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Santa Cruz, CA

When you add leaves to your patch do you add dry leaves or newly fallen ones? Does it matter? Will newly fallen moist leaves add nitorgen to the soil while dry leaves only organic matter? Just wondering.

11/15/2007 10:42:27 PM

Boulder County Colorado USA planet Earth

By the time i get to the leaves, they are mostly dry. So I mulch em and put em right in. Sometimes i even save a bag or two of dry leaves for later on.

I like maple leaves the best. Elm and cottonwood trees the worst.

11/16/2007 10:07:52 AM

Pembroke, New Hampshire

Leaves are mainly carbon without nitrogen. They don't compost well without a nitrogen source. Dry or moist leaves, it's all the same as long as you have available moisture. Dry leaves will not compost by themselves. The bacteria need moisture, as well as a nitrogen source. If you add directly to the soil, they should break down using the nitrogen in the soil. I compost piles of leaves using blood meal as my nitrogen source, turning every 3-4 weeks in spring and summer. Don't use walnut leaves...they contain a substance that inhibits growth. Mulched leaves will decompose faster.

11/16/2007 11:22:38 AM

Montoursville, PA

Fresh leaves add just a little less goodness in all aspects as fresh manure. Think I remember a breakdown something like NPK content of 1-.5-.5. The real value is simple soil building with very good free organic matter.

A foot or so of fresh leaves will be broken down giving you an organic boost by the following spring. Some of the retension value will still be in your patch working up to three years after you put them in. This is generally true of all solid organic additives. The exact NPK content is not important in my mind. It is all the support created when the material is in the final stages of decomposition.

Leaves excluding the nut tree variety can be used every year as a soil additive or as a dandy mulch in the growing season. A small percentage of nut tree leaves are OK. When they fall to earth under the mother tree they make fine natural soil ammendments but they do take longer to decompose.

Your worm army will love the addition of leaves and give you even better returns as they leave their casts. Adding leaves is a win win win situation. Your whole biology herd will feast on them and leave you even better soil content than the leaf matter alone. Leaves hold moisture, build soil structure, add trace minerals and more. They are a most valued soil additive.

11/16/2007 12:53:21 PM

Wood River, IL ([email protected])

Music to my eyes, atta-boy Doc keep em coming. Kenny

11/18/2007 9:09:56 PM

Santa Cruz, CA

Thanks everyone and Doc I really appreciate all your help here on PB. -Kristine and Riley

11/19/2007 12:13:22 AM