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| I was using shredded leaves for the mulch in my perennial beds for the past 4-5 yrs, but it just wasn't cutting it. My soil dried up and cracked to fast on a reg basis, so this summer I got 10 yds of hardwood mulched, and put down a good 2-3 inch layer everywhere. I have 14 full grown trees in or at the border of my yard that I collect leaves from. I shred them with a shredder. Now where do I put them? My 3 4x4 piles are already full and half the trees haven't dropped yet. Can I put the leaves on top of the mulch? Then just mix it up with the mulch in the spring?
Any other good suggestions? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Tue, Nov 1, 11 at 9:37
| I haven't bought any "real" mulch here but when I lived in OH I had it and I would put the leaves on top of it, up to 18" (unshredded) and they would be totally gone by spring. The worms ate them, and until it got really cold, you could hear them doing it. |
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| Depends on your yard size, neighbors, and local regulations. I put down some shredded leaves down as mulch one fall, and the local authorities said, nope you can't do that. (That's why the neighbors are important, someone has to call them). The guy that came out also said I could not have seven small compost piles in the back yard, although later I checked the website and found no limit to the number of piles one could have (every month the same local government sends a circular reminding folks to recycle and compost!). Move from 4x4 foot piles to 4x8 foot compost piles. In three weeks you can shrink the pile size in half if you shred the leaves finely, and take maple and sweet gum leaves over oak (which is my staple leaf). If you have dogs, train them to urinate on the piles, but not to do number two there. I use a compost thermometer to check the core temps, and turn when necessary. My nicely shredded pile has been at 140F for a week, and should remain there another week or more with proper turning and watering. The other pile has mostly whole leaves, and registers 120F on one end and 85F on the other end. |
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| That's the problem with wood mulches. They interfere with the application of better mulches. Yes, you can put chipped leaves over your hardwood mulch, but if you incorporate the wood chips and leaves into your soil next spring, you'll probably see evidence of nitrogen robbing. I only use wood chip mulches in my paths, where I don't want to feed my soil. |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Wed, Nov 2, 11 at 17:28
| There is a difference between chip or bark mulches vs. finely shredded hardwood. Finely shredded should be gone except for the largest pieces in 2-3 years, and I think it's an important factor in improving tilth and drainage. There's no reason to mix leaves or mulch into one's soil, mother nature puts this stuff on top of the soil, so I do too. I think the question about mixing the leaves into the mulch was asked in regard to appearance, but please correct me if that's wrong. If the leaves are primarily oak, it's not even necessary to mix them into soil to achieve nitrogen robbing. Simply putting a lot of them next to plants can do that. So I'm glad you mentioned that, annpat, because I forgot to add the caveat to just compost them first if one's leaves are primarily oak. You can also add a lot of cut grass to them if you want to spread them now, and/or again in the spring to counterbalance that. |
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| Many people put down somewhat less then enough mulch and then state that mulching does not work, and many garden writers seem to have the idea that mulches cannot exceed 2 inches in depth or dire things will happen. I have learned, over many years, that mulches need to be about 4 inches thick or have something (newspaper or cardboard) under them or moisture is not retained, weeds are not suppressed, the soil is not kept cooler, although some organic matter is added to the soil. Putting shredded leaves over hardwood mulches will not do any harm, except those that need the "look" of wood chips will loose that. Mixing those leaves into the hardwood mulch might very well stir up some dormant "weed" seeds and that would be counterproductive I would think. I would just plunk those leaves down, providing your local unit of government aloows that, and leave them alone until I put more on in future years. |
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