If you get a mulcher blad eand block off the discharge you should be good to go. How much hp does the mower have?

I used to have a side discharge mower and needed the cover for the chute. My new mower has a rear bag and when the bag is off, a flap drops down and blocks the discharge. That's all I do. No mulching blade or anything. With the discharge blocked, the grass stays trapped under the deck longer and gets chopped multiple times.

Thanks bpgreen. I'm going to try that and see how it goes. It's a rear bagger. I guess worse comes to worse, the chute fills up and becomes blocks further clippings :) I might get a mulching blade anyway as I need to replace the blade anyway.

shortlid, the mower is 3.5HP.

Here's an update.

I went bagless today with the regular blade and didn't notice any problems. The chute filled up with grass and blocked it off. I only noticed a couple of clumps. The rest of the area you couldn't even notice anything. No lines like you'd see with a side discharge either.

I rinsed out the bottom of the deck when I was done so I can see what it looked like. It wasn't full of grass.

It was really nice not to have to empty out that dusty bag a few times either.

Since my blade needs sharpening, I'll probably get a mulching blade and see how it does with the fall leaves.

Your lawn will love you for this.

Just my $.02, go ahead and experiment with a mulching blade, but keep your old one too, unless it is unsharpenable or way out of balance. I "mulch mowed" for years with a regular blade before buying a "mulching blade" last year, and suspect the only difference is that if the lawn gets very long, the mulching blade will perform better, but that if you basically live within the 1/3 rule your regular blade (sharpened of course) will do the job, and may be easier on that 3.5hp engine.

Thanks for the info Paul.

The current blade hasn't been sharpened in many years. And the grass tips show it.

I have a dremel but I don't have the garden tool attachment but I think I can free hand it or use some diamond hones or files. Found a site I ordered from before that has it pretty cheap so might pick it up Dremel Mower Sharpening Tool

I am a fairly firm believer that you get what you pay for.

A plug in the mower -contoured to the shape of the deck helps to recirculate the grass clippings to be cut into finer pieces (hence mulching occurs.) I am wary to say that just plugging the grass bag opening is really going to improve your lawn over time. I hope you got a mulching blade for your mower. You may develop lawn disease problems as time goes by due to thatch build up and not properly mulching your grass. Your question should have been posted in the lawn mower forum. A good mower designed for mulching would be the best solution; but that would require some $$$

prairie_dog,

The clippings that collect in the chute contour nicely. A plastic insert would be nice but I haven't found one.

Everything I've read indicates that leaving clippings on the grass doesn't contribute to thatch. I try and mow frequently so that the clippings aren't that big to begin with but from what I saw the clippings didn't seem to be a problem. Even when I ran my hands through the grass it was hard to find the clippings.

Another update.

I sharpened my blade and checked the balance since the last mowing.

We've had a bit of rain recently so there were parts of the lawn that were a bit taller and thicker than the last couple of times.

My mower is older and only 3.5hp. There's a lever on the engine marked hi-lo. I don't want to dig to find the manual but I'm pretty sure based on the sound of the engine that it controls the power output. It was a lot quieter.

The mower struggled a bit in some of the denser areas even though I was going slow but it never stalled. There were a couple more areas that had clumps so I just went over them again to disperse/chop them up more and that seemed to work.

I recently applied some lime that was still on the lawn and was happy knowing that I wouldn't be bagging it up.

I'm going to look into getting a mulching blade though. Especially for the fall leaves.

There used to be a lot of places where you could get a blade sharpened pretty cheap but I don't notice them so much nowadays. Maybe you will get lucky and find such a place. When I was a kid a guy came around once or twice a year with a truck and all sorts of equipment in back and people brought out anything metal they wanted sharpened including lawnmower blades, steak knives, etc. He did a great job for very little money.

My Lord, if you mow here in NH (the granite state) you would be sharpening your blade before every mowing. Buy an impact wrench, air or electric, for blade removal, a body grinder and a blade balancer (available at NAPA and shows which end of the blade is heavy so you grind a little more off it until the blade ballances). Set the impact wrench on a light torque for reinstallation so you don't strip the threads out of your spindle. You'll want a vice to hold the blades while you grind. We go through lots of blades!

Since most blades turn in a direction that will cause the bolt holding the blade to tighten when the blade is spinning, you only need to tighten the bolt until it is snug. I have always been able to get the bolt loose with a 3/8" socket and 3/8" a bar. The only thing that over tightening the blade bolt will do is create a lot of magic words and some skinned knuckles

Contrary to what many people do, I use a standard blade and blow the grass into the uncut areas. By the time you are finished there are no clumps on the yard except from the last passes across the lawn. I take care of them using the mower to get blow the clumps into the yard.

I find this is just as effective as mulching

I have a riding lawn mower. After I am done mowing I blow the grass from the deck, muffler, and other parts of the tractor. I then blow the garage, porches, driveway, and side walks clean. As I am doing this I blow any remaining clumps or grass into the yard.d