Discharge vs. Mulch

[Vibe Ray]

I hear that some of you guys discharge instead of mulch? What are the advantages of discharging over mulching? I thought discharging didn't cut up grass as fine as mulching. So why discharge? Does grass have to be mulched or does discharging cut it up enough? Does double blade discharging cut up as fine as single blade mulching? Does double blade discharging cut up as fine as double blade mulching? Let me in on this discharging stuff!!! I've always mulched.

[Eric ELM]

When you discharge, you can mow faster than when you mulch. With Double blades, it chops the clippings up so much smaller, that you don't see the clippings laying on top unless it is growing an inch a day like in the spring. Then I double cut each lawn that needs it and the clippings disappear.

The only time I mulch is in the fall or spring to chop up leaves better. I will close the OCDC if I'm going between mulched flower beds or by a mulched tree.

If you are mulching, the grass needs to be fairly dry to make it look good.

[Southern Lawns]

I hardly ever discharge for a few reasons. Eventually it causes buildup, takes longer for it to break down. Mulching really cuts it fine. I use a double "Ninja" blade on my WB and it does a great job. The second reason is that most of my jobs are in well manicured lawns and people don't want clippings in the beds ( I know.......just face the shoot away from the beds..) Mulching works for me....:) Of course there are times when I have to discharge but I try to avoid it.
"The old foul dudes"

[thelawnguy]

I have not discharged grass in over 4 years. Nor have I had to clean grass out of beds or off cars and buildings in 4 years.

[kutnkru]

I have found that many people refer to "mulching" the lawns when actually they are discharging clippings while using the Gator Blades.

I am under the belief that unless you "add" a kit to the baffle system under the deck, or have a toro "recycler" you will not be MULCHING your lawn.

This season I will be trying the double blade theory to see how well it works on our machines. More often than not we have used a high-lift blade [when bagging was prohibited in the contract] and had better results dispersing the clippings than with gator blades during the spring and fall.

S-lawns said that it causes thatch. I believe this to be false. According to our local co-op ext. grass clippings DO NOT cause thatch build up!! They will ADD to an existing layer. If properties are not thatched every couple of seasons they will have more than the 3/4" layer we use as a guideline.

Clippings should braek down and decompose about every 10 days. The thatch layer [dead matted grass] increases when the micro-organisms in the soil cannot access the clippings to aid in the decomposition process.

We like to have a THIN layer of thatch because it not only adds resilience to the turf but it will help protect the root system during those hot and dry summer months.

Kris

[awm]

Different grasses do more orless thatch.
I deal with fescue mostly.If its cut
right it doesnt seem to cause thatch problem.
As in a 8th or more build up.Lots of folk
dethatch when there is no thatch there.
They dont know that and its good for the
lawn as long as you dont tear it up to much.

[Mowman]

The first two years in business I used a Toro Recycler and in the spring I could not mow very fast. Now I have a Walker with a SD deck and I love it. I can mow as fast it will go and go over it twice if need be and it looks like I bagged or mulched it. I doubt very much if I'll ever go back to mulching. Sidedischarge is much FASTER. I also put on a set of Gator Blades which also helps make the clippings smaller. I guess it's what you like or works for your application.
Good Luck,
Mowman

[TGCummings]

I use either the Exmark with the Micro-Mulch kit or the Toro Recycler to do all my mulching. This Spring, I'll be using the Exmark with the double-blades for the first time.

Kutnkru nailed in all on the head with his post. Mulching does not cause thatch buildup, from everything I have seen and read.

I'd like to give discharging a try this season, but I've got some real concerns about it in my area. A lot of places around here have close flower beds or the lawns are very small. Also, most of my lawns have a street strip and there wouldn't be anyway to control the discharge from going into either the street or back up on the other side of the sidewalk, which would cause more of a cleanup hassle. I can control that better with mulching. It really depends on your situation and locale, I'd think.

I've had to let go of a handful of customers this past season because they had the 'bagging or nothing' mentality. For a time I was offering both services because of the ease of transfer from one to the other with my former mower, the 21" Toro Recycler. With my Exmark, you either mulch with the baffle kit or you can bag or discharge w/o it. It takes a good bit of time to transfer from one to the other. Since the majority of my customers preferred the mulching I had to make a choice, but it's worked out well.

