Grass growing to fast. should i side discharge,bag or get a mulching kit???

[mike9497]

the grass is growing like crazy and my lawns look like junk because of the little piles of clippings the mowers are making.i never had this happen before.should i install mulching kits or just wait it out until june or july.im cutting at 2.5 maybe i should go up to 3 or 3.5.every time i mow it looks like im taking 2 inches off the top.i bagged one of my lawns and packed the truck bed full of grass.any help on this would be great.im sure someone else is having the same problems.

[rvsuper]

Raise the height and mulch or discharge it! Don't bag the clippings, keep them on the lawn. If it doesn't help raising the height, time permitting, double cut the lawn.

hope this helps,
Alex

[mike9497]

well i go over it 3 times on some lawns and i still have big clumps of grass.ill raise the deck and see how that goes.the lawn i bagged had to be.its a high end commercial account and it needs to look mint.if i left grass clumps on that one i would of lost the account

[wriken]

Originally posted by rvsuperintendant
Raise the height and mulch or discharge it! Don't bag the clippings, keep them on the lawn. If it doesn't help raising the height, time permitting, double cut the lawn.

hope this helps,
Alex

Thats what I do, don't like to bag, last resort,LOL

[Runner]

The only problem is, is that if you raise the height, make sure you go back over it to cut it down lower. By the sounds of the way it's growing, if you raise it to 3.25 or 3.5, you will have 5 to 6 inches of grass there the following visit.
Rather than cut it all down at once, and go back over it, many times what I do, is do the borderlines at whatever you END height will be. Then, raise the mower, to do your rows, take it down a notch, (say 1/2 inch) and then take it down another notch. This will allow you to travel at greater speeds, since the first to cuts are somewhat rough cuts anyway, and the final cut is your end result. The amount of height taken down each time will be determinned by how much height you have compared to what your final height will be. Take a decent bite out the first time, so you atleast have some adequate discharge, and go from there. (Moisture and complete wetness will be determing factors in this, as well). Now, why I suggested to do the borders at your final cut height right at the beginning, is to prevent layover of the grass, as you won't have to go over the borders numerous times. Don't be afraid to alternate directions while doing this, either. If you keep your jobs on a directional cycle, this can still be acheived by making your LAST cut in the direction that you're scheduled for that week All our jobs, for instance, are done this way. N-S one week, E-W the next, NE-SW the following week, followed by NW-SE the last. I hope this helps. *Also, just a note: I have found that if you go 45 degrees from your previous passes as opposed to the temptation of going straight across them at the 90, your grass distribution will be much lighter and better for drying.
I hope this helps.;)

[darryl gesner]

Mike - Skip the mulching kit...it will be worse if you've got that much grass to deal with.

Have you tried just breaking up any clumps and distributing any furrows of clippings with a BP blower?

2.5 inches seems kind of low for heavy growth.

What blades are you running? High lifts?

[mike9497]

i'll take a pic of one of my lawns in the morning to show you what im dealing with.tons of grass son.running one ztr one way then coming from another direction with another ztr.tthp can't keep up right now.some lawns are growing fine but 12 lawns that i have are growing like 4 inches per week or every 6 days lol

[tiedeman]

Originally posted by darryl gesner
Mike - Skip the mulching kit...it will be worse if you've got that much grass to deal with.

Have you tried just breaking up any clumps and distributing any furrows of clippings with a BP blower?

2.5 inches seems kind of low for heavy growth.

What blades are you running? High lifts?

I have to agree with you on this one. The mulching kit would just make more of a mess. I would personally raise the height and it was really bad, I would bag it if it was a small yard and BP blow it for a larger yard.

[Envy Lawn Service]

Can you get by with raising the finished cut height? If so I would if I were you. I just went through this cutting height v/s top growth issue with one of my clients a few weeks ago.

This client's grass was mowed the 1st time this season a bit shorter than what I usually mow. Each week they asked that I cut it closer than last time. But the thing was, the closer I cut it the faster it grew back to a certain point.

I exchanged so info with them, raised the cutting height and the growth slowed some between mowings. Now we are both happy.

I feel for you on the clumping issue. There has been a lot of good method info posted to help with that. I suggest trying a different style of blade that will chop the clippings more finely and discharge harder.

I would offer some more info. But I'm afraid you'd take it the wrong way and be slightly offended. So I'll keep it to myself unless you ask me.

[mdvaden]

Beware of the "always leave the clippings research religion".

That can be extremism.

Do what works in a presribed fashion for you.

I pick up clippings during the worst spell of growth. And, like today, I dropped the height 1/2" and picked up clippings, because I was able to "suck" up about 95% of the poa annua seeds.

I can always spread a fine compost into the turf to make up for clippings removed on a small or medium lawn.

Maybe a commercial lawn would make the latter near impossible.

That would be one of the great benefits of waiting until the end of May to fertilize.

[MasterForm]

I know what we recommend ;)

[Dependable Lawncare]

I went from mulching to side discharge because of the fast growth. Raise your height to about 3" and discharge. On some lawns I have to discharge into a center strip and then go over the discharge row with a bagger.

[ParkerLawn]

I was having this problem as well and I started raising my deck and cutting more frequently. I am cutting each account 6 times a month and this keeps all lawns looking perfect. I do mostly higher end accounts, so they want their lawn to look immaculate no matter the cost. I know this isn't practical to alot of customers but this was the only solution besides bagging to keep the clippings down.

[jbrink01]

I'm mowing every 5 days (6x month) as well at 3.5" and they look great. Did have to double cut 1 Monday though.

[Runner]

One other option to scatter clippings, and it works VERY well, is after you've completed your finish height, raise your deck about a half inch and zoom over it. Works well, and much faster than blowing.;)

[mike9497]

well i did some lawns today and for the first time this season i didn't have any problems.now there was a lawn that had brown spots in it from last weeks mowing but once i made one pass it looked great.the customer likes a buzz cut lawn.i see chem lawn is using some red weed killer spray on some of my lawns.i thought they were brown spots from mowing to short but it was the weed killer