# Mulching Woes



## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

I have a tree in my front yard that drops shit all year spring, summer, and fall. My mower (Lawn Boy gas walk behind, not sure the model #) seems like it's not doing a great job mulching. I don't think it's a blade sharpness issue because it didn't mulch any better when new. The first mower I bought years ago and then returned was even worse, so I thought maybe I just had too high expectations.

But my neighbours have the same tree in their yards and their lawns look spotless after a fresh cut, like a lot of the LOTM lawns I've seen here. I don't see my neighbours bagging either.

My mower throws a lot of large bits of leaf debris out the front, and when I lift the front wheels to turn after doing a stretch of lawn it dumps a pile of semi-mulched debris.

HOC is 3.5 to 4" . Today I went over the front, not cutting any grass (it hasn't grown since last week), only mulching leaves that fell - check out the result. This was after going over it *4* times, and I'm pretty sure I mostly just pushed the leaves to the perimeter of the lawn rather than mulched them in.

Do I just have a crap mower?

Is there any benefit to mulching on the first pass and then bagging on 2nd pass to vacuum up what was missed? Or will that likely just suck up all the mulch?


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

davegravy said:


> I have a tree in my front yard that drops s--- all year spring, summer, and fall. My mower (Lawn Boy gas walk behind, not sure the model #) seems like it's not doing a great job mulching. I don't think it's a blade sharpness issue because it didn't mulch any better when new. The first mower I bought years ago and then returned was even worse, so I thought maybe I just had too high expectations.
> 
> But my neighbours have the same tree in their yards and their lawns look spotless after a fresh cut, like a lot of the LOTM lawns I've seen here. I don't see my neighbours bagging either.
> 
> ...


Just as a test put your mower on side discharge and run over some of the area. See if the pick up improves. When you block the mowers ability to discharge clipping and air it can impact the ability to lift new air and clippings. I noticed this when I was trying to mulch some clipping on my lawn. When I had it on mulch it wasn't picking up much but when I went to side discharge it really started picking up more. I think hi lift blades can help with suction as well.


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## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

TN Hawkeye said:


> Just as a test put your mower on side discharge and run over some of the area. See if the pick up improves. When you block the mowers ability to discharge clipping and air it can impact the ability to lift new air and clippings. I noticed this when I was trying to mulch some clipping on my lawn. When I had it on mulch it wasn't picking up much but when I went to side discharge it really started picking up more. I think hi lift blades can help with suction as well.


A bit confused by what you mean. My mower is rear discharge, and switching it to rear discharge involves opening this flap (spring-loaded, will not stay held open unless I insert the rear bag). Even if I find a way to jimmy it open without the bag (if that's what you're suggesting) won't that just shoot unmulched debris at me?


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

Is your blade installed right? From what I can see.. it looks like the curve of the blade is pointing down? Usually the curve of the blade points up?


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

davegravy said:


> TN Hawkeye said:
> 
> 
> > Just as a test put your mower on side discharge and run over some of the area. See if the pick up improves. When you block the mowers ability to discharge clipping and air it can impact the ability to lift new air and clippings. I noticed this when I was trying to mulch some clipping on my lawn. When I had it on mulch it wasn't picking up much but when I went to side discharge it really started picking up more. I think hi lift blades can help with suction as well.
> ...


Did it not come with a little insert that goes in that hole and aims the clippings to the right?


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

ericgautier said:


> Is your blade installed right? From what I can see.. it looks like the curve of the blade is pointing down? Usually the curve of the blade points up?


Great catch.


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

Does your Lawn Boy have this black piece on the side?


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## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

TN Hawkeye said:


> Did it not come with a little insert that goes in that hole and aims the clippings to the right?


Not that I recall. And I just looked up on this site:

https://lawnmowerguru.com/lawn-boy-10605-review/

"You don't even have to put in a mulching plug as it's been built into the discharge door - I love that!"


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## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

ericgautier said:


> Does your Lawn Boy have this black piece on the side?


No there's no black plastic piece like that, just green painted metal all the way around the side.


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## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

ericgautier said:


> Is your blade installed right? From what I can see.. it looks like the curve of the blade is pointing down? Usually the curve of the blade points up?


I don't see any way to connect the blade in another orientation. There's a metal plate that goes between the mower and the blade which is flat on one side (mates with the mower) and curved on the other (mates with the blade).

Also I've never had it off although I did bring it in for service once and asked the shop to sharpen it while they had it - I suppose it's possible they somehow reversed it?






From the manual:


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

Were the fins of the blade pointing up or down when it was installed?


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## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

ericgautier said:


> Were the fins of the blade pointing up or down when it was installed?


up, like in your photo


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

davegravy said:


> ericgautier said:
> 
> 
> > Is your blade installed right? From what I can see.. it looks like the curve of the blade is pointing down? Usually the curve of the blade points up?
> ...


Did you take these photos? Are the blades off the mower right now?


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## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

TN Hawkeye said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> > ericgautier said:
> ...


I took the photos yeah, and I just reinstalled the blade after sharpening it (which made no observable difference)


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## Guest (Aug 6, 2019)

I think your blade is installed ok. I think you are missing the plastic attachment that allows you to side discharge. Could probably find it online.


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## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

macdawg said:


> I think your blade is installed ok. I think you are missing the plastic attachment that allows you to side discharge. Could probably find it online.


