Homemade Leaf Mold. Make Potting Soil Using Leaves! Seriously it works.

Thankfully the forest around me has tons of leaf mold that I added to my new garden. As I have dug up more of the devil's root Zosia grass for another garden, do you have a video on how to nourish new soil in the Fall? Yesterday I learned that Alfalfa pellets are very beneficial and to thinly spread them, water and water the following day.

You mentioned that any leaf variety works but I would like to confirm that Poplar leaves are useable. I was told not to use them as a fresh mulch because of a compound in it that is harmful.🤷🏼‍♀

Love this! I actually dig leaf mold up every year from under the poplars in my local woods (a couple of shovels from under each tree), I think I will try this method to increase my available amount. I like the idea that the micro biome is full of tiny creatures perfectly evolved to thrive in my area.

I put my leaves through my chipper/shredder and dig them into my garden beds in the fall as extra nutrient. The freeze thaw cycle takes care of the final work. Then i use what i have left as mulch.

I never give my autumn leaves to the city, and I even take leaves from my friends and neighbours. I pile them in an open wire cube container. Some I use in the composter, some I use as mulch, and what’s left at the bottom ends up as leaf mould. I empty the container out at the end of summer.

What do you reckon is the C:N ratio of leaf mould, roughly speaking?

Absolutely LOVE leaf mold in seed starting and amendment to my garden beds. The only thing that I think peat moss wins in is that it practically never biodegrades, and is better than leaf mold for "perennial" container mixes. Leaf mold will compact more over time since it is younger material. But other than that, it is my go-to substitute for peat and coco coir in all my mixes!

Two years ago, I put my raked up leaves in a couple of plastic garbage bags and let them sit in my backyard over the winter. In the spring, when my compost thawed out, I shredded the leaves, dumped them into my compost and mixed everything very well. A few weeks later, I checked on my compost to see if it was still moist enough. It was moist and fluffy and full of huge white grubs. Hundreds of grubs. The black bugs that were inside those grubs were just about to emerge. I have no idea what kind they were or whether they were beneficial or destructive. I shoveled all my fluffy compost into yard waste bags and let the city collect them. I don't think that I want to go through this experience ever again. I think that I will be safer with peat moss.

What are the plans for halloween? Also happy thanksgiving

We add spent coffee to the leaves, we have it in a heap directly on the soil. We water and turn it every other week, sometimes weekly. Within four months we can use it. Generally as mulch. We have a very dry winter, the mold/mould dries out quickly. This is a two person job, therefore the we. I have the easy job of watering while the turning happens.

"Is it ok if I rake up your Autumn (Fall) leaves and get rid of them for you?"
I've never had a neighbor say no, and I bag them up and take them home then pop some in a garbage bin and shred them up with a line trimmer.
They then get stored in an old 500-liter winemaking tub until they break down or get used for mulch.
Great stuff! Lots of minerals and fungal-based breakdown.

Leaves are not a resource I come by often here (I'm on a 4 km² rocky outcrop Island that has almost exclusively coniferous trees) but one year I was given several garbage bags of them on my way home from a trip and my chickens absolutely loved kicking and shredding them up for me! It was so much easier to deal with than seaweed😆

Is it ok to use leaves from walnut trees?

Thank you Ashley. ❤️ 🎃🍁💚🙃

I didn't catch if you poked holes in the bags or not ? My last attempt at making leaf mold turned into Leaf sludge

SOOOOO I CAN use black walnut leaves for making leaf mold ???🎃🍁💚🙃

My issue it always seems to rain as the leaves start drying. We have a large maple and it produces tons of them.

What do you think about the big brown paper bags that people put their leaves in and then put on the curb? I have been collecting them for a few years now. I have left them for a year in the bags and it’s amazing how much they break down. Do u see any problem with leaving them in the paper bags stacked in a pile in the shade?

I add dried leaves to a garbage can and use a weed wacker to break the leaves up (wear glasses or googles). I add them to the compost pile until the area is "full" and dump the rest back on the lawn.

<3 what about micro plastics from bags?

Leaf "mold" is modernized from moulde, or mouldering which means slow decay.

Yes I use the vacuum part of my small blower then empty into my compost, this year I may put some in contractor bags as you suggest… thank you..

We found rakeing our oak leaves onto the flower beds for winter, nice and thick, works great at mulch and insect overwintering/pupating habitat (bumble bees!). In the spring, when things start popping up, most of it (ones that aren't broken down) is transported to the compost pile. Our oak leaves have a waxy cuticle, so the extended outdoor exposure over our mostly above freezing winter helps. And we like that this keeps the insect habitat 😊

What to do with horse chestnuts? The seeds are big and not easily grinded, while the leafs harbor (mining) moths (Cameraria ohridella) that fly out within days and reinfest the tree or overwinter in the soil.

