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Why Won’t My Lawn Mower Properly Mulch?

Mulching lawn mowers are a great way to keep your lawn healthy and beautiful. The process of mulching uses a weed trimmer to chop up plants and debris into the size of fine dust which is then blown away by the mower’s engine and rotating blades. 

This not only helps to keep your yard clean, but it will also reduce the amount of time you spend tending to it as well.

In the world of lawn mowing, one thing that has changed is the fact that people are now using the mulching blade on their mowers. This blade will chop down your grass and spread it out so that it can decompose over time. 

It also leaves a nice and even surface when you are done with your job. Mulching blades are designed to chop the grass finely and drop it back on the ground for you to spread around the yard. 

They are ideal for use in areas like flower gardens, shrubs, lawns and more. However, these machines might stop working due to several factors. 

In this article we’ll discuss some of the most prominent factors for which your lawn mower mightn’t mulch properly.

A person is mulching with a lawn mower
Mulching with a lawn mower

Reason of lawn mower won’t properly mulch

The blades of a lawn mower are designed for cutting and removing clippings, not for shredding them into smaller pieces. The reason why the lawn mower won’t properly mulch is due to dull or damaged blade, wet or long grass, or a slipped clutch

If your lawnmower has any of these issues, you can run into problems such as uneven cuts, low power levels, and more time-consuming maintenance than necessary.

The blades are damaged

Lawn mowers have blades that spin at high speeds. These blades do a great job of cutting the grass in a timely fashion, but they can also cause problems.

Damaged Blades
Damaged Blades

A mower’s blade is designed to be durable and powerful. When a blade is damaged, the mower is likely to not mulch properly and may damage the lawn. 

It will affect grass cutting, which poses a problem in terms of collection and disposal of the clippings. When the blade hits something that is not part of the lawn, it could bend or break. 

This could be a toy, sprinkler head, stump, stone or even a rock. This leaves spots on your lawn where the blade doesn’t cut as well and where grass clumps may get stuck in between the teeth.

This happens when you’re mowing over a thin layer of ground cover like moss or flowers which can cause damage to your blade and prevent it from mulching properly.

You should check the blades and replace them if needed.

When the blades are dull

Many lawn mowers with dull blades will leave uncut grass and damage your lawn. A dull blade prevents a mower from mulching properly. The blades will tear the grass leaving jagged edges on your lawn.

Dull blades leave chopped grass and cut your lawn up, which will result in bigger maintenance costs and a messy yard. These blades are also known to damage your lawn and leave it with jagged edges that will tear the plants. 

It’s important for a mower to mulch or cut the grass in two passes to avoid leaving uncut or torn grass. A sharp blade on your lawnmower is important for proper mulching, as well as safety when you’re handling fuel and gas systems.

It’s best to sharpen your lawn mower blades regularly and make sure that they are in good working condition before using them on your lawn. You should use the best lawn mower blade sharpeners to sharp the blades.

Too big clippings

Clippings, the dead pieces of grass that fall from the lawnmower can be a nuisance if you live in an area with a lot of trees or shrubs. Too big clippings can prevent a mower from doing its job properly. 

In case of too big clippings, the mower will take more time to mulch and will require more effort to clean up the clippings.

When you’re clipping your hedges and shrubs, make sure that you are clipping them at the right height. This way, it won’t affect the mower’s ability to cut an even line of grass.

Too big clippings prevent a mower from doing its job, which can be a serious waste of time if you are going to do lots of cleanups every day. 

You will notice the clippings that are left will be different in your lawn than the gas catcher. It indicates that the clippings aren’t doing the job correctly.

The mower leaves a trail

This case is very rare. The mower leaves a trail that prevents a mower from mulching properly. A lawn mower leaves a trail of grass clippings and doesn’t mow where the clippings are. 

The mower leaves a trail that prevents mowers from performing their job properly. It also wastes gas and elevates the risk of spreading weed seeds around the yard, which leads to more weed growth.

Wrong blade type

The wrong type blades of your mower may be preventing you from mulching properly. If you happen to have the wrong blade type on your lawn mower, you are likely to have mulch that is not completely smoothed over. 

This will present a problem since mulch needs to be smooth and flat in order to be effective. In this case you should use mulching blades. 

Mulching blades feature a much longer cutting edge that is designed to cut the surface of your lawn when you walk the mower over it. These blades have a grove in the center that keeps clippings from sticking to them.

Deck might be clogged

The deck on a riding lawn mower is the most important part of the machine. If it is clogged with debris, your mower won’t be able to mulch properly and will cause more harm than good. 

A person is cleaning clogged Deck of a lawn mower
Clogged Deck of a lawn mower

As this buildup of clippings builds up over time, it will eventually prevent your mower from mulching properly.

A clean deck with little to no build-up is essential for efficient mulching and cutting efficiency. If your riding lawn mower has clogged decks, it may not mulch properly. You need to get rid of the accumulated clippings and dirt.

Conclusion

Lawn mowers are simple machines that can be used to help maintain a lawn. They work by rotating a blade at high speed while being pushed by the motor, which cuts grass and leaves clippings. 

But a mower that isn’t mulching properly is a very bad issue to fetch. You should fix the issue to get clean mulch out of the mower. It will help you to get more time for other tasks.

In this article we’ve discussed the possible causes of a lawn mower not mulching properly. You can follow our guidelines to get rid of the issue. If you can’t fix it by yourself, you should get help from professionals.

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