Not sure where that piece would install. See pics:


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

@macdawg his mower does not have the option to side discharge.

@davegravy if you put the bag on, does it suck up all leaves/debris? What kind of mower does your neighbor have?


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## kstall (May 10, 2019)

As a test you could try to raise the rear wheels 1 notch higher than the front to allow the blades to pull in more air creating more suction.


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## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

ericgautier said:


> @davegravy if you put the bag on, does it suck up all leaves/debris? What kind of mower does your neighbor have?


It leaves my lawn really clean-looking with the bag on, yes.

Neighbor to the left and right both use corded electrics. Across the street uses a gas walk behind similar to mine, not sure what type but I can find out.


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## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

kstall said:


> As a test you could try to raise the rear wheels 1 notch higher than the front to allow the blades to pull in more air creating more suction.


Thanks, I also noticed this suggestion reading the manual yesterday. I tried dropping the front 1 notch and it didn't seem to make a huge difference. I even tried 2 notches.


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

ericgautier said:


> @macdawg his mower does not have the option to side discharge.
> 
> @davegravy if you put the bag on, does it suck up all leaves/debris? What kind of mower does your neighbor have?


Not sure if he could get one for an older model but it looks like they have a rear side discharge chute for the newer models. It does not come with the mower and has to be requested from Lawn Boy. It looks to be free when registering the mower online. Maybe a phone call to Lawn Boy could result in getting a free chute. Worth a try.


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## Guest (Aug 6, 2019)

My bad, I mixed up his mower with the pic of one that discharged.


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## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

TN Hawkeye said:


> ericgautier said:
> 
> 
> > @macdawg his mower does not have the option to side discharge.
> ...


I'm confused as to how would this help with munching performance. How would it be any different than my rear bag, as in it will mulch instead of bag...


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## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

Sorry I botched that last sentence. What I'm wondering is how a side discharge chute will cause the mower to mulch any better. Isn't it just going to discharge the same unmulched clippings, just to the side instead?


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

In your initial photos it looks like your grass is matted down quite a bit and many of the particles are intertwined in the grass. If you HOC is that high I don't think you're cutting much grass. Try raking an area to stand the grass up then mowing over it to see if the cuts better and is able to then pick up the debris (bagging to increase air flow). Maybe try lowering your HOC a notch too.


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## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

KoopHawk said:


> In your initial photos it looks like your grass is matted down quite a bit and many of the particles are intertwined in the grass. If you HOC is that high I don't think you're cutting much grass. Try raking an area to stand the grass up then mowing over it to see if the cuts better and is able to then pick up the debris (bagging to increase air flow). Maybe try lowering your HOC a notch too.


It is pretty matted in that area, and this was more an exercise in mulching the leaves on top of the grass than the grass itself, but point taken. I have my HOC up at 4" for a couple reasons:

1) I have no irrigation (yet) and so I don't have to be as fussy with watering in the summer
2) More importantly, the mower leaves a TON of grass clippings if I mow much lower, even if I'm only taking 1/3rd or less off the grass. I'll do a lower HOC cut soon and post some pics so you all can see what I mean.


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

davegravy said:


> TN Hawkeye said:
> 
> 
> > ericgautier said:
> ...


It won't help more than when you are bagging. But mowers will struggle with suction when they are on mulching sometimes. Giving the air a place to go will help with the mowers ability to lift the leaves and debris. If you are ok with using the bagger then absolutely use it. You should see an increase in the mowers ability to pick up leaves.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

When I bought my latest push mower I thought it cut ok but then I put a high lift mulching blade on it and now it's amazing. Granted I just raised the HOC due to scalping but I see no and I mean no clumps of dead grass!!


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## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

ctrav said:


> When I bought my latest push mower I thought it cut ok but then I put a high lift mulching blade on it and now it's amazing. Granted I just raised the HOC due to scalping but I see no and I mean no clumps of dead grass!!


I'd be willing to spring for a new blade if it helped, rather than finding a whole new mower. Lawn Boy calls this blade a "hi lift" blade, and a quick google search leads me to believe there's a variety of bolt hole standards and the likelihood of finding something other than OEM blade that works better is slim to none. But I'd be happy to be proven wrong!


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## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

So no one has weighed in one way or the other whether they think from the photos that I'm being AR about this. Should I expect more from my mower?

How do all these tier 3 LOTM lawns cut with reel mowers look so pristine? those mowers don't mulch do they? are you going back over with a bagging rotary mower to clean up? what's the secret?


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

Mowing higher tends not to mulch as well. I know you don't want to water but I would cut it at maybe 3.5" or 3.25" instead. It should mulch better.


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## krusej23 (May 8, 2018)

If you go down to mowing at 3" or below does it pick them up? It could be that your mower doesn't have the suction when you are mulching at 3.5"-4"? Had this issue with my Honda. Put the HOC down and it worked better. I know the first mow cutting it down quite a bit may be rough so you could try bagging the first one and then mow the next day at 3" and see if it picks up better. Your grass is pretty matted down so it would be hard to pick up at 3.5"-4".


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## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

@Suburban Jungle Life @krusej23 Thanks, I'm going to try dropping to 3" tonight now and I'll bag. Then give it another mow on Monday when I'm back from the in-laws.


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