Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
svejkovat

Mulching vs Raking

svejkovat
9 years ago

http://www.scotts.com/smg/goART2/InfoHowTo/mulching-leaves/11800002

I've been doing this for a few years now and often wonder if I'm doing the right thing by the lawn.

Is this pretty widely accepted? I shouldn't fret about it much. My lawn is 50/50 grass and weeds, but looks good enough when freshly mowed.

I'd say I have average neighborhood leaf volume in the fall.
Got a little JD riding mower this summer. Last fall I had great success with a spare Honda-powered MTD pusher that I dedicated to leaf chewing. I skirted the mower all around with sturdy polyethylene from a kid's roll-up sled. Cut to 5 inch strip and pop riveted to the deck to lower the deck edge about 2.5 inches. Covered the chute as well. All this contains the leaves from blowing out they're shredded extra fine.

Also cut a 20 X 15 inch piece and riveted it to the front. If you can picture this it flops down in front of the mower and forward movement catches it and drags the leading edge under the mower, but not far enough to touch the blades. In this position it looks like a 10 inch diameter curl of plastic at the front of the mower.

The front of the mower can't be skirted like the sides or it just pushes leaves ahead of it. Left open, all of the air pressure escaping from it blows the leaves out of the way. The curl of poly plastic rides over the leaf layer and presses it down and into the mower. Leaves go in but air can't escape.

Used it two falls like this with fantastic results.

I plan on doing something similar to my rider this fall, but in a way that can be easily removed in spring.

Has anyone come up with similar ideas/additions to mulching?
Always open to improvements.

Comments (2)

  • 1saxman
    9 years ago

    I have no comment on your modification other than if it works for you, great. As far as simply mulching the leaves in, I'd say if you do not have a premium stand of whatever grass they use up there, you may as well do it. My 'yard' is probably like yours. I've basically given up on it because of moles, voles and deer. The trick to mulching-in leaves is to stay at it and catch it before they cover the grass. During heavy leaf drop you'll have to run the mulcher every day sometimes.
    There is also an alternate method - mulch first then go back over it with the bag on. Volume of leaf material bagged is probably about 1/10 of bagging without mulching first. Not only do the chopped-up leaves take up much less space, about half of it is dust that stays on the ground. This way you have much less material to dispose of and the lawn looks cleaner and more 'manicured'. Plus, you can take the bag and deposit the leaf material around trees, shrubs and in flower beds. The stuff decomposes into dirt ten times faster than just piling up leaves.
    Finally, research has shown that generally mulched leaf material and mulched grass is good for lawns and builds topsoil depth and quality.

  • kenmc5
    9 years ago

    I've been mulching leaves in Michigan for about 7 or 8 years with no harm to my yard. Best to mulch when dry and it can take a few passes. I use gator blades on a Snapper 21 with mulch plate and have used a LB 21 inch with gator blades. We moved to a house with much more yard and more trees a few years ago. I had a mulch plate made for an old Wheel Horse rider deck, purchased gator blades for that deck and it works great for mulching leaves. I sharpen the gator blades at the beginning of each season. As long as the leaves are mulched fine enough to leave grass blades showing it seems to work great. Dry leaves also clean the deck out. I also blow the leaves from the landscaping to the yard to be mulched. Haven't raked, bagged, or burned leaves in years.