Mulching

Mulching, or circular grass management, is becoming increasingly popular. It is an excellent method to maintain grass in a sustainable way. But what exactly is mulching, and how does it work? This is an important issue, because good mulching is often not possible due to the wrong choice of grass!

What is mulching?

The term 'mulch' literally means 'soil cover': You cover the soil with a layer of organic material. This can be done with various materials such as straw, hay, leaves, wood chips, cardboard, grass, etc. Mulching improves soil quality, protects the soil against weather conditions, adds organic material and nutrients to the soil and prevents weeds. In lawns, mulching refers to circular grass management. This may sound complicated, so allow us explain exactly what this entails. 

Grass mulching or circular grass management

Mulching is a fantastic sustainable maintenance method, resulting in a beautiful sward that largely fends for itself. It is a specific mowing technique that finely shreds the grass into small particles. These small particles are then blown back over the lawn and evenly distributed between the grass. This is different from traditional mowing, where grass clippings are much larger and can lead to problems. In fact, mulching means applying circular grass management: the grass clippings are recycled and feed the soil life, and ultimately the grass plants themselves. This completes the circle. Please note: mulching will only work if the grass is not too long. If you choose the wrong type of grass, this is a real risk! If you choose a slow-growing sward, mulch mowing will work much better and you will be rewarded with a beautiful lawn.

 

Mulching mowers

For mulching, you need a lawn mower with mulching functionality. The lawn mower's mulching deck has no discharge outlet, so the cut grass keeps circling around in the mower deck. The specially shaped cutting blade ensures that the grass is then finely chopped. When the grass cuttings are fine enough, they are spread out on the lawn. The cuttings are a food source for the soil life, which then converts them into natural nutrients for the grass plants. If you leave mowing too late, the grass cuttings will remain too large and cause suffocation issues in the sward. Make sure you have the correct sward for mulching. Choose slow-growing plants with a low growth point.

Om te mulchen heb je een grasmaaier nodig met een mulchfunctie. De mulchplug sluit de opvangtunnel af waardoor het gemaaide gras in het maaidek blijft rondcirkelen. Het maaimes zorgt ervoor dat het gras vervolgens wordt fijngesnipperd.

Mowing vs Mulching

 

Met gras mulchen wordt de bodem bedekt met gemaaide gras wat fijn vermalen is tot kleine snippers. Dit is in tegenstelling tot traditioneel maaien.

For me personally, the main advantage of mulching is that it saves time.

Marc de Haas
Gardener at BT Hoveniers (NL)

Benefits of grass mulching

Mulching has many different benefits, but only if it is done properly. Firstly, you do not need to fertilise the sward as much, because the plant is fertilised through recycling. Good for the environment and, therefore, sustainable! In addition, you can save much time with mulching, because there is no need to collect and dispose of the cuttings after mowing. Adding organic matter to the soil through grass clippings also provides a buffer against evaporation from the soil, so that the sward suffers less from heat and drought. A richer soil life will also keep your grass plants healthier. Keep in mind that fast-growing grass plants often also need more fertiliser! Fast-growing plants often cause mulching fails. Slow-growing plants have lower nutritional requirements and grow less rapidly, making them ideally suited for circular lawn management.

 

Click here to learn more about the benefits of mulching.

The perfect grass for mulching

Please note that mulching grass is not always possible. If the grass is wet or too high, you cannot mulch your lawn. Excessively large grass clippings lead to suffocation and mould, which in turn make the sward less healthy. But with the right grass, the latter is not a problem: Mow Saver® has been specially developed and is the perfect solution for mulching and robotic mowers. Mow Saver® grass plants establish quickly, have a low growth point and, as a result, low biomass production. This reduces the need for mowing and makes Mow Saver® ideally suited for mulching. You are much less likely to leave mowing too late. In addition, you don't need to use as much fertiliser because Mow Saver® plants can get by with less nutrition. Most importantly, Mow Saver® produces a beautiful sward to look at: very strong and graceful!

 

Click here to learn more about the perfect grass for mulching.

 

Mulching your own grass

Have you become enthusiastic and do you want to mulch your grass?

 

Take a look at the step-by-step plan here and get started!

Click here for more information about mulching.

 

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