I have a giant pile of chopped leaves, Now What?!!

Gotta love that! I agree with your sis, each place had it's own little personality. :)

I just loving talking _ _ _ _ _ _ t !

Hi everyone, I live in an area where we have lots of oak trees. I have been told that oak leaves are particularly slow to decompose. First, is that true? Then, are there other "slow" leaves, I have sweet gum, too, Also,can the process be speeded up in any special way?

I have access to bagged leaves which also contain pine needles - do you have any suggestion for that?

How soon do leaves turn into leaf mold? A year? Two or more? That is, if I just want to be lazy and not do anything.

Also, I can get spoiled hay, but it is dry and I put some on my lasagna bed last year which is still not decomposed (maybe because of the drought?). Any suggestion for that?

This is such a great thread (and fun people)!! I can hardly believe how quickly it has grown - since just Nov. 30. This is the place to be right now!

Yep, I've also read that Oak leaves are slow. I also read somewhere that pine needles are slow, too...

If you think there good stuff here, try the "vermicomposting thread."

Speaking of gum trees...has anyone composted the gum balls?

What about acorns? Do they break down from the heat?

Clementine, when you say leaf mold, is that the same as the leaves being broken down?

This message was edited Dec 1, 2007 12:19 PM

Clementine, running the lawn mower over the piles of leaves will help them break down faster and isn't too much work. We blow them into the middle of the yard, then mow them, then blow them back toward the center and mow again. If you have a bagger, don't put it on until they have been chopped a few times. You won't believe how much smaller the pile is after several trips with the lawn mower. Because we don't have a bagger on the lawn mower, we use a light plastic snow shovel to put them in the garden and compost heap, or suck them up with the blower/bagger. One year we bagged them for my daughter and the whole back yard chopped up fit into 3 big black trash bags. They were REALLY heavy. (I wear a little white filter when we start chopping, it makes lots of dust.)

Clementine, they break down faster when kept damp and turning them a bit every couple of months will help too. But how long will depend on the amount of effort you expend too. But don't lose heart. You will be rewarded with wonderful stuff!

cathy4 it sounds like you have worked it out perfectly!

Anything for the garden. ( blushing )

Thanks!! I thought that even chopped down they were going to be slow. Would you put them into a new compost pile NOW and hope that they will be done next spring? If yes, should I add an extra measure of nitrogen, e.g. coffee grounds and if I find them some grass clippings?I have chopped leaf piles with a lawn mower before, and yes, they are heavy when done, but in that place I don't think I had oaks.

I have ended up with sweet gum balls in my pile, and they take forever, but after a while, they become brittle and you can squoosh them when screening the compost. But if I can help it, I keep them out. No experience with acorns, but I think they may be even tougher.

Maybe someone else will add their experience about different types of leaves and times they take to decompose?

The time it takes for spoiled hay to decompose can be greatly speeded up by pulling it apart REALLY well. Don't leave it in the compacted "flake" like you would for feeding. Pull it apart and fluff it up a LOT and it will decompose MUCH faster. Heck, if you can, pull it all apart AND run it over a time a or two with a lawn mower.

psychw2,

I get the grounds from coffee houses. Any one I can think of w/in a close distance of my house. Now, when I run errands I try to identify where they are and make a point of stopping by.

LOL--well I had no idea so many people would be interested in my leaf pile issues! Spent today (our 35th Anniversary) with my DH visiting Feed Stores looking for Alfalfa meal for my compost recipe. Found just one 50 pound bag at three different feed stores. Wish I had known I could use blood meal or some of the other suggestions to layer in--I would have picked up some while out.

We just got a Starbuck's in our neighborhood, but have had a Carribou for a while, and I will call both of them for coffee grounds. I suppose an IHOP would have a lot of coffee grounds, too...

