TO BAG OR MULCH??????

[ron]

Do you BAG the clippings or do you MULCH and why??????

[mdb landscaping]

i mulch. you dont have to worry about dumping the grass somewhere at the end of the day and from what i hear, mulching is much better for the lawn. save yourself some time and dont bag.

[Eric ELM]

I haven't bagged anything, including leaves since I got my first Chopper back in 93. Leaving the clippings puts nutrients back into the soil and you save a lot of work and time.

[George777]

you might want to bag the clippings in the early part of the season to pick up all the dead stuff.
then switch to mulching it puts the nitrogen back into the soil instead of the bag. If grass is wet side discharge.

[kris]

we bag at the very start of season...then mulch..apart from being great for the turf, it will save you a ton of time...good luck in 2001

[linky]

I use to mulch but with my new mower w/single blades the cut grass is long even when i go over it twice. I tried double blades and the grass is chopped up but leaves a small strip of clippings at the discharge. With double blades the vacuum pulls the chopped up clippings back to the rear of the discharge. It is annoying and takes too much time to blow so i will try bagging. I think bagging with doubles will be good for getting up leaves-i hope.

[ron]

I see alot of lcos using bags and also hear that mulching slows you down,plus I have had several people call and ask if I bag but so far I have only been using the mulching process...

[65hoss]

True mulching is quicker. No blowing grass into beds or anything or even having to worry about were the grass goes. Clean up is easy and you get a professional appearance when your done.

[joshua]

spring i discharge but never blow anything in the beds or sides or driveway. i use doubles so it makes it alot easier. but i always carry bags with me and my bagging system incase the yards get out of hand, in 5 days. you never know 1 day their be fine the next its wow, how much did it grow over night.
better to be safe and carry a bagging system with you than have your yard look like shat.

[crs]

Any pointers for trying to mulch damp fescue that grows 4-5 inches in a week? I usually side discharge but I wind up having to blow out beds etc. Any way to keep clippings out of beds that are only 8-10 feet apart?

I have a few premier properties that I bag the clippings around entrances, but when I do this I try to make arangements to dump the clippings at the property. This saves a lot of hassles trying to deal with them later on.

[David Gretzmier]

side discharge w/ gators, and go over twice in heavy grass w/ blades up 1/2" 2nd pass. looks bagged. and no double blades to sharpen ( jab jab elm) Dave

[Eric ELM]

CRS, an OCDC (Operator Controled Discharge Chute) comes in handy when you have to go between close beds. It is the handiest thing I have seen on mowers and I would have a hard time mowing without one now.

[lawnboy82]

i usually side discharge. if it clumps i blow it. however last year i tried bagging with a rider and i feel that it saved me time. i can remember going to one customer and cutting while another lco has his guys workin next door. they had to cut the lawn 2 times and then have a guy blow the lawn. i think hey had 4 guys there. i did my customers lawn in a bit longer than i took them to do that one. however i am alone and they were 4. so do the math. sometimes it pays other times not. it doesnt help you with your thatch build-up. and also if you bag you remove about 1/3 the total nitrogen that the lawn needs for the year. so i figure mulching or s/d is better if you can do that. however bagging does have its advantages.