grass bagging

[village dreamer]

why do people bag the grass , golf courses dont , landscapers dont. i dont and my grass looks great and less work than bagging it. and the clippings are good for the grass.

[villagetinker]

I agree with you and I believe the master gardener also states to not bag the clippings. We live on a sand bar, and the grass needs as much nutrients it can get.

[mco1965]

If you mow often, its not an issue but if you wait too long between mowings, the cut grass blades are too long and need to be bagged.

[thelegges]

If you mow often, its not an issue but if you wait too long between mowings, the cut grass blades are too long and need to be bagged.

Yep with abundance of rain, long grass doesn’t look pretty sitting, during summer we bag maybe once a month

[vintageogauge]

I hate looking at dried up grass clippings but here with the heat, rain, and humidity and once a week mowing it's hard not to have them for a couple days a week. Up north I always bagged the clippings and had a beautiful lawn that I spoiled like a grand child.

[LeRoySmith]

I've seen the clippings used for mulch in a few instances but I don't think it's great for that. Can't think of many other uses for it....

[Rwirish]

Easy, not bagging adds weight to the lawn, can promote disease, lawns that bag look better and are healthier. Of course a golf course could not bag the grass they cut.

[GizmoWhiskers]

why do people bag the grass , golf courses dont , landscapers dont. i dont and my grass looks great and less work than bagging it. and the clippings are good for the grass.
Depends on amount of weeds with seeds on them. Bagging helps reduce weed spreading. Thatch can also get too thick so yep, depends on how often you mow and whether you want to de-thatch at least once a year when aeriating the soil for better water absorption and to allow fertilizers/pesticides to seep into the soil more efficiently.

I do all of the above. Bagging only when there is significant rains to create more than average grass growth. Aeriating the yard with really dorky looking metal sole 3" long spiked shoe adapters - work like a charm. Balancing all the factors and yard looks great.

[Angelhug52]

Wish we could do away with lawns,except for golf and parks.Wild flowers, veggies, natural foliage would be inviting.The money and time invested for the perfect lawn is absurd. Landscapers, lawn services would still have jobs, maybe trim and weed.Less poison pesticides into the ground and even less water used.Drought tolerant plantings..yep, perfect lawns are overrated IMO.

[michgary]

Like what she said _(or he?), havnt bagged since dad made me do it 60 years ago..:a040:

[Veracity]

When we owned a dog, we had our lawn bagged because the dog would bring in grass clippings on his fur. After our dog passed away we stopped bagging. Silly reason that had nothing to do with the health of the lawn. :1rotfl:

[waterflower]

Lack of knowledge that the grass clippings, leaves & compostable material have for the soil's health.

[kcrazorbackfan]

why do people bag the grass , golf courses dont , landscapers dont. i dont and my grass looks great and less work than bagging it. and the clippings are good for the grass.

To each, their own. I bag mine every time and have a beautiful looking lawn.

[Rocksnap]

If you mow often, its not an issue but if you wait too long between mowings, the cut grass blades are too long and need to be bagged.

I thought the answer would be obvious, just as you stated. Add into this a mulching mower would be a good idea.

[Rocksnap]

Easy, not bagging adds weight to the lawn, can promote disease, lawns that bag look better and are healthier. Of course a golf course could not bag the grass they cut.

I’m no grass expert, but after watching several lawn experts, to mulch or not to mulch depends on a few factors. The grass type and how much you are cutting.
Most of us have St Augustine grass. You want a sharp blade and a mulching mower for our grass. Don’t cut more than 1/4 the length of the grass at one time. The mulch put nutrients back into the soil. It also helps keep moisture in the soil.

[Rocksnap]

Wish we could do away with lawns,except for golf and parks.Wild flowers, veggies, natural foliage would be inviting.The money and time invested for the perfect lawn is absurd. Landscapers, lawn services would still have jobs, maybe trim and weed.Less poison pesticides into the ground and even less water used.Drought tolerant plantings..yep, perfect lawns are overrated IMO.
Bring on artificial grass lawns!

[Jalane]

Friends did it to keep their pets from bringing the loose grass pieces into the house on their feet and fur.

[Switter]

Wish we could do away with lawns,except for golf and parks.Wild flowers, veggies, natural foliage would be inviting.The money and time invested for the perfect lawn is absurd. Landscapers, lawn services would still have jobs, maybe trim and weed.Less poison pesticides into the ground and even less water used.Drought tolerant plantings..yep, perfect lawns are overrated IMO.

I have been actively working to make the amount of grass in my yard as small as possible (per ARC). I'd rather spread mulch once a year and be done with it. I just wish I could find Cedar mulch around here. Love the smell of it when it gets wet.

