Posts Tagged ‘mulching’

What to Do with Lawn Clippings: Should You Bag or Mulch?

Wednesday, July 17th, 2019
An Exmark mower micro mulching lawn clippings

What to do with all those lawn clippings? The average square foot of grass has an estimated 3,000 individual blades, meaning even a small lawn will generate millions of clippings each time it’s mowed. You have three options: Cut and bag, cut and rake, or cut and mulch.

Mulching is the easiest choice. You cut the lawn and leave the clippings where they lie. This is often the best choice for your lawn, too, as the clippings help add nutrients and moisture back to the ground. The drawback is that many people find the clippings unsightly.  If you’re one of these people, a micro mulching mower (or a mulching kit to add to your existing mower) may be the answer. With micro mulching, clippings are cut into fine particles that are less visible, and they break down more quickly than larger clippings.

Using a bagger to collect your clippings will give you an ultra-tidy lawn, but doesn’t return valuable nutrients to your lawn. If you would like the benefits of mulching and an immaculately groomed look, the Exmark Navigator might be the right mower for you. Its patented fill reduction system lets you choose how much of your clippings to bag and how much to mulch. With options for bagging all, a third, or none of your clippings, it’s a great choice for landscape pros who service customers with different preferences. And, during heavy growth periods or when grass is very wet, bagging only some clippings can be a good option.

If you bag your clippings, you’ll want to look for a bagger that comes on and off easily. Exmark walk-behind Commercial 21 and Commercial 30 mowers have bag designs that eliminate the need for levers and doors. A top-fill feature lets you check how much room you have during operation. And you’ll want it to be easy to empty, especially if you’re emptying it into lawn bags.

For larger zero-turn mowers, Exmark UltraVac Collection systems have large-capacity hoppers and are designed with larger diameter tubes to avoid clogging. Some UltraVac models include a quick dump release lever, while others can easily switch between bagging and discharging.

If you do bag your clippings, you can take advantage of the nutrients by composting them.  The composted clippings can be added to flower beds, vegetable gardens and around trees.  Just be sure to turn clippings periodically to promote decomposition and oxygen flow.

No matter what your preference for clippings, Exmark mowers will make it easier to handle them. Find an Exmark dealer near you to see the full range of mowers and accessories.

Leaf removal – the sequel.

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

So we asked, and we received. In our last leaf removal post, we asked you to share some of your favorite tips and techniques with us on leaf removal. We’re glad to say we got quite a few responses – some creative, some pretty funny and others that we could see coming in quite handy. Thanks to all who shared!

And, rather than just picking one – we decided to go with a few of our favorites:

Mitch

I own an Exmark Turf Tracer HP. Usually I blow all the leaves out of the flower beds onto the lawn with my blower. Then I mow the lawn two to three times to mulch up the leaves. The mower is designed so well, it acts like a very powerful vacuum, sucking up the leaves and shredding them into tiny pieces! It doesn’t miss any leaves and I’m just using the normal Exmark blades. After I mow over the leaves two to three times, I attach my bagger and mow once, emptying my bagger every once in awhile. This works great for me.

Ryan McCallum

I own a Navigator. After blowing the leaves out of the gardens and tight areas I run over them with the machine equipped with the mulch plug to chop them up really fine. Then I take the plug out and bag as usual. Takes a bit more time but saves a lot of space on the trailer.

Rob Robinson

Blow out all the plant beds into the lawn and suck the leaves up from there. If there are a lot of them, it’s not a bad idea to grind the leaves up a bit to cut down on the amount you have to move.

Brennan Wright

Mulch kit probably the best investment I’ve ever made.

Ryan Nicola

The JRCO leaf plow works great moves lots of leaves quick leaving a thin trail behind which can easily be vaced up with a mower or blown easily with a good back pack blower.

Daniel Lane

For individual small yards, grab the biggest, thickest tarp you can, rake and blow the leaves onto it, and move by hand or tie off to your rider for the burn pile or truck.

Bonnie Lange Salonek

Ultra Vac – just got mine and I love it!

Kenny Farrell

Mulch over them with a Lazer and bag them up with a Turf Tracer.

Though we don’t encourage this behavior, the following posts made us chuckle a bit:

Joe Caron

Hire someone to do it for me!

Brian Smith

Cut down all the trees.

Justin Monnig

I’ve got all sorts of ideas, let’s see, how about use a speed blower or buffalo blower to move ‘em into your neighbor’s yard. No bagging needed. Then sit back in a lawn chair with an alcoholic beverage as your neighbor sweeps them up.

If you have more ideas you’d like to share, feel free to leave a comment below.

Fall Leaf Removal

Friday, October 1st, 2010

A bit of crispness in the air. The days getting shorter. Sweaters making their way out of storage. Yep, fall is heading toward us, bringing a quiet end to mowing season and a frenzied beginning to leaf removal season. Having spoken to quite a few pros in the past, we know that each one has his trick and technique to picking up leaves. And, we’d love to know what those are. Today, we’re asking you to share your personal twist on leaf removal.

We’ll start it off by sharing our “techniques,” which come in the form of attachments and a mower.

These tools quickly and efficiently get the leaves off the grass and out of sight. The attachment you choose depends on the kinds of properties you mow and your clients’ preferences. If you want finely mulched leaves spread evenly over the grass, then the Exmark mulching kit will be the tool you’re looking for. If you want finely mulched leaves collected, then check out our UltraVac® attachment and the Exmark Navigator®.

Now it’s your turn. What’s your best technique or trick for leaf removal? We’ll select one of the techniques shared and feature it and the genius landscape pro behind it in an upcoming blog post!