What equipment do I need to mulch my leaves?

If you are a homeowner, you can shred ’em using a mulching lawn mower, a leaf shredder, a leaf vacuum/shredder, or even a do-it-yourself setup using a weed whacker inside a trash can.

Electric Mulch Mower

Leaf Shredder

Leaf Vacuum

We recommend using a high-torque mower for mulching deep piles or wet leaves. A 7 ft-lb torque gas mower should work quite nicely. If using an electric mower, look for 12  amp or greater motor.

Note that some trial and error may be needed to adjust the mower height to an optimum level which balances leaving the grass cut high and keeping the in-process leaf shreds from blowing out too early from under the mower deck. A height of between 2.5"-3" is a good place to start.

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If you are a professional landscaper, simply operate your mower in "mulching" configuration (with the deck plate shut). The after-market Vulcher 2 is an example of a professional-grade mulch door accessory.

You should also make use of specially winged Gator Mulching Blades which are designed to maximize shredding. (Mulching blades are typically the same cost as a regular blade and fit all standard manufacturers' mowers.) Remember to keep your mower blades sharp!

Commercial Mower

Vulcher mulch port assembly

Gator Blade

My gardener doesn't have a lawn mower that mulches. Can he use his regular lawn mower? If not, where do you recommend buying a lawn mower that mulches? And what should I expect to pay?

A regular mower will not give the best results, esp. with deep layers of leaves. This is because the mower will expel the leaves from underneath the deck before they are fully chopped into small shreds. Even with repeated passes over the leaves, the result may not be acceptable.

What is needed is either a mulching kit accessory (for the existing mower) which closes off the output port of the mower deck, or an upgrade to a true mulching mower.

Many companies make mulching mowers for both homeowner market and for the professional landscaper market. Under the Homeowner tab (near the bottom of the page), there are links to various product pages. One of these links is to an Amazon.com page of walk-behind mulching mowers (consumer grade, not professional grade). Such mowers can range between $150 to $350 depending upon brand, size of blade and so forth. (Professional landscaper mowers are typically more expensive.)

Mulching mowers can also be found at Home Depot, Sears, and other similar stores.

We recommend that if selecting a gas powered mower, a mower with at least 7 ft-lbs of torque be chosen. If selecting an electric mower, a 12 or 14 amp motor is good.

For further information, see this FAQ: What equipment do I need to mulch my leaves?

Will mowing the leaves into the lawn look messy?

Most homeowners don't realize the landscaper is doing anything different after they switch to mulching-in-place. The shredded mulch generally cannot be seen on the lawn. Sometimes, if the leaf layer is very thick, you may need to make two passes to mulch all the leaves. Landscaping mowers equipped with mulching fittings reduce the leaves to such tiny fragments that you don't see them at all.

After I mulch mow, I can still see brown leaf shreds on my lawn. Is this a problem?

After mulching you may see leaf shreds both on the surface of the grass and in between the blades of grass. But they should not be of the density or size (under 1" square) that will block light and/or smother the turf. Over the winter, those leaf shreds on top of the grass should fall into the root zone soil, as well. There, they will decompose naturally by mid to late spring.

Lawn showing shredded leaves (on right)
after one pass of mulching mower.

When I mulch mow, the mower leaves a trail of not-fully-chopped leaves behind. What am I doing wrong?

There is often some confusion about the "rowing" of chopped leaves left behind the mower. This is typically an issue during the late fall's peak leaf drop accumulation. When you’re processing large piles and heavier volumes, such "rowing" can be expected, requiring a second pass. For greatest efficiency, keep pushing the processing into the pile of unprocessed, meaning in a clock-wise motion.

Take on no more than 2/3 or 3/4 of a deck's width of material at a time. With a full deck's width, you may be making the machine work too hard, often resulting in the “toss” of some un-chopped leaves right out the front and sides of the mower deck - it's simply a case of too many leaves at a time for the mower.

In every pass over the leaves, you want to strive to get the absolute perfect amount under the deck. No more-no less… It’s and experience thing. Your eyes and ears (mower engine sound) will tell you what you need to know.

What is the optimum size for my shredded leaf mulch?

Leaf shreds should be about 1" square maximum. When commercial mowers are used by landscapers, shred size is often much finer than this.

It looks like the leaf mulch is too thick on my lawn after shredding them under my trees. What am I doing wrong?

As the fallen leaves build up deep under large shade trees or if they are wet, a single pass of a mulching mower is often not sufficient to sufficiently shred them into small pieces. Sometimes several passes over the area will be required. (For best effect, mow "across the grain" on each pass.)

 For really deep pile of leaves, there are a couple of techniques to try: you can spread the leaves out (thin the layer) into other areas of the lawn before shredding. Alternately, a leaf blower can be used post-shred to help "even out" the mulch over-burden across the lawn and/or into landscape beds. 

A deep pile of leaves can be "attacked" by raising up the front of the mower and coming down on top of the pile, over and over, to pre-shred. Then perform a normal pass with the mower.

Other possible factors? The height of the mower deck (thus the blade height) might need to be adjusted lower to keep leaf shreds under the mower and in the blade path longer. Is the mulch gate (deck door) closed? Perhaps the blades have not been sharpened recently?

What do you do when there isn't much lawn but you still have loads of leaves to clear?

Rake or blow the leaves into long strips on the driveway, (the strips can be up to 2 ft deep) and mow over them with your mower. The pile will reduce in volume about 10-fold and you can blow the mulch back onto the landscape beds or around trees & shrubs.

The one “problem” area in your landscape may be your perennial beds including any ground cover areas. Whole fallen leaves can be heavy and damp (especially oak and sycamore) and may create bad air flow and drainage, leading to risk of perennial crown rot in some species. Carefully pull, vacuum, or blow off the leaves from the beds, then shred and apply the fluffy mulch directly back onto the same beds.

To see just how great natural leaf mulch can look, check out this Fine Gardening video of gardener Sydney Eddison showing how she uses shredded leaves to mulch her perennial beds.

What if I don't like the look of leaf mulch on my landscape beds?

Some people prefer the look of commercial mulches. In that case, use a leaf mulch about 3" deep and top it off with a cosmetic layer (1") of commercial mulch. This way you are still using the leaves productively.

Won't the leaf mulch run off when it rains?

In general the (finely shredded) leaf mulch stays right where you left it, especially when it rains. It begins to break down immediately and improves the structure of the soil.

Can I mow over the millions of acorns on my property? I am afraid they will break my mower! There are SO MANY this year!

Acorns are either too heavy and won’t be sucked up, and/or the mower setting/blade height won’t put the blade any where near the acorns.

You can gather them if they present a condition which either tracks the cracked broken shells in the house, or creates a concern for an unwanted 'roller skating' condition.

One nice "green" idea is to gather them up and put them off to the side, so the wild life can still have the natural food source.

Is there a list of local landscapers who provide LELE services?

For a list of Landscapers who provide LELE services, download this updated contact list (.pdf).

What is GreenScaping?

GreenScaping encompasses a set of landscaping practices that can improve the health and appearance of your lawn and garden while protecting and preserving natural resources.