One thing that annoys me about Saint Augustine is you can't buy grass seed for repairing the lawn. I have Bermuda grass invading my lawn and the only thing you can do is use round up to kill everything and plant sod or plugs. That means digging down the area to remove soil for the sod/plugs. So much easier to plant grass seed.

On that note, does anybody know of a sod farm for Saint Augustine? I know you can get plugs from Lowes or Home Depot but they are ridiculously expensive.

[Ptmcbriz]

We bought a lawnmower that has mulching blades specifically so there is no bagging needed.

[Angelhug52]

Bring on artificial grass lawns!
That is fine in limited areas. Perfer to help the Bees and enjoy natural landscape.

[Marine1974]

why do people bag the grass , golf courses dont , landscapers dont. i dont and my grass looks great and less work than bagging it. and the clippings are good for the grass.
It would be most difficult to putt on greens with grass clippings left on them . Mulching is fine for your own yard .

[SHIBUMI]

the recommendation is to always bag zoysia clippings.............leaving the clumps on the good grass will Forster disease, rot, and death of the good grass and create unwanted thatch............

that being said, contractors are not going to pick up clippings as they do so many lawns it would create a costly issue

When you see clumped dead spots on your zoysia it is most likely due to dead grass smothering and killing the good grass. The dead grass won't break down fast enough to do any good.

the answer to the quiz question is: Drum Roll..........BAG IT and remove, how you do that is the next quiz question. If you dont you are killing your own grass.


Capt. Kangaroo for all of you older folks:bowdown:


why do people bag the grass , golf courses dont , landscapers dont. i dont and my grass looks great and less work than bagging it. and the clippings are good for the grass.

[DAVES]

Endless debate on lawn care. Most of us hire people to mow our grass. Frankly first time in my life I did not mow my own lawn. The guide says you are not suppose to cut off more than 1/3 of. the grass blade. That requires mowing twice a week at times. The people we hire will not do that. To properly mulch cuttings the lawns need to be dry. The people we hire cannot and will not do that.. A sharp blade. The people we hire do not do that.
My lawn is better than your lawn attitude. As a public service mine is good enough and I allow others to SCREAM theirs is better than mine.

ALL should have a soil test done. It is inexpensive. Our soil is loaded with limestone and PH is like 7 to 8. It is in most places sandy clay. You can and many are growing bought sod on essentially cement. That is why it is so much WORK. Build the SOIL. Inject organic matter-manure-compost. Organics tend to lower the ph to the 6.5 that the grass prefers.
You can choose to fight nature but it is far less WORK to work with nature.

[DAVES]

I have been actively working to make the amount of grass in my yard as small as possible (per ARC). I'd rather spread mulch once a year and be done with it. I just wish I could find Cedar mulch around here. Love the smell of it when it gets wet.

One thing that annoys me about Saint Augustine is you can't buy grass seed for repairing the lawn. I have Bermuda grass invading my lawn and the only thing you can do is use round up to kill everything and plant sod or plugs. That means digging down the area to remove soil for the sod/plugs. So much easier to plant grass seed.

On that note, does anybody know of a sod farm for Saint Augustine? I know you can get plugs from Lowes or Home Depot but they are ridiculously expensive.

For what it is worth. People in the Villages mostly have either St Augustine or Empire Zoyzia. We have Empire Zoyzia. Saint Augustine also has different varieties I don't recall what variety they use-I would look it up. If, you lawn is bad there is a reason. Likely sun, fertilizer, insects, water, soil, etc. First you need to determine the problem and solve it. Ridiculously expensive? So is everything else. Far as plugs. Assuming areas of you lawn are good, same as you would plant plugs, AFTER YOU SOLVE THE PROBLEM and they will spread. You can remove plugs from your lawn and it will quickly fill in. A long handled bulb planter with a push out rod works great for that. It is a lot of work. You do not need to do it all at once.

[DAVES]

I've seen the clippings used for mulch in a few instances but I don't think it's great for that. Can't think of many other uses for it....

Former Northerner. A different climate, different soil, different rain and not as hot.
This is the first time I've ever not mowed my own lawn. I used to collect the clippings and compost them along with the leaves. It was amazing stuff for my garden. We were loaded with earthworms. Zuccini I can't believe people buy it. I couldn't give it away fast enough. Aspargus grew faster than Florida weeds. Blueberies, Raspberries
Everything has a use. When I went fishing I used to put sea weed and fish guts into my garden.

[John Mayes]

“On that note, does anybody know of a sod farm for Saint Augustine? I know you can get plugs from Lowes or Home Depot but they are ridiculously expensive.”

