What do yall do with yours? I have 1/4 acres incl. the house I find it a pain to bag them all up in trash bags or just dumping them under large trees as mulch don't look so good. I know people use them for composting and what not, just looking for some ideas. Thanks in advance.
Peter
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if you have no need to collect the clippings, first thing pops to mind is "Why do it?"
leaving the clippings on the lawn decreases the need for "artificially" fertilizing the grass - by roughly 1/3 to 1/2.
a mulching mower is a nice touch, but I was leaving the clippings for decades before the marketing hype of a mulching mower.
unless you wait for the grass to get 6" high, you'll likely not ever notice any "difference" in appearance between bagging them and leaving them on the lawn.....
leaving the clippings on the lawn decreases the need for "artificially" fertilizing the grass - by roughly 1/3 to 1/2.
a mulching mower is a nice touch, but I was leaving the clippings for decades before the marketing hype of a mulching mower.
unless you wait for the grass to get 6" high, you'll likely not ever notice any "difference" in appearance between bagging them and leaving them on the lawn.....
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rainbowgardener
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Agree, the grass clippings are a treasure, not to be wasted. I always wish I had more! Yes, you don't need to bag them up at all, most modern mowers mulch them fine enough, you can just leave them on the lawn as Dilbert suggested. And yes they are really good in your compost pile when mixed with "browns." And yes they make really nice mulch, not so much for under trees, but in a vegetable garden.
The mower left onsite has a sliding selector that can slide between bag and mulch. I've tried to leave it half way or totally on the mulch side but I didn't like the streaks of grass it leaves thinking they block sun light and when wet they kill the lawn under neath . . . even in full bag mode, some clippings get left behind when I'm mowing down hill, and when the bag gets full.
Or do you refer to a different kind of mulching mower that's able to spread the clippings off more nicely?
Or do you refer to a different kind of mulching mower that's able to spread the clippings off more nicely?
Dillbert wrote:if you have no need to collect the clippings, first thing pops to mind is "Why do it?"
leaving the clippings on the lawn decreases the need for "artificially" fertilizing the grass - by roughly 1/3 to 1/2.
a mulching mower is a nice touch, but I was leaving the clippings for decades before the marketing hype of a mulching mower.
unless you wait for the grass to get 6" high, you'll likely not ever notice any "difference" in appearance between bagging them and leaving them on the lawn.....
I should ask when you don't bag the grass, how often do you mow the lawn? Since I haven't moved in, I've been doing it every 2 weeks. Maybe if I do it every week then I don't have to bag . . .
Come to think of it the sound of lawn mower is going off everyday in that neighborhood I thought they are nuts since I'm moving from a place with an association that mows the lawn for us.
Come to think of it the sound of lawn mower is going off everyday in that neighborhood I thought they are nuts since I'm moving from a place with an association that mows the lawn for us.
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rainbowgardener
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- Location: TN/GA 7b
If you are getting any rain, you would usually mow the lawn every week in the growing season. Ours hasn't been mowed very much this season because we've been in big drought. But for a lawn growing normally, you don't want to be taking off more than 1/3 of the blade length at a time.
So maybe your clippings don't mulch in as well because you are letting it get too long and then taking off too much at a time.
So maybe your clippings don't mulch in as well because you are letting it get too long and then taking off too much at a time.
rainbow,
Thanks, your assessment is correct since the 1st time I cut it was after closing and the previous owner had already moved out for weeks. Then we've been getting lots of thunderstroms every few days so it grows fast. I will adjust the height too. Guess I'll be like everyone pushing the mowers every weekend =) Thanks!
Thanks, your assessment is correct since the 1st time I cut it was after closing and the previous owner had already moved out for weeks. Then we've been getting lots of thunderstroms every few days so it grows fast. I will adjust the height too. Guess I'll be like everyone pushing the mowers every weekend =) Thanks!
how "effective" & neat a mulching mower is depends on the model, etc etc and I have no expertise in which brand/model is better / worse - so can't help you with that.
1966 through 1997 I had the same mower - no bagging option - side discharge - spattered stuff into the wind.
your mowing height should be on the order of 3-3.5 inches and for optimum health, the theory is to mow when it's about 4 inches - I.e. remove only about 1/3 the grass blade length.
as mentioned above, letting it go too long will make a lot of things more difficult.
1966 through 1997 I had the same mower - no bagging option - side discharge - spattered stuff into the wind.
your mowing height should be on the order of 3-3.5 inches and for optimum health, the theory is to mow when it's about 4 inches - I.e. remove only about 1/3 the grass blade length.
as mentioned above, letting it go too long will make a lot of things more difficult.