If you have large enough areas where you can discharge, I'd say give it a try. Mulching, however, seems to the appropriate in my case...

-TGC

[65hoss]

It depends on where you live and what type of grass. I have double blades with gators and when I side discharge (even 2x) it still sits on top of the lawn very noticable. Bermuda is very thick and it traps on top everything. Zoysia is the same way. My lawns that are fescue I can get away with this. With my exmarks with mulching kits, you go over it once and unless I tell you, you will think it was bagged. No lie, Just fact. Just doesn't look as professional around here to side discharge. 95% of lawns here are bermuda.

[Skookum]

DISCHARGE it is much faster!

I discharge 99.9 percent of the time on commercial and residential, as do most LCO around here. Bagging is by no question the best manicured look possible, but those days are gone. The last holdout large company that concentrated on bagging at all high maintenance accounts around here, finally has begun to buy and use equipment with the intent to discharge. They had to to remain competetive. It is just not cost effective anymore. I still use a bagger on a 21" at a small highly visiable account mainly to pickup cig butts and trash.

I do use a 33" Troybuilt as well as a 21" Snapper to occasionally mulch in really tight small backyards and little islands as not to throw clippings. But, as soon as I hit open area, the mulch plug comes out and back to discharge. I do use, like most, the mulchers at fall for leaves when practical.

I learned years ago that the grass types do have some effect as well as the heights you are cutting along with the actual health of the lawn when trying to mulch or discharge. But, for the most part discharging gives great results. The key is mowing regularly and dispersal. Dispersal, which is most important, is tough to do with deflectors, which is why most LCO's rip the discharge deflector off. I keep mine on, but I use a rubber strap to keep it up at a more level height when there are no bystanders around. I can adjust it very easily as the conditions and safety aspects demand.

I also disagree that discharging causes thatch. I just have not seen it happening.

I do use gator blades, but not all the time, usually in the spring and fall. They do negatively affect the lift alittle bit. I usually use high lifts at all times during the year.

I have found that those people (residentials) that want bagging look have had bad experiences with side discharge when they mowed it themselves with a old K-mart 21" after letting it go for two weeks. I have changed several minds after allowing me to do it my way for a while. If they are still unhappy, I raise the price and mulch with the Troybuilt.

I might add that the Troybuilt does do a great job, and I know that the other manufacturers are producing better mulchers every year, but not equal to discharge, in my opinion at this time.

[Vibe Ray]

What is the purpose of that thing sticking out the side of the mower( I believe called a deflector)? Is it necessary? Beacuse if it is not, I would rather remove it and reduce the with of the mower for tight spots. What techniques are required to dicharge effectively that you don't have to do when mulching or bagging? Mow a certain way?

[Skookum]

The deflector is to deflect objects, other than grass, down as not to throw and hurt someone or something. It is mainly a safety feature. It does get in the way which is another reason alot of LCO's take them off. Most take them off because they effect the grass dispersal. If left on or all the way down, it will cause the grass to buildup and windrow just like that little trail you can get when you mulch too tall of thick grass and your mulcher cannot handle it all. I would never take one off, but I do adjust mine like I posted earlier.

When discharging, it is like spray painting. You want to discharge the grass clippings evenly across the lawn. Too heavy in one spot will leave grass showing just like a run in the paint after spray painting. No matter how you mow, back and forth, around the perimeter in one direction does not really matter as long as you are aware of the grass you are throwing. Tight areas where you turn alot, can cause grass to be thrown too much in one little area where it will dry on top the lawn and look bad.

You do not want to throw grass into beds, walks, streets, etc.. so you usually do a starter strip around the perimeters. Some guys do one sometime I do two passes. This gets you far enough away from the property lines to allow for turning while not throwing grass out of the perimeter on to walks, streets, etc.. Trees are another thing as well, you mow throwing away from trees not to them or grass will pile up at the tree base and look very bad.

Basically, you just need to be aware of where you are throwing grass to maintain a quality look.

[bob]

I started out mulching. But I've got some community open areas that are cut every other week. This was too much too mulch. I took it off and never mulched again. When the mulching kit was on, it did a great job. It's just too time consuming taking it on and off. I now side discharge everything.

