[loupiscopolandscaping]

A friend of mine asked me the other day what are the pros and cons of dumping small amounts of grass clippings in a large hole at his farm... he said the hole is approx 40X20ft and 8ft deep. hes thinking of dumping a yard of grass clippings every week... he also stated he'd fill in the hole and the end of the year with soil........i know its illegal and the fines are steep!

 

[clean_cut]

???? Why would you do this?

Is it to dispose of the grass clippings you collect?

Or is it to fertilize the soil?


Sorry, I just don't understand the question.

 

[JDUtah]

In nature there is no such thing as waste. Why does he have waste? Especially such valuable waste as grass clippings?

 

[loupiscopolandscaping]

to dispose cutt clippings....i told him to till it into his fields but he said for the time and money its not worth it.lol i would think for a farmer he would be all over that.lol....

 

[clean_cut]

Why don't you just side discharge or mulch the grass and leave the nutrients in the lawn

 

[RAlmaroad]

Steep Fines--I don't think so. I've been around a long time and never heard of that bureaucracy. And filling a hole with grass clipping which are decomposing to dirt. It's already dirt. You must be very young or have poor information on laws. It might be unlawful in some states to use as a untreated landfill filling it with trash and garbage. But a hole on farm land...This is the type of legality that makes attorneys rich and farmers poor.

 

[phasthound]

Yeah, it's not illegal but it will stink to high heaven. Best to mix it with carbon waste (wood chips, leaves, etc) and make good compost.

 

[loupiscopolandscaping]

Excuse me MR. Raimaroad...Very Young? my company have been in business since 1974. Before you try to bash me get your facts straight. also your not from New Jersey so how would you know our fines and laws here?..In the last 3yrs our wonderful state has been cracking down on dumping glass clippings. They have fined local farmers that have dumped grass on there property. 1 method of this is by Infared by Helicopter. According to DEP grass clippings contaminate our soil because of all the chemicals absorbed into the blades from the use of fertilizer and insecticides. Know your facts, all i asked was a simple question, and look who shows there face....Mr. KNOWITALL

 

[DLAWNS]

Excuse me MR. Raimaroad...Very Young? my company have been in business since 1974. Before you try to bash me get your facts straight. also your not from New Jersey so how would you know our fines and laws here?..In the last 3yrs our wonderful state has been cracking down on dumping glass clippings. They have fined local farmers that have dumped grass on there property. 1 method of this is by Infared by Helicopter. According to DEP grass clippings contaminate our soil because of all the chemicals absorbed into the blades from the use of fertilizer and insecticides. Know your facts, all i asked was a simple question, and look who shows there face....Mr. KNOWITALL

hahahahaha

 

[loupiscopolandscaping]

lawnsite is great isn't it bill? cnt even ask a simple question. thats the BIGGEST problem on this site

 

[DLAWNS]

i love it....keep up the good work, lol. 51 more posts till your a senior member. :laugh:

 

[RAlmaroad]

Excuse me MR. Raimaroad...Very Young? my company have been in business since 1974. Before you try to bash me get your facts straight. also your not from New Jersey so how would you know our fines and laws here?..In the last 3yrs our wonderful state has been cracking down on dumping glass clippings. They have fined local farmers that have dumped grass on there property. 1 method of this is by Infared by Helicopter. According to DEP grass clippings contaminate our soil because of all the chemicals absorbed into the blades from the use of fertilizer and insecticides. Know your facts, all i asked was a simple question, and look who shows there face....Mr. KNOWITALL

So composting is illegal in New Jersey! Wouldn't have ever thought the EPA would be against it. With that mentality of NJ--mowing and throwing the clipping out to the side would be illegal.

 

[JDUtah]

My assumption would be the concentration issues. Dumping 10,000 square feet worth of grass clippings in 25 square feet would compound the concentration by 400 times. Then the fact that it is in a hole means virtually the only place it is going to go is into the water table.

Math.. say you apply 3 oz per k of herbicide on this virtual property. It gets mowed a couple days later (in which you accidentally collect 1/3rd of the chemical) Then you dump it in a 25 square foot area. Now you have...

1oz * 10 = 10 ounces
10 ounces / .025 = 400

In other words you have the equivalent of 400 oz's per 1,000 of herbicide. It is now very likely that you get point source pollution from your pit. And like I said, where is it going to go? Your groundwater.

It would be better to leave the stuff spread out and let nature do it the natural way. (as natural as synthetics can be anyway)

This same principle can be applied to organics. It is a similar process as the natural one that killed the herd of horses outside Vegas due to nitrate concentrations. (natural point source nitrate poisoning)

 

[Darryl G]

Piles of lawn clippings get pretty ripe...ammonia smell. Because they get packed so tight the decompostion goes anaerobic instead of aerobic.

 

[pt03]

I use yard trimmings on a 100 acre farm and they work great! I also get tippage fees as a bonus.

One document I use for reference just happens to come from Rutgers and it says "clippings may be applied to farmland, provided permission is obtained from the NJDEP". Not sure if it still complies with any newer regs. Dumping into a pit may be considered to be "landfilling" so that may be a different set of regs.

Lloyd:canadaflag:

 

[loupiscopolandscaping]

Raimaroad if you read my first post mulching the clippings back into the lawn isn't the question and its not even composting for other plants and resources. the question was What are the Pros and Cons of dumping a small amount grass clippings in a large hole? lol ...thank you pt03!

 

[phasthound]

So composting is illegal in New Jersey! Wouldn't have ever thought the EPA would be against it.

A few years ago there was a big problem in NJ with a company that expanded from accepting yard wastes to also accepting food wastes for composting. The new owners had great plans & even had a contract to supply methane gas to nearby McGuire Air Force base. Great idea, poor execution. The owners did not follow correct composting procedures. Nutrient runoff and odor where such big problems that the operation was shut down. Due to this experience, the State has been very strict on composting facilities.

Not everything is as black & white as we think it is. Government regulations are usually a response to someone or company f***ing up.

 

[atouchofnature]

I know some guys who got into big trouble in the mid 90's for something similar. They were using a tub grinder to grind various yard waste from grass clippings to entire trees and dumping it into a hole on a local farm. Someone reported them to the state environmental people and they were given 14 days to clean it all up or face huge fines. I don't know the specifics of why it was illegal, but it was definitely illegal.

 

[loupiscopolandscaping]

ok thank you guys!

 

[mruiz]

Not everything is as black & white as we think it is. Government regulations are usually a response to someone or company f***ing up.[/QUOTE]

Okay, who did it? :laugh:

Hi Barry, you right about this, someone had to screw it up for the rest of us.

Hey Lou, How's it going buddy? I got you cover!!
1. Dig hole
2. Cover hole with Blue Tarp
3. Throw in some pool floatations devices (rubber ducky optional)
4. "If helicopter flies low for closer look" Dive in quicly!! Don't forget your swim trunks