Bethel Farms. You can order sod pods through Amazon directly from BF’s. Just make sure you know the SA cultivar that you have.

[Freehiker]

I bag in the summer when the rains hit because it grows so quickly during the rainy months that it’s just too long to leave it down.

[Bonanza]

I've seen the clippings used for mulch in a few instances but I don't think it's great for that. Can't think of many other uses for it....

Uhhhhh . . . Cows and horses would tell you otherwise!
:a040:

[LeRoySmith]

Uhhhhh . . . Cows and horses would tell you otherwise!
:a040:

There aren't many cows or horses in my part of the villages. I have bailed a lot of roadside ditches in my youth to feed horses.

[jimjamuser]

why do people bag the grass , golf courses dont , landscapers dont. i dont and my grass looks great and less work than bagging it. and the clippings are good for the grass.
I don't bag my grass clippings. I leave it on the grass for nature to take over. The worst grass situation around here is owners and commercial grass cutters that blow the clippings onto the street. Then, the clippings gets carried away to some other owners home and it can end up as dust blowing around a neighborhood. It should be an ILLEGAL practice.

[jimjamuser]

I have been actively working to make the amount of grass in my yard as small as possible (per ARC). I'd rather spread mulch once a year and be done with it. I just wish I could find Cedar mulch around here. Love the smell of it when it gets wet.

One thing that annoys me about Saint Augustine is you can't buy grass seed for repairing the lawn. I have Bermuda grass invading my lawn and the only thing you can do is use round up to kill everything and plant sod or plugs. That means digging down the area to remove soil for the sod/plugs. So much easier to plant grass seed.

On that note, does anybody know of a sod farm for Saint Augustine? I know you can get plugs from Lowes or Home Depot but they are ridiculously expensive.
I agree with keeping your lawn as SMALL as possible. That way you can cut it yourself and eliminate the commercial lawn butchers, that race through our streets and may be criminals. You can use an Electric mower and thus improve the air around you and leave more oil for pharmaceuticals in the ground. You don't have to pay so much for high priced water. You decrease the fertilizer run-off into our lakes. There are many social advantages. Good work !

[jimjamuser]

That is fine in limited areas. Perfer to help the Bees and enjoy natural landscape.
I have seen very few bees here in The Villages in the last ten years.

[SeaCros]

why do people bag the grass , golf courses dont , landscapers dont. i dont and my grass looks great and less work than bagging it. and the clippings are good for the grass.

Maybe pull up and ask those that do and they might be able to answer as to why they do it.

[Margefrog]

I'm curious why someone would ask about such a thing.

[HORNET]

I mowed my lawn at my first home in The Villages. I mulched the lawn and several times a year ( maybe once a month) I would bag the grass. This second home has way too much grass to mow, so I have a grass cutter. There is no comparison of the two lawns, the first lawn was a show piece, the second just gets cut! Ish that I could get back to mowing my lawn again!

[Blueblaze]

I could care less what other people do with their lawns, until they try to force me to bag the clippings.

What irritates me are the people who buy a house with a big beautiful oak tree, who then insist on raking the leaves instead of mowing them, and finally get so tired of the raking (that they don't need to do) that they invent an excuse for cutting down the big tree, which they could have avoided buying in the first place.

[mntlblok]

For what it is worth. People in the Villages mostly have either St Augustine or Empire Zoyzia. We have Empire Zoyzia. Saint Augustine also has different varieties I don't recall what variety they use-I would look it up. If, you lawn is bad there is a reason. Likely sun, fertilizer, insects, water, soil, etc. First you need to determine the problem and solve it. Ridiculously expensive? So is everything else. Far as plugs. Assuming areas of you lawn are good, same as you would plant plugs, AFTER YOU SOLVE THE PROBLEM and they will spread. You can remove plugs from your lawn and it will quickly fill in. A long handled bulb planter with a push out rod works great for that. It is a lot of work. You do not need to do it all at once.

Been wondering which precise version of Zoysia we have - just north of Hillsborough Trail. *Fabulous* grass. Long history of battling lawn turf issues at previous locations in the southeast - mostly unsuccessfully. In our short time here I've had some success with my experiments with transplanting this stuff from one part of the lawn to another. The rate of "fill" has been acceptable during the growing season, but I'm continuing my learning process as to whether it's going to be possible to control the "mixing" with the Bermuda - which seems to be able to spread much more quickly than the Zoysia. The area that is about to become "birdcage" covered seems to have significantly less Bermuda ingrowth, so I'm having some fun seeing what I can do with my little spade-aided transplantation. (Folks thinking I'm nuts seems to have stopped being a problem a few decades ago). There's a guy in NC on YouTube that shows how using a combo of a couple of chemicals can get rid of the Bermuda and leave the Zoysia. Looks like Florida doesn't allow the shipping in of said chemicals.

