Raptor SD cut quality - any recommendations?

[Ric]

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.

If the pictures he posted were KBG he should be cutting it at like 3 inches. and it's way to long considering he just cut it. As far as deck leveling goes that's another issue. I think the biggest issue for a lot of people when they buy a mower is they just don't realize what they need vs what they want before they buy. I think he has a mower that can do the job but he's going to work it and himself to death before he gets the lawn where it needs to be and to keep it there he will be mowing every four days with that hustler if he wants a pretty lawn, JMO

 

[1striper1]

Here we agree RIc. The dealer didn't ask any or ask the right questions. He.just wanted to make a sale.

What about trying a mulch kit mooch? Don't know if it's going to get you what you want but it's worth a try.

 

[Ric]

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.

Please, thanks!

Ok I said I'd post some pictures. The pictures of this lawn were taken this morning after the clients had watered so it was plenty wet as you can see the water standing in the flowerbed. The next picture is just as I was getting started. Third is the roadway portion after mowing once. The last four are when finished and there is no clippings left with the G6 Blades and I removed between 3 and 3.5 inches of St Augustine grass with no double cutting.

 

[1striper1]

Ok I said I'd post some pictures. The pictures of this lawn were taken this morning after the clients had watered so it was plenty wet as you can see the water standing in the flowerbed. The next picture is just as I was getting started. Third is the roadway portion after mowing once. The last four are when finished and there is no clippings left with the G6 Blades and I removed between 3 and 3.5 inches of St Augustine grass with no double cutting.

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Totally different kind of grass vs. KBG. Not near as dense IMO.

But it's just my opinion and nothing more.

 

[Ric]

Totally different kind of grass vs. KBG. Not near as dense IMO.

But it's just my opinion and nothing more.

Kentucky blue grass is much like our Bahia grass, it's grows as a single chute with its own root system and the thicker it is the easier it is to cut, St Augustine grows on runners with multiple blades per runner and is a somewhat thick and coarse grass. The secret to cutting for all three is to cut at the right time frame and to the proper height.

 

[mooch91]

Ok I said I'd post some pictures. The pictures of this lawn were taken this morning after the clients had watered so it was plenty wet as you can see the water standing in the flowerbed. The next picture is just as I was getting started. Third is the roadway portion after mowing once. The last four are when finished and there is no clippings left with the G6 Blades and I removed between 3 and 3.5 inches of St Augustine grass with no double cutting.

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Ric -

First off, lawn looks great! Very well maintained, neat and even cut. Love it!

I don't have any experience with southern grasses, but as 1striper1 has mentioned, the KBG/rye/fescue I'm cutting appears to be very thin bladed and dense compared to the pictures you've shown. I'm not sure if that makes a difference to the mower's ability to discharge, but I imagine it would.

I am planning to be more conscious of the pro cuts of some of the higher end properties in my neighborhood. I've convinced myself that they side discharge and don't leave clippings. Maybe I've just set my expectations too high based upon something that's not possible without bagging, no matter who you are or what type of mower you have.

I did catch the comment about cut height - I do tend to try to leave it a little longer (3.25 - 3.5") based upon reading I've done in the past. I will start reducing my cut height to 3" maximum. But I am curious - will the lawn grow less if I maintain a lower cut height? My assumption is the lawn grows at the same rate no matter what the cut height. So no matter if I cut at 2.75" or 3.5", I'm still taking off the same amount each week, meaning same quantity of clippings and no impact to discharge/cut quality. Is my thinking wrong here?

Thanks.

 

[Ric]

Ric -

First off, lawn looks great! Very well maintained, neat and even cut. Love it!

I don't have any experience with southern grasses, but as 1striper1 has mentioned, the KBG/rye/fescue I'm cutting appears to be very thin bladed and dense compared to the pictures you've shown. I'm not sure if that makes a difference to the mower's ability to discharge, but I imagine it would.

I am planning to be more conscious of the pro cuts of some of the higher end properties in my neighborhood. I've convinced myself that they side discharge and don't leave clippings. Maybe I've just set my expectations too high based upon something that's not possible without bagging, no matter who you are or what type of mower you have.

I did catch the comment about cut height - I do tend to try to leave it a little longer (3.25 - 3.5") based upon reading I've done in the past. I will start reducing my cut height to 3" maximum. But I am curious - will the lawn grow less if I maintain a lower cut height? My assumption is the lawn grows at the same rate no matter what the cut height. So no matter if I cut at 2.75" or 3.5", I'm still taking off the same amount each week, meaning same quantity of clippings and no impact to discharge/cut quality. Is my thinking wrong here?

Thanks.

Well as I said your Kentucky blue grass is much like our Bahia grass, it's grows as a single chute with its own root system and like our Bahia is a thin blade grass and somewhat harder to cut. I can also tell you St.Augustine can be pretty dense grass. I can also tell you by looking at your photos the grass has been let go to long between cuttings and is not being cut short enough because the grass is lying down when your finished.

As far as cutting height goes you can cut KBG down to as low as 1.5 inches if you want during the cool times of the year where you are and increase your height during the summer months when it's hot to 3 inches for your location unless it gets extremely hot then maybe as much as 4 inches.

The growing rate of your grass could very with changes in the weather but I doubt you'll see much of a difference or if it has anything to do with the height it's cut at. I think your problem with your cut and clippings isn't blades, I personally think it's the deck not being deep enough to carry the load or the amount of grass it trying to cut.

Just a suggestion but you may want to consider the pro"s that cut of some of the higher end properties in your neighborhood and see how much they would charge you to cut the lawn at it's proper height and then try to maintain that height with your Raptor.

This is the St.Augustine I cut

 

[1striper1]

IMO - the ONLY time you should cut a KBG lawn down to 1.5" is the final cut of the season before winter sets in.

Think of a bell curve when thinking of cutting heights for cool season grasses. Low (1.5 - 2") in spring adjusting slowly up to 3" in the heat of summer and slowly back down again to the same LOW area in the fall and pre-winter final cut.

Weeds and other bad grasses will be kept at bay by keeping the grass taller.

But what do I know....I don't have 2000 posts and live in Wisconsin.

 

[Ric]

IMO - the ONLY time you should cut a KBG lawn down to 1.5" is the final cut of the season before winter sets in.

Think of a bell curve when thinking of cutting heights for cool season grasses. Low (1.5 - 2") in spring adjusting slowly up to 3" in the heat of summer and slowly back down again to the same LOW area in the fall and pre-winter final cut.

Weeds and other bad grasses will be kept at bay by keeping the grass taller.

But what do I know....I don't have 2000 posts and live in Wisconsin.

Gee seems like I just kinda said or posted the same thing in my last post, as far as cutting height goes you can cut KBG down to as low as 1.5 inches if you want during the cool times of the year where you are and increase your height during the summer months when it's hot to 3 inches for your location unless it gets extremely hot then maybe as much as 4 inches.

 

[LoCo86]

The only thing you're going to cut here in the south at 1.5 inches and not have it become weed infested or harm the root development of the plant is zoysia and Bermuda grass.