Oak leaves

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So I was all stoked about the leaves this fall (for once) cause I have this garden now and everyone tells me to get as much organic matter in there as possible. Now I am being told that oak leaves are no bueno, due to the acid content. I intend to take a whole bunch of these leaves and shred them and compost them over the winter with other organic matter. Will this severely alter my soil PH? Mind you that the soil I am currently using is back dirt that was brought in this year and is really hard, but I would assume is fairly neutral.
 
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So I was all stoked about the leaves this fall (for once) cause I have this garden now and everyone tells me to get as much organic matter in there as possible. Now I am being told that oak leaves are no bueno, due to the acid content. I intend to take a whole bunch of these leaves and shred them and compost them over the winter with other organic matter. Will this severely alter my soil PH? Mind you that the soil I am currently using is back dirt that was brought in this year and is really hard, but I would assume is fairly neutral.
Don't worry about it. They aren't very acidic at all. What they do have is tannin but as far as I know tannin doesn't do anything harmful to plants. I have been using oak leaves forever and a LOT of them. I use them to make compost and I use a lot of them as leaf mold for mulch. I use them in the walkways too. They are great
 
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Green oak leaves have an acidic ph of 4.5 to 4.7. Dead oak leaves, the kind you are talking about, actually lean more toward alkaline. I got that from Oregon State University ;)
 
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Green oak leaves have an acidic ph of 4.5 to 4.7. Dead oak leaves, the kind you are talking about, actually lean more toward alkaline. I got that from Oregon State University ;)
I find it hard to get green oak leaves. They seem to have a habit of staying on the tree until it is time for them to drop. I suppose if one were to cut the limbs off while the leaves were still green the acidic factor might be something to look at. But by the time you cut enough limbs off to make a difference in the Ph of the soil the tree would be denuded, photosynthesis severely curtailed and then you wouldn't have to worry about it because you have probably weakened the tree enough that it will die shortly anyway
 
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I can't relate to oak leaves but our mango tree is very prolific with leaves during summer. We used to burn the dead leaves but since burning is now prohibited by an ordinance, we have a shallow pit where we put the collected dried leaves. The decayed leaves is called humus and good fertilizer aside from the compost that we have.
 
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You actually don't want the green leaves Chuck. Those are the ones that are acidic. Stick with the dead leaves for compost.
 
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there is a thread about raking leaves here. Anyway, I don't use any of our Billions of leaves in my gardensss. they go to the burn pile or another pile to breakdown over the year. In the rhodo garden, I might leave them lie, as they like more acid soil.
 
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Well again.... I am stoked! Now I just need to jump over to the "tools" thread to find out what the heck to use to collect them. I bought and in-expense leaf blower/vac the other day and that thing was worthless! Thanks for the info!
 
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As to tools to collect leaves, I can help here, although your neighbours may look at you a bit oddly. After much experimentation and many years of using a wooden hay rake with big teeth, spaced wide apart, I discovered that much lighter, easier to use and just as effective is a broom made like the traditional witches broomstick! I think mine's made of birch twigs bound around a central pole. After half an hour of use it'll wriggle itself into the optimum shape for sweeping, and each one lasts for ages. As I said though, if your garden is visible to others, it's possibly not a good idea to use it too close to the end of October!!
 

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