Raptor SD cut quality - any recommendations?

[Ric]

Mowed 5 days worth of very dry growth today. It was long. Probably took off over an inch, at least. No clumping, but definitely some clippings left behind on the lawn. Deck stayed reasonably clean. Since I have a new chute on order, I'm going to try to cut the chute off square with the end of the deck to see if it helps at all.

Definitely better, but not perfect.

Unless your planning on a five day mowing schedule I'd say you have more problems than you know. I mean really, your mowing 5 days worth of very dry growth with a mower that has a 18.900 FPM Blade tip speed and mowing only just over an inch of grass and your still leaving clippings something is wrong. Cutting off the chute isn't going to solve your problem.

 

[1striper1]

Unless your planning on a five day mowing schedule I'd say you have more problems than you know. I mean really, your mowing 5 days worth of very dry growth with a mower that has a 18.900 FPM Blade tip speed and mowing only just over an inch of grass and your still leaving clippings View attachment 26121 something is wrong. Cutting off the chute isn't going to solve your problem.

Could be very well that nothing is wrong. Look at what I was getting last summer with my Hustler XOne 60" RD in conditions that sounded similar to what the OP is dealing with.

One would think yes, with the extreme blade speed a ZTR is running that the blades would turn the clippings into dust.....but they don't.

EDIT - this is the result with Gator blades

 

[mooch91]

I think the only way you're going to get the "perfect" that you want is by bagging the clippings. I'd be giddy if I got the results you're getting.

I keep coming back to this...I think I got spoiled all those years I could bag my 1/4 acre property. Now that I've got 1.5 acres, bagging isn't possible. So perhaps I need to get used to a small quantity of clippings.

Then I'm at my son's soccer game yesterday and noticed that the municipal field, which had been cut recently (and couldn't have possibly been bagged), didn't have any evidence of clippings.

So I don't know if I'm expecting too much or if I've still got a problem...

 

[Ric]

I keep coming back to this...I think I got spoiled all those years I could bag my 1/4 acre property. Now that I've got 1.5 acres, bagging isn't possible. So perhaps I need to get used to a small quantity of clippings.

Then I'm at my son's soccer game yesterday and noticed that the municipal field, which had been cut recently (and couldn't have possibly been bagged), didn't have any evidence of clippings.

So I don't know if I'm expecting too much or if I've still got a problem...

High lift blades wont give you small quantity of clippings, That's what Gator blades are designed to do. When you look at municipal fields, ball parks, football fields and such most will be a special grass like Bermuda and be cut with real mowers not a rotary mower the same with a Golf Coarse and there cut 2 or 3 times weekly so you can't compare them to your lawn. I use the G6 blades on both the Stander and ZTR and mow ever 7 days and I never leave clippings that you'll see and I'll cut off as much as 3 or 4 inches of grass off. I'll post some before and after pictures of a lawn I'll do in the morning with the g6 blades. for comparison.

 

[mooch91]

I'll post some before and after pictures of a lawn I'll do in the morning with the g6 blades. for comparison.

Please, thanks!

 

[1striper1]

Please, thanks!

Yes please. Ric - what type(s) of grass are you cutting and with what brand of equipment?

EDIT - sorry....I see what you have now. A 60" Toro Z-Master 2000 is on my list of possibilities for my new ZTR purchase.

 

[Ric]

Yes please. Ric - what type(s) of grass are you cutting and with what brand of equipment?

EDIT - sorry....I see what you have now. A 60" Toro Z-Master 2000 is on my list of possibilities for my new ZTR purchase.

I use Toro Equipment My Z-Master 2000 is a 48" you can look at my signature for my equipment list below. Most of my Grass Types are St. Augustine, Bahia Grass, Fescue, Bermuda, and a mix of all mentioned. Most of the lawns I cut are both St. Augustine and Bahia depending on the quality sub-division and who is building the homes. I do lawns in one sub-division that is all strictly Bahia.

The thing is most of the time when I start mowing at 7:30 in the morning I've got 90 to100% humidity so the grass is really wet and when you couple the Humidity with people who water at 4 or 5 in the morning some lawns are really wet and the g6 blades do a great job, that's why I don't understand his problem and say there's something else wrong.

 

[1striper1]

Most of the lawns I cut are both St. Augustine and Bahia depending on the quality sub-division and who is building the homes. I do lawns in one sub-division that is all strictly Bahia.

The thing is most of the time when I start mowing at 7:30 in the morning I've got 90 to100% humidity so the grass is really wet and when you couple the Humidity with people who water at 4 or 5 in the morning some lawns are really wet and the g6 blades do a great job, that's why I don't understand his problem and say there's something else wrong.

I'd bet that mooch is cutting mainly KB with a little fescue and rye mixed in. Typical northern cool season grasses. Very dense and lots of blades to cut up vs. what you are cutting. Golf courses up by us (northern peeps) do leave clippings unlike the many southern courses I have played where it seems like the grass just disappears when it's cut.

IMO...the only thing "wrong" is that he's got a Hustler deck, which for whatever reason doesn't leave a clean cut on lush northern grasses and what appears to be a heavy KB lawn.

G5's, G6's or whatever else.....the clippings aren't TOTALLY going to go away right after they're cut.

 

[Ric]

I'd bet that mooch is cutting mainly KB with a little fescue and rye mixed in. Typical northern cool season grasses. Very dense and lots of blades to cut up vs. what you are cutting. Golf courses up by us (northern peeps) do leave clippings unlike the many southern courses I have played where it seems like the grass just disappears when it's cut.

IMO...the only thing "wrong" is that he's got a Hustler deck, which for whatever reason doesn't leave a clean cut on lush northern grasses and what appears to be a heavy KB lawn.

G5's, G6's or whatever else.....the clippings aren't TOTALLY going to go away right after they're cut.

I'm assuming your talking about Kentucky Blue Grass when you say KB and if that's what he has he's cutting it at the wrong height by the look of his pictures and that could be one of his problems. I don't agree with the clipping not going totally away because with a double cut they should disappear and he said he triple cut so there is no excuse for clippings being left. I personally feel like the dealership sold the mower and it wasn't properly set up and they sold him a bill of goods blaming the cut on the gator blades and selling him another set of high lifts when he already had high lift blades on the machine.

 

[1striper1]

I'm assuming your talking about Kentucky Blue Grass when you say KB and if that's what he has he's cutting it at the wrong height by the look of his pictures and that could be one of his problems. I don't agree with the clipping not going totally away because with a double cut they should disappear and he said he triple cut so there is no excuse for clippings being left. I personally feel like the dealership sold the mower and it wasn't properly set up and they sold him a bill of goods blaming the cut on the gator blades and selling him another set of high lifts when he already had high lift blades on the machine.

Yes Ric, I was referring to Kentucky Bluegrass. As you and other stated earlier, height of cut and amount of blade being cut will have an effect. But IMO....you can triple cut KBG (sorry, I left out the "G" in my previous post) and you will still see it. Ask me how I know this? Because my lawn is 75% KBG and as I travel, sometimes I can't mow as often as I want and have to triple cut it. Whether it's my lawn tractor or now gone, XOne, the clippings are still there.

Maybe a good suggestion to mooch is to take it to a different Hustler dealer and have them go thru the deck and make sure the pulley springs are working right? Sounds as if mooch has a handle on deck leveling. The shallower deck that his Hustler has is not known for a good cut on northern grasses. Maybe southern grasses it's OK.