Riding lawnmower users- mulching blades for leaves, or not?

[highfigh]

I recently acquired a riding mower and with the falling leaves, I need to find out if mulching blades will produce finer leaf fragments. This would help for filling containers that will be used to transport the waste, for mulching and for composting. Knowing that leaves break down pretty fast regardless, mulching would make that go faster but for transporting, I would be able to take everything in one trip, rather than two or more.

I also know that using a low gear and keeping the RPM up helps to break up the leaves, but they're still in fairly large pieces.

The mower is an Ariens 42" model 93606000/17542, if it helps.

Top photo makes it look a bit like Gort, from 'The Day The Earth Stood Still', eh?

 

[Mikado463]

I mulch year round when I cut with my Kubota zero-turn, but here's the secret ...........

Your mower deck MUST be set up(underneath) with the proper kit including the block off plate at the discharge. Normal side discharge mowers have large access openings that allow cuttings to move from one blade cutting zone to the next(my deck is three blades) and out the side discharge. A mulching set up effectively blocks that by about 90%. So when combined with a high lift blades the mulching effect is optimized.

My blades spin @17,000 rpm, turns everything to dust !

 

[highfigh]

I mulch year round when I cut with my Kubota zero-turn, but here's the secret ...........

Your mower deck MUST be set up(underneath) with the proper kit including the block off plate at the discharge. Normal side discharge mowers have large access openings that allow cuttings to move from one blade cutting zone to the next(my deck is three blades) and out the side discharge. A mulching set up effectively blocks that by about 90%. So when combined with a high lift blades the mulching effect is optimized.

My blades spin @17,000 rpm, turns everything to dust !

I have seen 2 in 1 and 3 in 1 blades (side discharge/mulch & side/mulch/bag)- my house has too many trees to just mulch with a block off and even with the deck raised at its highest, I still plow through the leaves but I really don't want to mulch the leaves and go back to pick everything up with the bag- it's not a large yard and still takes too long. My deck only has one area for the clippings- it probably wasn't their top model and now, their better mowers are under the Gravely name but the price was right. REALLY right. I only got it because of that and with my bad knee, pushing a bagging mower with/without the bag sucks and wastes far too much time. If I use the bag, I have to stop about every 25' because it's full- with the rider, I only have to stop about 6 times for the whole lawn and I'm going to talk to a friend about making larger bags (he owns an upholstery shop).

Wow! I'm in the wrong business! I just saw a mulching kit for my mower p riced at $235!

 

[cpp]

We mulch everything, Live Oak leaves, St Augustine grass. It all goes back into the ground.

 

[Mikado463]

Since we are on the subject of mulching, one other thing to remember is that it's important to not only be sure your mulches fine enough but also don't allow your lawn to grow too long between cuttings. A lawn needs to breathe ! Matted clippings hinder this and thus require de-thatching.

One other benefit to a mulching deck, you can cut close to edging, flower beds, etc on either side !