Should I mulch? Or bag my leaves this fall?

Univ Minn ^ | October | John Trappe

[campaignPete R-CT]

Many homeowners wonder if they should be collecting and removing tree leaves from their lawns prior to mowing, or if the tree leaves can be mulched (mown) into the lawn. Like many recommendations for lawn management decisions, this one can also be answered with the phrase, "it depends."

[cyclotic]

I usually mulch. My back yard is fine. The front has no trees and is a total mess of dead grass and some kind of fungus

[campaignPete R-CT]

What a smart bunchalawnFreepers, eh?

[moovova]

Best not be one damn leaf on my beautiful racist lawn.

[blackdog]

I rake em all, use them to layer green yard waste, kitchen scraps, and junk mail put in a large commercial blender to re-pulp it. I then turn it all a few times with a tiller.

Best finished mulch ever.

[USS Alaska]

Leave the wood chipper free for those pesky Trump sign stealer's.

Best post of the bunch.

My neighbor caught a Trump sign stealer and didn't have a wood chipper, so he used his log splitter on her, and she now has a real big split:)

[dgbrown]

Too many leaves for me. I have about an acre that I maintain, about half of it gets covered with leaves. I grind them up with the mower than bag them up with the mower. Empty the mower bags into a big tarp (reduces the number of visits to the woods) and haul them off to the woods to my pile. Takes a full weekend to get them all. If I leave them, it is a pain in the spring when the are wet and stuck to the ground.

I probably get 20+ tarps full, so 60 to 80 lawn mower/tractor bag empties.

[Red Badger]

I mow up the leaves with my lawn tractor and collect them in the attached bags. When the bags are full, I go through the back fence and spread them on the harvested field next to my house. Of course, this only works if you have a field next door.

My neighbor's yard works for me...................

[Red Badger]

Yep!.........................

[woodbutcher1963]

I have 1 1/2 - 2 acres of grass. I a, south central NH.
I mulch in some areas and blow them side discharge into a ditch or off a retaining wall into a wetland area.

Leaves that are chopped up will be eaten by the worms in the winter when the lawn is covered by snow. Worms aerate the soil.

What you want to get up off the lawn is Pine needles. Pine needles and oak leaves are more acidic and will mess up your soils PH. I also put about a 1000 lbs of pelletized lime on the lawn every fall.

[ronniesgal]

mow

[Phlap]

Mulch. It is the path of least resistance.

[Vermont Lt]

You mulch grass. You bag leaves. Way too acidic for most lawns. At least in my area.

[Vermont Lt]

I tried that one year. My neighbor got pissed when I spread them all over his lawn.

[Vermont Lt]

That is outstanding.

[FroedrickVonFreepenstein]

LOL, thank you. I have a big yard with lots of trees.

[PrairieLady2]

If you chop them up with the mower and collect it in the bags before you put them in the bins, they will break down and rot better. Add some green grass and coffee grounds, kitchen waste plus water, mix well and keep moist..you will have some rich, black soil for spring.

[campaignPete R-CT]

13

vonFreepens

[campaignPete R-CT]

Awesome

Fireplace ashes for the lawn?

[HP8753]

My fall tactic is to keep the lawn short. Most of my leaves blow into the neighbors yard. ;-)

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Oh, I am aware of how composting works.....just never bothered with the leaves.

Now my garden is so much bigger I can use the composted leaves as well.

I took some devious pleasure over the years in not caring about my huge maple tree shedding leaves all around rhe neighborhood with the 2 down the street that keaf blow 2x a day.