I mow the lawn myself (the self-propelled type gave me irksome problems in the past, so I don't even have that feature) and I
find that keeping to that 1/3 to 1/4 of the length thing to keep from scalping it means mowing it about every four or five days or so. No problem, as this stuff looks just *so* pretty! You ought to come by and walk barefoot on it! The Bermuda doesn't look all that much different, so if the project fails, it'll still be "good enough". Oh, and I don't bag the clippings. The lawn seems to appreciate the free N, P, and K from them. If I'm a hair late getting to the mowing and there's some lines of clippings showing, going back over hose areas seems to take care of it. If not, spreading it a bit by foot disperses it easily enough for esthetic purposes. The lawn isn't all that big. Oh, and my edging skills are now *massively* improved. Those ninety degree edgings were surprisingly influential in our choosing to move here to this pretty place. :-)

Dean's has sufficiently taken care of my recurring tawny mole cricket issues. At least it's helped me learn how readily the holes in the lawn can fill in. Nice to have found a new, possibly fulfilling, hobby. :-) That long handled bulb planter *does* sound intriguing for some touch up work. . .

[Battlebasset]

the recommendation is to always bag zoysia clippings.............leaving the clumps on the good grass will Forster disease, rot, and death of the good grass and create unwanted thatch............

that being said, contractors are not going to pick up clippings as they do so many lawns it would create a costly issue

When you see clumped dead spots on your zoysia it is most likely due to dead grass smothering and killing the good grass. The dead grass won't break down fast enough to do any good.

the answer to the quiz question is: Drum Roll..........BAG IT and remove, how you do that is the next quiz question. If you dont you are killing your own grass.


Capt. Kangaroo for all of you older folks:bowdown:

I have zoysia and was told to do the same thing. Before that, I just mulched it back into the lawn. Same as I did up north

But at the end of last year I got motivated to dethatch, and the amount I pulled out was astounding. I don't want to have to do that every year, so I now bag. I have a pretty small lawn, so I don't even fill up a yard bag 1/3. I try to mow twice a week when it is growing heavy, but when it goes dormant, maybe once every two/three week.

I'm sure I'm still leaving plenty on the yard, so I feel I'm getting enough benefit of decaying grass without the excessive thatch build up. FYI, all of my neighbors say my lawn looks great.

[Battlebasset]

Bring on artificial grass lawns!

Would not do that for my front lawn, but my back yard that gets only limited sun and seems to grow nothing but weeds is very tempting. They make some pretty good artificial grass now, especially from a distance.

Home Depot will install it. Would be curious is anyone has ever done that, what was the size yard area, and what was the cost?

[MorTech]

Depends on amount of weeds with seeds on them. Bagging helps reduce weed spreading. Thatch can also get too thick so yep, depends on how often you mow and whether you want to de-thatch at least once a year when aeriating the soil for better water absorption and to allow fertilizers/pesticides to seep into the soil more efficiently.

I do all of the above. Bagging only when there is significant rains to create more than average grass growth. Aeriating the yard with really dorky looking metal sole 3" long spiked shoe adapters - work like a charm. Balancing all the factors and yard looks great.

I have Empire Zoysia that I mow to 1.5 inches and recently I wear epoxy shoes with the 1 inch spikes every time I mow. The grass does look noticeably better after 2 months with less watering an broader leaves. It is easier to walk than the 3 inch spikes :)

I side discharge and take a leaf blower to any clumps. Mulching zoysia just clogs and ruins the lawn. I am tempted to bag during rain season cuz the clippings overwhelm the lawn but I am too lazy.

[mntlblok]

I have Empire Zoysia that I mow to 1.5 inches and recently I wear epoxy shoes with the 1 inch spikes every time I mow. The grass does look noticeably better after 2 months with less watering an broader leaves. It is easier to walk than the 3 inch spikes :)

I side discharge and take a leaf blower to any clumps. Mulching zoysia just clogs and ruins the lawn. I am tempted to bag during rain season cuz the clippings overwhelm the lawn but I am too lazy.

Weirdly, had totally forgotten that there is such a thing as side discharge. Guess mine is a mulcher. :-)

[Drakeswood]

If the clippings are long, are allowed to accumulate atop a thickness of thatch that does not allow rain/watering to absorb and if there isn’t routine aeration, then bag: so says this Hawaii & Oklahoma MG…. No expert just seems rational from my knowledge base…