grass clippings as mulch
- To: Medit-plants <m*@ucdavis.edu>
- Subject: grass clippings as mulch
- From: D* M* <i*@cgac.es>
- Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 09:07:04 +0200
What an enthusiastic bunch you are! Thanks for your input. I guess the
bottom line is that *composting* or, at the very least, *drying* fresh
lawn clippings is the safest option. This presumably overcomes the
matting/clumping problem, degrades allelochemicals, roasts seeds (well,
composting does), and degrades herbicides. At this time of year
*drying* would be a more attractive option for me as the waiting time is
four of five days as oposed to four or five months for composting.
However, I'm still unclear about this nitrogen business...
Gary says...
> Other than that, drying the clippings first converts them into
> essentially
> very short-cut, high quality hay, and eliminates sticking and matting in
> most cases. Tremendous nitrogen release as they decompose
whereas Susan warns...
> another problem might be the so called 'nitrogen draw down' effect
> (basically as raw materials rot/compost they use up nitrogen in the process)
So does this mean that with dry clippings nitrogen is released *to* the
soil but that fresh clippings draw nitrogen *from* the soil?
Finally, do dry clipping still contain those worrisome allelochemicals?
Damian
Talavera, central Spain
