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Mulching Mower vs Regular Mower

Those of you who have grass planted in either their backyard or front yard would want to maintain and trim the grass regularly. As you would expect, you need to have some sort of lawn mower at your disposal for the same. Even though you can essentially use any lawn mower of your choice to trim the grass around your home, you can find a wide range of options out there.

All these different types of lawn mowers offer slightly different features and benefits over each other. And we are here to show you the difference between mulching mower vs regular mower. Since mulching mowers are highly effective for dealing with grass in your backyard, you should definitely go through the following complete comparison between mulching mower vs regular mower.

Mulching vs Regular Mowers

While there are a lot of factors to consider while choosing between mulching mower and regular mower, you can also simply check out the following comparison chart to get an idea of their differences:

Differences Mulching Mower Regular Mower
Blades Curved mulching blades Straight cutting blades
Deck Design Deep and dome-shaped Shallow and flat deck
Grass Clipping Dispersal No need of dispersal Bag or discharge dispersal
Airflow Recirculating airflow Air lift airflow
Blade Cutting Portions Multiple cutting surfaces Single edge cutting surface
Preferred Cutting Modes Mulching Bag and discharge

If you wish to know each and every difference between mulching mower vs regular mower models, then you should also check out the following factors one by one other than this comparison chart:

Blades

One of the biggest differences between mulching mowers and regular mowers is the blades that they use for cutting grass. Starting with the blades of mulching mowers, which are also called mulching blades, have a curved design with a larger cutting edge. Because of this, the grass is cut multiple times, so only small pieces of grass fall on the ground.

But the best thing about mulching blades is that they support a total of 3 functions which include bag, discharge, and mulch the grass clippings, which you can guess by the name. On the other hand, if you are going with a regular mower for your lawn, then its blade is only going to support discharge or bag modes for the grass clippings.

Blades

Deck Design

You should also consider the deck design offered by any given lawn mower before buying one. Talking about the differences between mulching mower vs regular mower, you will find that mulching mowers have a circulating deck design. This simply means that the grass clippings keep circulating around the blade in a way that they get cut into very small pieces.

And in comparison to regular mowers, they have a deep and dome-shaped deck design for proper mulching of the grass clippings. Some mulching mower models can also come with a baffle for directing airflow and the grass clippings. This can be useful for switching to the discharge mode of your mulching mower, especially when your mulching mower has an adjustable baffle.

Deck Design

Grass Clipping Dispersal

Whenever you are cutting and trimming the grass of your backyard, you also have to consider the grass clipping dispersal to ensure that it can be easily cleaned later on. Taking a look at regular mowers, they only support bag and discharge options when it comes to dealing with the grass clipping.

As for mulching mowers, just as the name suggests, this type of lawn mowers simply mulch or cut down the grass clippings into very small pieces that you do not even need to discharge. However, if you wish, mulching lawn mowers can also support bag and discharge modes if required.

Grass Clipping Dispersal

Recirculation and High Lift

As we have already discussed earlier up above, mulching mowers have a deeper deck design due to which the grass clippings keep circulating around the blade resulting in a very small size.

To further make this process more efficient, mulching mowers use curved blades that make the air recirculate inside the deck, making the grass clippings circulate for a long period of time. As for regular lawn mowers, their blades are known as high lift blades which force the grass clippings upwards and out of the deck for proper discharge of the grass clippings.

Recirculation and High Lift

Blade Cutting Portions

Taking a closer look at the blades of regular lawn mowers, they usually have only a single cutting surface. Generally, this cutting edge is present at the ends of the blades, which is a bit limited when it comes to cutting grass clippings into smaller pieces. Moving over to mulching mowers, you will find that their cutting blades generally offer multiple cutting surfaces. As a result, the grass clippings get chopped multiple times while being in the recirculating airflow under the deck for proper mulching.

Blade Cutting Portions

Limitations

While there are a lot of benefits that you get from using a mulching mower, they are still not perfect, and you will still find a few limitations with them when you are comparing mulching mowers vs regular mowers. Since the grass clippings keep circulating under the deck of a mulching mower, they do not easily come out of the deck. On the other hand, a regular lawn mower can move grass clippings much easier for better discharge capabilities. In other words, if you want to have a lawn mower for bag or discharge modes, you should go with a regular lawn mower instead.

Conclusion

By going through all the various factors and comparison charts regarding mulching mower vs regular mower stated above, you should be able to easily pick the right one for you. This complete comparison between mulching mower vs regular mower consists of almost all the factors that you need to know before getting a lawn mower.

Overall, both mulching mowers and regular mowers can be a great pick for your backyard, depending on the mower modes that you wish to use for cutting grass in your backyard. If you have gone through all these mulching mower vs regular mower differences, make sure to share your thoughts in the comments section. You can also post any questions down there if you have any!

One Response

  1. Thank you for explaining how mulching mowers can support bag and discharge modes. I’ve been wondering more about these since my husband said it might be a good idea for our lawn. I’ll be sure to do more research, but it’s good to know that it offers us more options.

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