mulching leaves with Gator blades on the Bradley mower, open vs closed chute vs bagging

   / mulching leaves with Gator blades on the Bradley mower, open vs closed chute vs bagging #1  

GeneV

Elite Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2019
Messages
3,088
Location
Lake County, IL
Tractor
Bradley 48" stander MF GC1710
My 1st full year with the Bradley, played around with various ways to get them leaves off the lawn.


 
   / mulching leaves with Gator blades on the Bradley mower, open vs closed chute vs bagging #2  
Been operating a Dixie Chopper with ocdc for 20 yrs .. I windrow the leaves with the ocdc open, then close it and mulch over a time or so . Then BACK over them .. surprisingly backing over them mulches the best.. then open the ocdc and blow the fine leaf mulch out..
No raking or dumping bags . Clean yard

If you had a chute you could close from your operating point on mower, you'd really be onto something
 
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   / mulching leaves with Gator blades on the Bradley mower, open vs closed chute vs bagging
  • Thread Starter
#3  
MF, yeh I did notice it mulches better going backwards. I think the physics behind it mulching better in reverse is coz you're then having the leaves get chopped up twice over.
 
   / mulching leaves with Gator blades on the Bradley mower, open vs closed chute vs bagging #4  
Must be deck specific. My mower with Gator blades (with or without a discharge chute cover) does not work well at all going backwards.
I generally mulch throwing leaves into a windrow, then run over the windrow with the discharge gate closed. I usually go over that strip again to spread it all out.
 
   / mulching leaves with Gator blades on the Bradley mower, open vs closed chute vs bagging #5  
I just use mulching blades from JD and a mulching plug with my mower. I wait till the leaves and ground is bone dry. It works really good and it’s good for the soil, never noticed a difference go backwards. Whatever is left blows around all winter then I mulch again in the Spring.
 
   / mulching leaves with Gator blades on the Bradley mower, open vs closed chute vs bagging
  • Thread Starter
#6  
I just use mulching blades from JD and a mulching plug with my mower. I wait till the leaves and ground is bone dry. It works really good and it’s good for the soil, never noticed a difference go backwards. Whatever is left blows around all winter then I mulch again in the Spring.
Yup, it's good for the soil and the grass. I also generally just mulch it into the lawn. But I have noticed if there's too much of it, it will smother the grass.
 
 
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