What do you do with your grass and leafs

[Andrew Kovacs]

So for these past two years I have been dumping my stuff on a freinds farm. But hes selling out to a strip mall and I have no idea where to get rid of all the goods. I also like the fact that I can keep track of my own soil for use. any ideas

[Mykster]

I mulch all my properties. Use to bag and take to the dump. Also have a friend with some property that let me dump leaves and clippings when I'm working in his area.

[walker-talker]

Find another friend:D

MATT

[pyrocare]

Talk to some of the farmers in your area. I dump all of my grass and leaves at a farmers field that is about 7 miles from my house. I love since it is free:cool: and the farmer loves it since he is putting it on place where he can't get anything to grow at. He says that it works. Once he doesn't want it I have a couple more farmers that are willing to take it.

[tiedeman]

I do dump on my property and then every month or so I turn over the leafs to promote decomposition on them. Within a years time there is nothing left of them.

Big thing I wanted to remind you guys about is using some leafs and grass clipping as mulch on reapplying on other lawns. You should go to the www.plcaa.org and find out that you shouldn't do it all the time. It is actually unhealthy for the lawn that you are going to compost fertilizer or mulch on.

[Boycea]

Ask another landscaper in your area where he dumps. I dump at a farm, but when its too muddy out, another lco lets me dump at his place usually for free. Its worth a shot. Good luck.

[jlmac]

We dump most of our clipping on the job site. We kindly ask the owner if they want them and where would be a good spot. We explain the benefits of the compost and surprisingly over 50% want the clippings. At least half of these are commercial clients and as long as they don't see the clippings there is no problem.

[Jusmowin]

Well sence it isnt my grass in the first place when I do bag a lawn I leave the bags on the curb for the city to pick up. But even now our city is trying to abolish that service in the next few years. So this is why mulching is just starting too get big around here, although there are just some yards that dont look good mulched and the clippings will have to hauled away......not me !

[Gravely_Man]

I never have to worry about grass as I always mulch. The leaves are mostly mulched up but on those accounts were it is impractical to mulch the leaves due to the volume they are mulched up and then vacuumed up and disposed of at local farms that want the green matter.


Gravely_Man

[GrassMaster84]

My house is located on a farm. It's 300 acres....

[Joemow]

Andrew- Recycle - Find a place to pile up debris, rotortill as needed until its compost\ topsoil , & use[or sell] on your next planting job !

[oakhill2000]

I have a big hole between my neighbors house and mine and also my other neighbor has an even larger hole right off his street. So I made a road down to the bottom and drive in off his driveway and dump it in there. When it gets full I have a local tree company I know dump chip in there and spread it over the top and push most of it back and drive on it to pack it and start another layer, I also know local Farmers who use the leaves during the fall for bedding and compost. I never leave the compost at the customers house unless they ask. Too much liability as dead grass when piled up too much can have quite a nasty stink. Mulching makes a mess in my opinion unless the grass isn't too long and it is dry.

[Shuter]

A local construction compnay takes leaves and grass clippings for free. They compost the pile.

[hoagie]

I have a local place too that composts grass and leaves... all you can drop off, for free.

[bob]

How much debris are you talking about? Once a day, or weekly? And how much each time?

[Flex-Deck]

I mulch everything - either with gators alone, or if the leaves get to be a foot deep, I double blade - gator on top and dixie on bottom - Quit bagging 5-6 years ago and the yards have never looked better - Mulch-Mulch-Mulch - Give God's earth back a little bit of what we take from it.

Thanks, Brad

[PR0 TURF]

We dump all of our grass & leaves in an area we rent out from a local greenhouse where we store trucks & trailers...our "pile" is slowly turning into a mountain.

:blob3:

[iowapride]

I have a guy in town that has a big garden. Will take all he can get. Works out great for both of us!

[wriken]

I dump my leaves on my property, I have a big hole where I took fill dirt for my polebarn, just unload it then push into hole with kubota, as far as grass I only collect on one property and dumped there.

[Tim Canavan]

If I am bagging, I just leave them at an area designated by the owner. On my commercial accounts, we always use the dumpster there. This is for regular maintenance and some small clean-ups. On the larger clean-ups when I have to use the trailer, I dump at the place where I get my mulch for free. Pretty nice, huh?:cool:
I guess you guys up north can't leave the bags there. Why is this?

[gogetter]

I rarely ever bag grass, but when I do, I take all debris (grass, leaves, hedge clippings, etc.) to a local landscape supply business. You have to pay to dump, they compost and resell it.

The only other place is the local landfill, which has a minumum. They recycle it rather then just put it in the fill.

I've thought about checking with local farmers (there's not many by the way) to see if they would want it and save me paying dumping fees. Not sure how I'd aproach them.

[Ricks Z28]

I have a motto, don't take something that doesn't belong to you. So I don't pick anything up, grass or leaves. I'll stack any of my properties up against those who collect everything.

[brucec32]

I mulch in the fall, and the few properties I do bag I either leave them on property in a designated compost pile or haul it and deposit at the back of my 2 acres in a hole. They break down and don't build up, but I would have a problem if I bagged and hauled everything.

Key to mulching leaves is frequency...don't let them build up too much. I turn them to dust which drops down to soil level, and have never had a request to do anything else but mulch them. The Exmark is a great mulcher, btw. Lawns have not shown any signs of damage from this either. People also like that I don't have to charge them extra in most cases, since it barely takes much longer than regular mowing.

