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Will spread grass blades over grass helps lawn or just bagging them is good?

Depends on how thick the cut grass is , real thick will cause dead spots where it sits or lays. thinner stuff just sorta goes away and doesn't really hurt anything , I only rake and gather mine when it's really thick.

It really depends on the grass that you’re cutting. The height of the grass. The percentage of grass blade that you are removing. It’s probably best to check with your county extension agent.

MParr said:

It really depends on the grass that you’re cutting. The height of the grass. The percentage of grass blade that you are removing. It’s probably best to check with your county extension agent.

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Bagging is for the birds. Open up the exit chute at 45 degree angle (unless cars, children, or glass windows are close), and let the grass fly. The cut grass is good and recycles into the lawn.

Tiger Small Engine said:

Bagging is for the birds. Open up the exit chute at 45 degree angle (unless cars, children, or glass windows are close), and let the grass fly. The cut grass is good and recycles into the lawn.

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That’s how I do it.

Thank you all for the kind replies, it is best to use mulching blades instead of bagging for the task of spreading it over lawn soil. Also, the height of the grass matters, I got that point.

Tiger Small Engine said:

Bagging is for the birds. Open up the exit chute at 45 degree angle (unless cars, children, or glass windows are close), and let the grass fly. The cut grass is good and recycles into the lawn.

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Yeah but this type of mowing should be done after insertion of mulching blades, not with regular blades. Right?

Basit said:

Yeah but this type of mowing should be done after insertion of mulching blades, not with regular blades. Right?

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I don’t use mulching (Gator style) blades until the leaves start falling and the grass starts going into dormancy. I use high lift or standard lift blades and side discharge the clippings.
Mulching blades (Gator style) make a mess when mowing any grass with high moisture content.
Wavy style (conventional) mulching blades are designed to be used with mulching baffles that are fitted into the deck. They make a mess in tall moisture laden grass.

MParr said:

I don’t use mulching (Gator style) blades until the leaves start falling and the grass starts going into dormancy. I use high lift or standard lift blades and side discharge the clippings.
Mulching blades (Gator style) make a mess when mowing any grass with high moisture content.
Wavy style (conventional) mulching blades are designed to be used with mulching baffles that are fitted into the deck. They make a mess in tall moisture laden grass.

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Yeah I also come across such situation as mulching on moisure also cause clogging under the deck.

I am not a professional lawn care guy but here is my observation. I have a 3/4 acre yard, not a manicured lawn, I do not water, never attempt to make a showplace lawn. But as far as bagging etc, never. I smile when I see the tons of bagged cuttings going into trucks. I agree if its thick, you can't just leave clumps, otherwise leave it to compost its way back in. I worked on a golf course for many years in high school and college and the greens keeper was good, only grass we ever picked up was on the well manicured greens. But we never let the grass get too long so clippings were not too think. The last couple of years I have seen several lawn guys do the routine: Mow, whack, blow, over and over. And now the routine includes blowing lawns after the mow that includes bagging. I don't understand why they blow the lawns where there is nothing to blow but I assume the idea is simply to spend a few more minutes creating noise and charging the homeowner a few bucks more for a waste of time job. I can only imagine the landscaper tells unknowing homeowners its like blow drying your hair and fluffing after the mow job. Just don't let the grass get too long, don't mow when its wet if you can help it, and let if lay

I mulch - the nitrogen is good for lawn growth. If the grass is very long, I cut 1/3 of grass blade length, then go back at 90 degrees and cut another 1/3 blade length. If the length of the grass is still too long, I repeat the procedure in a few days.
Then I try to maintain the length of grass I want, without letting it get too long again
Fertilize 3-4 times a season with appropriate fertilizer- seems to give good results.

Keep your underside of your deck pretty clean, it will not clump as much if at all

Ongoing debate between a friend and I. I believe not bagging puts the nutrients it took to grow the grass back into the ground. Agree with the 45 degree discharge chute. The Scott's fertilizer instructions specifically say not to bag. Good enough for me!

This may be old information for some, but I've never seen it anywhere. I have a zero turn and after making 1 or 2 perimeter passes (fence row) with the discharge toward the center, I move to the center of the lawn and spiral outward with the discharge outward. This allows you to recut the clippings from the previous pass (more mulching), but it also distributes the clippings to a larger area with each pass. The advantage of the approach it that you don't wind up with clippings building up at the center of the lawn while still allowing for good mulching. I do this about every other mowing. I never bag, rake or collect clippings.

Aren't you just blowing all your clippings to the outside of your lawn instead of equally distributing them over the lawn? Or am I misunderstanding your method? It sounds like you are mowing and re-mowing the cuttings multiple times as you move the cuttings to the outside of the lawn. I always make the first pass around the outside with the discharge chute blowing toward the middle of the lawn, then reverse for the rest of the passes, blowing the cuttings onto the cut portion. I think that's how most people mow.

Basit said:

Thank you all for the kind replies, it is best to use mulching blades instead of bagging for the task of spreading it over lawn soil. Also, the height of the grass matters, I got that point.

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Just put whatever blades on either or you’re not really going to see a big difference

farmerdave1954 said:

Aren't you just blowing all your clippings to the outside of your lawn instead of equally distributing them over the lawn? Or am I misunderstanding your method? It sounds like you are mowing and re-mowing the cuttings multiple times as you move the cuttings to the outside of the lawn. I always make the first pass around the outside with the discharge chute blowing toward the middle of the lawn, then reverse for the rest of the passes, blowing the cuttings onto the cut portion. I think that's how most people mow.

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Good point and I do mix it up depending on conditions. In the Spring and Fall, when the grass easily grows 2+ inches between weekly mowing, I find that my Scag coupled with Gator blades leaves clippings that are very noticeable. This method helps in that situation. If the grass is short, I blow everything toward the center and rarely have excess clippings left. If the grass is out of hand, I do exactly what you suggest, just to knock it down, knowing it will look better after the following mowing. I call the method of starting at the center and working a spiral outward the NASCAR method...turn left, turn left, and so on.

I have OEM mulch blades on my mowers that do a good job of grasscycling. And if I have to equip one mower with side discharge and it happens to make clumps (usually in the backyard) then I'll blow the clumps with the blower to disperse.
Guide on grasscycling:
https://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.html?number=C1031

Basit said:

Thank you all for the kind replies, it is best to use mulching blades instead of bagging for the task of spreading it over lawn soil. Also, the height of the grass matters, I got that point.

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Mulching is good, but if you cut too short or wait too long with tall grass the mulching deck will clump. Clumping is bad wether mulching or not.

I have mulched for decades with self-propelled push mowers. Recently stared using a Country Clipper zero-turn and decided to give the stock deck a chance before ordering the mulch kit. It throws clippings a very long way, I almost never see any accumulate. So I haven't ordered the mulch conversion kit.

When it has not rained much for grass to grow, but it grows seeds, I used to bag to capture the seeds. Then dump the bags on bare spots under trees.