Bag or mulch? If you care for a lawn, undoubtedly you’ve wondered what to do with clippings. Should you collect them in a bag attached to your lawnmower or allow them to fall back on to the lawn, providing mulch for the growing grass?

Best to leave clippings

For lots of reasons that are good for your turf and the environment, experts say to leave the clippings. This will have the same value as one or two applications of fertilizer each year.

Your lawn management practices will depend a lot on what type of grass you have. If you have a creeping grass such as zoysia or Bermuda grass, you can cut it very close, to a half-inch or less. But upright growing grasses such as red fescue or Kentucky bluegrass should be allowed to grow between one and two inches high.

Grass clippings are mostly water and within a few days will either blow away or decompose, helping build your soil.

When to bag

Here are two reasons not to leave grass clippings on your lawn:

•        Disease — if you see signs of fungus or other diseases, dispose of clippings, so you don’t spread the problem around.

•        Too thick of grass — if you haven’t mowed in a while, and your grass is too tall, the clippings may be too heavy and could damage your lawn. If that is the case, remove them and plan to cut more regularly in the future.

What you do with clippings if you decide not to leave them on your lawn matters a lot. The last place you want them to end up is in the landfill. Does your solid waste hauler collect green waste? If so, add the clippings to the green can. Better yet, add them to your compost pile. Just be sure that you haven’t recently put a weed killer on the lawn — you don’t want that in your compost.

Choose wisely

Most people who bag their clippings do so for aesthetic reasons. They think the lawn looks better with the clippings removed. Clumps of clippings can look especially untidy. However, if you manage to mow often enough that the clippings are very short, most will fall into the grass and hardly be detectable. If you do have clumps, you can spread them around with a rake or run over them a second time with the lawn mower’s deck raised. If you have questions, you might contact a landscaping company like Schulhoff Tree & Lawn Care, Inc. Remember, your lawn care choices have an impact on the environment—choose wisely!