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Are Mulching Lawn Mowers Good For The Lawn? Find Out Here..

Written by William
Last Updated on July 20, 2021

What Are The Advantages & Disadvantages Of Using a Mulching Mower - Are They Worth It?

Mulching mowers are proving to become a popular choice in the lawnmower industry, not only do these types of mowers avoid you having to keep emptying your grass box, but they have a huge variety of benefits for poor soil conditions. 

Lawnmowers with a mulching kit are great for your lawn, they distribute your grass clippings onto the base of your lawn soil and act as lawn fertilizer, the mulching option reduces garden waste too and can actually speed up your lawn mowers mowing time. 

To find out whether or not a mulching mower is right for you and your lawn, as well as how these mulching kits work and other ways to help the condition of your lawn, we have composed a small guide for you below. 

How Do Mulching Mowers Work? 

Before we can discuss if mulching mowers are good or bad for your lawn and whether or not you should buy one, let's talk about how these machines work. 

Mulching kit lawnmowers work by keeping lawn clippings inside the mulching deck for a long period of time, this allows the blades of a mower to cut the grass clippings multiple times until they become 'mulch' and reach the base of the soil of your lawn. 

These types of mulching lawnmowers do require more power than a typical mower to keeping the grass mulch clippings at the base of the machine but are great for your lawn as they help soil fertility and decompose without making a lot of garden waste.

On the other hand, you can't use a regular mower to mulch your lawn as they produce grass clippings that are much larger in size that suffocates the lawn, these lawn clippings need to be put in a compost pile instead and emptied from the grass box on the mower. 

Mulching mowers tend to come in three different types; corded electric, battery cordless and gas-powered, gas-powered mulching mowers are more suitable for large lawns as they need the extra power, while electric models might be a better choice for the environment.

Pros & Cons Of Using a Mulching Mower 

If you have decided you are interested in buying a mulching mower for your lawn, then it's a good idea to familiarise yourself with the benefits and disadvantages of using a mulching mower in your garden to see if this type of mower is right for you. 

We have discussed the pros and cons of using a mulching mower below to help you out.

Pros Of Using a Mulching Mower On Your Lawn

First of all, mulching lawn mowers can actually save you a lot of time and money, as the lawn clippings can be used as fertiliser for your lawn, this saves you the money of buying fertiliser for soil nutrient, in the UK this can also save you from having to pay for your green waste bin. 

These lawn mulching mowers save you time too as you do not have to keep emptying a grass collection box to the compost pile on a regular basis and distributing fertiliser over your lawn.

Mulching mowers are additionally great for your soil as they increase microbial activity which can reduce thatch in your lawn and help add nutrients back into your soil quality. They are further better for the environment too as it stops lawns with chemicals due to there being no need for chemical fertiliser.

  • Saves you money. 
  • Helps you mow quicker. 
  • Great for the soil.
  • Better for the environment.

Cons Of Using a Mulching Mower 

Although there are many benefits to using a mulching mower for a lush lawn, there are additionally many potential downsides that should be discussed before purchasing your mulching mower. 

Mulching mowers should be avoided on wet lawns even more than a typical type of lawn mower as they cannot mulch wet lawn clippings, this will damage the lawnmower by putting unwanted strain on it. You also have to take care when using mulching mowers on tall grass as this can build up and damage the machine. 

It is a possibility that if you have weed grasses or worm problems on your lawn then mulching with heaps of grass clippings on your lawn can make matters worse. 

  • Cannot be used on wet grass. 
  • Not to be used on tall grass. 
  • Can make weed problems worse. 

Conclusion - Should I Buy a Mulching Mower?

Overall, you should buy a mulching mower for your lawn if you have a healthy lawn with no weed issues and want to use a natural fertiliser for your lawn without any chemicals. They are also great for improving the soil quality of your lawn. 

We would not recommend using a mulching mower however if you have a grass type with lots of weeds or very tall grass blades that need cutting first.

How Often You Should Mulch Your Lawn? 

Figuring out when to use your mulching mower can be confusing, you should aim to only mulch during the summer and spring, you should also leave around 7 days in between each mulching time to give enough time for the lawn clippings to decompose properly. 

If you mulch your lawn too often then this will not give the grass time to recover and can end up suffocating the soil by creating a very dense lawn.

The Best Way To Mulch Your Lawn 

If you are using your mulching lawn mower for the first time then you should ensure you are mulching your lawn properly to get the best results possible. 

We have bullet-pointed a few of our best tips below for mulching your healthy lawn with lawn clippings below. 

  • Remove your grass collection box - Before starting up your mulching mower make sure you remove the grass and leaf collection box as some models come with this option.
  • Decide where your mulch should go - Adjust the height of your mulching mower and position the mulching chute where you want your lawn clippings to go as you mow, try and ensure your lawn clippings are mulched towards the centre of your garden.
  • Keep the mower turned off - When fitting the mulching plug on your suited lawn mower make sure that the machine is turned off, it can be very dangerous to do this while the lawnmower's engine is running.
  • Mulch dry grass only - Never try and mulch in wet conditions, try and aim to mow in weather without rain, if not tonnes of grass clippings will likely clump together and stick to your mowers machine which can damage it. Due to the cutting method of mulching mowers, wet grass cuttings can also put the mower under more strain and damage it.
  • Never cut more than 1/3 - Also try and keep your method of cutting no less than 1/3 of the height of your blade of grass. If you cut under this height then it can affect how well you can mulch your lawn.
  • Stay away from tall grass blades - Tall blades of grass need a standard cut before you use a mulching double-cut method on the grass for mulching, tall grass is not easy for the mowers blades to break down and mulch and can even damage the mower in some cases.
  • Space out your mulching - Try and mulch with grass cuttings every 7 days, don't mulch your grass cuttings in a closer time of space as this can affect soil moisture and suffocate the ground.

Tips To Improve Your Lawns Condition 

If you don't have a healthy lawn and want to improve its conditions without mulching, then we have listed a few tips below to try as lawn owners which can help you bring your lawn back to life by implementing them on a daily basis. 

  • Get rid of thatch - Thatch buildup can occur on grass when the roots of your grass start grown on top of the soil, a small amount of thatch is not unhealthy, but when this becomes a lot it can block air and nutrients reaching particles of grass.
  • Don't cut too short - You don't want your un-mulched grass to get too high but you also don't want it to get too low, as this can encourage weed build-up, you should adjust the deck size cutting blade no shorter than 2 inches.
  • Mulch - If your grass is in a bad condition then mulch and fertilise with it on a regular basis to help the organic lawns grow for a perfect lawn finish.
  • Aerate - Aerate refers to making holes in your soil so as air and nutrients can reach the soil through the thatch layer and trodden down grass. You can do this by making small holes in the grass with special aerator sandals or with an aerating machine.

Last Words 

To conclude our mulching mower article, mulching mowers defiantly have more pros than cons for the health of your lawn and when done on your lawn weekly as organic lawn care can really improve its health and appearance by acting as a natural fertiliser.

About the author
Written by William
I have always had a passion for gardening and that with a background in selling lawn mowers for the past 10 years, I have become very knowledgeable in all types of gardening tools. The site TheBestMowers.co.uk was created as a hub where I can review and write about all of the tips around gardening.
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