Side Discharge or Mulch

[joed]

How many of you side discharge or mulch when cutting? Does side discharging leave a mess?

[kutnkru]

We side discharge most of our lawns.

By leaving the clippings nutrients are recycled and development of broadleaf weeds reduced.

Obviously if you dont pay attention to how far your units will discharge this can be a problem with debris getting into the beds and such.

Kris

[casey]

Try adding "bag" to the poll. We side discharge when turf is long & mulch in the summer.

[kutnkru]

Casey - just for the record according to "Industry Experts", thats backwards.

We are supposed to be dispersing the clippings during the heaviest times for growth, this way the lawns bilogical activity will breakdown the plant tissue and get the water and other valuable nutrients into the root zone where its most beneficial.

When the Summers heat/drought conditions come about, we are suppose to bag the clippings because with the turf in a state of dormancy their is less activity to breakdown the tissue, thus these clippings will lye on top of the soil layers adding to the thatch layer.

Just what they say.
Kris

[casey]

Kutnkru,
Not exactly backwards. I said side discharging in the spring. Bagging in the summer? Do you actually do that? Clippings add moisture in the summer during drought.

[kutnkru]

This season we have, and we are only down two cuttings for the year. There are some who have not cut in over 4 weeks because they cut too short to begin with.

We have been cutting at 3.5" since May, and only skipped one week this spring due to rain and last week because we were landscaping. :)

Kris

[accentlc]

My experience is that a good enclosed blade chamber mulching looks better than side discharge, unless the grass has not grown much. We mulch probably 95% of the time.

[1MajorTom]

We side discharge 90% of the time.

We have a mulching kit for one of our eXmarks, but Matt hasn't put it on yet. He said he will for the fall.

The only bagging or mulching we do is with a 21 on postage stamp accounts or around delicate areas or flower beds if we must.

[John DiMartino]

Side disharging is the only way to cut big yards fast,especially when its thick and tall,mulching is great unless you have tall ,wet grass.Every mulching mower ive seen is plugged up more than its not.

[fivestarlawnken]

If I need to put the cage on i do, usually I dont need to though.I run mulching blades on my mower and it seems to really help. I'am thinking about getting a mulch kit for under the deck, still thinking.

[LoneStarLawn]

Now I am really confused..

Is there a reason why so many are side discharging than mulching?

The long wet grass...Yes I understand that, but we do not cut wet grass and everyone we cut grass for is maintained so the grass is not tall.

It would seem like tall grass discharged would require you to go over the discharge areas again to get that line of grass .

[Eric ELM]

I added 'bag' to the list for those that do pick up clippings.

I side discharge all the time now, years ago I picked up some clippings and leaves, but not anymore. :)

[geogunn]

I have the mulch kit for the ole lesco but it only consists of a baffle plate. it's a PIA to install but it does a good job for that much effort.

my problem with MY MOWER and mulching is that I eat a dust cloud all day when I am mulching. this wet summer might not be much of a problem with dust. however in the la nina sumers of last and previous years, I hated it.

I much prefer side discharge with high lift blades. it's awsome how the cuttings are broadcast over 15 to 20 feet!

now what I really need is an OCDC! I have washed sticky, gooey, green grassey slime off of several vinyl houses this year. an OCDC would do the trick.

GEO

[crazygator]

Lonestar,
I agree. Why not mulch all the time and aid in the break down of clippings? Plus you will leave a more manicured look, IMHO. If you worry about plugging up the deck, just spray it off at the end of the day. Of course the tall wet grass would be discharge only. Seems like more and more LCO's around here side discharge, but do not go back over clippings. Therefore in 1-2 hours you have this nice brown look from the clippings being left on top. I just dont understand this. Maybe it's my opening to take these customers and fix their problems...hehe!

[casey]

Our spring growth cannot be mulched even when dry on weekly cuts, that's why we side discharge. Heavy growth April to July.

[LoneStarLawn]

I guess maybe because of region. We have heavy growth too maybe yours shoot up more that 2 -3 inches in a week.

[Eric ELM]

Alan, some of our lawns are growing that much in 3 days right now. What a difference rain makes. :D

[LoneStarLawn]

Yeah I guess so...I think 3.5 inches during the growing season here is the max...I don't know never measured it (guess) but I know mulching has not caused us any problems.

[Eric ELM]

We would have to mow every 2 days right now if we mulched here.

[Randy Scott]

I am probably about an hour and a half from Chicago, and I'm in the same boat as Eric. We finally got some rain and it is growing and growing fast. Some cuts this week only had six days between them and they had to be double cut to chop the clippings so they disappeared. In another thread about mulch kits, I had stated that I had to take it off this morning because it was just leaving a trail of grass and just not working. I just purchased it yesterday and wanted to try it out. Bad idea! Layed on the ground taking it off with wet sticky grass up to my elbows, what a mess. Just the morning dew we always have will make it impossible to use the mulch kit. It is faster to double cut than mulch. It seems like this year it went from too wet to too dry. Unbelieveable! I would say that area and grass types would be what gives some of us such different answers and results for certain procedures.

[crazygator]

After reading others post's, I do agree with it all depending on your region. But it also would depend on your customers. 99% of mine do not irrigate any. They also are not too concerned with fertilizing and overseeding (all to save money). So if I had lawns like Eric does, then I would understand the growth, grass type, and mulching problems. But when all you do is mow down a few weeds then it's usually not a problem. Mulching a thinning lawn with weeds is fine, but a thick and tall grass would make problems. Guess I will just have to hard sell my customers into the thicker and healthier lawn instead of the weeds they think is grass!

[kutnkru]

Alan

The thing that makes the side discharge a viable option for us is that we dont take off more than 1/3 of the blade when we cut.

By cutting the grass higher than most other LCOs, and cutting more frequently during the heavier growing months, we are able to keep the lawns in better shape.

CG can probably get lawns from other LCOs if they are cutting a 4"+ lawn down to 2.5" every week.

Kris

[eslawns]

Originally posted by Eric ELM
We would have to mow every 2 days right now if we mulched here.

Here too. The only reason I want a bagger is for leaves.