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What shoudl I do with the fallen leaves and tree drops?
I have all kinds of trees on a half acre lot. 2400 sqft of concrete driveway, and about 12k sqft of lawn. A live oak tree drops little sticks by the thousands, and some leaves too.
What do people do with this stuff?
Blow them on the lawn with a leaf blower? What happens to it there?
Or should i use a leaf sucker blower and collect them in a bag? Where to empty the bag?
What about leaves already fallen on the lawn? It doesn't seem to be decaying, just sits on top of the grass.
What tools do you use? Especially for a large square footage large amount? I need something that can handle high volume quickly.
This would not fit in a yard waste bin, would fill it up several times.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Leaves, especially live Oak which are thick do not break down quickly on a lawn. Here the problem id fir needles, cones, catkins, and at times Alder and Aspen leaves. I have a riding mower, with mulching capability, and use that on the lawn to pulverize everything. The only problems are that much of it is acidic so I have to also spread lime a after, and it dulls the mower blade more quickly than just grass. As for the driveway and patio, I use a leaf blower and shoot it onto the lawn before mowing. If it's too much for your yard waste bin, ask the garbage company about leaving the excess in a bag alongside the bin. Ours does not charge extra for that. We also have a recycler who will accept it bagged up a few miles away.
Can these leaves be used for something, like mulching around the flowerbeds?
The small sticks off the live oak could be, but i dont want to spend hours sweeping it up.
We are in GA and have some leaves that fall. DH either blows them into the flower beds for mulch, or runs the mulching mower over them to stay on the lawn. The stuff that is too big, like twigs and branches, get cut up into pieces and either slipped into the weekly trash, or placed in those brown leaf bags and picked up periodically by the trash company.
We don’t have a fire pit, but if you can have one it would take care of a bit of yard debris.
Georgia has no topsoil, so any humus that we can add to the sand and clay is what we try to do.
Is your primary concern how things look or how they affect the lawn, flowerbeds, drive, or walkway chemically? You didn't give any tree species info. If you don't know what species you have, find out. As already mentioned, oak is full of tannins (which will damage grass and some other plants) and leaves and twigs will take longer to decompose than some other species.
IMHO, I'd ask a professional about the effects of different tree droppings and how they could damage a lawn or flowerbeds, when they might stain a driveway or walking path. A gardener or nursery could advise you when you should do something about the debris or whether it will decompose quickly enough not to worry about.
If its the sight of the debris that's the problem for you, you have three choices: pick it all up yourself, hire someone to do it for you, or remove the trees and plant something less messy. Most people achieve some level of acceptance for the routine stuff trees drop, but of course, that's individual. Having trees is a trade-off...shade and cooling for the house and yard in exchange for debris.
I'm a bit of a leaf fanatic I suppose. I not only mulch the leaves from my 12 oaks and sweet gum, but the leaves from my neighbor's house are brought over for mulching. I have several large piles in the front which are like gold so I use them careully.
From what I have observed, oak leaves left by themselves take about two years to rot; maples less time. Mow/mulch and leave the leaves, or rake into a pile and mow/mulch and put where mulch or more organic matter is needed. I use mulched leaves to augment the soil for my container plants; I think it helps reduce compaction; use it to augment soil for flowers and bulbs like elephant ears that love moisture. I have a few containers which are 5 gallons or so, and an old bird feeder with a crack/hole that I use as a planter. With the exception of black walnut perhaps, the debris should not be harmful.
If burning, be sure you know the local fire codes. In many residential areas its illegal without a permit. Where I live its a $500 fine and the cost to bring out the equipment and the fire fighters.
Is your primary concern how things look or how they affect the lawn, flowerbeds, drive, or walkway chemically?.
the issue is the volume of the debris, and the large surface area. I have an outdoor sweeper, it filled up after 1% of the huge driveway was covered. I obviously need some tool or something that can handle the large volume. The issue is the volume. My white concrete driveway is covered with twigs that the whole thing looks like a garbage truck crashed or something. Live oak, and maple trees. also have Florida pine trees in the back.
Quote:
Originally Posted by webster
I'm a bit of a leaf fanatic I suppose. I not only mulch the leaves from my 12 oaks and sweet gum, but the leaves from my neighbor's house are brought over for mulching.
What do you mean by mulching leaves. How does it look like, and what do you do with it?
Leaves, especially live Oak which are thick do not break down quickly on a lawn. Here the problem id fir needles, cones, catkins, and at times Alder and Aspen leaves. I have a riding mower, with mulching capability, and use that on the lawn to pulverize everything. The only problems are that much of it is acidic so I have to also spread lime a after, and it dulls the mower blade more quickly than just grass. As for the driveway and patio, I use a leaf blower and shoot it onto the lawn before mowing. If it's too much for your yard waste bin, ask the garbage company about leaving the excess in a bag alongside the bin. Ours does not charge extra for that. We also have a recycler who will accept it bagged up a few miles away.
Regarding the lime, I would make sure you have your soil test for pH. I had a lot of pine trees in my back yard and thought I needed to be adding lime every year. When I had my soil tested, it was right in the middle of the range where it should be.
Regarding blowing the leaves off the driveway, I do just the opposite in my front yard. I mow my lawn on the highest setting of my lawnmower. I found it was more efficient to blow the leaves on to the driveway and move the lawnmower blade to the lowest setting possible. I could mulch the leaves to a fine powder and blow them back on the yard with my leaf blower.
I have similar situation. Tons of trees, several Oaks, my back yard abuts a mountain full of trees and I'm in an established neighborhood with a lot of neighbors trees.
The oaks definitely drop a LOT of sticks everywhere and my neighbors have a huge sweetgum that totally leans over my yard and drops all those stupid pricker balls that try to turn my ankle when I walk thru the yard. My yard in back is too broken up with flower beds, sitting areas, rock formations to use any riding lawnmower.
I generally just go out there and pick up the larger sticks (branches) and if there are a lot of big ones I lay them across the curb out front and a truck gets them weekly.. or.. if smaller, I stand them up in a barrel and set that out near the trash on trash day and they will pick it up. Can't burn here so that sucks.
It's not good on my back at all but, it has to be done. I rake and bag up the leaves and all the tiny sticks and sweetgum balls. Many around here just hire a company to come and clean it up every now and then. I do it myself.. and I'm no spring chicken. Although, twice I paid my neighbor's son to do it but now he got his driver's license and is rarely home.
If I have a lot of branches, I lay a length of rope out (sometimes with a sheet of plastic) and lay the branches all across that and then pull the rope together to bundle them and drag them to the front and leave it for the city to pick up. Rope and all.
I just ordered a gas powered leaf blower on ebay for $65. Lets see how useful it is.
I could use the sticks as mulch on my giant flowerbeds. Somehow the bought red mulch is disappearing from them.
The issue is/was the logistics about how to move huge quantity of dropped stuff from a huge area to another area.
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