Mulching Mowers

shaybisc on 02/04/2014 - 10:52
Last edited 02/04/2014 - 14:15

I have a so-called mulching mower, a Rover OHV 880. The mulching part of it only works if you keep your lawn at lawn bowl length, therefore it is practically useless. I never use it.

It's the worst mower I have ever had for one reason; If there is even a hint of moisture in the grass the grass will clog up under the mower and eventually stop the motor. It takes a good 5 minutes to get all the grass out from the deck and around the blades. Makes things difficult when it rains a little bit every day.

There is nothing blocking the output of grass- the flap is completely raised. It happens with and without the catcher.

I have never encountered this problem with a mower before. Have I just got a poorly designed mower or is this typical of mulching design mowers?

To be clear- I never use the mulching attachment. I use it like a regular mower.

Home & Garden

Comments

  • ilostnemo on 02/04/2014 - 11:22
    +1

    Usually with mulching mowers, they have a plug like obstacle which stops the grass going straight to the catcher. While it's waiting so to speak it gets hit by the blades a few extra times.

    A lot of mowers struggle while it's wet as the moisture makes the grass clingy.

    All of my mowers have suffered this.

    Simple solution, sell the mower, buy a carton and enjoy watching someone else do it, if you are feeling guilty doing this, consume more beer.

  • kingsville on 02/04/2014 - 11:23

    my 2c

    I never liked my old mulcher mower - it strained in longer grass but never stopped/clogged if used carefully. It didn't even have the option of a catcher, just mulch and disperse.
    I used to always run it at the highest setting (i.e. wheels furthest down to cut grass long) so that it had room the circulate the grass.

    We got rid of it after having kids since the mulched grass sticks to feet and gets in the house, as opposed to the 'cleaner' finish of a normal catcher mower.

  • whodidthat on 02/04/2014 - 11:29

    I've never liked mulching lawnmowers, they create excessive thatch in lawns. That can create a lot of problems.
    http://www.thelawnguide.com.au/lawn-care/lawn-care/22-lawn-c…

  • ChrisLevo on 02/04/2014 - 16:03

    I alternate between mulch and catch modes each time I mow, and that works a treat.

    It also is a visual reminder to clean the mulch plug every time I remove it.

    Well established kikuyu lawn, well watered and fertilised,and no problems even in the wet.

  • Elppa8 on 02/04/2014 - 17:55

    I used the mulcher once but when the clippings got walked in the house SWMBO decreed catcher from then on.

  • [Deactivated] on 10/04/2014 - 19:33

    We have an aluminium Masport mulching mower with a black plastic plug for mulching. It's absolutely brilliant. I hated mowing but it made it a pleasure. No bending over to pull off the catcher, walk to a pile, empty it, walk back, bend over and put it back on, cut only two lines before doing it all again. All that is done away with. It leaves the grass on the grass and you don't walk it inside the house as you'd think you would.

    If you don't mow for a while it is more effort. You have to pull the mower back and go forward again a second time to thin out the clumps. Or just do what I recently discovered. Forget about what it looks like, go over it once quickly and leave clumps, then come back and mow again in 3-4 days. The second time cleans up the clumps. By the third time any brown patches under the clumps have greened up again.

    Always avoid doing it when wet. The rain weighs the grass down and it doesn't cut at the right length. You'll be back mowing again in 3 days.

    I think the main reason people have trouble with them is, they either bought a con-job mower that hasn't got the correct "mulching vortex" shape (which circulates grass correctly so it cuts and recuts until it finally falls and spreads out evenly), or they leave it too long between cuts (or their grass is growing like… a weed in summer), or because the blades are blunt.

    Easy way to tell is to cut forward, then walk backwards. If going forwards is average and leaves grass, but going backwards produced a nice neat line, then the blades are blunt.

    We had to experiment with grass height too. If you scalp the lawn, there's no thicker grass to absorb the recut clippings. If you get the length right and do it regularly, walking on your lawn is like walking on nice carpet.

  • [Deactivated] on 10/04/2014 - 19:42

    Oh - and I never had to cut down to lawn bowl length. That really does produce excess clippings that would walk into the house. It was always… I don't know, about 2cm I'd say? The grass length is what "holds" the clippings and "cleans" any from your feet as you walk. In fact we noticed no difference between normal mowing and mulch mowing in regards to clippings walked in. (Normal mowing leaves clippings too. But I've noticed people that buy mulching mowers think the lawn has to be really short. Not sure if that's the brand of mower they bought again, or just what they think. I thought that way to start with too, and had to force myself to leave the lawn longer.

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