The moment your lawn emerges from winter dormancy marks the start of the annual care cycle, requiring careful attention to set the stage for a healthy growing season. This first grooming session addresses the accumulation of material and the condition of the turf after months of cold weather. The approach you take with this initial cut, specifically whether you collect the clippings or not, differs significantly from your routine maintenance strategy. Focusing on a strategic cleanup now can prevent problems and promote robust growth throughout the spring and summer months.
Why the First Cut Requires Special Attention
The turfgrass at the beginning of spring is often much longer than the recommended height for regular mowing, having grown unchecked during warmer periods in the late fall or early spring. This excessive length means that a single pass of the mower will remove a large volume of biomass, creating heavy, dense clippings. Furthermore, the lawn is likely littered with debris that has settled over the winter, including dead leaf matter, small twigs, and dormant grass blades.
This accumulated material can also include matted areas where snow or moisture has pressed the grass down, sometimes encouraging the growth of fungal diseases like snow mold. Removing this heavy, decomposing layer is necessary to open the turf canopy and prepare the soil for active growth. The initial cut is less about maintaining a specific height and more about performing a thorough cleanup to clear winter’s residue. This cleanup step is crucial because it allows sunlight and air to reach the lower, new grass blades.
The Case for Bagging the Initial Clippings
For the first cut of the season, the answer to whether you should collect the trimmings is a clear yes, primarily due to the sheer volume of plant material being removed. Leaving these long, bulky clippings on the lawn poses a significant risk of smothering the new, tender grass shoots underneath. A thick layer of clippings blocks sunlight and restricts air circulation, which can cause the underlying turf to yellow and suffocate, leading to dead patches.
The long clippings from an overgrown lawn are also slow to decompose, creating a heavy, persistent blanket on the soil surface. This large amount of organic matter contributes disproportionately to the formation of an excessive thatch layer if not removed. These long, wet, and stemmy pieces decompose slowly, impeding the movement of water, nutrients, and oxygen down to the root system. Bagging this initial cut removes the entire burden of winter debris, including any lingering weed seeds or potentially diseased material.
Transitioning to Mulching for Maintenance
Once the lawn is under control after the first few cuts, the strategy should shift from bagging to mulching for the rest of the season. Mulching involves leaving short, finely chopped clippings on the lawn to decompose and return nutrients to the soil. This practice works because you must adhere to the one-third rule, which dictates that you should never remove more than one-third of the grass blade’s total height in a single mowing session.
By following this rule, the clippings are short and manageable, filtering easily down to the soil surface where they rapidly break down. This decomposition process is a highly beneficial form of nutrient cycling, returning essential elements like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium back into the turf. Clippings are approximately 80% water and contain about 4% nitrogen by weight, effectively serving as a natural, slow-release fertilizer. For mulching to be most effective, your mower blades must be kept sharp, which ensures the grass is cleanly cut and the small clippings are evenly dispersed without clumping.