it at about 4-5 mph 95 percent of the leaves get mulched so small that they aren't an issue for golfers at all.After 2-3 x mulching an area we will come thru with the blower and the fine pieces blow much easier than full leaves. If the Ventrac is close to the performance of my Toro I think you'll be satisfied and leave the kit on all year like we do. Jack, I get the superintendent magazines and all the local golf courses, we use mulching decks as an important tool to manage leaves.Most golf courses are surrounded by homes and there are alot of open spaces where blowing leaves is not effective. We will run a a wide area mower like a toro 4000d or Jacobsen hr5111,and a blower with 2 guys,the blower operator goes down the center of the fairways and blows leaves into the rough where the rotary mower double cuts them into dust and fine particles, Extra fertilizer is used in the rough to keep microbial activities high and the turf does very well in general.Like i said occasionally they will blown the rough when the leave build up gets to the point where it could stifle the rough turf or present an issue with play. This method is a cheaper and more environmentally sound way of dealing with the leaves than removal or blowing to the woods over years it results in a fire hazzard and slows play with golfers losing more balls and some like to look for balls in the leaves.

 

[prs]

Thank you, Jack. I realize my use of this implement is a bit "off label", but it really suits my major need to safely mow large tracts of uneven and steep ground without scalping. I will investigate the mulching modification kit for next season. RawDodge pretty much hit the nail on the head with is reasons not to blow the leaves to some remote area; strong winter winds will bring them right back and pile them up against the house and fences. I have used a backpack blower to clear a driveway ditch with the leaves and chestnut burs sent into a field across the driveway to be chopped-up hopefully tomorrow with my JD650.

prs

 

[Raw Dodge]

Here is a spot on our course that I mulch the leaves on,I do this year because it's very far from a Woodline to blow them and wouldn't make any sense. This is two passes with the Toro 4000 I used to use this steiner with two mower decks and it works great also.this area is rough it's not irrigated and it's just It 2.5 inches all your long no fertilizer no pesticides,just the rough area between holes.With the 11ft cut it literally takes 3 minutes to double cut this entire area where the leaves fell,for,our customers this is absolutely fine,again they shouldn't be hitting here so no need to have it perfect...

 

[Raw Dodge]

Here is a spot on our course that I mulch the leaves on,I do this year because it's very far from a Woodline to blow them and wouldn't make any sense. This is two passes with the Toro 4000 I used to use this steiner with two mower decks and it works great also.this area is rough it's not irrigated and it's just It 2.5 inches all your long no fertilizer no pesticides,just the rough area between holes.With the 11ft cut it literally takes 3 minutes to double cut this entire area where the leaves fell,for,our customers this is absolutely fine,again they shouldn't be hitting here so no need to have it perfect...

Here's another area that's a little more maintained but still rough,again 2 passes with a basic mulching mower and the leaves are gone,the toro has hydraulic driven decks,which do not have quite the same blade tip speed as the traditional below driven decks,the ventrac decks blade tip speed is definitely a little higher,but. This still does well,my baffles are beat up a little but all intact,machine has 6900 hrs on it, on the left is a single pass,where the machine is is a pass and backing up,which really disperses the leaves.

 

[prestond]

....I fire-up the Ventac and begin mowing to chop-up the leaves. Well how did that go? NOT TOO GOOD. This thing SUCKS at mulching-up leaves. It is not the Ventrac power unit, its the big contour mower.
prs

I know that this is an old post, but I have to agree. I recently demoed a Ventrac with the the contour mower, and was shocked at how terrible it did. First, it really did not cut the grass all that well and second, it did not mulch the leaves at all. I mowed a small area with a light covering of leaves and it just seemed to blow and scatter the leaves around.

It almost seemed like the contour deck was underpowered and/or the blade velocity was way too slow.

I was ready to purchase a Ventrac and the contour mower, but after such a bad demo, it gave me second thoughts. I am still interested in the machine (the 72 inch side discharge deck did a fine job), but had to take a time out and reconsider after such a poor showing by the contour deck.