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nutrient value of leaves ?

J

jCarroll

Well-known Member
Location
mid-Ohio
We're mid-Ohio. Leaves almost all fallen now.

The greenie in me says to haul them to the farm fields (with my tractor) for soil nutrition/tilth. I don't have a mulching mower which would leave everything on the grass.

My head says I'm spending more on gasoline than the fertilizer value.

What's your opinion?
 
They for sure do take nitrogen to decompose but once the decomposition is complete the nitrogen is released. They will be slightly acidic during the decomposition process as they release humic acid. Once decomposition slows, so will the release of acid.

It takes a year or so for decomposition to be completed. The speed depends on factors such as moisture, temperature and available nitrogen.
 
The decomposition process just temporarily ties up the nitrogen; it doesn't actually get consumed. Working them in now would mean that the N would be released and available by next year's crop.
 
I let the neighbor spread their leaves on the field back when there was someone there who actually picked up their leaves.
 
(quoted from post at 21:50:10 11/09/14) We're mid-Ohio. Leaves almost all fallen now.

The greenie in me says to haul them to the farm fields (with my tractor) for soil nutrition/tilth. I don't have a mulching mower which would leave everything on the grass.

My head says I'm spending more on gasoline than the fertilizer value.

What's your opinion?
Click to expand...
Any organic matter is good, but depends on the type of leaves you have. Oak is very slow to break down, and left whole on top of the ground will mat and leave a soggy mess in spring. Best to chop up or till in or make a compost pile. I have almost all oak, so I mulch, bag, and then compost mine.
 
I don't have a mulching mower but still get them busted up with regular mower and lime yard every year. I have not bought any fertilizer in the last 6 years. I also have a 4FT section of a old rotary hoe and go over yard in spring and air rate yard. I also leave ever bit of the grass clipping on the yard.
 
I've got a neighbor that dumps them in my field without permission.I've called the sheriff twice in the last two years. Now instead of coming on my property he piles them near the property line and blows them on me with his lawn mower.The grounds completely covered.No till corn goes in there next year.
 
My garden now has a ft of leafs. In the spring I will use the front loader and remove them. Use a 12 inch post hole digger to dig holes, plant tomatoes and peppers in cages to keep critters from eating them. Then put new leafs on garden that I bagged last fall. So my garden is covered all but a few days a year with leafs. Lime the holes where I plant. Works for me. Most of the spring leafs are gone by fall. I don't weed do little watering in summer.

For me, it's not the fertilizer value I think about. I have an agr-fab yard vac behind my JD275. Does a good job with leafs and I need a place to put them. Excess leafs gets mixed in with next years mulch pile along with the fall garden waste. So I clean off garden in fall before I put leafs down and again in spring before I plant. Have a good garden, so leafs, lime, horse poo mulch works for me.
 
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