We have a new house with a zillion trees which I absolutely adore, but I’m trying to figure out how to deal with the ocean of leaves. I don’t mind some yard work but there’s got to be a better system than bagging. We’ve been currently just blowing them into big piles in the corner of our yard but that’s not a decent long term system.
Also- we are letting our backyard be somewhat “wild” due to the heavy trees/lack of grass, so I don’t intend to pick up every single leaf but rather the bulk so that I can at least see some of my yard and it doesn’t suffocate the ground entirely.
by Treetronkk
27 Comments
Mulching leaves into the lawn is tremendously beneficial for several reasons:
– provides organic matter to the soil (good for nutrient and moisture retention, alleviates compaction, and improves drainage in the long term)
– provides the lawn with many nutrients that are difficult and expensive to supply otherwise… Particularly, but not limited to, all of the micronutrients. (Trees are just way better at taking up nutrients than grasses are)
– is an incredibly effective form of pre-emergent weed control… Extremely effective for preventing broadleaf weeds, and can even prevent/reduce future poa annua and crabgrass.
[According to MSU](https://www.canr.msu.edu/resources/mulch_leaves_into_turf_for_a_smart_lawn), up to 6 inches of leaves can be mulched into a lawn at one time. That number partially depends on your mower performance… But even in the worst case scenarios, it might just mean going over the leaves multiple times. (Still quicker than raking or bagging)
Tips for mulching leaves effectively:
– go into fall at a high mowing height… Its too late to change that now, but it helps.
– use an actual mulching blade (most new push mowers come equipped with mulching blades. Mulching blades are the ones with the curved cutting edge and the blade has curved surfaces on top to generate uplift)
– plug the side discharge chute. Push mowers usually have a flap that’s easily closed. Riding mowers often require a seperate accessory to plug the chute.
– don’t let the leaves pile up. Most of the time, weekly will be enough, but if you have windy days, you might need to get out there an extra time or more.
– do it when the leaves are mostly dry. It can actually help if they’re a LITTLE wet… But dry is certainly better than too wet.
– Yes you can safely mulch pine needles and walnut leaves. It’s a myth that pine needles acidify soil. There’s insufficient proof that juglone from walnut trees is actually allelopathic… Regardless, spread out over a lawn, that wouldn’t be a concern.
– if you notice clumps of matted leaves… Knock them loose. I usually just kick them, but a rake or blower works too.
The classic argument against mulching is “they’ll smother the grass”… Simply put, if you smother the grass, you’re doing it wrong (especially that last step)… Unless you’ve got a lot of poa trivialis or poa annua… Mulching leaves can actually smother those… In which case, that’s usually a good thing… But even then, they’ll still fill back in next year.
Note: Don’t mulch leaves if you plan on dormant seeding… The weed prevention thing I mentioned above also PROBABLY applies to ungerminated grass seed… Probably. Inconsistent data on that one.
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Mulch them and/or use in a compost pile.
I would mulch them but you’ll need a really big mulcher. You can probably hire a company to do it. I wouldn’t mulch it all onto your grass. I would mulch it further into that wooded area behind your house or have it hauled away.
Fall leaves are excellent composting browns. You can build a three plus bin composting system out of screwed together heat treated pallets (stamped HT, avoid those stamped MB or unstamped), and mix them in with your kitchen scraps.
You can mulch them with the mower per the mod pin. This is the best option and you can mulch a truly astonishing amount of leaves into next to nothing.
Another option if you have acreage is a [towed lawn sweeper](https://www.homedepot.com/p/Brinly-Hardy-42-in-Tow-Behind-Lawn-Sweeper-with-Double-Helix-Brushes-for-Lawn-Tractors-and-Zero-Turn-Mowers-LS2-42BH2-G/332248231)
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14 yr old who is being punished? Other than that, I’d say higher someone
Leave them alone.
The leaves won’t suffocate the ground. Given your comment about a “wild” backyard you literally don’t need to do anything. Let them stay there and break down into the soil as nature intended.
Next step up from there would be simply mulching with your mower to help them break down faster.
Next step up from there is if you’re more concerned with a perfect lawn. You’d bag some and mulch others just to reduce the leaves a bit, because you’re worried the lawn can’t break them down fast enough.
