In Brief: What Is a Mulching Mower
Mulching mowers use specialized blades and a taller mowing deck to chop each piece of grass into multiple smaller pieces. The grass swirls around in the mowing deck and comes in contact with the mower blades a few different times.
Mulch is useful all around your flower and vegetable gardens, but it’s also great for your lawn. While you can rake up grass clippings from your mower to use as mulch, it’s easier to use a dedicated mulching mower.
Mulching mowers make it easier to use your grass clippings directly on your lawn.
What Is a Mulching Mower?
Mulching mowers are specific types of lawn mowers that cut grass into tiny pieces to act as mulch in your yard. A mulching mower is designed differently than a regular mower, although any type of lawn mower can be fitted with a separate mulching blade.
What It Is and How It Works
Mulching mowers are similar in design to regular push mowers, with two main distinctions.
The main difference is how the blade cuts grass. A mulching mower blade is designed to cut grass more than once. It can be designed either with multiple smaller blades or with a single blade that has a staggered edge.
Whatever the specific design of the blade, it’s shaped to toss grass upwards inside the mowing deck. This makes it so grass is cut multiple times by the blades before falling down onto the ground. Because the grass is chopped in very small pieces, it easily falls down between the blades of grass on the lawn and sits closer to the dirt.
The other difference in design is the shape of the mower deck. In a mulching mower, the mower deck is often taller to allow grass clippings to swirl around inside. For the clippings to get cut more than once, they need space to move around inside the mower deck in order to then fall into the path of the blades again.
The combination of a taller mower deck and a specialty blade makes mulching mowers uniquely equipped to create mulch out of grass clippings while you mow. Here’s a simple video explaining how mulching mowers work:
When to Use a Mulching Mower
Homeowners will get the best use out of a mulching mower. They are well suited for mowing your personal yard. Mulching mowers are great for your yard because grass clipping mulch can provide up to 25% of the fertilization your yard needs to grow well.
Mulching helps you maintain your yard, prevent thatch, and reduce your yard waste. If you’re interested in any of these benefits, a mulching mower might be a great choice for you.
However, if you want to catch grass clippings in a bag or use a side discharge, a mulching mower is not ideal.
Because they’re designed to swirl the clippings around before dropping them straight down, they’re not well suited to collecting grass clippings in a bag or blowing them out the side of mower. If you’re frequently mowing very thick brush or leaves, this might be a problem.
Pros and Cons
Using a mulch mower isn’t all good or all bad. There are advantages and disadvantages to consider. Here’s as imply summary of the pros and cons of mulching mower.
Pros
- Get a healthier lawn
- Reduce your waste removal budget
- No bagging or raking grass clippings
- Make use of lawn waste
Cons
- Your yard won’t look as manicured after mowing
- Mow more often to avoid mowing on taller grass
- Harder to sharpen mulching mower blades
Popular Brands
Most popular brands that make regular push or riding lawn mowers also make mulching mowers. Some of the most powerful brands are Honda, Stihl, and Troy-bilt.
Summary
Mulching mowers are great for adding nutrients back into your lawn and promoting healthy growth without taking up any extra time.
Do you have any questions about mulching mowers? Leave a comment down below.