I did notice my neighbor's yard guys were out today mulching and so I asked for her leaves, too. So now I really have a lot. What the yard guys do is just as you suggested above--blow the leaves out of the beds into the yard, then run the mowers around in a circle chopping and blowing the leaves to the middle of the yard, then run over them again, finally pick them up and move them to the pile.

For my anniversary present my DH is going to help me layer up my compost pile. That is really a labor of love for him since he HATES gardening...I don't know what I'll give him...maybe a new covered can for his bird seed.

Now I am wondering if I can winter over some of my potted tender perennials in the mulch pile or will they get too hot from the bacterial action? That would keep my garage fairly empty and my DH happier (about my newest obsession).

Thanks for all the good tips and comments. t.

tabasco - congratulations on your anniversary, that is an achievement these days!!!!

I get my coffee grounds from Starbuck's, Caribou was wiling, but was a little complicated for me, they wanted a bucket. I have tried Panera (I am thinking of your IHOP), and they were really confused about the request and had to send it up to the manager, etc, so no go.

This is a great thread!!

Thanks, Clementine! I'll go ask at our panera, too. They seem a little confused about how to make a sandwich, so what you say doesn't surprise me...but a little consumer activism might send the word up channels and help the next composter's request get through!

Can you tell I'm getting obsessed with this project. Next anniversary I'll be shopping with my DH for worms. Who needs deBeers, right?!

You get those leaves put into lasagna beds and the worms will be fighting for space without buying any! Unless of course you want to try vermacomposting in worm bins!

Your neighbors are going to eventually begin to wonder why someone who makes their own compost has a nicer garden than theirs and a lot of gardeners are going to wonder if they could get by with composting you for making them look bad ;~)

It'll be awhile for they work that one out............LOL Congratulations on your anniversary! Why does your DH hate gardening? If he likes birds, there has to be a way to "get thru" LOL
I see we apparently "hooked" another composter! LOL

YIKES... if they come looking for bodies to compost I'll be their first victim!!! There is a LOT of me!!!

Don't worry, my neighbors don't have gardens, they have 'landscaping'!

Now that I know better, I can collect all of their leaves next year and you all can come by and pick them up.

Don't know why my DH hates gardening, except that I make him dig a lot which is not his thing. And I get to choose all the flowers to grow! Trust me, the reason we have been married 35 years is because we have learned not to try to change each other (too much)! And I have quit making him dig.

About the bird thing, he does that as a concession to me --- if he does some birding with me then I have to go to a baseball game or a firm party with him... Doesn't our marriage sound idyllic?! LOL Well, it is very nice to be married to DH and I can't complain a bit-- he buys me all the daffodil bulbs I can plant by myself! Quite a guy!

Understand, I've been married to mine 36 years. He too has his quirks, but he loves gardening too, so I'm lucky there. My problem with him is reminding him we are no longer 25 and NOT he cannot till up the whole yard again! LOL We're starting to get some requests for tilling so that should help take some of the edge off (I hope). He doesn't know it, but I've made arrangements with a friend of ours to pick up the old Troybult and put on new wheels and tires and repaint it for him for Christmas. He's just going to have to make do with his new one for now. LOL

'Basco, if you can keep your pile that hot for long enough to bother your plants, we'll all be knocking down your door to find out your secret! I would get a good pile going, let it heat up as long as you can and then push the stuff that's not heating anymore and put your plants in that. Leave enough room on the side to keep turning and let other stuff break down. You won't be getting as much material in the winter, anyway.

Quite a unique Christmas present! Wish I could be so imaginative!

So, sounds like we're go to go the leaf pile--I'll just go ahead and put some potted plants in part of it and hope for the best. I think it should work.

Thanks a lot for all the good info. t.

I really got a lot of info from this thread. I have one question.
My flower beds are all covered with leaves, although not mulched leaves. I'm leaving them there because i figured it would protect them. Is that ok, or should I take them out and put some that are already broken up

Hmmm - protect them from what?

Are you using the leaves to help protect your flowers?