After that, you might mulch them up and bag them because you have a compost bin you want to add them to. Or, you want to create leaf mulch for other areas of a garden.
Now and mow some more
Mind the ticks. If it was me I would get a powerful/commercial riding mower and mulch them, then blow the remaining fragments into a corner. They will vanish within 6-8 months. It’s interesting how an intact leaf will last years, yet a shredded leaf months. Since you already put them there, you can use an a leaf mulcher with no bag attached and just shoot out the pieces which will breakdown much faster.
Since you don’t know what’s underneath them, running a mower isn’t the answer. The amount seems enormous, I’d probably just leave them alone. Perhaps the wind will blow some on the lawn, or you could blow some of them on the lawn occasionally, and run a mower over them.
How big is your yard? Is there a section you can reclaim for yourself and leave the rest with leaves? Seems more manageable then!
You could sell them. I have a similar amount of leaves in my yard. My wife still goes to Hobby Lobby and purchases leaves and pinecones.
Set your mower high up, mow them down, put them in a compost pile.
Buy a mulcher or hire someone to mulch them. Leave the mulch in any areas you want good soil. Start a compost pile and make some leaf mould. Once they’re shredded they compact and decompose much more quickly
I need some leaves for my raised garden bed can u deliver a few bags
I have a similar amount of leaves, if not more.
I’ve been mowing over them with mulching blades, then using a lawn sweeper to pick up the bulk, which then goes into a compost pile.
Whatever is left on the lawn will get aerated in.
Only going into the 3rd summer at this house and the yard was severely neglected, so time will tell if my plan works.
In terms of getting them off the lawn, your best options are, in order:
1. Hiring a local mow-and-blow / landscaping shop to do an end of season cleanup. This is expensive but if they come when the leaves are all done, the result will be good.
2. A riding mower with a tow-behind leaf vacuum like a Cyclone Rake. This will suck up the leaves, grind them up, and hold them in a bag that you can then empty into the woods (or, in the case of my town, on the curb for pickup by the town’s leaf vac trucks). Don’t wait until the leaves have piled up too high; you should be making multiple passes over the course of the season.
3. A riding mower with a tow-behind mechanical lawn sweeper. This won’t work as well as the leaf vac over un-level ground, and it doesn’t grind them up so it’ll take more trips and will create bigger piles. But, it’s a bit cheaper than the leaf vac and requires less maintenance.
4. A gas-powered leaf blower. My neighbor blows his leaves into the woods behind his house. This works for him since he has those woods and most of his leaves are out back. I find blowing leaves from all over my property with a leaf blower all the way out to the curb to be very tedious.
5. Raking the leaves onto a tarp and dragging them to the woods or the curb. Best done as a two person job.
I suspect that the people who say “mulch the leaves and let it sit” don’t have the volume of leaves that I do, or that you seem to have. I tried this once it was a disaster. I had done multiple rounds of raking and when more came down, I lost patience and mulched the rest of it. Once it rained I had leaf sludge everywhere and no, it didn’t just decompose and feed the lawn, it was all still there in the spring and I had to clean it up anyway.
So I’ll get ripped for this but you can just mow a little at a time and leave the mulch in place. Or mow it and blow the mulch around. I do this and it takes some time but works pretty well but I don’t have a zillion trees either!
In Minocqua, there’s a guy who requests that people bring their leaves to him. I think he composts them and sells the dirt. I have a guy do a fall and spring cleanup to take care of mine.
A lighter
I certainly wouldn’t let a child walk in it…
Mulch and offer free leaf mulch on fb marketplace, Craigslist.
Johnson-su bioreactor
I would probably pay someone to take away as much as they can, then try to manage it yourself for the next few years. When they’ve piled up that much for so long, it can be difficult to do anything with them
Ride on mower? Use it to bag it. Or drive around a bajillion times in the yard mulching until it’s gets to fine pieces. I personally just use my push mower to bag it all up. I’ve tried mulching but the leafs can only get cut so small and I’m not going to due 5 passes on my lawn to get it small.
Mulch some, but leave some. Fireflies will be everywhere the more you can get by with leaving them.