Mulching leaves

[billh]

I cut my grass today and I mulched the numerous oak leaves on the lawn. I have read where the leaves provide excellent nutrients for the soil. I am concerned about the decayed leaves blocking new grass growth in the spring. will the decayed leaves have any effect ???? I live in the Northeast

 

[Esther Knapicius]

We have a TON of leaves. Lucky for us a hug woods behind us where I drag and dump them. Yes, too many leaves will block new grown of good grass. Some people-----who have not a clue-----about TOO MANY DEEP DROPPED leaves will say, that they help feed the grass, well yes, if a very small amount. But my leaves, if I wait till all trees are done are easy up to mid calf on my leg as I walk through the lawn areas. Right now, my piles in the woods are up to my shoulders, as I would climb on them and roll another tarp on the heap. BTW---as I am sucking up the leaves with the rider, I do it on high, so I am not cutting the grass, but just mulching the leaves. Or using a blower to blow to a pile, depends on where I am in the garden, front or back or side areas. And the trees today, still not done.

 

[DirtMechanic]

The whole idea of mulching is off. It misses some real problems. My personal fave is the weeds that propagate from chipped up bits. The other is like you mention killing grass with buildup, but that is a worse problem for areas where fall lingers longer like the south. I mulch them and sweep them up into a compost pile for redistribution later.

 

[Meadowlark]

... I am concerned about the decayed leaves blocking new grass growth in the spring. will the decayed leaves have any effect ???? I live in the Northeast

Mulch them.... down to dime sized particles. Use a mulching mower or retrofit your existing mower with a mulching blade. It will be well worth it. Your lawn won't need fertilizers. The mulched leaves, if done properly will not block new grass growth, rather they will build your soil naturally.

You may have to go over the lawn more than once to get them chewed up to the small size needed...but absolutely, it is worth the effort. Setting your mower at the highest depth with a mulching blade you should be able to see grass when you are done...without raking, without removing any leaves. Mulch them and make it a standard fall practice and you will have a far healthier lawn without the need for chemicals.

Those leaves are a gold mine of resources for soil building. Take full advantage of them

 

[billh]

Thank you all for your responses--I cut the grass two days ago and mulched the leaves and they did end up as very small particles...I look forward to see what happens in the spring..

 

[Oliver Buckle]

My understanding is that pure leaf mould contains very little in the way of nutrients, but is really good at holding water, while at the same time being good at draining off excess. Pour a large given volume of water into a pint of leaf mould and it will drain through quicker than anything but pure sand, on the other hand there will be more of it retained in the pint of leaf mould than a pint of any sort of soil, even clay.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

I am still in leaf removal phase. my riding mower blade is high so not cutting grass, just blowing to long mounds. or using the hand blower. then raking into the tarp and dragging to the woods. We leave very little leaves down as they really are not good for the lawn. Last statement was after 37 years of practice to come to that conclusion. I will be posting pics of the mounds of leaves in the woods for this year. Keep in mind most of the mounds are over 5 FOOT high and 10 Foot or more wide in various mounds.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

 

[Esther Knapicius]

 

[mac1911]

Highly dependent on the amount of leaves and how active your lawn is. Right up until this cold snap my grass was growing amazingly , mowing 2-3 times a week. So any leaves that fell where mulch mowed and left , 2 days later you would not see any mulched leaves or grass, mow the next set of fallen leaves.

Im hoping this past weekend was the end to my mowing. I will remove any heavy layers of leaves until the ground freezes or snow comes. Grass seed may or may not germinate in spring if it was put down late but IMHO the leaf mulch layer is probably the least of the issues for new grass.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

my lawn looked great. I am not cutting grass. have my mower on high to use the blower part for long bounds to later rake into the tarp and drag. Or the hand blower --doing the same. I change it up a bit depending on how tired I am . Usually I tell myself I will do 6 drags of leaves to the woods then stop for the day. The tarp--drag--like above picture. Its fairly light when they are dry, but the issue is the dump zone I am pushing into the last dump and yanking the new bundle on top of the prior dump. Why I am not really skinny?. Anyway, have been away for about 3 days, there is a corner area by the back door that I have raked clean out 3 times already, and it now needs again. its so tiring. Worked on the flower/shrub beds before I left, pruning and raking out, took 3 drags out of it, but not finished. Front by the street still needs attention. Oh, well.

 

[Durgan]

I simply use the muching blower with bag and dump the leaves on the garden about three inches thick. The chopped leaves are about dime size.

The rototilled garden has the weeds removed. I will rototill in just before planting. I subscribe to Meadowlark's approach. Actually I dislike grass. I have Winter for about 6 months, so plenty of time for the leaves to disintegrate.