Grass Clippings

[dvonalven]

I am thinking of starting lawn mowing company and am wondering what everybody does with the grass clippings. Please help me.

[John DiMartino]

I discharge grass 90% of the time,I only bag here in early spring,and late fall.I only do larger propertys,and they have wooded areas i can put my clippings in,the piles i made last year are almost all gone already from bacteria eating it.Unless your doing small areas around pools,you should be able to mulch or dishcharge,bagging is going to eat your profits,and takes to long to do every day.I get no complaints from not bagging,I do not leave visible clippings on the lawn.

[CSRA Landscaping]

dvon, depends on the type of mower that you're using, for one. Is it a bagger? or can it just spit it out the side? The grass is better off if you leave the clippings on it, provided the clippings don't form windrows or anything like that. Here's (http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?threadid=2232&highlight=clippings+fertilize) a good thread for you to check out.


Welcome to Lawnsite, I wish you good luck in your endeavour. This site has a neat earch feature that will help save you time and effort duplicating past questions. Simply click on the "Search" link under the banner ad on the logo and go to town! Again, welcome and good luck.

[David Gretzmier]

we try our best not to bag. a good mower will make most clippings spread and disappear, and in bad conditions a double cut should eliminate all visable ones. it is also better for the lawn to not bag. good luck and welcome to the site! Dave g

[CLARKE]

Instead of baging just mow it higher3 1/2 is good
at 3 1/2 the grass shades itself and there way less
clipping and the strips look better when you cut that
high. Guess i'm not a:alien:

[TGCummings]

Doesn't seem to be the popular choice around the country, but I mulch everything where I am. For smaller properties and smaller gates, I use the Toro Recycler 21", and for larger places the 36" Exmark Turf Tracer HP. Both do a fine job. I've been mulching for about 3 years now, but was bagging some properties before about a year ago. I lost a few customers who demanded bagging or nothing, but they weren't customers I couldn't do without. A lot of folks on LawnSite seem to side discharge just about everything, but that simply doesn't work where I am in most cases.

Good luck!

-TGC

[yardmonkey]

I would agree with everyone else that you want to be mulching as much as possible. Takes less time, better for the lawns, no clippings to deal with. But you will probably have some customers (or maybe a lot of them) who insist on having the grass bagged. Where I live (Norman, OK) the city maintains a compost site where anyone can take yard waste (no charge) and they turn it into compost, which anyone can come and get (no charge). The city picks up yard waste one day a week and takes it there. So you may want to see if there is such a thing where you live. Otherwise, maybe you can leave the bags for the trashmen or put them in a dumpster (I hate to see it not get recycled though). There are actually lawn care operators who keep their own plots of land for dumping yard waste. Some may share this with other LCOs. Or you may find a customer or two (or non-customer) who will be happy to take grass clippings for their own compost pile. Look for people who do serious gardening or maybe farming. Grass clippings are one of the best things to compost. Turns into great "dirt" in (I think) about a year. Takes a lot of grass to make a little compost.

Good luck..........

[jeffyr]

I'll go against the grain here. I collect about 1/2 the properties 1/2 the time ( In the spring and fall). Over the summer I will discharge most of them.

Collected clippings in my area can be brought to an organic dump ($10 per yard) and some towns let you dump at the DPW with the permit to work in that borough ($15 per season). I have heard of others bagging and leaving them at the customer house. I guess it would work, but seems unprofessioinal to leave behind the trash for the customer to deal with.

My reasons for catching on some: It's easier and quicker than blowing clippings around till the cows come home on some properties with small areas of turf between walkways and the street---some will disagree--but without knowing the property in question, I don't think anybody can truely disagree. I have done it both ways on all properties and I will do whichever works best when I am there.

jeffyr

[JLC]

I'd say that best would possible be a combination of the three options. I'm with JeffyR on the bagging in certain instances. How many times have you spent forever chasing clippings around the pavement when it is windy out. Bagging would help this greatly. Is it worth the extra handling? Probably in some cases. This is probably best addressed on a lawn by lawn basis. What sort of lawn do you routinely cut?

