Grass clippings are free fertilizer so I mulch. Also, with the technology and advances of mulching blades in the past 30 years, there is no need for me to even think about bagging 99 percent of the time. With a Ninja blade on my Snapper, I can even mulch leaves to the the point would never know I had leaves on the lawn..... within reason. Here is the 1% exception. If the leaves are 5" thick, you can't expect miracles. In that case, I mulch the leaves as best I can and then bag them. That's the only time I remove the chute plug on my Snapper. With a heavily wooded lot, the key is to stay on top of the leaf drop without letting it build up too thick, this way you can just keep mulching.
The Gator Blades are not bad for mulching, but IMO they are not what they used to be quality wise. 15 or 20 years ago, they were seriously heavy duty blades. Now, they look 1/2 the quality of what they used to be, if that. Everything changes, but still the advances in blade design for mulching have been very good.
Mulch all mowing season. Bag the leaves only with deck raised all the way up.
#8
exotion
I mulch if possible. Quite often it's to long to mulch efficiently. Or pine needles or leaves on lawn. Pine needles fall all year long and create acidic soil if mulched
Bag all season,
We compact & package our clippings and after they have fermented into lawn clipping silage we sell them to area farmers as cattle feed. The pesticides that were applied to the turf breakdown and degrade making it safe to feed. We earn around $20,000 extra cash each year from 230 tons. Makes momma happy, has allow me to surprise her with a new camper, boat or trip.
#10
AllenPKang
The answer is that most of the time you should mulch the grass when you mow.
I compost all grass clippings. I use a push mower with a bag and empty it as needed. The bulk of the yard is mowed with a riding JD, I mow in a pattern to consolidate the cut grass into strips, then rake it into wheeled trash bins and dump it into a homemade composter. Wetting it and covering it with a thin layer of compost and dirt really accelerates breaking the clippings down into usuable compost.
We compost grass clippings, leaves, edging and hedge trimmings and some kitchen refuse, i.e. eggshells, vegetables. No fats or proteins unless it's vegan.
I prefer to mulch on the yard, but you have to be careful with that such that tends to grow as mulch accumulates. I will mow using the mulching method all year with one time a year running a D Thatcher on my yard. I don't bag anything unless there's like a big mess in my yard. If I have a lot of weeds appear in my yard I will bag until the weed infestation is resolved. I don't know why I have problems with weeds in my yard, but they seem to come in in the spring time. I don't like to mulch when there's weeds that are seeding simply from preference alone. I may be wrong, but it seems self-defeating if I mulch weed seeds into my grass. What do you think?
When I had .15 acres I bagged every cut. When I moved and had .28 acres I mulched every three or four cuts. With over an acre to cut now, I side discharge every cut!
I discharge with mulching blades (Gator G5/G6) most of the time, discharge with high lift blades when necessary (lush spring growth) and do a combination of discharging with mulching blades and bagging in the fall. Bagging is generally my last option. I'd usually rather double cut a lawn than bag it. Mulching exclusively just isn't a practical option for me, and bagging exclusively is too time consuming and generates too much material.
I usually bag them or just use my rake to get rid of them, but I'm currently looking into alternate ways of dealing with leaves.
This thread has some great tips.
