Grass Cycling

Custom Lawn Care recommends grass cycling your lawn clippings. Grass cycling is the natural recycling of grass clippings by leaving them on the lawn. Cycling is a simple and effective way to help conserve landfill capacity, while saving time, work and money. The benefit is a greener, healthier lawn.

Contrary to popular belief, university research has shown that clippings do not contribute significantly to thatch build up. Clippings are almost all water. Once dried up, they add very little bulk to the thatch layer. Thatch is mainly made up of the heavier crowns, stems and roots.

Proper mowing is essential to grass cycling and can increase your lawn’s quality by 30% or more. Cut lawn when grass is dry. Keep your mower sharp. Set your mower to cut at 3 inches. Mow often enough so you never remove more than one third of the lawn height each cut. You may have to mow every 4 days when your lawn is growing fast, but once every 7 days may be sufficient when turf is growing slowly. All mowers can grass cycle. You can simply remove your mower’s collection bag. Many manufacturers have attachments or special designs that will improve a mower’s grass cycling performance.

Avoid daily watering. If you water heavily to a depth of 6” once per week, that should be sufficient. The exception to the rule is this: consistent days of +28 degrees Celsius, may require additional watering. Along with proper watering and mowing, lawns need properly timed fertilizer applications. Over fertilizing causes excess top growth. Grass cycling can contribute up to 25% of your total fertilizing needs when done properly