The leaves will add insulation against freezes regardless of whether they are chopped or not. Chopping simply makes them easier to break down. Either way they will eventually be drawn into the soil by worms so long as the bed is kept moist.

My flower beds are full of leaves too. I never mastered cleaning them out and 'fall mulching' I feel like they have a blanket on for the cold. In March, when the sun starts to get nice, then I feel like I'm taking old rotten stuff away and letting the sun warm them, which I guess I am....

sally: Are you saying you remove the leaf mulch in spring? Why? What do you do with it?

Karen

But if you just leave it in place, it will feed the soil where it is, and bring thousands of worms in the process. Leaf mold is great stuff.

I don't remove it, I just leave it to do it's thing. I do push some aside in areas where I'm hoping for volunteer flowers, but I don't remove it from the bed.

Besides, spreading it in fall only to remove in spring would be way too much work for me.

Karen

I think CapeCod and I are in the same frame. I have blown tree leaves just collecting around whatever plant remnants are in the garden. Mother nature is doing the spreading. So in spring I have varying amounts of leaves here and there with new growth sometimes trying to come up through, and some pretty large undecayed leaves. I like to take that off, add to new compost pile, or better yet, rake it onto the grass and mulch-mower it in. Its a joy to go out when its warming up a little and pull the wet old leaf mat away from some light green fresh plant life bursting up!! I'm no neat freak. I have a portion of woodsy border that leaves stay in yr round . Well, thats my leaf story and I'm sticking to it.

My beds are all topped with mulched leaves, but then whole ones do blow in over winter. In some areas they'll accumulate a foot or more. If that deep I'll pull the top whole ones off and add to the compost bin, but the base mulched ones stay there as mulch. I just plant through them. I rather like the look myself, but my husband doesn't, so we usually mulch on top of the leaves with shredded wood mulch in late spring/early summer. By summer's end that leaf layer has pretty much disappeared, turned into compost or leaf mold.

How fast they rot is affected by size of leaves and moisture, but mostly by how healthy the soil food web is. The healthier the soil, the faster the material is consumed.

Karen

kqcrna-we're not that much different. I just haven't been using 'mulch' in flower beds in spring / summer, so I may pull more leaves off to try and tidy. Also, I have several clumps of iris and am concerned that I not cover them. Funny husbands, mine is not that into yardwork but also has objected to too many leftover leaves, in my woodsy small area. Had to let him help rake and composted them, only to spend money and effort on mulch to maintain the woodsy floor look? it doesn;t seem the best plan for me, here.

My poor husband just doesn't "get it" . Mostly he just doesn't want the place to look "trashy". Mulching with leaves is one thing, but when you add 2 compost bins, garbage cans & bags of leaves to be composted, heaps of "garbage" for lasagna beds, neighbors delivering yard waste, 60 or 80 duct-taped together milk jugs full of wintersown seedlings on the patio, seeds drying all over the dining room, seed envelopes for trades arriving in the mail like crazy... I have to admit, it does seem a bit much, not only to him but the neighbors, too. I understand where he's coming from.

He's not that into gardening either, but he tries real hard to appease me. Few husbands would tolerate this obsession like he does. He no longer even asks if the charges on credit cards for seeds are legit. He knows they are.

Karen

Oh Karen, seen thru the eyes of a non-gardener, it must seem a little much! Now to the rest of "us", it just seems normal. LOL.. Bless him for his tolerance and your addiction!
Karen... making the world better, one seed at a time!
Pat

don't you feel better when psych tells us we are normal?

Ya, well remember Cathy, this is coming from a fellow plant Addict!!! ( I said it "seemed normal to US"!!! NOT that the behavior IS normal!)

psychw2, honey, of course it's normal. What's some lovely bags of leaves and a few milk jugs got to do with anything??? grin

Yeah, we could be out cussin' and girl fighting, picking up good ol' boys at the local tavern and driving fast cars with the top down, instead you can always find us out in the yard, here on DG's or reading about plants. Take your pick hubby!