Grasscycling refers to the process of mowing grass while distributing the clippings back onto the lawn.
We all know the importance of mowing your lawn on a regular basis: it discourages weed growth, controls disease and invasive pests, and it keeps your lawn looking clean.
While you can always bag and dispose of the clippings elsewhere, many homeowners prefer grasscycling.
It’s unknown who exactly is responsible for coining the term “grasscycling.” According to Wikipedia, though, it became popular and widely used by the 1990s.
During this time, there’s a greater push to keep grass clippings out of landfills. Some cities’ landfill waste consisted of up to 50% grass clippings, so municipalities throughout the country began encouraging homeowners and business owners alike to recycle their grass clippings.
Benefits of Grasscycling
You might be wondering what, if any, benefits grasscycling offers. As stated above, it reduces landfill waste. Reports indicate that just 1,000 square feet of lawn can produce as much as 500 pounds of grass clippings per year!
When you multiple this by the number of residential homes in a given area, it’s easy to see just how problematic grass clipping waste can be. By grasscycling, however, you can reuse your grass clippings instead of sending them off to the landfill.
And let’s face it, bagging and disposing of grass clippings isn’t exactly ideal when mowing the lawn. Depending on the size of your lawn, you may have to make half a dozen or more trips to dispose of the grass clippings.
If you opt for grasscycling, though, you won’t have to worry about making these trips. Just convert your lawnmower to the grasscycling function, at which point it will shoot the clippings back onto your lawn.
Most residential lawnmowers sold today are convertible, which means they can easily convert from bagging to side discharge to mulching. The mulching setup is actually best if you mow your lawn regularly because it chops the clippings into much smaller pieces allowing them to decompose even quicker.
It’s also worth noting that grass clippings decompose in a very short period of time. In fact, most grass clippings will completely decompose into the soil within just a few weeks.
So even if you shoot the grass clippings back onto your lawn, they won’t stay here very long.
Furthermore, grass clippings make an excellent, all-natural source of fertilizer. Grass contains mostly a high nitrogen content and low lignin content.
As it decomposes, these compounds are released into the soil, supplying the grass and other plant life with beneficial nutrients. Some sources claim that grasscycling can even provide up to 20% of a lawn’s annual nitrogen requirements.
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