DO OAK LEAVES RUIN COMPOST?

[Fawn and Fam]

Thanks!

 

[Mary Poopins]

Hello Fawn and Fam,
Oak leaves produce leaf mold which is amazing for your compost.
Once you have an established leaf mold bacteria colony (whatever you call it) then your compost can break down dry stuff easier.
I have heard of people going into nearby forests and getting leaf mold that is partially composted to help start off their bins.
This is bad to do because it upsets the balance of the trees in nature, these leaves break down and feed the trees and if we go out and take their food, they die.

I haven’t ever experienced oak leaves being bad in anyway, except that they will give you a stomach ache (and may cause you to vomit) if you eat them.
The only reason I can think of that oak leaves could be bad for your lawn is because they are blocking the sun from getting to grass, but this sounds negligible, unless you have piles of leaves around.

There are certain species of tree that actually release enzymes that will retard root growth of any other plant within a specific area around the tree.
I forget which species do this, I think pecan and walnut are two of them.

Compost your leaves with a clear mind!!!

Take care
Mary

 

[Arielle]

Hello Fawn and Fam,
Oak leaves produce leaf mold which is amazing for your compost.
Once you have an established leaf mold bacteria colony (whatever you call it) then your compost can break down dry stuff easier.
I have heard of people going into nearby forests and getting leaf mold that is partially composted to help start off their bins.
This is bad to do because it upsets the balance of the trees in nature, these leaves break down and feed the trees and if we go out and take their food, they die.

I haven’t ever experienced oak leaves being bad in anyway, except that they will give you a stomach ache (and may cause you to vomit) if you eat them.
The only reason I can think of that oak leaves could be bad for your lawn is because they are blocking the sun from getting to grass, but this sounds negligible, unless you have piles of leaves around.

There are certain species of tree that actually release enzymes that will retard root growth of any other plant within a specific area around the tree.
I forget which species do this, I think pecan and walnut are two of them.

Compost your leaves with a clear mind!!!

Take care
Mary

I didn't think aboutthe tress . . .

I collect the leaves around the turkey coop in the woods for the bedding in the coop. IT is amazing how many leaves get used up over the year-- more than the trees can produce. . . . .THis has gotten me thinking, is there a more sustainable way to manage this. IDK?

 

[lazy gardener]

I now have 26 very full contractor bags of leaves sitting near my coop for winter use. That in addition to the equivalent of 3 pick up loads of leaves dumped down over a bank... That in addition to the remaining leaves which I will mow and bag from my own yard. I would not feel at all guilty about collecting fallen leaves from the woods. But, a good option for you might be to collect leaves from those poor folks who don't know how valuable they are. (The folks who bag them and take them to the dump... or even worse, they burn them.)

When you get right down to it, even though those leaves are packed in plastic, it's still good resource management, b/c those bags would otherwise be going to a land fill. In my yard, the bags will at least get recycled, and I won't have to buy trash bags for a very long time.

 

[GrusGrus]

I have heard this before too, but I think it is exaggerated, the leaves take a bit longer to decompose than other leaves though. This year I dumped ten wheelbarrows of oakleaves in the chicken run, hoping that the chicks will turn and fertilize it for me. Hopefully this will speed up the decomposition process a bit.