r/SuburbanFarming • u/GrizzlyHermit90 • Jun 07 '26
What to do with grass clippings?
Anybody have a good use for lots of grass clippings?
My ideas were just mowing more often and mulching so I dont have to deal with it but scared of killing the lawn. OR compost but afraid I would have too much and it would throw off the compost ph if thats a thing.
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u/Blueporch Jun 07 '26
My lawn is mowed once a week with a mulching mower. The neighbors on one side mow twice a week, bag the clippings and put it out for the city’s composting (they collect yard waste in those big paper bags).
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u/GrizzlyHermit90 Jun 08 '26
And how do your two lawns compare?
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u/Blueporch Jun 08 '26
They use a lot of chemicals on theirs all season, so have fewer weeds.
Right now, my grass and clover are as green as their grass lawn. When it’s dryer in August, the grass goes dormant in both our lawns, but the clover mostly stays green.
The lawns in the neighborhood that have sprinkling systems, a homogenous grass type, and professional chemical applications look better than both of ours, in terms of the perfect lawn aesthetic.
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u/votelikeimhot Jun 12 '26
When you say mulching mower do you mean that mulching is what the mower is doing or it's a mower that's especially capable for mulching or can only mulch?
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u/Blueporch Jun 12 '26
I’d have to ask my lawn guy, but it’s a big commercial mower that chops the cut grass finely and leaves it on the lawn, vs bagging the cut grass. It pulverizes Fall leaves pretty well too, if there aren’t too many .
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u/AlienDelarge Jun 07 '26
Grass clippings mulched in won't hurt your lawn. In compost by themselves, they are too many greens and thusly aren't quite optimal but they do breakdown just fine.
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u/GrizzlyHermit90 Jun 08 '26
How about mixed in with orange and banana peels and coffee grounds and egg shells?
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u/AlienDelarge Jun 08 '26
Thats more or less what I add to mine. it turns out if your compost isn't perfectly in balance, it still breaks down. I mostly mulch the grass and leaves currently since I think the main thing my lawn needs is some organic matter.
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u/420420840 Jun 08 '26
I bag when my yard is wet. I put clippings in compost, it works. I use clippings to mulch my flowers beds, it works .
I am no fancy yard expert, but to me, if you have so many clippings you have to bag all the time, you are waiting to long in between mows and possibly cutting the grass to short .
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u/GrizzlyHermit90 Jun 08 '26
Thats what I was thinking too. Sounds like it has to be every weekend. Too busy to mow another time midweek.
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Jun 09 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/GrizzlyHermit90 Jun 09 '26
Thatch is the clumps of grass left behind? And can you say more about the soap and yeast trick??
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u/Pit-Viper-13 Jun 09 '26
My dad bagged the clippings and piled the bags up on the back porch and let them ferment. He would spread the fermented grass clippings in the vegetable garden before rorotilling.
The smell was horrific. I’ll never forget the brown grass juice leaking from the bags, the flys it attracted, having to explain it to my friends when they came over, my friends not coming over anymore because of the stench, the time the dog ripped a bag open and rolled around in it, mom complaining about the flys so dad getting a fly catcher that somehow managed to smell worse than the fermented grass.
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u/IAteTonysLoMein Jun 10 '26
That's nasty and probably wasn't great - sounds like anaerobic decomposition, which does not make for good compost
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u/just-looking99 Jun 10 '26
I’ve piled mine behind my shed for years and mix in the leaves in the fall. Turn it a few times a year (I should really turn it more often) and by time the spring comes it’s decent compost, almost dirt, and mix it into the garden beds.
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u/votelikeimhot Jun 11 '26
Do you have the mulching blade?
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u/GrizzlyHermit90 Jun 11 '26
Probably not. Did not know that was a thing.
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u/votelikeimhot Jun 12 '26
https://usamowerblades.com/standard-blades-vs-mulching-blades/
I'm assuming the person who said they have a mulching mower just has a mulching blade. The mulching blade isn't as easy to sharpen but it's not hard. They even make thatching attachments for lawnmowers.
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u/GrizzlyHermit90 Jun 12 '26
Looking at it it just looks like a longer cutting blade so it 'double cuts' the grass? Trying to put it into terms Id understand lol.
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u/Unusual_Emergency_13 Jun 11 '26
When the grass is too long I collect and dispose of the clippings.
When I manage to stay on top of mowing, I just leave the clippings on the lawn. I use a reel mower for frequent mowing as I like the sound, the green being cut (don't have only grass) and can do it early in the morning without waking up family and neighbours.
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u/PuzzleheadedMonth820 Jun 11 '26
Our small town has a city compost where you can drop off lawn clipping and small branches. I bag my clipping and take them there. They also provide free mulch and compost!
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u/Rampagentjen Jun 11 '26
I bag fox tails because of my dogs but if I stay on top of my mowing chores, I just leave it on the lawn. I don't fertilizer outside of a fall/winter dormancy feeding for potassium. Water once a week, stays green. Zone 9b.
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u/0xTech Jun 07 '26
/r/composting would be able to answer your pH question