Grass Cuttings

Aug 26, 2007 10 Replies

Hi, Does anyone have any good ideas on getting rid of all of my gras



cuttings? I have a large garden on which I have to use a tractor mower so I create quite a lot! I already have three huge compost heaps and don't want a fourth. I'v tried burning them but they just smolder fo days, and I don't want to upset the neighbours (especialy as I hav only lived here for just over a month) Please let me have any of you ideas. Thanks, Owe


-- Owen


I'd just make a huge pile in the back of your lot and leave them. Don't make a working compost pile, just let them compost naturally. Will take a while, but someday there will be decent compost. Just don't toss the clippings. Bob-tx

Not from only grass clippings, there won't.

mulch. A garden that is fallow, around trees, under hedges etc etc. Just keep away from stems & trunks of plants that are growing.

Even better, if the grass is cut fine & evenly distributed leave it on the lawn. A few days of fine weather will see it dry & get incorporated back into the soil as fertiliser.

rob

I have a decent compost heap from just mowing grass, weeds, dead leaves, and whatever other vegetation is laying on the lawn. No kitchen scraps or anything else, except lime. It's been producing compost for 22 years.

Which proves my point. You don't have /just/ grass clippings.

Get a mulching mower and let the clippings melt back into the lawn.

Just curious. What happens to piles of grass clippings if left alone to decay without aids? Am assuming you're speaking of St.Augustine. What about Bermuda or fescue? Are you imagining all blowing away in the wind, turning to fairy dust or what? Or just non-specifically negative without explanation?

Are there any comm>

All I know is I left a good pile on the ground and in a couple of weeks it had a really bad ammonia smell. I turned it and it was moldy inside. Finally just loaded it up and took it to the local compost facility. There they mix it with other plant material, ie leaves, plant stems and other organic material. they also have a big machine that turns and chops it every so often. Turns into a great organic mulch, though I usually sift it before I use it.

You need more than /just/ grass clippings, in order to make a quality compost. That's what I'm saying, Dave. Don't you understand that? Grass clippings are nitrogen-rich, but you also need brown matter (carbon-rich) in there, too (chopped leaves, etc). A good mix would be 25 parts brown to

1 part green (roughly, by weight). The green materials provide protein for the microbes, the brown materials provide energy for them.

I avoid pine needles, which can raise the acidity, or at least make it hard to control. I also avoid weed roots and seedheads.

You need more than just grass clippings, in order to make a quality compost. That's what I'm saying, Dave. Don't you understand that?

Eggs, some of us a just a little thick in the head ya know.

signed: the poster boy of thick headedness, Clark

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