[HOMER]

I know I'm biased but that is the beauty of the OCDC on the Choppers. Discharge when conditions allow it and close the chute for safety or mulching into fine particles. It takes a couple of seconds and you can switch from one to the other.

[Skookum]

Homer, Eric and other Chopper guys,

I am aware of what the OCDC does on your decks and it sounds great. Does that have some sort of baffels too, that throw the clippings back into the deck. If not, how does it mulch more, does it not bogg up? I am just trying to see how you can cut off the discharge and continue to throw clippings toward the discharge and it not effect the qaulity of the cut in some manner, by speed, lift, anything at all. Does it ever leave a mulchy clumpy trail on the discharge side? Just curious cause if it works why would it not work on any discharge deck.

[HOMER]

The OCDC has holes in the side of it to allow air to pass through it. In my situation with the warm season grasses we have down here I will discharge when possible but close the chute if I don't want to scatter bahai all over the place-or weeds! I will close the chute and pulverize the targeted area and on my next pass open the chute back up and disperse the clippings. If I am on a regularly cut yard that hasn't gotten out of hand I can just leave it closed and mow away. I might have to hit an area one more time to hide it completely but I think that's the real world. I haven't seen any mowers fun over some of the grass we have here with one pass and leave. If they do they left a mess.

The OCDC just gives you options when you need them. I ran and still run a Scag and it was either bolt on the mulching plate and repeatedly run over the areas or leave it off and chase everything around to cut it. I now have a Trac-Vac unit on that machine so I solved that problem. When I bought the Choppers I realized real fast what I had been missing. I have had another company ask me to mow an area that was covered in bahai because he had a mulch kit on his mowers. He had dedicated his mowers to mulch but when the grass got thick he was in for a long ride. Mulching works on most machines IF you take off a little grass at the time. I cut most of my areas on a 10 day cycle, it would get pretty rough on some of those lawns if I couldn't mulch/discharge at will. This year I will go to the double blades exclusively on both machines. When I want to mulch I'll have an extra set helping me and when I want to discharge I can sling the grass 20' to help disperse the clippings.

[pace lawn care]

On my Husqvarnar, I took off the deflector and made my own that closes off the chute fully to mulch (semi). When around cars, people, beds or whatever, I just flip it down and when out of danger flip it up. It works much like the Choppers OCDC. So I guess my comment is I only discharge using double-blades. My top blade is the lightest and cheapest one I can find. This really help when engaging the blades. I can do so at an idle.

[Skookum]

Homer

Thanks for that better description of the OCDC unit on your chopper. The holes makes since for air flow, but does that not just choke up with grass in a matter of a few feet, or does it actually stay clear? About how big are those holes? Are they so big that the grass blows out, but just at a reduced volocity so they do not throw as far or does it actually still keep them in the deck?

[Mr.Ziffel]

Anyone have some pictures of their OCDC they could post? Especially looking for what would work on the LazerZ. I looked for Eric's pictures on his site but could not find any and the search function shows a little talk but no pictures. Another member had some but he cleaned off his computer but may be able to post them soon. Mr. Stone, how about a more detailed description of your very good idea using a choke cable?

I talked to York sheet metal and they're still working on their prototype OCDC so didn't have anything yet. Thanks for any info. Will M.

[accuratelawn]

Mr. Ziffel,
You can buy the plate from Exmark to close the discharge opening. It's about $20. A couple bolts and you're in business. It does an ok job for me.

[John DiMartino]

On my Dixie chopper the holes will plug up with grass,but you can leave the chute open a hair.I honestly think the ODCD is more for safety and keeping clipings away from street and mulch beds.While it will mulch,it is not as good as the bolt on mulching kit.With the way it disperses clippings,i really dont see need to actually mulch.I do use mine on a small yard that i have.it keeps thegrass contained and reduces or elimnates the need to blow.On commercial propertys,on your second pass,along curb,you can close the chute and reduce rpm's a little and it wont blow everything into the parking lot,saves alot of cleanup time.on open areas,I keep it fully open and let it blow out.Clumping isnt a problem,these decks cam move some air,so they do a good job dispersing therm enough so they dont show.

[Eric ELM]

http://elms.bizland.com/ocdc.jpg

[Skookum]

Thanks Eric