Your lawn mower may throw, collect, or mulch grass clippings. A mulching mower cuts and re-cuts grass clippings into fine particles and deposits them into your lawn. So why would you want such a mower?
Let’s explore lawn mulching benefits.
Provide Nutrients
The fine pieces of grass from a mulching mower easily fall between the grass blades on your lawn onto the soil surface below. There, they break down quickly and release essential nutrients to the soil.
Nitrogen is the primary nutrient behind healthy green lawns. For optimal growth, your lawn needs about four pounds of this nutrient annually.
Important Point: Mulched clippings are five percent nitrogen and 85 percent water. As they decompose, they can provide up to 25 percent of your lawn’s nitrogen requirements.
Lawn grasses also need potassium and phosphorus.
Studies show that mulched grass clippings can provide 2.3 to 4.8 pounds of potassium and 0.4 to 1.8 pounds of phosphorus annually per 1,000 square feet.
Elements like calcium, magnesium, and iron are also present in grass clippings in small amounts, but also contribute to a healthy and more productive lawn.
Less Yard Waste
Yard trimmings make up about 13.3 percent of the US waste stream. Grass clippings account for 50 percent of these yard trimmings.
Highlight: By recycling grass clippings back into your lawn, a mulching mower enables you to reduce the waste that ends up in already-strained landfills and other waste disposal sites.
You’ll also spend less money on yard waste collection and disposal services.
Nonstop Mowing
When you’re bagging your clippings, you have to stop the mower whenever the bag is full, detach the bag, and dispose of the grass clippings. This repetitive task is time-consuming and can be exhausting. With a side-discharging mower, you’ll have to clean sidewalks, borders, and drives.
Showcasing: Lawn clipping on the sidewalk
A mulching lawn mower cuts grass clippings multiple times and directs them downwards into the grass bed, so they disappear quickly.
Therefore, you won’t have to stop and empty the collection bag or worry about having to deal with grass heaps on your yard and other areas of your home where it’s unwelcome.
Avoid Lawn Issues
The tiny clippings that your mulching lawn mower forces downwards into your turf break down and support the bio activity that helps prevent thatch from forming.
The potash and nitrate that they produce will attack moss.
Showcasing: Moss in the Lawn
During the summer, your lawn can become spotty as your soil dries out. The fine layer of mulched clippings left behind by your mulching mower will reduce the evaporation of moisture from your lawn as well as keep the temperature of the soil cooler.
As a result, the lawn won’t experience drought stress.
Less Dependence on Products That Harm the Environment
The finely cut grass clippings create a form of compost that naturally fertilizes your lawn. With every cut, your mulching mower delivers a steady natural diet. This can reduce your lawn’s annual feeding requirements by one-third.
Consequently, you’ll reduce the need for chemical fertilizer application, helping you minimize its environmental impact as well as saving money in the long run. The natural mulch also enables you to reduce the need to use environmentally harmful fungicides to eliminate moss.
Mulch mowing provides superior results that are hard to ignore. However, for you to get the full mulching benefits, be sure to mow the lawn frequently and only cut a maximum of one-third of the length of the grass at a time.
