Mulching Mower Guidelines
Guidelines for using a mulching mower are:
1) For the first mowing, I would adjust the mower to 3 inches, and I would bag to help clean up the winter debris that has fallen on your lawn.
2) With the next mowing, I would use the mulching capacities with these guidelines:
– Mow at 4 inches for regular-sized lawns or 4 to 4-1/2 inches for larger lawns, since the extra height allows the mulching process to work better.
– Mow often enough as not to cut more than one-third off the grass plant at one time.
– Keep the blade(s) sharp. If you are mulching, the blades should be sharpened once a month.
– Most importantly, mow only when the grass is dry. With the high humidity levels in this area, I would recommend mowing from twelve noon on. A mulching mower cannot properly fractionalize clippings when they are wet.
Note: The nice thing about having the bagging option is that if the grass gets higher than it should be or if you need to cut it when it isn’t completely dry, you can just bag it.
The advantage to mulching is that since the grass leaf consists of 90% moisture and 10% nutrients, returning the clippings is beneficial to the turf. For small amounts of leaves that fall on your lawn, a good mulching mower allows you to continue to recycle your clippings and leaves at the same time without any negative effect on your lawn. When heavy amounts of leaves start falling in November to the end of the season, I would recommend bagging the leaves. You should never mulch heavy amounts of leaves into the lawn.
In conclusion, when properly following the above-mentioned recommendations, these new mowers can reduce the amount of clippings that need to be hauled away, save time and can enhance the overall health of your lawn. Plus, more importantly, it benefits the environment.