Lawn clippings and fertility
Want to save money on fertilizer? Why not take advantage of the free fertilizer available from your own lawn?
That’s right, lawns produce fertilizer. The fertilizer they produce comes from the grass clippings. It is possible to recycle as much as 60 percent of the nitrogen from the clippings by doing nothing more than leaving the clippings on the ground! Of course, if you are going to get the maximum effect, you will need to mow often, leaving short clippings that are easy for soil microbes to digest.
There are other reasons to mow often and leave your clippings on the ground instead of bagging them and sending them to a landfill. Speaking of landfill, that is a good place to start.
Lawn clippings and the environment
Leaving your lawn clippings on the lawn keeps them out of the landfill, which is good for the environment. Most cities, and many states have laws prohibiting the bagging of lawn clippings because of over stuffed landfills. By leaving the clippings, you are avoiding this problem altogether.
Lawn clippings and organic matter
Organic matter is essential to healthy lawn growth. Lawn clippings are a great, and free source of organic matter. Clippings add organic matter to the lawn when they are left in place and allowed to degrade naturally.
Lawn clippings and thatch
Mowing often, and leaving short clippings will also prevent the accumulation of thatch. That is the layer of dead grass at the base of the plant. Short lawn clippings will degrade more quickly, and even help to break down the thatch built up from leaving long grass clippings.
Reasons why people bag
Thatch problems.
Thatch problems are caused by leaving lawn clippings that are too massive to break down through microbial activity. If this is the case, the lawn should be mowed more often, or fertilization, and irrigation should be lowered. If the lawn is growing so rapidly that it can’t be mowed often enough, there is usually a problem with excessive fertility, and, or, too much water. In such cases, the answer is not to bag the clippings. The answer is to moderate the activity that is causing the problem.
It is habit.
It is habit learned from someone in the past, who needed to bag, or thought they needed to bag. The world is full of stories about people who continue to do things when the need is long past, or a better solution is available.
See also: Grass Clippings UC Davis
