leaves down, what to get them up

[DannyD]

I have looked at the kubota bagger system, expensive for no more than it can hold at one time.

Also considering the brush that mounts up front, but you still have to pick them up.

Anyone know of something that will work well with the 23, and a rake and my back are not the best solution

 

[goaliedad]

how big of a yard are we talking? I find for a normal sized lot, a blower works well- pile them up, rake them on to a tarp and drag them to the compost pile. If you have to bag them, at least they are in a pile. I have a small finished lot, so I am stuck with a cheap electric blower- works fine, except for the hassle of the cord.

 

[Charlesaf3]

Why pick them up? Run the mower over them and puree them into small pieces - its great fertilizer for the lawn and free to boot.

Same with grass clippings - best thing you can do for the lawn is leave them there. Huge nitrogen boost, and mulch to boot. Baggin grass clippings is like strip mining your lawn.

 

[DannyD]

About half an acre that we care for like picking up leaves etc.

As for muching them, never have found something that works well enough for doing that.

 

[MikeD74T]

I start with my riding mower in the middle of my lawn & mow with blades at max height blowing toward the middle and work to the outside. Then I do it again. What's left is easy to rake & a whole lot smaller, the majority works it's way down into the grass. MikeD74T

 

[Thomas]

Evening DannyD.
If you get a chance check out Cyclone Lawn Rake website...heard a lot of good things about the company.

 

[fishpick]

With my MMM I start on one side - pointing the discharge chute towards the woods and then drive back and forth - slowly moving towards the woods... blows most of them there - leaves a few behind for mulch.

 

[Volfandt]

I use two methods to attack the abundant leaves around my abode w/my BX23.

When the leaves aren't too thick I use my gatorblade equipped BX23 to chop 'em up into lawn food. Starting from the outside and working in, I side discharge into the next row I cut which mulches 'em up more. By the time I get to the last row theres not much left for the final cut.

Since I do keep a compost pile cook'n, when the leaves get too thick I pick up the shredded debris w/a tow behind Cyclone Rake. It'll pickup just about everything I run over which is in turn fed to the compost pile.

Since I went to the gatorblades this past summer I have used the CR only about half as much as I had the season before and could probably do without it but it's needed to keep the compost pile fed.

 

[kevinj]

I have looked at the kubota bagger system, expensive for no more than it can hold at one time.

Also considering the brush that mounts up front, but you still have to pick them up.

Anyone know of something that will work well with the 23, and a rake and my back are not the best solution

I tow an Agrifab sweeper behind the tractor while mowing the chopped leaves into rows. When the rows get too big or I am down to one row then I just sweep it up. Seems the sweeper is about $150.00 and mine is about 12 years old and still going.

 

[tony3542]

Volfandt
I also have a Cyclone Rake,only way to go.I saw a post on another board today that they are almost a month behind on orders.Good piece of equiment.
Where did you get your gator blades?I have a B7610 with a 60" mower,they would be a good investment to go with the C.R.
Thanks
tony3542

 

[Raddad]

I use the Kubota 3 bag grass catcher on my B7610 with a 54" mower. It works graet. Attached is a photo showing a spot I didn't get to next to a spot I went over once, so you can see the effectiveness of the catcher. I'm mowing and collecting on about 1 1/2 acres with lots of trees. I'm collecting about 12 cu. yards of leaves.

 

[GaryE]

About half an acre that we care for like picking up leaves etc.

As for muching them, never have found something that works well enough for doing that.

Danny,


Even my Sears GT-5000 will mulch up the leaves along with wet grass. I have to believe your BX 23 can do the same with 2 or 3 passes. I am about to do my final cut / mulching this week on about 1 acre as I do every fall, by next spring you will never know there was even a single leave.


Just go at it and enjoy the seat time.


Gary

 

[Volfandt]

tony3542, I got the gatorblades from a local Kubota dealer. They are made by Oregon. And yes they work very well with the CR. The blades chop everything up into smaller pieces and they gace better lift than the std blades.

