17
MULCHING MOWING TIPS
(MULCHING MOWERS ONLY)
IMPORTANT: For best performance,
keep mower housing free of built-up
grass and trash. See “CLEANING” in the
Maintenance sec tion of this manual.
• The special mulching blade will recut the
grass clip pings many times and reduce
them in size so that as they fall onto the
lawn they will disperse into the grass
and not be noticed. Also, the mulched
grass will bio de grade quickly to provide
nu tri ents for the lawn. Always mulch
with your highest engine (blade) speed
as this will provide the best recutting ac-
tion of the blades.
• Avoid cutting your lawn when it is wet.
Wet grass tends to form clumps and
in ter feres with the mulch ing ac tion. The
best time to mow your lawn is the early
afternoon. At this time the grass has
dried and the newly cut area will not be
exposed to the direct sun.
• For best results, adjust the lawn mower
cutting height so that the lawn mower
cuts off only the top one-third of the
grass blades. If the lawn is over grown it
will be nec es sary to raise the height of
cut to reduce pushing effort and to keep
from over load ing the engine and leav ing
clumps of mulched grass. For ex tremely
heavy mulch ing, reduce your width of
cut by over lap ping pre vi ous ly cut path
and mow slowly.
1/3 MAX
MOWING TIPS
• For most cutting conditions and bet ter
bagging per form ance, the engine speed
should be set in the FAST po si tion.
• Under certain conditions, such as when
mowing very tall grass, raise the mower
height on the fi rst cut to reduce pushing
effort, to avoid over heat ing the engine,
and to avoid leaving clumps of grass
clippings. Make the second cut to the
desired height.
• For extremely heavy cutting, reduce the
width of cut.
• For side discharge lawn mowers, cut in
a coun ter clock wise di rec tion, start ing at
the outside of the area to be cut, in order
to spread grass clip pings more evenly
and to put less load on the engine. To
keep clip pings off of walkways, fl ower
beds, etc., make the fi rst cuts in a clock-
wise direction.
• When using a rear discharge lawn
mower in moist, heavy grass, clumps
of cut grass may not enter the grass
catcher. Reduce ground speed (push ing
speed) and/or run the lawn mower over
the area a second time.
• If a trail of grass clipping is left on the
right side of a rear discharge lawn mow-
er, mow in a clockwise direction with a
small overlap to collect the clippings on
the next pass.
• Pores in cloth grass catchers can be-
come fi lled with dirt and dust with use
and the catcher will collect less grass.
To prevent this, regularly hose catcher
off with water and let dry before use.
• Certain types of grass and grass
con di tions may re quire that an area be
mulched a second time to com pletely
hide the clip pings. When doing a sec-
ond cut, mow across or per pen dic u lar to
the fi rst cut path.
• Change your cutting pattern from week
to week. Mow north to south one week
then change to east to west the next
week. This will help prevent matting and
graining of the lawn.