Mulching mowers

Do they work? What’s your experience of them? Any recommended? I’m not the most diligent when it comes to frequent mowing, would they still be ok or would i end up having to rake up a load of cuttings?

Thanks.

I used to use a husqavana mower/mulcher whislt working for local council. Had settings for mulch and cut was a brilliant machine and could eat away at anything!!!! Reccomended highly but can be pricey as its a heavy duty trade petrol mower but ours was over 13 years old!!!!.

Got a fair old patch of grass so happy to spend the money on something decent if it works.

I have a large countax ride on with a cutter deck and powerd collector. While this works well, next door has a john deer with a mulcher. Half of my lawn is always covered with cuttings, as I can’t be bothered to dispose of them, while next doors always looks superb. I may well trade mine in for mulching unit over the winter!

I have the same countax as ^ and my sister has a John Deere mulching mower which looks great – if I had the money I’d probably go for the latter but will reserve judgement util they’ve done a couple of years with it.

Make sure you get a triple blade deck, twin blades are crap for mulching, i’ve got an 18hp Toro Wheel Horse with twin blades, can’t recommend it.

Thanks all. I was looking at one of the Viking ones, probably the 4RT. Lawn is far too irregular for a ride on!

A decent self propelled husky can be had for 300-450 search online. They have metal decks rather than most companies plastic ones and use the top noch honda motors. 6-9 diff cutting heights and I used to smash smaller kids footy pitches in half a day with no sweat as the mower did all the work : ) most councils use huskys or the more expensive viking (sthil)

Ive got the eqiuvelant of five tennis court size lawns to cut, was given a Husqvarna LT151 which side discharging, just made a mess untill I got the mulching kit, for a family lawn its the way to go with no trips to dump the grass if i had a collecting box. Quality of the grass is great now too.

I’ve got a Viking 650VM. It’s lovely as it’ll mulch as well as collect.
Mulching when wet is useful. Best to stay on top of the lawn if your going to mulch though in my opinion as long grass will look rubbish if you try to mulch it. Got to be a regular cut for it to work properly.

This is something I’d never heard of until now, very interested. I assume these are practice for any garden, what about the cut (mulch) and kids? Will they bring grass into the house following every trip to the garden?

Are there any negatives to this as it sounds the ideal way to care for a lawn?

I have just bought an Etesia duocut which mulchs well or collects…I bought this after many hours consideration and on commercial use recommendation from posts on a landscape forum. If the grass is not to long and its dry you can’t tell that you haven’t collected and it will help feed and keep moisture in the lawn but when mowing long grass which it does really well you will see grass left on top but it is much less clumpy and will disperse when dried out. Recon it would get walked in by kids if it was cut long and was damp but cut little and often and it’s great!

Honda HRX Mulches or bags; just move the lever. Easy to start with the pull rope. Really nice cut. I mulch almost all of the time. I only bag in the spring or fall to have grass to add to the leaves for compost.

Only gripe is that the mulch setting doesn’t seal real well, and a few cuttings get through. If these are left to dry, you can’t move the lever to bag as the dried grass blocks it. Overall, a minor complaint.

JoeG, looks like that is an US model. Any idea if they do an UK equivalent?

I’ve got a cheap alko mulching mower. Our lawn was in a pretty poor state when we bought the house just before Christmas but keeping it trimmed seems to be doing wonders for it.
For me the benefit is its so much less faff because you are not constantly emptying the grass box so I’m much more likely to keep on top of it. No problems with cuttings being trodden into the house if you leave it an hour before letting the kids play on it.

I’ve just bought a Toro 55cm self propelled mower. Options for collection, mulching (just move a lever rather than putting a plug in) and side dischage.

It’s also an automatic drive, so the quicker you walk, the quicker it goes.

I’ve mulched once and you can’t see the clippings in the grass. I’d certainly recommend one.

That Toro looks pretty good. Shall check it out.

Edit: Am amused at how the lawnmower industry seem to have settled on the tennis court as the standard unit of lawn measurement 🙂

I manage to do about 1/3 acre in 45mins, which is split into 3 areas. Best advice I can offer is go into a garden machinery supplier and ask rather than just B&Q or similar.

Thanks Chris. Got a good garden machinery shop just down the road, plan on going there.

mrblobby – Member

JoeG, looks like that is an US model. Any idea if they do an UK equivalent?

http://www.honda.co.uk/garden/lawnmowers/%5B/url%5D

The UK versions do look a little bit different. The controls on the HRX doesn’t look the same as mine. Maybe due to differences in safety regs or something?

Thanks JoeG, they also seem to be a lot more expensive over here!

They are expensive! Was quite shocked at the price when I had to get a new one of these Honda HRXs at work, but it was a revelation! Mostly mulching or half and half now. Saves a lot of time not having to empty the bag.

We bought this (click on photo for link) a month or so ago and I’ve used it three times now – I’d not go back to a non-mulching mower now. It’s got a Honda engine that’s easier to start than the Honda mower we had before. Metal deck, admittedly not alloy, but I’m very pleased with it and I’d certainly recommend it. Currently on offer, too.

I looked at several: Honda, Stiga and Husqvarna. Honda were too expensive as were Stiga – but I liked the tilting handle and would go for that next time. Never had a mulching mower before so the £100 off the VAT-free offer from Husqvarna sealed it.

How about a robotic mower?
Save your self a lot of time for riding 😉

I’ve got a mountfield 501sp (self propelling) mulching mower. They are a great piece of kit and the mulch improves the lawn no end.
No cuttings to collect saves time and the self propelling saves your energy if you’ve a large lawn to cut.

Thanks all. That Husqvarna looks very tempting.

Councils use huskys for a reason I ground down a small tree stump with ours blades still sharp afterwards just laziness on my part rather than getting the stump grinder (not advised) lol

The UK Honda HRX mowers are indeed a LOT more expensive than in the US. They are only $600 here for the pull start, self propelled model at Home Depot

Rip off Britain grumble grumble. I think I’ll go for that Husky.