With every mower nowadays having the option of bagging, mulching, or side discharging, does one have more benefits than the other?
To answer that question indirectly, I would say yes, but each has its purpose. It is just when it comes to optimizing the health of your lawn, which this entire blog is about, then knowing when to use each option is necessary.
Although knowing whether to bag, mulch, or side discharge is not the only thing you need to know for maintaining or creating a beautiful lawn, it is an important one.
If your grass is not overrun with weeds, mulching is the best option to choose from. I firmly advocate for mulching during every mowing session, except for the initial one in the season and potentially the final one in late fall.
To mulch the grass clippings effectively you will need blades designed for mulching, as well as a deck that is deep enough to circulate the grass blades underneath for repeated cutting.
This is why when done correctly, you won't notice the grass clippings lying on top of the lawn when you are finished mowing. They'll be finely chopped and ready to decompose into the soil within the next few days, giving you free fertilizer. This is the main reason to mulch the grass clippings. The health benefits.
Another reason to mulch the grass clippings is the overall less mess to deal with. Because the clippings are dispersed back into the lawn and soil, there are no bags of grass to empty, or lines of grass left behind when side discharging. Of course, the latter is only possible if you are following the 1/3rd rule.
Trying to mulch overgrown grass will leave a mess behind, along with a bad-looking cut. That is why mulching should be reserved for those who maintain their lawns weekly. Even during the heavy spring growth period mulching is possible if you are mowing every 5 days.
Mulching often requires a slightly slower speed than bagging or side discharging to get that perfect cut look, but it is well worth it in the long term. And when you factor in overall time, it is faster, as you are not stopping to empty a bag, or having a lot of clippings to clean up after a side discharge.
And I would ignore any suggestions that mulching leads to increased thatch. In honesty, if you want a healthy lawn, not only would you mulch the grass clippings, but lawn care projects like aeration should also be done every few years at the minimum, so thatch shouldn't be an issue, unless, as I mentioned before, you are cutting too much grass blade off at once which cannot decompose properly in the soil.
Understand though that even if you are mulching the grass clippings every week when mowing, it's important to note that mulching will be less effective if the grass is wet.
This is because the chute on the mower deck is closed when mulching and the grass clippings cling to the bottom of the mower deck when wet instead of freely circulating for repeated cutting. This results in the mower deck becoming packed with grass, which leads to uneven cutting and eventual mower engine stalling and shutdown.
Honestly, there is no situation I would recommend mowing wet grass for either mulching, side discharge, or bagging.
The only time I suggest bagging the grass clippings is for the first mowing of the spring. After that, maybe during late fall if the leaves are too heavy to mulch back into the lawn.
I will admit, bagging the grass gives the lawn a pretty clean afterlook. Meaning, it seems to get more of the debris up that mulching and side discharging can sometimes just shred and scatter.
But the free nutrients you are robbing the lawn of by bagging is why I recommend mulching. Mulching the grass could look just as clean, granted your lawn is not littered with weeds.
If the lawn is littered with weeds, then bagging does become the better option for one reason only. It can slow down the spread of the weeds by sucking the weed seeds into the bag before they have had time to germinate.
But if that is your reason to bag, you need to be looking for lawn treatments to eradicate the weed problem. Otherwise, the weeds will still spread albeit slowly, and your lawn will suffer at the same time from the lack of free fertilizer that comes with mulching.
That's a lose-lose in my books.
This was the standard on my dad's old lawn mower. No bagging option, no mulching option. Just 2 heights to set the mower at, and side discharge away.
So, because mowers have evolved so much since the 1980s when I was a young boy, do I dare even suggest side discharge?
Yes. There are a few times I suggest. But first, let me say that side discharging under the right circumstances will deliver the best-looking cut quality due to the sheer speed the blades can spin and cut the grass.
Those circumstances include taking as little of the grass blade off at one time, as you risk the grass blades not being fine enough to decompose in the soil. Now, there's a reason to be concerned about pre-mature thatch buildup.
But if you are taking a little off, why not just mulch for the better health benefits I mentioned earlier?
Side discharging will often leave bigger clippings behind, visible to see. Most of the time, you will need to walk the lawn with a blower, spread the clippings out more evenly, or use a lawn rake.
But when the grass is too tall for the 1/3rd rule, this is when I would side discharge. And depending on the technique you use to mow the overgrown grass, this could get quite messy. I've used serval strategies for overgrown grass, and no one solution fits all because each property layout is different.
One thing that I like to do when side-discharging overgrown grass, however, is to first cut it to the height I desire. Then go back with the mower deck one notch higher and mulch the clippings.
Then if needed because clippings are still visible, I would bag on a third cut. I trust that you, however, would never allow your grass to grow so tall that it needed a triple-cut just to look decent.
In Summary: If your grass is relatively healthy, meaning it is not full of weeds, you should be mulching the clipping back into the lawn. It is a way to consistently add nutrients found in the grass blade tips back into the soil, improving your lawn's overall health.
Because winter debris is present on most lawns in early spring, bagging the clippings for the first mow is acceptable. So is bagging when the lawn is full of weeds, although you should look at correcting that weed problem through treatments.
Side discharge overgrown grass, and follow that up with mulching and if necessary bagging.
Now that you know that mulching will give your lawn the healthiest long-term outlook, I look forward to seeing your lawn thrive like never before as I roll through Euclid, Ohio, and the surrounding areas!
