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.

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 are some LELE Tips for Landscapers?

Some simple tips for effective and efficient mulch mowing from landscapers experienced with LELE practices in the field:

• SLOW DOWN! Mulch mowing is different than grass mowing. (Slower speed allows finer leaf chop.)
• Install mulching blades (e.g.; “Gator" blades or mower brand-specific blades) on mowers.
• Close the mulch plate on the mower deck.
• Keep your mower blades well-sharpened.
• Mow grass high through the fall so that leaf shreds can settle between grass blades.
• Adjust the blade height to 2.5-4 inches high. (You'll need to experiment to determine optimum setting for your mower and site turf conditions to maximize leaf chop and minimize throw from under the deck.)
• Mulch when leaves are dry or semi-damp, whenever possible.
• 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.)
• Face mower discharge to the work-to-be-done side for easy re-grind when necessary.
• If required, multi-pass to shred leaves completely (around 1" square is target size).
• On subsequent passes, use a criss-cross pattern over the lawn to minimize rutting.
• With deep leaf piles, raise the front of the mower to "attack" into the pile, then lower deck back down. Repeat this "raise & lower" chopping technique as required. (Hint: a counter weight on the rear of the deck helps reduce the effort to raise/tilt the chassis.)
• Blow excess leaf shred on surface of turf across a wider lawn area to even out. Excess shred can also be blown into nearby landscape beds as a mulch.
• Mulch mow collected leaves next to a target area where you desire to use the resulting mulch.
• Learn the ROLLING CHOP technique to allow the mulcher man to work in concert with the man with the blower so that in a short time, everything is processed "in situ." (See details here.)

What is the 'Rolling Chop' technique?

One important technique is to have your crew create long row-piles of leaves: instead of waiting for them to gather everything into a pretty pile, you can start at the far end of the row, mulching into 1/4 or 1/3 of the pile while they continue to wrangle leaves onto the other end. This way, no one is having to stop their task flow or creating working space and safety conflicts. The “setters” can keep building and setting the leaves for processing, and the "mulcher man" won’t have to stop and wait, he can keep processing. Some of the crew can advance onto the next space and some can drop back behind the mulcher man to “dust off” (even out) the tiny chips. It’s what we call the ROLLING CHOP.

The ROLLING CHOP is absolutely the best approach when it’s windy, too. You are quickly on the leaf rows the setters are making, very few leaves have the exposure to get caught by the wind potentially shifting about and creating a mess.

Learning the ROLLING CHOP allows the mulcher man to work in concert with the man with the blower so that in a short time, everything is processed "in situ" (and you can move on to the next yard space). No dragging of barrels, tarps, blowing/pushing piles long distances to curbside, or lifting/loading into trucks. The goal is to handle all the leaves on the ground where they lie with great ease, resulting in an efficient, time saving effort.

What is Grass-Cycling?

Grass-cycling simply refers to the process of leaving your grass clippings in place on your lawn as you mow. Since your mower is left in its "mulching" configuration, mowing both grass and fall leaves provides a 3-season solution to lawn care, while yielding all of the benefits discussed on this site (e.g.; time savings, cost savings, green house gas reductions, soil enhancement).

The average lawn produces 1,500 pounds of grass clippings - clippings from a 1,000 square foot lawn contribute 1/2 to 1 pound of nitrogen back into the soil. Clippings can provide up to 1/3 of the annual feeding requirements of your lawn. Clippings left in place can also help block weed germination.*

Note that according to Cornell recommendations, for best effect, grass should be mowed no lower than 3" to 3.5" and your mower blades should be kept sharp. If the grass is wet, several passes may be required to effectively (finely) mulch the cut blades. Done properly, grass-cycling will not create a buildup of thatch.

* From presentation on Backyard Conservation - Lawn Care Practices developed by the Ohio Federation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts. (Summary taken from slides 10 & 11. See also slides 12-14 for more discussion of leaf mulching.)  Read the entire presentation with speaker's notes (.pdf) on grass-cycling, leaf mulching, and water management in turf care. Also, be sure to get their 4 Simple Steps to Lawn Care.

• Get the Westchester County Brochure about Grasscycling.
• Get the Ohio Federation of Soil & Water Conservation Districts Brochure on Backyard Conservation: Lawns and the Environment.
• Get the Ohio Federation of Soil & Water Conservation Districts powerpoint presentation (as a .pdf) concerning Backyard Conservation.
• Get the Montgomery County. MD brochure (.pdf) on Grasscycling - highly recommended.
• Get this short article filled with Grasscycling tips (.pdf).
• Get this article on "The Benefits of Mulching Explained" (.pdf).