To bag or not to bag,that is the question !?

Question

I've tried to read up on whether to mulch or bag when mowing the lawn, and I'm getting both answers. What is the right answer to this?

Answer 1

It is preferable to pick up clippings while mowing. This reduces thatch, which is harmful to your lawn, and prevents brown spots. However, by removing the clippings, you are also removing nitrogen from your lawn and throwing it away. More frequent fertilization is needed. Mulching provides additional nitrogen for the soil by recycling the clippings. In mulching, you should take care to dethatch the lawn regularly in spring or fall (at least once per year). Also, if the lawn is high, you should mow a second time to rid the excess clippings from the top of the lawn.

That is from a lawn management standpoint. You may wish to consider whether it is advisable from an environmental standpoint to landfill your grass clippings in plastic bags. You may be harming the environment, particularly if you live near water, by adding excess nitrogen to the runoff by the more frequent fertilizing you will have to do in order to maintain your lawn. I have done both. I now must mulch because it is now illegal in my area to place grass clippings in the garbage. The results are satisifactory, but less satisfactory than bagging.

Answer 2

here's my take-

We mulch whenever we can.. this returns the clippings to the earth, helping to keep the fertilizers in my grass and out of the landfill. Good balance in the turf's soil biology keeps the clippings decomposing.

We only bag when the height of the grass is too high for the mower to effectively mulch the clippings.. If it rains for two weeks straight or if we're out of town.. only then do we bag our clippings.

Our mower is specifically set up to double cut the clippings and push then down through the cut grass to the soil. I suppose if you have long clippings that sit on top of the grass, it's a bad thing....

Answer 3

We have a mulching mower, so we don't bag unless we've let the grass go too long. If the grass is too tall, the mulching mower gets bogged down trying to deal with the height, and we have to bag.

Answer 4

Mulching is better. It lets the cut grass add nutrients to the lawn. You may want to consider dethatching a couple times a year though so you do not get a build-up of dead grass.

Answer 5

We mulch every other cutting. It is good to feed the nutrients back into the soil. Where I live the yard waste is turned into compost which we can buy back at a ridiculously low price. 3.5 cents per kg.