Leaf Blower Vac.

I hope I'm doing this right ! I invested in a nice Leaf blower. I bought it for the vacuum so I could pick up the leafs from the trees and bushes then compost them.

The machine I have is a Stihl and it chops the leaves up really finely so instead of composting them I'm spreading the finely chopped up leaves over the top of where I have planted two new trees this year. So feeding the trees with leaves in effect.

Is this a good idea or would I be better of composting the leaves ?

Must say how pleased I ma with the blower vac. I had a Ryobi one before and it was rubbish in comparison !

Charlie.

 

Hi Charlie , nice bit of kit there ! I was wondering the same , when I use my vacuum/ shredder on the leaves , if I could use the shreddings as a mulch.
I think it was only a week or so ago on here someone said a leaf is brown and dead because the tree has absorbed all the nutrients back out of the leaf . It sounds logical ! I think most on here throw the shreddings onto the compost heap , or in my case the green bin. Although using the leaf shreddings as a mulch must be OK , as this is how forests work !
Hopefully someone can advise on the nutrient benefit of dead leaves .

 

When I've got time, I shred prunings and mix them with fallen leaves to pile onto borders, especially over tender plants. The mulch has disappeared by the following Spring, so the earthworms and beetles must be incorporating it into the soil. I think uncomposted woody waste deprives plants of nitrogen as it decomposes, but leaves are all good

 

I don't have leaf blower/vac, but i use the mower and cut up all the leaves and spead them over the veg garden and let the worms do there bit

 

As far as I understand it the main contribution of leaf mulch is to the humus content of the soil, this helps hold water in the soil, improves soils structure, acts as a foodstuff for worms and other soil organisms and helps make nutrients available to plants.

 

I bag the leaf shreddings and then add them to the compost heap and worm bins during the summer to help maintain a balance of 'greens' and 'browns'.