[optimum]

A quick question re lawn mulching, is it only a matter of changing my regular cutting blades to mulching blades on my mower? or is there more to it then that?

thanks in advance.

[Geranimojess]

A few Months ago I went into my local "Lawn Mower Shop" with the same query and came out twice as confused,The Owner went into great detail explaining {he even up-ended a Mower to show me } why its not just a matter of swopping Blades,so to answer your Query in short the answer is No,unless my Fella was looking for a Sale.

[Protein]

not having first hand experience, but after doing a bit of googling, i think the underlying understanding is that lawnmowers that mulch will cut the grass clippings in smaller particles.

[Maeve Drogheda]

We used to have a mulching mower, it had blades and a section especially for mulching the grass cuttings. This was detachable and had to be cleaned after every cut. At the time we were cutting the laneway and green around our house and it was very effective. We did not have any grass cuttings after the first cut.

But . . . . I always thought that when we cut the lane and green where there were dandelions I think that we brought the seed head back into our own garden and now have lots of them. I could be wrong and Expert like Michael Brennock will know the answer I am sure.

[michael brenock]

The seeds of Dandelion are scattered by the lawnmower where the grass is not collected into a grass collector on the lawnmower. The dandelion very seldom grows from seed in a well managed lawn as there are no bare spots for the seeds to germinate. However the seeds are carried by the wind before and during lawnmowing onto freshly dug or bare ground where they will produce flowers and seed the following year. Where there are small numbers of dandelions in a lawn then it is more efficient to spot treat each Dandelion plant with a dab of MCPA or 2 4 D rather than spraying a large area of lawn with a sprayer, dilution is usually one in twenty for spot treatment and one in 100 for spray on treatment. I have lots of dandelions every year and despite rooting out with a spade every year they still seem to survive. However I think that even if I had my own garden cleared there would still be plenty dandelion seed left in the neighbourhood to blow in. I have hardly a dandelion in the lawn.
michael brenock horticultural advisor (retired)

[dermodyr]