Wow, Bagging the Grass Made a Huge Difference !!

[LoneRanger]

I stopped mowing in mulcher mode and started using the bag attachment to the Honda mower since the first cut this season and the lawn is looking better than it has in many seasons. Probably will keep bagging through the summer.

 

[ZZman]

Do you normally fertilize? Dethatch? Aerate?

 

[Donald]

Mulching is beneficial but you need to dethatch.

Or use a robot lawn mower that may take off a little bit every few days.

Maintain, not cut.

 

[skyactiv]

Your removing nitrogen when you bag and it eventually wont look as good. Your best off to cut the grass more often when you mulch so
the clippings aren't apparent. Not all mulching mowers are the same. The Toro Super Recycler does a great job while the cheaper Toro's
do not.

 

[SuperSalad]

Yeah, removing that material in the long run means you need to add back in a lot of nutrients later to keep it healthy. Clippings and mulched leaves are all a lawn really needs.

 

[dlundblad]

I can't say I blame you for bagging the first cut of the season. For me at least, the first cut always looks bad.

As others have said, let some of the clippings back in though. I've never had much luck with mulchers personally, but I suppose if you were able to stay on it.

 

[Kira]

You cut often (this time of year-cooler weather) so the pieces "rot down" quicker.
Golf courses can use a battery of reel mowers OFTEN and those clippings are almost liquid 'cause they're so small. Then they go away.
Cut long grass and let that "hay" just lie there and you can choke a lawn.

 

[LoneRanger]

It's a Honda self-propelled model I got two yrs ago. It does a good job of mulching, has four cutting edge blade to aid more effective mulching.

What got me started bagging this year was a particularly bad out break of dandeloins that were in seed mode. Those freakin stalks were everywhere. Sprayed lawn w/ Ortho Weed 'B Gone. Mulching would only have re-planted all those seeds even after weed killer wilted them, so I wanted to suck them and other weeds up into the bag and not "replant" by blowing their seeds down into the lawn.

Been bagging since. Probably switch back to mulching in a few weeks, on you guys' advice, now that the weeds are under control. Seems reasonable.

 

[edwardh1]

most ag colleges say dont bag turf grass

 

[Dorian]

Yes it does! When the grass is very long we always bag because of how much better it appears. We typically bag until the Dandelions are gone. We have two large trees in our front yard that produce more leaves than you would imagine. In the fall I found that it is easiest to use the bag and 'mow'. It picks up about 80% and leaves the rest as fine mulched leaves.

 

[02SE]

I am appalled. All this discussion, and yet no mention of what oil is being used in the Lawnmower..

 

[joekingcorvette]

I mow mine with a riding lawn mower and don't bag it at all and it looks great. 02se…I use a good Castrol Magnetic 10-30 in the engine! Ha!

 

[Nick1994]

I only ever bag the lawn clippings. Not bagging it seems like it would create a mess, and fill the lawn with dead grass?

 

[1JZ_E46]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
I only ever bag the lawn clippings. Not bagging it seems like it would create a mess, and fill the lawn with dead grass?


Cut your grass often enough with a good mower that can mulch and you won’t even see the grass clippings. The grass pieces are so small they fall down below the grass to the ground where they can fertilize.

 

[SeaJay]

In the real world many of us do not have the time and luxury to either pay, or do it ourselves to cut every couple of days so we can leave only small clippings. The solution is to remove the clippings, otherwise the lawn can get choked by clippings from a cut done every week or 10 days, certainly it will look better if those clippings are removed.

On the other hand for those of us that have a professional grounds keeper on salary, cut every other day with those tiny clippings from super mulching mowers.

 

[emmett442]

:

: I mulch every 7-10 days without any problems. I'm usually cutting 1-1.5" off each mowing.

I think they key is a decent mower with a real mulching blade.

 

[SeaJay]

Originally Posted By: emmett442
:

: I mulch every 7-10 days without any problems. I'm usually cutting 1-1.5" off each mowing.

I think they key is a decent mower with a real mulching blade.


One house I owned would have at least double that length of grass (more than double in the rainy season) after 7-10 days.

 

[1JZ_E46]

Originally Posted By: emmett442
:

: I mulch every 7-10 days without any problems. I'm usually cutting 1-1.5" off each mowing.

I think they key is a decent mower with a real mulching blade.


Same here. I’ve found that when mowing, I always overlap by 50% and that makes the biggest difference. It picks up all the “hay” laying on top from the first pass and cuts it smaller so it filters down.