A question for those of you with ride-on mowers - to mulch or not to mulch...

[ADriedFrogForTheBursar]

We are just about to move to a house with a big garden and are about to buy a ride-on mower - a scary business as we know nothing about them. We have been offered one by a friend for a very good price (hardly used and less than half original price) but it apparently mulches rather than collects cuttings. I understand the difference but what do any of you lot do and why?! If we go down the mulching route is my house just going to be constantly full of clippings from shoes? Please help me decide whether to get this mower or not (it's a stiga) - you can get an attachment to collect clippings but it is £400 - or whether to get a mower that collects. Thanks

When we had a big garden and a ride on mower, we had one of those collecting attachment things. This just means you have to either compost huge volumes of grass every week (more often in April and May) which isn't easy - your compost heap will grow and grow - or you end up going to the nearest tip with a vanful of grass each week. Not the best way to spend Sundays, trust me

You're right in that a mulching mower will leave bits of grass everywhere though......but at least you won't have the issue of mountains of grass cuttings

Funnily enough I was discussing this a couple of days ago, and we decided the ideal route was to collect the grass early in the year when the lawn is all wet and growing like a weed, and then mulch later on in July/August when it doesn't grow so much (in the olden days of hot summers)

Just read this through and it is no help at all, sorry

Lol! Thanks for the reply, still a bit stumped though I think your solution sounds ideal but don't think we can afford mower and cuttings collector

Can you mulch this year and next and see how much the grass cuttings irritate you? Make a rule that no shoes in the house at all?

If after that you really can't deal with the mess, you could look on Ebay or ask your local dealer to find you a second hand collector.

we had ride-on mulcher and a smaller petrol collector job for a posher bit of lawn closer to the house. Don't remember an issue with clippings in the house, but long term you will get problems with thatch I believe. Got a grass collector for the ride on but it wasn't something you could whip on and off like with a smaller mower - it was a permanent attachment and you needed a degree in mechanical engineering to get the damn thing on. Obviously never got fitted or used.

forgot to answer your question - I think i would go with a mulcher. like only says, you can save up for a collector for next year.

Thanks MIA. Urmmm..what's thatch?!