Mold and grass buildup on mower deck underside

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I have learned over my 75 years that fighting with dandelions in my lawn is a futile endeavor. I

Exactly
That's why I eat the buggers.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Exactly
That's why I eat the buggers.

With pre-emergent it's an easy battle

 

[Bison]

I have a John Deere D140 with a bagger that I use for the first few mows of the season to prevent all the dandelion seed distribution. I know it's not ideal to mow wet grass, but sometimes that isn't an option, and the grass has to get done (even though it means stopping every few laps and unclogging the chute to the bags).

I went out to the garage yesterday after mowing the lawn and could smell the wet grass under the mower deck. I took it off and spent the next two hours with a putty knife and wire brush scraping the grass off. It varied in depth from almost a thin wax like coating, to about three inches in some spots.

I have scraped most of it off I do believe, but would like to do something to it to prevent this from becoming an every time I mow thing. And yes, I will attempt to get the lawn mowed late afternoon, early evening when it is at its driest, but again, not always an option, and I will be ordering some new high lift blades to hopefully help with moving the cut grass across the deck and up the shoot.

Not sure if I will have to remove the blades and then pulleys to do a proper sanding, priming and painting/treating, or if there is some magic trick I can just apply now?

Thanks in advance folks.

Your solution is a fence surrounding whatever you're mowing and use goats or sheep or cows to get rid of your unwanted grass.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

It appears that I am but one of the many with similar problems. This year--one of the wettest in the last 50+ years is the worst I've ever seen it, as the before and after pictures will show. (...and yes, the bladed did get a needed sharpening, and I'll be getting a new set this year.)

 

[Bronco82]

HA. Little Red Tractor. Completely relate, hence this post.

A lot of good information over the pages, thanks for that.

I am a bee lover too, have honey in my coffee every single morning, but there are plenty of other options in the area. My wife doesn't like the look of the dandelion, therefore that takes priority.

Picking up the painting supplies today and will be painting the bottom of the deck with some Rust-Oleum Farm and Implement John Deere yellow paint (already have the paint).

I will be throwing on the new high-lift blades for the next couple mows while I'm still bagging. I'm not against the idea of getting a set of regular blades for mowing for the rest of the season, if the high-lift keeps launching the clippings into the bottom of the deck, and a regular one would just get them up and then out to the side ejection port. Something to consider and try anyway.

I also picked up a lawn mower lift to get the front of the mower off the ground so I can scrape the deck off easier without having to take it off and flip it over.

Appreciate everyone's time, thanks again.

 

[hube2]

It appears that I am but one of the many with similar problems. This year--one of the wettest in the last 50+ years is the worst I've ever seen it, as the before and after pictures will show. (...and yes, the bladed did get a needed sharpening, and I'll be getting a new set this year.)




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Yep, that looks just like mine did last week. This spring in CNY has been wonderful, still don't have my garden in because of the constant rain and 90% of the fields around here are still not planted. Hoping to be able to mow soon without needing to take the deck off every time I do to clean it out.

 

[WinterDeere]

I’m leaving brown tire stripes in parts of my lawn that haven’t been this wet since 2011. I haven’t had the ZTR stuck yet, this year, but I’ve come close.

 

[have_blue]

No way I've found to prevent grass/dirt mixture from building up, but I have a pretty good way to clean it. If you're lucky enough to have pine cones, run over them. They do the trick for me!

 

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If you think it’s been a wet season in the North east and surrounding regions, you’d be correct.
We had in RI, 18 days of rain in May, 16 in April and 19 in March.

 

[WinterDeere]

Just making up for the 9 months of drought we had, starting last summer and running right up into April.

Of course, it's nicer when it's spread out over the year, rather than getting all inside of just a few weeks.