Lawn Care Question: To Mulch or Not

In the upcoming weeks will see property owners picking up leaves and hauling them to the land fill. I spoke to a worker at the land fill, and he is amazed at the mass of leaves that are hauled in each year from lawns and the work people to do it. For this property owner fall and spring, I use a ZTR (zero turn mower) and go over the leaves a few times reducing them to small particles eventually in a few weeks disappearing. I do not fertilize, basically mow and mulch. Wonder why people put in so much effort picking up the leaves and hauling them away. Your thoughts.

I mulch leaves in the fall. In the spring I have leaves, sticks, plastic bags, candy wrappers, and this year even an empty corn cob. Too much junk to mulch with my mower. Yesterday I raked it up and bagged it for the city compost site. I don’t feel bad about junk in there because the city dumps the street sweepers in the same pile.

If I didn’t bag my back yard would be ankle deep mulch and it won’t disappear in a few weeks. I do mulch them and bag them though because raking sucks and a lot more fits in a bag mulched. Even then I have about 35 bags from just the back yard of a 1/4 acre lot. The front yard is easier, they blow away to be someone else’s problem

It depends on the yard (how much stuff are you mulching) obviously large amounts of mulched up leafs sitting ontop can smother grass growth and grow mold everywhere, but smaller amounts can fertilize the soil as it decays…

We have quite a few very large mature trees in our yard. Like the comment above, we could not mulch it all. We probably have a few bins and 30 bags worth in the fall, plus mulching across the yard. Spring … maybe a couple of bins worth of twings and a few leaves.

Regarding letting your leaves blow into the neighbor’s yard or worse the street (public works has to clean) … don’t be that guy.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

It depends on the yard (how much stuff are you mulching) obviously large amounts of mulched up leafs sitting ontop can smother grass growth and grow mold everywhere, but smaller amounts can fertilize the soil as it decays…

Same

Some areas just have way too many leaves so I have to rake and bag a few. I try to mulch as many as I can.

I don’t understand why people bag their grass clippings though. That one is a head scratcher. Especially when the top of the grass starts seeding. Removing all that is like eliminating a full seeding process.

Brittman wrote:

Regarding letting your leaves blow into the neighbor’s yard or worse the street (public works has to clean) … don’t be that guy.

I’m kind of joking. They all blow around so I get the neighbors, the other neighbor gets mine. I do mine eventually but I’m definitely not going first.

for me it depends on the trees the leaves come from. out garbage hauler provides a yard waste bin so anything i dont use goes there. i have 1 black walnut….ALL those leaves and stems go in the yard waste bin. the rest of my trees are maple.

i bag alot of those leaves and save them over winter and use them in my garden around my cukes and tomatoes…….and it takes alot. some i mulch into the yard. and some i take up to the cabin.

it never fails that pile i dump in the woods at the cabin always gets mauled by the deer. i dnt knoww why but it humors me to see that pile shredded after the first snow fall!!!!!!

Gary Korsgaden wrote:

In the upcoming weeks will see property owners picking up leaves and hauling them to the land fill. I spoke to a worker at the land fill, and he is amazed at the mass of leaves that are hauled in each year from lawns and the work people to do it. For this property owner fall and spring, I use a ZTR (zero turn mower) and go over the leaves a few times reducing them to small particles eventually in a few weeks disappearing. I do not fertilize, basically mow and mulch. Wonder why people put in so much effort picking up the leaves and hauling them away. Your thoughts.

I assume you don’t have many mature oaks or maples and more leaves then a muncher could handle ?

We have a couple big oaks and they drop most of their leaves in the spring. We probably bag more leaves in the spring so I don’t mulch much. We usually rake most in the fall and then I give it one last mow for anything else that’s left.

We also have a wrought iron fence…that thing catches every leaf in the neighborhood. I’ll bet 75% of the leaves we rake are caught by the fence.

You can’t mulch because there’s too many leaves?

Would rather mow every few days in the fall then rake and bag..much easier.

Bearcat89 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Gary Korsgaden wrote:</div>
In the upcoming weeks will see property owners picking up leaves and hauling them to the land fill. I spoke to a worker at the land fill, and he is amazed at the mass of leaves that are hauled in each year from lawns and the work people to do it. For this property owner fall and spring, I use a ZTR (zero turn mower) and go over the leaves a few times reducing them to small particles eventually in a few weeks disappearing. I do not fertilize, basically mow and mulch. Wonder why people put in so much effort picking up the leaves and hauling them away. Your thoughts.

I assume you don’t have many mature oaks or maples and more.
Your right 6 or so of each does take several mowings though but better than hauling. I have areas like around the spruce plantings where I blow out from under the trees and grind up also. Interesting reading about the different methods people chose to use. Thanks to you and everyone’s input.

I mulch a few times and then bag last mow of the fall or first in the spring if I didn’t get it in. And when I bag it I put it in the garden under a bunch of black dirt, works well for me and the garden.

Backpack blower – I can blow an acre of leaves into the woods (the brush holds them in there) in a matter of an hour or so. No hauling, lifting, loading, etc.

I have one large oak and 4 maples.
No way I could mulch all of those.
I rake and bag and bring to compost site – no ravine behind me
I always mow my lawn high, NEVER cut it low except the last two times before the snow flies.
Grow it long, water deep and only as needed ( neighbor runs his DAILY for about 10 minutes a zone and fertilizes frequently- no thanks) – encourages shallow, less hardy root system.
First mow of the year I always let it go to seed. I never bag as I’m only cutting the tip tops off and believe in mulching. Those seed heads are free “overseeds” in my opinion. I fertilize once ion the spring – weed and feed and that’s it.
I have two blades, always a sharp one on the mower.
ONLY problem I have is under the maples. Just not getting much sunlight under there anymore

I dont mulch and I dont bag. Never had a buildup problem. I have a thinning problem in front as my maple gets larger.

Bearcat89 wrote:

I assume you don’t have many mature oaks or maples and more leaves then a muncher could handle ?

I dont have any oaks, but MANY huge silver leaf maples and those are a royal PITA to deal with their leaves. Having said that, I mulch mine. I have a mulching attachment on my simplicity tractor and it literally pulverizes everything. It might take narrower passes to get the desired results if the leaves are super deep, but when I am done it basically looks bagged.

It’s not the time now, but getting those thick maples thinned (crossing branches, weak spots) and pruned up higher taking low limbs helps with lawn beneath them and the tree itself with better airflow and sunglight penetration. I try to keep all my maturing deciduous trees pruned high enough that if I jump, I can just barely touch the branches (about 10′). As the tree matures, I go higher. We have some ~80-100 year old oaks without a branch for 20′ from the ground up.

For cool-season grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis), the optimal mowing height in the spring is typically between 2½ and 3½ inches. The height protects the grass from heat stress and encourages deeper root growth, improving overall lawn health.
Mow warm-season grasses, such as Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon), slightly lower, between 1 and 2 inches. …

To mow grass in the fall, follow these guidelines:
For cool-season grasses, lower the mower blade height by about 1 inch compared to summer cutting heights, aiming for a height of 2.5 to 3 inches.
For warm-season grasses, cut to 1.5 to 2 inches in the fall before cooler weather appears.

If you have a place to dump them, you’ll have a great pile of fertile soil

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