What Does Mulching Mean on Lawn Mower?

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With the advent of modern technologies in machinery, our lawns and yards can have a great aesthetic and desirable look. It has really become possible to get the best out of your lawn using simple hacks that save you a lot of time.

Yes, I am talking about mulching your lawn.

What Does Mulch Mean on Lawn Mower?

To understand “What does mulch mean on lawn mower?” you need to understand a few terms first that will help you out to understand the basic answer to this question.

Those terms are mulch, mulching mower, and mulching blade.

Let’s break it down further so you can have a clear concept.

What Is Mulch?

In simple words, mulch is a dead material that covers the topsoil.

Grass Mulch

In this context of our discussion mulch means:

“Dead part of a plant (leaves, weeds, or grass clippings) that reside on the topsoil of your lawn to nourish it in a good way”

So, you can get a rough idea that mulch is about cutting leaves, grass or weeds and letting them decompose on your lawn.

Let’s move on to how a mulching mower comes into play:

What Is A Mulching Mower?

A mulching mower in simple words is:

“A mower that produces mulching during mowing”

A mulching mower is basically a lawnmower that has pre-installed features to produce mulch.

Types of Mulching Mowers

There are three basic types of mulching mower:

  • Electric (with a cord)
  • Electric (cordless, with a battery)
  • Gas

1. Cordless Mulching Mowers

Battery-operated or cordless mulching mowers are preferred over many mowers nowadays as they save you from irritating cords when you are mowing. Also, they are environment friendly as no fuel is required to run them.

2. Electric Mulching Mowers

Electric mulching mowers are great when you don’t want to charge mowers first and just mow whenever you love to. Though, one major benefit of electric mulching mowers is that there is no electric drop of power when you are mowing whereas in the case of battery-operated mowers you may face an electric drop while mowing because of a draining battery. Also, electric mowers are environmentally friendly.

Gas Powered Mulching Mowers

Gas mowers can be operated as mulching mowers using mulching blades but gas mowers are not preferred as they are fuel operated and pollutes the environment.

Also, there are a few other types of mowers that are named after their purpose of use and technology which are

  • Mulching Push Mowers
  • Riding Mulching Mowers
  • Self-propelled Mulching mower
  • Leaf Mulching Mowers

Mulching Push Mowers

These mowers are push mowers that you simply push on the lawn in a traditional way. Mulching push mowers are great at mulching when you install mulching blades on them. With a gentle push, they cut your lawn in a few passes.

Riding Mulching Mowers

Riding mowers are widely used. The best thing is you are actually driving them and it feels like an adventure to use them. One of the best riding mulching mowers you will see is John Deere. People install mulching blades on John Deere and start mowing. Another good thing about these mowers is that you can work with more than one blade simultaneously.

Self-Propelled Mulching Mowers

Self-propelled technology brings many comforts to machine users. Self-propelled Mowers mean you just have to start your mowers, and the mower will run on its own and you don’t have to push it. Made to be used by all ages, it is a great choice for old people especially those who cannot push their mowers.

Leaf Mulching Mowers

These mowers are very good at mulching leaves. Leaves are the major problem when you have too many trees around your yard or lawn. Leaf mulching mowers really solve your problem by converting leaves to small pieces that you can use as fertilizer on your lawn grass.

Working of Mulching Mower

Mulching mower working is also simple to understand.

When you start mowing, a mulching mower picks up the grass and cut it into smaller piece repeatedly. Those pieces are finally thrown out in between the grass blades. Those pieces are called mulch.

A mulching mower or a grass mulcher has a round deck, mulching blade, and some good horsepower to operate.

Don’t get confused here with a mulching blade, I have explained it below.

What Is A Mulching Blade?

A mulching blade is a blade that produces mulch when it rotates under the deck of a lawnmower. It is the blade that sucks up the grass and cuts it to produce the fine mulch.

Now you have a good notion about what a mulching mower is as a whole and how it works.

So, when the question comes “What does mulching mean on lawn mower?”:

It merely means a lawnmower is a mulching mower that after mowing produces fine pieces that are called mulch. In other words, mowing with the help of a lawnmower means mulching with a lawnmower.

After mowing with a mulching lawnmower you will be producing and adding mulch to your lawn.

This kind of mulching brings tremendous benefits to your lawn as mulch adds N:P:K to your lawn which you can say is a basic fertilizer.

This fertilizer/mulch will nourish your lawn and add to its aesthetic value.

Here you need to keep in mind that:

A mower can be a lawn mower with mulching capabilities

OR

It is just a regular lawnmower that you can convert into a mulching mower by removing the regular blades and installing the mulching blades in it.

Benefits of Using Mulching Mowers

Using a mulching mower brings a lot of benefits to your lawn that you will see in the long run.

Here I have listed some hot benefits of using mulching mowers:

Reduces Moisture Evaporation

When you mulch your soil with a mower, it leaves mulch on the topsoil of grass which acts as a barrier to sunlight and does not let the sun take away essential moisture of your soil. Hence it stops evaporation. Also, it keeps your soil cooler and maintains its optimum temperature.

Gives Natural Fertilizer to Lawn

The mulch produced by the mower is basically 85% water and 5% nitrogen which on conversion and decomposition can give out 25% natural fertilizer to your lawn. More to add, according to modern research and Oregon State University, it is a best practice to mow your grass and leave the grass clippings on the soil.

Environment-Friendly

Mulching with a mower also saves your environment from the landfills you make to trash grass by government facilities.

Saves Time & Money

This is a major benefit that every landscaper enjoys when he/she uses a mulching lawn mower. After using the mulching lawn mowers you don’t need to mow your lawn more often, also you dont need to rake grass and make piles so wasting facilities can it take it away. Also, you won’t be using any facilities to dispose of the extra grass you just mowed and cut from your soil.

Here are advantages of using mulching mower shown in the video below:

Clumping: Challenge You Face When Using Mulching Mowers

There are a few challenges you might face when you are using a mulching mower. Clumping is one of them.

Clumping is the major problem that you might face when using a mulching mower.

It occurs when you are working on very thick, tall, and wet grass. If you mow on dry grass then you won’t face this problem.

Also, there is another thing you can try which is using sharp mulching blades like gator blades on your mower. It converts large size grass clippings into very small sizes which can be easily discharged outside the deck of the mower instead of initiating clumping.


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Jack

After doing my master’s in agriculture, I went on with this field for more than 15 years because I love working in green. I have experienced using modern machinery and techniques that can help farmers and landscapers to achieve something great. My goal will be to deliver you the best reviews and information to make the right decision.

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