Anonymous
Post 11/18/2021 19:44     Subject: Experts explain why you shouldn't rake your leaves
Why are people even on this forum if you don’t care.
Anonymous
Post 11/17/2021 19:13     Subject: Experts explain why you shouldn't rake your leaves
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It's best to shred them before using them as mulch in a residential setting so they break down faster. Your yard isn't the forest and does't have the ecosystem. In a yard, you need worry about drainage and run off, and a mat of wet leaves can be impenetrable and problematic. Plus shredded leaves don't blow back into your yard.

In the past when we didn't shred, the leaves were untouched and intact in the spring, and the ground was soggy and the plants around them suffered from various fungi and molds. Now that we shred them, they become a part of the soil much faster and the soil is amazingly fertile and drains well.


So much misinformation. Your yard absolutely does have an ecosystem. Leaves are not impenetrable, in fact by absorbing water and then releasing it slowly into the soil leaf litter helps to prevent flash flooding.


+10000X
And leaves help reduce the need to water as frequently. Since I started leaving my leaves my berry bushes and fruit trees have produced so much more without any need to water on my part. And there are a ton more pollinators.
Anonymous
Post 11/17/2021 17:53     Subject: Experts explain why you shouldn't rake your leaves
Will the lawn folks do this if you ask?
Anonymous
Post 11/17/2021 17:36     Subject: Experts explain why you shouldn't rake your leaves
They are food for essential organisms in soil that help keep the solid healthy and productive. And they are a natural mulch. And insects lay eggs on them.
Anonymous
Post 11/17/2021 17:28     Subject: Experts explain why you shouldn't rake your leaves
We take or blow then into flowerbeds. Done.
And have lots of fireflies in the summer?
Anonymous
Post 11/17/2021 16:29     Subject: Experts explain why you shouldn't rake your leaves
Anonymous wrote:My yard. My leaves


Cool story, dick.
Anonymous
Post 11/17/2021 12:28     Subject: Experts explain why you shouldn't rake your leaves
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I guess it would work in some neighborhoods without many trees. It would not work in mine.


+1


Lane excuse. We have decades old maples and hackberries and mulching our leaves works just fine.
Anonymous
Post 11/17/2021 12:25     Subject: Experts explain why you shouldn't rake your leaves
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I guess, eventually, the leaves will decompose. For next Spring, you will have wet, clumpy leaves.


+1... This was our experience. Started to make the garden beds decompose as the ground cover under then started to die. No thanks.


You have to expose the ground cover in early spring. Not keep them covered forever.
Anonymous
Post 11/17/2021 12:25     Subject: Experts explain why you shouldn't rake your leaves
Anonymous wrote:My yard. My leaves

Anonymous
Post 11/17/2021 12:24     Subject: Experts explain why you shouldn't rake your leaves
Anonymous wrote:I guess, eventually, the leaves will decompose. For next Spring, you will have wet, clumpy leaves.


+1... This was our experience. Started to make the garden beds decompose as the ground cover under then started to die. No thanks.
Anonymous
Post 11/17/2021 12:22     Subject: Experts explain why you shouldn't rake your leaves
Anonymous wrote:It's best to shred them before using them as mulch in a residential setting so they break down faster. Your yard isn't the forest and does't have the ecosystem. In a yard, you need worry about drainage and run off, and a mat of wet leaves can be impenetrable and problematic. Plus shredded leaves don't blow back into your yard.

In the past when we didn't shred, the leaves were untouched and intact in the spring, and the ground was soggy and the plants around them suffered from various fungi and molds. Now that we shred them, they become a part of the soil much faster and the soil is amazingly fertile and drains well.


So much misinformation. Your yard absolutely does have an ecosystem. Leaves are not impenetrable, in fact by absorbing water and then releasing it slowly into the soil leaf litter helps to prevent flash flooding.
Anonymous
Post 11/17/2021 12:12     Subject: Experts explain why you shouldn't rake your leaves
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I guess, eventually, the leaves will decompose. For next Spring, you will have wet, clumpy leaves.


If they are on your lawn mow them (but don't collect the clippings, do it bagless) and they will be chopped up so fine they'll decompose very quickly. Even if beds where I don't mow I don't find that they get too thick and clumpy. But even where they are in a layer they act as a mulch, and you need to mulch with brought-in mulch less. Its a win!


Correct. However, doing this also potentially kills off a lot of beneficial larvae/eggs of bugs, moths, and butterflies. We are trying to do away with the mulching in this manner and instead using hte whole leaves as well as mulch piles to decompose naturally. Since moving in that direction, we have noticed so many more species of moths and butterflies. Adding in native plants, eliminating wood mulch, and doing away with pest/herbicides and our yard has been so enjoyable to watch. Bees, butterflies, fireflies, hummingbirds, songbirds, etc.


To clarify, many moths and other insects have larva that looks like leaves or lay their larva in leaves. That's what I mean by "killing off."
Anonymous
Post 11/17/2021 12:10     Subject: Experts explain why you shouldn't rake your leaves
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I guess, eventually, the leaves will decompose. For next Spring, you will have wet, clumpy leaves.


If they are on your lawn mow them (but don't collect the clippings, do it bagless) and they will be chopped up so fine they'll decompose very quickly. Even if beds where I don't mow I don't find that they get too thick and clumpy. But even where they are in a layer they act as a mulch, and you need to mulch with brought-in mulch less. Its a win!


Correct. However, doing this also potentially kills off a lot of beneficial larvae/eggs of bugs, moths, and butterflies. We are trying to do away with the mulching in this manner and instead using hte whole leaves as well as mulch piles to decompose naturally. Since moving in that direction, we have noticed so many more species of moths and butterflies. Adding in native plants, eliminating wood mulch, and doing away with pest/herbicides and our yard has been so enjoyable to watch. Bees, butterflies, fireflies, hummingbirds, songbirds, etc.
Anonymous
Post 11/15/2021 19:44     Subject: Experts explain why you shouldn't rake your leaves
My yard. My leaves
Anonymous
Post 11/15/2021 19:04     Subject: Experts explain why you shouldn't rake your leaves
Anonymous wrote:I guess it would work in some neighborhoods without many trees. It would not work in mine.


+1