Mulching lawns

[Bgs]

Over the years I've learnt a few tricks/techniques, so you don't end up with a messy job if the grass is long and/or wet.

I'd love to know the tips and tricks for wet grass if you are willing to share

Is it the mower that is the trick? I have a 216d and gave up trying to mulch in the wet season (speaking of which I hope it comes soon) don't have a problem with dry grass

[Dinoz]

I'd love to know the tips and tricks for wet grass if you are willing to share

Is it the mower that is the trick? I have a 216d and gave up trying to mulch in the wet season (speaking of which I hope it comes soon) don't have a problem with dry grass

I use a dedicated mulcher (Victa 480). It has the bar blade. I heard a rumour that in Australia they banned them with the bar lade and you can only get them with the flail blades? Is that right?

Anyway, a couple of tricks I use for long and or wet grass. Mow as per normal and a very quick double cut over any areas that need tidying. On the second cut set height one or two notches higher as the idea is not to cut anymore grass, but mulch anythng left lying around from first cut. Takes a little longer, but quicker than catching. Another option is once the grass dries out running over the lawn with the blower spreads out the clippings evenly leaving no ugly clumps etc. Can also try cutting 2/3 the width of the mower on smaller areas. This reduces the amount of grass the mower has to mulch and lessens clumping of wet grass.

Just some things I found work for me from trial and error.

[Scooby Steve]

How many of you use a mulcher/plug for your ride-on's and is it still good to use in heavy spring growth?

[twin_cities_lawncare]

We have mulching capability with our ride-on mower as well as our pushmowers, but don't use the mulching aspect of the ride-on as it's usually for bigger jobs that generate more greenwaste, and it takes extra time to change between catching/mulching, too, so it's just easier just to leave the bags on and do a neat job first time round, and charge extra for the greenwaste.
That being said, we use the mulching plug on the push mowers wherever we can, unless the customer specifically requests we use the catcher (main reason being dogs that might bring the clippings into their house). Mulching doesn't work well in long/ wet grass, and I make sure the bulk of the mulch-mowing is done anti-clockwise for a neater job. It does work well as a natural fertiliser for the lawn, but the final linish is also what we aim for, so it tends to be a seasonal thing - more in the drier months; less in the wet.

[geoff]

watched a guy using a mulching plug on a ride today.....nice long wet green grass ..at least the concrete footpaths looked like a green lawn
I too was using the ride on with a side throw flap up and if i dont say myself wasnt a half bad job...manager of the premises gave me thumbs up.....anyway this jerk ( the c/head using the muclhing plug ) rocks up and says u obviously dont know how to mow..any decent contractor uses a mulching plug on the ride on....i just sat on my machine and said mate u are my hero ,just love that green sh1t all over the place , gives that professional appearance ..ya fcken tool ....no more said after this point he was using a z turn and i am using the traditional rider...

[BCMS]

I use a mulching plug on my ztr and never leave green footpaths. I wouldn't still have my clients if I left green **** everywhere.
Can be a bit hard to train the new guys how to keep the grass on the grass though.

Steve,
with the Dixon ztr I have if it is heavy growth sometimes I will do a high first cut then a slightly lower second cut for some of the more fussy clients. By doing this with nice sharp blades most clients wouldn't even know that I am mulching.

Geoff,
The bloke you saw obviously was a knob

Blame the operator not the tools

Cheers
Jake

[MowMan]

I use a mulching plug with my ZTR on most of my large lawns.

I go over it once and then lift the blades up and go over it again. This acts as a blower and disperses any clumps/trails that might have been left.

Pretty close to the same quality when catching, but if it is really wet then I will just use the honda SP.