Quote Originally Posted by John H View Post
For what it is worth - a lawn guy in North Canterbury told me that mulching lawns is a Bad Thing. According to him, lawns that are mulched get clogged up around each grass plant and can't get access to sufficient oxygen for healthy growth. In due course the grass suffers from being smothered. He said you can sometimes revive it by aerating, using a particular tool for the process. And you need to de-thatch a mulched lawn from time to time. Of course it depends on how lawn proud you are...
I've heard these stories too, but after 3 years of mulching exclusively I see no signs of this effect.

For the last 2 years it's been a battery powered mower charged from solar panels. Makes me sound like a greenie but the truth is I just love gadgets and tech. I am not going back to petrol, that's my testimony for battery mowers. There are no starting issues, less noise, no fumes, no need for servicing, you can tip it in any direction to clean without worrying about oil, and because mine is plastic it's much lighter too.
Also no compression kick on the blades if you move them out of your way.

The only downside is a little less power and shorter run times so they don't suit large sections or long grass all that well. I have an 800m2 section on a street corner with around 100m2 of road frontage.
It takes me 35-45 minutes to mow and about 1.25 -1.5 battery charges (I have 2 batteries). One time I really let the lawn get away from me in spring and it took 7 full batteries to get through the lawn, not letting that happen again.