What Is Lawn Mower Mulching

Sometimes you look at the lawn of your neighbors and you feel like there is this difference between how theirs look and how yours look. It feels like there’s this special thing that they do that you do not do and it adds this extra glow and visual appeal to their lawn. Well, maybe your answer is not far-fetched. Chances are that they are using a mulching lawn mower. But really, what is lawn mower mulching? I figured this might be new to some of us, so that’s basically the essence of this post.

Lawn mower mulching is the act of using a special type of lawn mower that cuts the grass clippings into tinier particles and spreads them on the surface of the soil, so that they can break down rapidly to release nutrients back into the soil. The idea is that instead of using fertilizer or manure on the soil to enrich it, the lawn mower recycles the clippings and adds it back into the lawn.

The grass clipping that is cut repeatedly and recirculated into the lawn is called the mulch. It is forcefully added back into the lawn where it decomposes rapidly to supply nutrients to the soil.

This form of mowing your lawn is highly recommendable as it tends to save you the stress of adding manure or fertilizer on your lawn thereby not posing any form of environmental degradation whatsoever.

Another advantage is that it saves you the stress of gathering and disposing the grass clippings gathered, as it will be worked upon by the mower and redeposited back into the soil. Check here for lawnmowers with bag.

All of these have positive impact on the atmosphere also as you do not need trash bags, less carbon deposited to the environment and leaves your lawn crisp and beautiful to behold.

Mind you, the word mulching by itself, is a phrase used in horticulture that refers to applying a layer of organic material or substance around the root of plants to protect them from excessive heat, drought or cold.

Just that in the case of lawn mower mulching, the lawn being cleared is the same material redeposited into the soil to keep the lawn healthy and visually appealing. Next up, let us consider the machine we need to achieve all of these great feat.

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LAWN MULCHING MOWERS

For you to achieve all the stuff explained above, you will need a special type of lawn mower called a mulching lawn mower.

It helps to return much-needed nutrients back to the lawn, as well as make sure that the lawn is healthy looking and green by recirculating the grass clippings that have already been cut under the mowing deck to produce a smooth finish.

Unlike most other types of lawn mowers, mulching machines do not come with a box. Instead, they cut the grass clippings multiple times and then redeposit it back into the soil ever so swiftly that it becomes so beautiful to behold, you won’t even notice anything.

As mentioned earlier, a mulching machine does not have a bag or disposing box to gather all the grass clippings. Instead, it cuts it further into tinier clippings that merge into the soil as fast as possible.

The blades of a mulching mower cut the grass repeatedly until it becomes so small. And since the clippings are still fresh, they contain up to 90% moisture.

So when they are cut into yet smaller pieces, they dry up and decompose way easier than normal, thereby adding more nutrients into the soil.

This is highly essential because it is a way of nourishing the soil organically, so no fertilizer is needed here. And since the lawn mulching mower does not have a bag, it automatically eliminates the need for disposing the clippings. It saves time and money to have one.

KEY FEATURES OF A LAWN MULCHING MOWER

At the beginning of this post, we explained how you might have noticed a difference in the lawn of some people around you and the one in your front yard.

We also highlighted that they use a lawn mulching mower to accomplish this. Now, we want to look at the features of the mulching mower that gives the lawn its exquisite design. So find below are the key features of a mulching lawn mower.

The Blades

The shape of a mulching lawn mower is quite different from the blade of other types of lawn mowers. The blade is more curved, thereby making the clippings circulate better on the mower deck and also making the blade cut the clippings over and again until they become finer and smaller grass particles.

This feature in particular is what distinguishes it from other types because they have larger blades and then cut the grass only once, thereby making the clippings way bigger and easily seen.

Still, on the blades of a mulching lawn mower, it is usually referred to as a 3 in 1 blade. This is because they perform three basic functions, which are: clipping the grass, cutting it into smaller and finer sizes and then depositing it back into the soil.

This is also a particular feature that separates it from other lawn mowers that only cut the grass and then fill them into its bag or box, hence having the name “2 in 1”.

Lifting capacity

Well, you might want to look at this as a blade feature because as for normal or regular lawn mowers, their blades are called high lift.

This is because after cutting the grass, they need a high lift to push the grass up and then redirect it into the discharge bag.

But for a mulching lawn mower, its blade carries out a unique function here. Instead of lifting high, it makes a flowing air stream that redirects the grass clippings into the blade where they are cut over and again to required size until it is redeposited back into the soil. Isn’t that wonderful?

Deck design

Another key feature of a mulching lawn mower is its deck design. It appears to be a lot wider as compared to normal mowers. This is so because the grass clippings have to be kept around the blade, circulating it. And because streams of air need to flow freely, the deck is also higher than normal and domed shape in a way.

This is entirely different from the regular lawn mower that the deck is flat and low, making the grass clippings move upwards and outwards from the mower.

IMPORTANCE OF LAWN MOWER MULCHING

There are specific reasons why you will need a mower that mulches rather than the regular one. So find below are some of the importance of the using a mulching mower on your lawn:

With the mulching mower, you do not necessarily need fertilizers on your lawn. The grass clippings that are cut into finer and smaller sizes will be applied forcibly into the soil where they can decompose faster and add nourishment and vitality into it.
Having a mulching lawn mower will make sure you save some cost and time on disposing grass clippings, since it will be deposited back into the soil. You do not need to spend on dirt bags or trays or worry about emptying the discharge box.
As earlier stated, since the grass clippings will be redeposited into the soil, fertilizers are not needed. This also helps to conserve the environment because fertilizers contain dangerous chemicals that can degrade the environment over time, especially upon continuous application. Mulching lawn mowers also cut grass way faster than the regular type. The advantage of this is that it emits less carbon IV oxide to the environment.
The mulching lawn mower saves a lot of time and energy in the sense that since it recycles its own grass as opposed to the regular type where you will need to first gather the grass before disposing it. You might not understand this importance until you have a big yard you need to lawn. Then you will know that moving the heap from one place to another is not an easy thing.

FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN GETTING A MULCHING LAWN MOWER

Just like any other product, there’s always a variety to choose from. But there are some basic factors to consider before spending your hard earned cash. Some of these factors are as follows:

The technology with which mulching mowers work differ one to another. For example, some mulching lawn mowers use fans and baffles on its mowing deck to recycle the grass clippings while others have mowing desks that push the grass clippings up on the blade before sending it right back into the soil. Make sure you get the type with the best technology.
It is important for your mulching lawn mower to have a feature that’s called a “side discharge mower.” This is essential when dealing with thick long grasses that can be stubborn to cut.