[script]

I mulch everything unless the customer would insist that I bag it. I do charge a little more to bag the clippings and it may seam unprofessional to some, but I let the customer know that if he/she wants it bagged, I will leave the bags at the curb for trash pick up. On some occasions I will take the clippings if another customer has requested some for their compost pile.

[lawrence stone]

Originally posted by jeffyr

My reasons for catching on some: It's easier and quicker than blowing clippings around till the cows come home on some properties with small areas of turf between walkways and the street---some will disagree--but without knowing the property in question, I don't think anybody can truely disagree. I have done it both ways on all properties and I will do whichever works best when I am there.

jeffyr

I just bag 3 small homes every week with a 21" in one stop. Most of the time I don't fill a 45 gal plastic garbage can on wheels.

It's easier to deal with 2-3 bags of clippings then the mess on the sidewalks esp. if wet.

[65hoss]

I have mulching kits on my eXmarks. No bagging, no side discharging, just the bagged look.

[Currier]

We bag most of the time around here. We feed our clippings to cows. You would be amazed at how much 5 cows will eat! Just make sure the clippings with pesticides do not get to the cows.

[MATTHEW]

[
COLOR=limegreen]WELL!!!!!![/COLOR]
I AGREE WITH YOU GUYS, BUT HERE IN OHIO IT HAS RAINED EVERY
SINGLE DAY FOR 18 DAYS.:angry: SOME PEOPLE WILL LET ME DO IT
EVERY 5 DAYS, BUT EVEN THEN, THERE IS ABOUT 3-4" TO CUT OFF!!!
I SIMPLY HAVE TO BAG IT. WHAT I DO IS MOW IT ONCE AT 4" THEN
GO OVER IT AGAIN AT 3" WITH THE CATCHER ON. IT REDUCES THE
AMOUNT BY 1/2. I HAVE A PLACE THAT RECYCLES CLIPPING INTO MULCH
AND THEY CHARGE ME $10.00 FOR A FULL LOAD.
IF ANYONE IN OH. IS PRAYING FOR RAIN, YOU CAN STOP NOW!!!!!!!!

[Lawn Wizard]

Yesterday I went to a Business Revitalization meeting to have my business liscence reviewed. The Councils biggest concer was what I was going to do with the clippings and trees branches and such. I told them on the magority of my lawns I mulch the clippings back into the lawn, but on the rare occasion that I did have to bag it I said I bagged the cliipings in the proper type bag and left for the city recyclers. WHOA! They didnt like that LOL. Your business waste is not the responsibility of the City. So even though the city does pick up clippings they wont do it for LCOs. Just another twist in the thread! :)

I do have a question in that my mow height is 2.5 inches. Most of the lawns I cut are growing so quickly that the clippings still clump up (windrow?). Should I raise the height to 3 inches? Also its been raining a bit around here lately so maybe thats it.

[CSRA Landscaping]

Eric's in your area, Wiz. Try asking him, he'll probably have good advice.

[MOW ED]

Lawn Wizard,
What are you using for equipment? I have a Walker for bagging but if it is real wet (like its been) I have to really slow down. We have also had a lot of rain up here in WI. I have a TORO Proline that I use for the wet days. I side out everything and the double blades do a nice job of chopping everything up. There is some discussion on the board about double cutting also. I am at 2.5 inches because of the rain as the KY blue up here looks good cut at this height as long as its cool and raining. I will raise it to 3 in a couple of weeks and keep it at 3 for the summer if it gets warm. 3 inches will help you now, give it a try.
Where about the CHI town area are you from? I grew up down there and when I read your response about the business commission not liking your procedure I laughed, business as usual. Mayby they wanted a little extra donation. Good Luck

[Runner]

Lawn Wizard,

If you are cutting at 2.5" now, and are having some clumping, you may be better of just to double cut. If you cut at 3" the next time, sure, you'll walk out of there relatively easy, BUT the time after that LOOK OUT! Because you are going to have WAY more than just a half inch more than usual of grass to cut off. Right now, the way it's growing, and depending on the fert. content of your soils, a half inch of cutting height COULD equal about 3" by the end of the week so be careful.