Why do people bag grass these days?

[Brian Elfert]

Some people here use the services, some bag and some don't. When I have been in resort areas/towns, I've noticed all of the places bag the grass, too (I mention resort areas, because those are the places where you're likely to see a lawn service working from one end of a street all the way to another hitting every single property - stone harbor and avalon come to mind. They have tiny amounts of lawn though and everyone gets their grass fertilized as well as bagged.

I suspect those areas have an HOA that maintains the grass so the HOA contracts with one company for everyone's lawns. Otherwise, I don't see how everyone would use the same landscape company. Over time you would think some of the homeowners would have jumped ship for another landscape company that offered a lower price.

[David Weaver]

When the lawns are as small as they are in a place like avalon, and the workers look like illegals, it's probably tough to beat the company who is just marching down the street from lawn to lawn in terms of price. They can also pitch to the homeowners that there will never be a day that their yard is not cut and their neighbor's is, because they do them all at once. There are lawns on some of those properties that I'll bet aren't more than 100 square feet - they're just a little grass behind the sidewalk, and then it's gardens and a building.

[Curt Harms]

[QUOTE=David Weaver;2269562]Yeah, what's in it...a lot of ammonia or something? /QUOTE]

I think so. Ammonia is turned into nitrogen via natural processes. As I recall from many years ago so may be wrong, NH3 + H20 -> NH4 -> naturally occurring microbes ->NO3 which is a form used by plants. Nitrogen can REALLY make grass go nuts.

[David Weaver]

Yeah, I wasn't even thinking about that...we don't call the dry fert used in this side of the country by the same thing the midwest does anhydrous ammonia. My family / relatives have been out of farming for decades now, and corn didn't have the dominant position that it does now, and the rotation was more of a rotation. It may be that the anhydrous ammonia is more common here now, too. But you're right, I didn't even think of the nitrogen being delivered via anhydrous ammonia.

[Mel Fulks]

I've heard some of the lawn foods have reduced the nitrogen content to comply with standards for improving the Chesapeake bay. And the government message will increasingly be more rules and taxes on those products and ads saying
clippings should be left in place. I've noticed more people are using the powered leaf blowers to pile clippings, that way
they can pollute and make noise for hours at a time.

[David Weaver]

If you live in a neighborhood like mine (with quarter to half acre lots), there is pretty much no time on a weekend day that the weather is nice that you don't hear a whole bunch of lawnmowers or leaf blowers.

[Dave Sheldrake]

I got a pellet press to deal with all the grass cuttings, the local farmers take it away for me or it gets dried and used for kittylitter

cheers

Dave

[David Weaver]

I got a pellet press to deal with all the grass cuttings, the local farmers take it away for me or it gets dried and used for kittylitter

cheers

Dave

As in like one of the chinese pellet presses that makes feed shaped pellets, but requires the fodder to go through a hammermill first?

[Dave Sheldrake]

Noooo it's a complete unit that takes damp grass in, crushes and feeds pellets out. Hydraulic screw driven rather than just two round rollers A lot of my MDF waste goes the same way after going through a 15hp garden shredder / crusher.

cheers

Dave

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I think you are right on the process Curt. Meth heads have screwed up the NH3 option pretty much everywhere. Cost a stupid amount to protect all the tanks and infrastructure from them hurting themselves, so costs are way up. I have no idea what they do with it, but there isn't much brainpower involved.

[Dave Sheldrake]

It's a precursor chemical for cooking Meth Steve, same here with all precursor chemicals, while theft isn't a problem the paperwork all has to be in order for inspections.

cheers

Dave

[Myk Rian]

We cut the grass, let it rot, and never water it. No way am I going to run my well for grass.
If it dies in August, so be it. It'll come back first rain.

[Larry Klaaren]

I bag in the back yard where the pool is located. Otherwise kids tear around the yard, get grass on their feet, and it ends up in the pool. The front I mulch. I can not tell the difference by looking at them.

[Lee Schierer]

What I've noticed since I started sweeping our lawn to remove excess clippings is that the weed count has dropped significantly without the use of chemicals.