Grass Bagger for Kubota BX-24 / RCK54P23BX Deck

[bcavender]

I need a new or used bagger to carry grass cuttings/etc to the garden for compost/mulch. Prefer PTO driven blower, but am open to all ideas. Saw the Protero attach. Looks good, but the price is $4500 new. Times are tight now.

Looking for ways to get this done. Would love to hear from folks that have equip like this as to how it worked out for you as well as anyone/dealer that has one for sale or someone with an out of the box way to do it.

All comments are welcome!!!

Thanks!

Bruce

 

[mred]

I need a new or used bagger to carry grass cuttings/etc to the garden for compost/mulch. Prefer PTO driven blower, but am open to all ideas. Saw the Protero attach. Looks good, but the price is $4500 new. Times are tight now.

Looking for ways to get this done. Would love to hear from folks that have equip like this as to how it worked out for you as well as anyone/dealer that has one for sale or someone with an out of the box way to do it.

All comments are welcome!!!

Thanks!

Bruce

Have you looked at the cyclone rake much cheaper excellent ratings

 

[bcavender]

The CyRake price is good. It’s construction is on the light side, but it looks like it could function for my my light use needed. The second gas engine kills it for me. Having the fuel/noise/management issues of one more small engine is undesirable.

I asked them if they were bringing out a PTO model, but have not had a response yet.

It’s a bit surprising that CR appears to not be interested in the Subcompact Tractor space. It is huge and most with the land to need more than a riding lawnmower can afford a price that would allow a good product margin.

 

[Fxfymn413]

When I bought my BX I asked about the collector and the sales person said he would not recommend the purchase and that a tow behind vacuum like the Cyclone rake was a more effective choice.

I'm sure other users will comment on how well they work.

I guess the real question is why collect clippings at all? When you remove the clippings you remove nutrition from the lawn that you need to replace. If the clippings laying on the lawn are an issue it maybe easier to get some mulching blades instead.

 

[bcavender]

Fx,
I understand your points and they are right on. Here's our plan.

We are experimenting with adding grass clippings in volume as both a mulch and fertilizer in our expanding garden. The best info I can collect so far is that clippings run about 4-3-1 NPK. Not a full replacement for everything, but a start. Total chemistry ramps with the volume applied.

With the price/quality of fertilizer coming into question as systemic problems increase, we've got to be more self sufficient. (A number of not so small things have hit us right between the eyes over the last 12 months and has us questioning everything, but I won't start.)

Utilizing the strength taken out of our surplus grassland in the garden is a good tradeoff in our case, plus it's essentially a produce-and-use after-tax benefit. Building the organics of the soil and holding back weeds is a plus.

Raking grass, trailering to the garden and handling it twice at the spread is the minus. :^)

 

[Fxfymn413]

Raking grass, trailering to the garden and handling it twice at the spread is the minus

I agree 100%; I'm cheap so I try to not spend a thousand to save 500. The cost of a lawn vacuum is pretty substantial so I'd look for alternatives.

I always had big gardens until the deer got so bad all I was doing was feeding them. Now its just a few tomatoes, some squash, and a herb garden.

If you haven't done so already ask your county extension agent about the best ways to improve your soil without store bought products. They are a wonderful resource we all pay for and don't use enough.

You might ask one of the many lawn services that seem to be everywhere what they do with the clippings they collect. I have been known to check the neighbors trash when they put it out for clippings as well.

In our area the county makes compost from the yard waste they collect and sell it for a pretty reasonable price. It may be worth asking around to see if they do that in your area.

I used clippings as a base for compost and they work great when mixed with a carbon such as leaves. But the downside was I depleted the lawn and ended up fertilizing that instead.

Clippings can be used as mulch, but they are very heavy and will mold. I prefer to make compost with them and then use straw as my mulch.

I'm sure you have stables in your area and they are usually giving the manure away if you have a way to haul it. Horse manure has weed seeds, unlike cow manure, but if you compost it most seeds will die off. A five gallon bucket filled with a gallon or so of manure and water makes great fertilizer as well.

Cover crops like clover are also a good way to improve the soil.

 

[sea2summit]

Had one. Constantly jammed up because the impeller wasn’t strong enough to handle that much wet material through the hose. If the grass was dead or dry leaves it did a lot better…but that’s not really how you want it to work. Ended up selling it long before I sold the BX.

 

[Byrdnyrd]

Bcabender,
I have the KUBOTA PTO driven vacuum bagger on my BX and it’s a Monster!! It’ll suck the fur off a Cat! I’m in New England so it’s essential for leaves in the fall. The only downside is that it’s HEAVY!! It takes some muscle to attach it in the spring and remove it in the fall, but honestly I love it!
they often come up used on Cl or Fleabay.

PM me if you would like more info or pictures!

Cheers,
BN

 

[robertm]

Maybe late to the game, but I have an almost new Bagger for my BX2670. Love it. Edited for years to buy it. Now that I might go zero turn, I may just sell it. If I traded up to a new BX, I’d keep it.

 

[bcavender]

My BX24 is a solid workhorse for the little fuel it burns. Love it.

I searched at least 8 TN Kubota dealers to buy their GCK bagger, but none could offer a solid delivery. Finally found a used one on trade in about two hr away from a good dealer near Knoxville.

Turns out, Kubota engineering changed the BX mounting design twice after the original and the boot that came w it would not fit my mulching “P” deck. No real detail on the net. Kubota could do better on docs.

Fortunately, I was able to get some really good help in unpacking all that history/diagrams from Jared at Messicks.com.

After about 3 days of chasing details, the correct mounts, boot and misc hdwe added about $550 over the $1700 I paid for the used PTO bagger. Buying individual parts was pricey, but it got the job done when others were just shrugging. I probably can get $300-400 out of the other mower deck boot on eBay so there’s that.

The bagger is heavy, but well under a rear tiller. PTO runs solid, but I still haven’t got the wife’s nasty cat close enough for Byrd’s cat hair sucking test.

Key is not mowing too fast as the 54” deck can produce more grass than even the big centrifugal blower can handle.

Best time to bag is just before the grass becomes fully dry. Too wet it clogs, too dry it fluffs up. A tad of moisture drops the grass out of the stream and packs it in the bags nicely.

The 30-35# / bags are a good size to handle in garden rows. Making 1-2 hr taps over several days took care of our entire 40x60 victory garden.

I picked up four heavy duty casters off eBay to make a 4’x2’ lowboy roll about. That’s makes it super easy to position the bagger for 3 point hitching and rolling around for storage. Otherwise it’s a two person job.

Idea came from John Vickers at YTube. His idea works great.

Cheers!

Bruce