The set I got are made for a Kubota ZTR w/a 60" MMM which has an 1 1/4" center hole while the BX 60" MMM has a 7/8" hole. It just so happens that a Cat1 to Cat2 adapter has the same inside/outside dimensions so when cut down it makes a perfect spacer to adapt the blades. The cut & performance is definitely worth the change to them.
I don't know if the B series 60" MMM uses the same size spindles as the BX or ZTR but it would be worth checking into.
In the link NY Yankeesfan posts a link to a site where he got a good price on the blades
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...or-blades-bx-decks.html?highlight=gatorblades

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

Gattor blades for BX 60" MMM

Lawn Mower Parts - Lawn Mower Part - Zero Turn Lawn Mowers - Commercial Lawn Mowers

$9.43 each plus 9.50 for shipping total of $37.79

The company was great to deal with. I also picked up another diesel fuel gas, the kind without that stupid nozzle that is pain to use, for $9.63 and platic blades for my weedwacker, .50 each, best I could find was .75 each. This other stuff was all included in the $9.50 shipping.

 

[frank_f15]

I have looked at the kubota bagger system, expensive for no more than it can hold at one time.

Also considering the brush that mounts up front, but you still have to pick them up.

Anyone know of something that will work well with the 23, and a rake and my back are not the best solution

HI DANNY i have a fairly large yard with lots of large trees, get ton of leaves and have found there is no one way to get them up, so much depends on the weather, i use a combo of blowing, raking and picking them up with GT and waggon, mulching, etc. this year due the extreme wet conditions they may just have to lay till spring

 

[gilldawg79]

I cut and sweep about 4 acres of a yard mired with huge loblolly pines, pecan, oak, hickory, and magnolia trees...Those spell lots of leaves this time of year....Today I spent about 2.5 hours just sweeping the yard with the yard sweeper from Sears.....In the town I live in they do leaf pick up and they do not have to be in bags, so that is a plus. That yard sweeper picks up everything, all the way to the dogs business.....Sticks, leaves and pine straw.....I usually have folks asking me when I am going to sweep my yard so they can come get my pine straw....I would have paid twice as much for that device had I known how good it works.....I have to dump it quite often, but for the cost you can't beat it.....I have been using mine for 3 full years and haven't had any trouble with it and when it breaks I will go by another one and won't complain a bit....This is most definitely the best bang for your buck.
I connect mine to my drawbar on the 3 point hitch and it works fine.


Craftsman 71 24223 46 in. High Speed Tow Sweeper at Sears.com

Jimmy

 

[ceh007]

i have a three acre lot, mostly wooded. i've cleared the wood brush up on about half of it leaving a lot of 50' to 90' foot oak, poplar, beech and gum. lots of leaves to deal with. the last two years i spent hours running around chopping and trailering the stuff to the back of the property.
not this year. i got an 880 Trac-Vac. man, does that thing pick up the leaves. also chops them to a fine mulch. really packs the 44 cubic foot wagon. but it also creates a dust storm from heck if the ground has been dry for a while. i ran most of the yard the day after an inch of rain to avoid the dust and it worked great, only one clog. another negative is the huge turning radius. the trailer and tounge are long. but it does work.
also sucked up the acorns, bunches of them, and all the sticks and small branches.

 

[Bedlam]

Does anyone have any links to a possible PTO 3 point hitch sucktion device? either made for leaves or could be adapted?

 

[shvl73]

Danny,


Even my Sears GT-5000 will mulch up the leaves along with wet grass. I have to believe your BX 23 can do the same with 2 or 3 passes. I am about to do my final cut / mulching this week on about 1 acre as I do every fall, by next spring you will never know there was even a single leave.


Just go at it and enjoy the seat time.


Gary

Thats what I've been doing with the same machine. The results look good.

 

[NJDiverDan]

I have 2 acres, about 1/3 is wooded, the rest is lawn with interspersed trees. I have maples, locust, and mullberry trees. My 54" fine cut MMM makes great mulch out of the leaves with the mulching kit. I did my leaves this weekend first thing in the morning (still a little wet) and the deck does not leave any pieces much bigger than a dime. I keep the deck on 3 to keep the suction high (closer to the ground seems to suck more up). Only complaint is when moving through really thick leaves (6" or higher piles where the wind has blown them) is that the they pile up in front of the deck like a snow plough. For this I just raise the deck, go over the pile, back up and hit it again. I can travel at my normal mowing speeds for everything else.


-dan