I forget who the PhD was, his name is on the tip of my tongue. Anyway he gives his leave a thorough soaking prior to initiating the process. I think he calls leaf mould a soil conditioner? As I mentioned it has been sometime since I have viewed his content and forget his name.
I have 2 Scot's Pine Trees on my property that are shedding constantly; every Spring and Autumn I rake up 2-3 garbage bins of needles. Ever since I have started to compost the needles my gardens have been flourishing. I don't know if it is the "acidity" or more importantly the "fungal" aspect to the pine needle mould.
The downfalls of using bags is that they don't seem to last more than we would like. It seems if you just touch the bag they shatter and you need to try and re-bag a bunch of old leaves. Plus it is a pretty cozy environment for those voles and field mice.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention to use the leaf mould around the trees from which you got the leaves from. Of course if you can. My hostas love growing around the Scot's Pines with heavily amended pine needle mould. The leaves have doubled in size, oh and rhubarb, rhubarb grows the size of umbrellas.

It's really wet where I live. I just set out hardware cloth in a circle and dump the leaves in. In a year it is beautiful leaf mold with very little debris. In 2 years, it is a fine black powder. My cedar trees even grow roots in it it's so nourishing. Thanks for the video. Now I understand some great uses for my leaf mold😅

🎉🎉🎉🎉

I just shred them and mix into the garden. They are unidentifiable by spring

GIzc crew, would adding liquid nitrogen to the bag of screeded leaf mulch accelerate composting?

I filled a big black garbage bin for leaf mould and will leave that alone for a few years, would love to be able to have my own potting soil for winter sowing.

I have several bags of leaves from posts on Kijiji, if I crush them, wet them , and pile them in a thick layer on my lawn, will that help me get rid of my lawn? Should I put a layer of newspaper under the leaves for more grass/weed suppression? Do I have to leave the leaves for a full year to get effective mulch?

Compost + vinegar = acidified seed starter medium

Do I have to wait a year for the leaves to break down? I was planning to use this year's leaves to mulch the garlic bed. I just don't want to store leaves for a whole year! I'll have to try the experiment.

Garden Power

The easiest thing to do is vermicompost it. It takes a month per batch.

Hello there. I'm new here. I love your channel. I'm in southern WI. I like to throw all my dried leaves in a garbage can, or bin of some sort, then just take my weed Wacker to them to break them up and shred them. You can cut a hole in the lid of your bin or can, with a slot cut out as well so you can get your weedwacker in there and keep the lid on so leaves don't go flying everywhere.

Is it ok if there is grass clippings in the bags with the chopped leaves? Will it affect the leaf mold?

Fear of oak leaves due to juggalone?
I think you meant to day walnut?

I deeply mulch my beds with whole leaves.
In the spring I pull it back and plant.

To actually compost autumn leaves I rely on my chickens.
They shred them and add nitrogen.
I occasionally turn the pile.
I get some eggs but the chickens are primarily my compost buddies!

Love it. I Don’t ant to create any more demand for peat moss. Been collecting leaves for 2 years, in a fenced in corral. while most neighbors burn leaves or trash em. Gota see how hydrophilic moisture holding capacity of mature leaf mold compares to coco coir and peat. Also i think leaves are full of minerals / micronutrients in organic form from the trees deep root zone.

Thank you for the content. I think you do a good job dont knock yourself. I have a question about leaves
.i manage three yards on my st. I dont use any pestocides or synthetic nutrients. My question is - if i pile all my grass clippings and fallen leaves (majority fallen leaves) into a 3x3 pen is hgat more of a static compost pile, or still concidered leaf mulch pile? It does heat up to 140 -160 in the center of the cube. I use a 3 phase pallet system... I fill 1-2-3 and back to top of 1 -2-3. Also i van only have this system inder a tree. I noticed the trees root system flowing into my cubes - what are my options seeing i cant move the pens?
Thanks again

Thanks I have heard people say leaf mold before and never knew what they meant 😂. Will try this out

I have left my leaf mold going too long and it is a wet vlimate here. It is literally loke a fine black soil. What can it be used for at this point? Maybe mixed with less finished leaf mold?

I have used fall leaves in the spring, 50/50 with composted cow manure, and planted seed potatoes in it. Worked pretty well.

You mentioned pine needles being good for blueberries and other acid loving plants. In my research many places say that is a myth but maybe you have research that says otherwise.

Alt yazı içn ülkeler arasına Türkçe, yide eklerseniz çok sevinirim teşekkürler

I really enjoy your videos. It is nice to find you tuber from zone 3 in Canada. How do I find your geek crew to get hold of them. Sorry if that is not how u spell geek.

So my city has leaf compost. It is 1 year old, well ground up, and dark brown/black. I used it to top dress my beds in the fall, I added 1-3 inches to the top and didn't mix it in. Is this going to be too acidic or harmful? I have very clay-y soil and was going to try and no-till it. Should I till it in or just leave it till the spring till it in and then redress with mulch?

❤

You are so right. I used food compost in my balcony tumeric and i created more worms, flies and delayed growth of the tumeric in August- had to change the soil and bring it insise. Thanks for the education on "leaf" compost🎉