[jpkluewer]

I have a 318 with the 46" deck with gator blades on it. The last 2 times I cut, the grass was pretty long. I was wondering if anyone has covered up the discharge chute with steel or aluminum or screen material to help mulch up the grass and how did it work? Either I wanna try it or I'll have to borrow dad's pull behind sweeper. Thanks in advance.

 

[chuckv]

Justin,

My 46 inch deck on my 322 is a mulching deck (has the Tri-Cycler added parts...) Here is what that entails.

Here is the adjustable plate as viewed from the side of the tractor:

Bottom line -- some of the mulching effect comes from the blade type/configuration, some from the control of the clippings by the internal baffles, and the rest from the controlled discharge.

Chuck

 

[jpkluewer]

Does it work pretty well? How much did you pay for it?

 

[chuckv]

Justin,

I bought that mulching kit in 1995 or 1996 and as I recall it was around $125 or so for it. It may be hard to find one now...Deere probably has not made them for a while.

It did a great job of mulching the lawn at the last property we owned, as well as the dry leaves in the fall. At the new house, the lawn gets mowed with the X304 since it is a much smaller yard. I sold the 1988 tractor pictured above but still have that deck on the 1992 322 -- but that tractor, deck, front blade, center blade, landscape rake, 30 hydraulic tiller and thatcher are all in storage at present...

Chuck

 

[jpkluewer]

I see a new one on ebay for $195 thats the only one I found so far

 

[chuckv]

It is worth it...

 

[jpkluewer]

I'll have to think about it...its only money...and if i dont like it i can always sell it

 

[hankvc]

I'll chime in here because I have a Tri-Cycler mulcher on my 38" LT133 mower. I have felt that "it was worth it" to the extent of buying a replacement air deflector after the original broke off. Last year I mowed without that deflector, and still got fairly good mulching action, using the JD mulching blades and outlet cover alone.

The mulching is superb so long as you are cutting fairly frequently. I mow at 3", and it does nicely if what you are cutting off the grass is no more than 1-2 inches. More than that, and it will leave windrows, and if you are plowing into 10-12 inches of grass, it will choke up and leave large uncut stripes. If I need to cut tall and rank grass growth, my 318 50" with medium lift blades and an open chute will charge through grass and leave a clean cut where the mulcher gets overwhelmed.

It is clear to me that much of the mulching action comes from the blade shape. These have a significant bend upward on the leading edge inside of the main cutting area that reverses the air flow. The lift wings at the ends of the blades are lowered somewhat from medium-high lift, so the overall effect is that of a low-lift blade.

My primary reason for mulching is to return nutrients to the soil. Wyoming conditions are
"dry, dusty, alkaline" and even with good irrigation, keeping the topsoil in condition, as well as acidifying it, is a primary concern.

Can't comment on Gator blades as I have never used them. Nor have I really considered putting a plate over the discharge of the 50" mower. While I get some windrowing when I mow the pasture every 2 weeks, I watch the grass pour out of the discharge, and it seems to scatter perfectly well.

Where the mulcher really shines is in falling leaf season. I may have to make two passes, but the leaf residue just vanishes.

Hank

 

[codeguy]

I went through this same process a couple years back with my 318/46 deck. I tried the BM17877 kit after hunting for it for a while and as Hank said, it works well if you mow often. I don't, so it's not effective for me. Been running gator blades the last few years and powerflow bagging from time to time, that works but its a pain in the neck. I have a set of Meg-Mo blades on the way; will post a review once I have them and see how they do. They're certainly not cheap but if they work as advertised that's worth it for me.
Justin - I was going to sell my mulch kit once I have time to go find all the parts. PM me if you have any interest, I'd let it go pretty cheap.

 

[chuckv]

Hank is spot-on regarding the dry leaves! The mulching deck on the 322 was used to mulch the dead leaves from all our maples, including those that fell on the wood chip paths where any lift and scatter would be a functional and esthetic detriment to the cedar chips placed there.

Here are a few pictures of the pathways and of the surrounding woods that dropped all those leaves:

As you can see in the last picture, our friends enjoyed the paths at any gathering we had, like this champagne brunch...

In all there were over 1000 feet of these 5 to 6 foot wide paths in the back of the property and the mulching deck made short work of the leaves when they fell...would not have been without it for that task alone.

Chuck

 

[hankvc]

Chuck, every time I look at your pictures of your old place in Beaverton, I get green with envy. Beaverton was never like this when I lived in that area in the 1960's. At least nothing I remember.

Got a "happy father's day" note from my daughter this morning, and she's talking about being in Portland this week and playing some nostalgia of her own because she was born there.

 

[chuckv]

Hank,

I hope you and all the other WFM members are having a fantastic Father's Day and are sharing it with your families where possible.

All that green represented quite a bit of work -- as "gardening & landscaping" in Beaverton means aggressively killing everything you DON'T want to grow...

We enjoyed that place, but it is notable that Sharon's criteria for our present home in Boise was to have a house and yard that did not have any moss!!

Your daughter should be at home here today -- it is lightly raining off and on just as most people envision the Portland area... It does not rain all the time of course, as seen in the above pictures and in these:

...and sometimes of course it even snows --

Chuck

 

[jpkluewer]

how does the mulch kit work with wet/damp grass?

 

[chuckv]

...a bit poorly...

 

[jpkluewer]

well maybe i wont bother with it then...cut last night with it damp and it cut pretty good...cut up a bunch of mice and moles and 2 snakes...grass was a lil long lol

 

[chuckv]

The issue I had was the discharge holes plugging up with wet grass and then it left clumps. Worked well enough when only damp or dry...maybe my definition of "wet grass" has a western Oregon emphasis -- lots of time you just can't wait for things to get any dryer unless you want to use a combine (grass grows really fast here.)

Chuck