What to Do With Excess Lawn Clippings

If you haven't mowed your lawn in a while or your grass has grown quicker than the last time you cut it, you may have an abundance of grass clippings on your lawn. If this is the case, don't fret. Some lawnmowers will clump and gather clippings for you, but if you choose to leave them alone, it's not a bad thing. Grass clippings can be left on the lawn to add nutrients to it, or bagged for easy cleanup. Below, learn what to do with excess grass clippings on your lawn.

What to Do With Grass Clippings After Mowing

There are several options as to what to do with grass clippings after mowing, but you should know when to remove them and when to leave them be. Here are some tips:

When to Remove Grass Clippings

• When the grass is wet. You should not be mowing wet grass (it is dangerous to do so), but perhaps you mowed the lawn and it rained. When the lawn is wet, grass clippings become thick and mat down.
• If you have dead and brown patches: Patches of diseased grass on your lawn can still cause grass clippings. You should bag these clippings and dispose of them. Otherwise, you risk letting the disease spread to other areas of the lawn.
  

When to Leave Grass Clippings on the Lawn

• Mow the lawn before it gets overly tall: The mass of the grass clippings will not be sufficient to warrant raking (or bagging, if you use a bag attachment on your lawnmower). They do not contribute to lawn thatch build-up.
• If they have been mulched: A good way to get around having to bag or rake grass clippings is to mow with a mulching mower. Mulching grass clippings chops them up finely enough that they cause no harm to the lawn.
  

How to Remove Excess Grass Clippings

Depending on how abundant your grass clippings are, there are several ways to remove them from your lawn. If your lawn is healthy and grass clippings are not wet or thick, you can simply rake them away. Bagging your grass clippings can be beneficial in more ways than one. Not only does bagging remove the clippings from your yard completely, but it also reduces pests and allergens. Less of a mess also means you can also repurpose the clippings as compost elsewhere in your yard.

As previously mentioned, a quick way to remove grass clippings is with your lawnmower by adding a mulching attachment. If you choose this option, be careful not to overdo it as too much mulching can smother and flatten the lawn, preventing airflow.

Benefits of Grass Clippings on Your Lawn

The nutrients provided by the grass clippings allow you to lower your dependence on chemical lawn fertilizers, thereby saving money. They are especially rich in nitrogen. This natural form of nitrogen acts as a slow-release fertilizer. You will never have to worry about it burning your lawn. Nor will it cause harm to pets or children.

Air Flow and Lawn Diseases

When grass clippings are too thick or stick together due to wetness, they can block airflow to your lawn, which encourages disease. Any type of fungal disease is more likely to occur under conditions where air does not circulate as well as it should. Here are some diseases that can attack a lawn due to improper handling of grass clippings:

1. Brown patch
2. Dollar spot
3. Powdery mildew
4. Pythium blight
5. Rhizoctonia

Grass Clippings in Compost

Grass clippings serve as a "green" component in compost and work in tandem with "brown" components such as the leaves you rake in the fall. Freshly cut grass blades are mainly water, which is why a huge pile of them deposited into a compost bin breaks down so fast. In the process of breaking down, they heat up your compost pile, which, in turn, helps the pile's other components to decompose more quickly.

Grass Clippings in Mulch

If you prefer to use your grass clippings in mulch, there are a few things to note. You should only use dry grass clippings and no more than 2 inches of clippings at a time. If your lawn was recently treated with pesticide or herbicide, you should hold off on mulching the clippings as this can harm your plants. Grass clippings help to conserve moisture and add nutrients back to the soil, but you may want to avoid using them near garden beds as some clippings may contain seed heads, leading to weeds.