[Popsicle]

Originally posted by Ricks Z28
I have a motto, don't take something that doesn't belong to you. So I don't pick anything up, grass or leaves. I'll stack any of my properties up against those who collect everything.

What about Spring clean-ups? What do you do with all the waste? I completed a property yesterday (<1/3 acre) and hauled off 2 yards of debris.

:(

[Turf Dancer]

I bag everything and it costs me about 5% of my annual income just for dump fees. It runs $25 per ton at the local transfer station! If I could convert my customers to mulching I would ! They are stuck on bagging period ! I have a rancher who allows me to dump grass clippings but the problem is that the cattle eat these clippings and with most of the customers I have they are on a fertilizer schedule with a Lawn Fertilizer Company which fertilizes every 5 to 6 weeks and with that and the fact that they are on a rotating schedule and spray in between sometimes it makes it difficult to time when I can dump what clippings depending on where they are coming from ! Get them to allow mulching ! I am thinking of getting my customers to go to mulching! From here on out I am going to mulch only on all new customers except fall leaf pickup ! and when the grass is real long! If they do want bagging I will charge by the can or something like that !

[Sammy]

Mulch in the fall, side discharge rest of the time.

All that Grenn Manure is good for the turf.:)

[FrankenScagMachines]

Here is what I do for me and my neighbors's leaves. I have a 4,000 sq.ft. veggie garden and by leaf time all the crops are out and it's bare. So i just dump my leaves in there and spread them out as much as possible and after a couple weeks after the season is over I take my mower and just grind away until they are like a thick layer of dust and all spread out nice and neat. By spring they make a nice blanket of mulch that is already mostly decomposed. Helps the garden too. If I can I till the garden as soon as possible after the crops are out so it is leveled and smooth but kind of hard so the mower doesn't sink in or pick up dirt. Works good.
Eric

[lawncare3]

If the customer has woods I throw them there. If not, then I throw them in the woods behind home.

[Ricks Z28]

Popsicle,

As far as the spring clean-ups go I live in the woods and I have customers that do as well. What I do is blow out the beds and don't even pickup the small sticks. I do however pick up the large ones ( 2" or larger ) Then I set my mower down around 2" and close my Director and back over everthing and grind. It all dissappears! Once the first cutting comes about for the season, it looks like you raked the whole property.

[lawnman0509]

I am very lucky. I have a neighbor who wants all my clippings and leaves to make compost. He even bought a new John Deer with loader to flip and maintain compost. It is very handy and he gives me all the compost I need.

[mklawnman]

We have been hauling our debris such as grass, leaves, and such in our backyard considering we live in the out in the country we usually just burn it or throw it in the fenceline and eventually it decomposes way down there no harm done.
Though I might start taking the stuff to the local recycling center considering all i have to do is dump it by a pile and drive away thats all. Its free, well taxes pay for them to burn the pile and the town workers.
So check into the local recycle center.
Matt

[Popsicle]

Like Turf Dancer, our waste disposal prices are ridiculous. There is a transfer station real close that charges $82.50/truck (~2 yards), the main dump $59.60/ton (about 50 minutes one way), and a local guy who will take lawn debris for $10.00/yard.

When I lived in Nevada, you could dump a truckload for only $5! (Of course there's nothing but millions of acres of desolate wasteland waiting for nuclear by-products. But that's another story...)

[LB Landscaping]

For the customers I bag for or for leaves I have to go to the local dump. Its about a mile from my house but it closes at 3:30pm so I usually have to go first thing the next morning. They charge 10 bucks for a truck load. I usually include it in the price of a mowing or clean-up. They let you sneak in from time to time, depends on who's working!!

[Organix]

The city here has on-street pick up and the county has recycling cans for each home. On clean-up's if I fill up their can(s) I put it in burlaps and take em to the dump or if I can get away with it and it's not too much, I will take em down to one of my other customer's who has street pick-up. I try to mulch as most of the time.

[CCLS]

I take them to the dump, it looks more professional than leaving them at the customers house.

[BigJim]

I dump at an Avacado orchard,the owner makes it into a compost/mulch to spread around the trees,he loves it.Look around theres bound to be some horticultural type operation that will gladly take your grass and leaves.

[e-RoK]

Here in Akron/Canton Ohio we have a place called "Earth & Wood". They let us dump leaves free. However they charged us $30 one time to dump a load of old RR Ties.

[Premo Services]

[brucec32]
Key to mulching leaves is frequency...don't let them build up too much. I turn them to dust which drops down to soil level, and have never had a request to do anything else but mulch them. The Exmark is a great mulcher, btw. Lawns have not shown any signs of damage from this either. People also like that I don't have to charge them extra in most cases, since it barely takes much longer than regular mowing.

I agree with mulching them like weekly, it don't take much longer to do that. But here in St.Louis, last leaf season was a pita. Certain trees would loose all of their leaves within a week, and it would rain, yuck, what a mess. Then some other trees would loose all of their leaves at one time. It took a lot of extra time, because I was planning to do them weekly, mulching until they got thick.
On the question about what to do with them, most of my customers have wooded areas to put them in, and the other ones have curbside pickup. I did a few that had to be hauled away, and then I have a home on 3 wooded acres, so you know where they went.:D
As for as grass clippings, I used to bag and haul away, but I can cut it at the height needed, and then raise the deck up, and go over in a different direction and disperse all the piles of hay into the lawn. Looks good and no hauling away anymore.