Mulching: Do I need a new mower?

[ClemTiger0408]

Hello all.

I am a recent home owner and am new to this whole "taking care of your lawn thing".

I am finding cutting my grass to be difficult and cumbersome. Today, for example, was challenging. I last mowed my lawn on Sunday so its been less than a full week and has only rained once in that time and it was on Tuesday.

Whenever I try to use the mulching feature of my mower (no bag and no side chute) the mower CONSTANTLY gets clogged. I can rarely make it even more than one row before I have to stop and lift the mower in the air to spray clogged grass. I even will halve rows and have the tall grass only be half way across the mower and still the same issue. It takes me forever and the mower often will clog to the point of shutting down and I have to spray the underside.

I bought a Toro off of Craigslist. I don't remember exactly the model but its like a 2009 model of the self propelled cheap model from Home Depot. I have not replaced the blade and who knows how old it is. However, it does seem very sharp. I keep the wheels at a 3" cut level and I know tonight, for example, I wasn't taking off more than 1/3 blade.

So, my question is three-fold.

1. Am I doing something wrong? When I use the side chute, cut grass is everywhere and the yard is a mess. I see other people in my neighborhood mow without a bag and without a side chute.

2. Could a new blade make a difference? Would a new, high quality blade help chop the grass better while mulching to prevent clogging?

3. Could it just be that I need a more powerful mower to chop up the grass better and prevent from getting clogged?

Thank you all very much!

 

[lawn mower fanatic]

I would recommend trying a mulching blade for your mower...that would help with mulching. Also, your engine might not have enough power. Without knowing the specific model I don't know what engine it has, but it is probably 160cc. You might want to look into a mower with a more powerful engine, like the 190cc engine on Honda HRX's or the Husqvarna AWD mower. :thumbsup:

 

[LakeRat1]

why not try cutting it with out the Mulching, see what it looks like that way, i am not a fan of Mulcjing, it
robs a lot of power, & if your grass has grown very much since the last cutting its a mess, i removed all
the mulching stuff from my JD mower and also removed the discharge shoot, the grass fly out over where i have put
and the sun drys it up, next day it all looks good, when i first got my JD LT 445 w/60 in. cut it came with a Mulching
Kit, it would choke up in the spring grass, i tried to use it for a couple weeks, never did get to like it, brough it in the shop,
and took ALL the mess out from under the deck, put on a set of lift blades, went back to cut grass, it was like a
different Mower, it would fly through the Grass that it would choke it up before, after removing the stuff the grass
would fly out 8 or so ft from the mower

 

[noma]

Hi clemtiger0408

Your grass is to long to mulch you need to mow it first or mulch before your grass get this long again.:licking::licking::laughing:

 

[djdicetn]

Hello all.

I am a recent home owner and am new to this whole "taking care of your lawn thing".

I am finding cutting my grass to be difficult and cumbersome. Today, for example, was challenging. I last mowed my lawn on Sunday so its been less than a full week and has only rained once in that time and it was on Tuesday.

Whenever I try to use the mulching feature of my mower (no bag and no side chute) the mower CONSTANTLY gets clogged. I can rarely make it even more than one row before I have to stop and lift the mower in the air to spray clogged grass. I even will halve rows and have the tall grass only be half way across the mower and still the same issue. It takes me forever and the mower often will clog to the point of shutting down and I have to spray the underside.

I bought a Toro off of Craigslist. I don't remember exactly the model but its like a 2009 model of the self propelled cheap model from Home Depot. I have not replaced the blade and who knows how old it is. However, it does seem very sharp. I keep the wheels at a 3" cut level and I know tonight, for example, I wasn't taking off more than 1/3 blade.

So, my question is three-fold.

1. Am I doing something wrong? When I use the side chute, cut grass is everywhere and the yard is a mess. I see other people in my neighborhood mow without a bag and without a side chute.

2. Could a new blade make a difference? Would a new, high quality blade help chop the grass better while mulching to prevent clogging?

3. Could it just be that I need a more powerful mower to chop up the grass better and prevent from getting clogged?

Thank you all very much!

ClemTiger0408,
Many of the recommendations so far are spot on for your problem....specific "mulching blades" if you are going to use the mulching feature, and especially the owner's manual(we assume you have one) will reverberate the advice to cut your lawn frequently enough that the grass is not more than 1/3 taller than the cutting height(especially when mulching). In my experience(previously had a 54" Craftsman lawn tractor with regular blades but a mulching cover) if I let the grass get too tall I had your "clogging/stalling" problem too. If maintained properly, my mulch cover prevented the "piles of grass clippings" that you desire. Hope some of our advice helps!!!

 

[Snapper7800597]

I agree with one person who thought it might be a blade issue. There are several mulching blades. The one already posted was the Gator blade... I have one of those, 2 Ninja blades(one to wear & one a spare)...the black one I am posting, & I have the ordinary blade that came with my mower...it's painted & sitting in storage.

Grass TYPE is a huge problem!!! Winter Rye is so wet and clingy that the choke-ups and massive cleanup you are describing makes me recall the huge mess I made with Winter Rye the one & only time I planted it. I understand your frustration!! Yuck!!! Got that t-shirt ....

Bagging is for the birds though--it is wasteful & distasteful...robbing your yard of all the nutrients it needs. It's time-consumming & uses more gas in my Snapper. That puppy is also now in storage!!

If your grass is a similar consistency to winter rye... try setting your height at the highest, & mow down from there..then stay on top of it. Most of my yard is St Augustine carpet grass... but I have a ton of weeds, the worst being Pensacola Bahia :-( Anyway... I hope you find a middle ground!!!