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Soil, Compost & Mulch

Grass clippings

13 years ago

I just got my slimy grass clippings under control. I had enough backup newspapers to at least attempt a good mix of browns. I layered and mixed and left it in a pile in front of the full bins. Deep breath (that wasn't too stinky even).

Then I let the #1 son (19) borrow the lawn mower to mow the lawn at his rental house. He brought the trailer back last night. He also brought it back full of grass. No kidding there is a trailer with a fresh green grass pile that is 8'x5'x2' sitting in my driveway.

Now, I could call him and have him take the pile to the county compost facility and pay $6 to dump it. But I'm already on the slippery slope of compost madness and all I can think about is finding enough browns to mix with it and make another pile. Hubby is going to shoot me.

I need your help. I either need to be talked down from this madness or I need advice on what to do with this much grass. I'm thinking of mulching between my raised beds but that is kinda "messy" looking.

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Comments (8)

cowgirl2
13 years ago
Become a farmer and treat the grass like hay. Spread it out on the lawn or any other available surface to allow it to dry. Turn it so that it dries completly. It should still be green but dry enough that you can store it. After that you will have a "green" to add to any "browns" later in the year when all is brown.
kentstar
13 years ago
Wish you could send some my way lol!
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Bermuda grass is not the only type of grass that can create these sorts of "weed" problems, although it does have a reputation for being one of the worst. A great many other common turf grass species can display this trait. Turf grasses come in three different growth habits -- clumpers, rhizomatous and stoloniferous -- and most common lawn blends, both warm and cool season grasses, combine a variety of both. Bentgrass, Kentucky blue and creeping ryegrass -- all of which are common to various cool season grass mixtures -- are either rhizomatous or stoloniferous and can create rooting, weedy problems when applied as a mulch to a planting bed. There are a number of other various grass species as well that will create similar issues. Bermuda and Zoisya grass are well known for this problem as well and they tend to be used most often in warmer climates (warm season grasses) and often as a single species rather than as part of a blend of various turf grasses.
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I garden on 3 acres. Bought an old homestead where they had been growing root vegetables for years but when I bought this had been abandoned. I have been planting like my life depended on it since I moved here. I have a lawn tractor and 2 push mowers and they all have the 'mulching' capacity. Some periods grass grows so much that it leaves way too much on the ground so I've been putting it in that pile. Will use some right away then and compost the rest. Thank you for your anwers.
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What you should have done back then was to go over it again with the mower until it was all mixed down into the sod. For now the bugs will eat the decaying matter. As for new grass you are fortunate to live in an area where spring grass seeding is not a problem. You could rake with a hard rake to loosen the dead grass and the very top surface of soil. Scatter the seed and roll it down or walk on it all to press the new seed into the surface. Then if it s not raining/misting every day, water it lightly 3x per day just enough to keep the seed and surface moist. Don't saturate the soil and don't wash the seed away. The seed you get at a hardware store is likely to have rye, fescue, and possibly Kentucky bluegrass. These three grasses have three different germination times. Rye sprouts first in a week. Fescue sprouts in 2 weeks, and KBG takes 3 weeks to germinate. Keep watering daily as long as it takes to get about 80% germination. Then start backing off on the watering frequency and go up on the duration. Eventually you would be watering 1 inch every time you water. How often you water depends on the temperature. If your summer temp is in the 80s, then water 1 inch every 2 weeks. The soil surface will dry out completely before the grass roots need water. When you water deeply and infrequently like this, the roots will grow down deeper to get the moisture lower down.
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Easiest solution is to ask the neighbors themselves. :-] If using for mulch you want to be 100% sure they have not been sprayed with herbicides. Composting will usually take care of the most common chemicals, but there's a small chance something persistent was used by a pro (chlorpyralid or picloram) which can survive. How about typing out the questions then using Google Translate to translate into Spanish, print it out and hand it to them? Keep it simple. "May I take the grass clippings for my compost?" and "do they use weed spray?"
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toxcrusadr
13 years ago
You guys need mulching mowers.
Kimmsr
13 years ago
I would spread it that grass around on my lawn and let the soil bacteria work it into the soil the grass is growing in. The single best place for grass clippings is right back where they cam from, the soil they were growing in.
momstar
Original Author
13 years ago
tox, we have mulching mowers. That would be our preferred method as well. But #1 son let it get too long and it was messy. So he bagged it. We mulch when we can do it without leaving clumps or trails on the lawn.

kentstar, watch your porch for a package from UPS. It might be kinda rank by the time it gets to you. lol

cowgirl2, that is what I have been doing mostly. Here is the million dollar question. "When do green grass clippings dry enough to become a brown?"

oh and I scored a 5 cubic foot bag of cedar chips (animal bedding) yesterday. Is that going to give my microbes indigestion or will they just take longer to break it down?
cowgirl2
13 years ago
Here is the million dollar question. "When do green grass clippings dry enough to become a brown?"

Drying grass does not make it "brown."

Most of the nitrogen is retained when grass is dried, if it is dried under ideal circumstances. That being warm sunny days and the grass is turned frequently. The grass still retains its green colour and its nutrient value to livestock.

If on the other hand, the grass is rained on and stays wet, the bacteria will begin to decompost the grass consuming the nitrogen leaving mostly carbohydrates or "browns" behind. The moist grass is an ideal environment for the bacteria to live and thrive. Just like the moist environment of the compost pile.

Although I speak of the nitrogen content of grass, livestock regard it as a protein source. Divide the protein percentage of any animal feed by 6.25 and you get the nitrogen percentage. The organic soy bean meal added to a garden plot is 46.5% protein or 7.5% nitrogen.

I will be expecting that million dollar cheque in the mail shortly.

Here is a link that might be useful: Coping With Poor Hay Crop Quality
momstar
Original Author
13 years ago
cowgirl2, thanks. The million dollar check is in the mail!!
toxcrusadr
13 years ago
Those wood chips will definitely soak up some excess N, but cedar can take time to decompose. It would be good to have some leaves or some other faster decomposing browns to mix in. And don't expect fast compost. I've used wood planer shavings and pine chip livestock bedding, and they do work.

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