I’ve been mulching leaves into my lawn for the past 7-8 years. So much easier/neater than hauling them to the curb and have also used them in the landscape beds. Highly recommend.
Buffalo NY here. I mulch as much as I can, before I rake leaves. Especially since I have several locust trees and their leaves are a pain to gather up. In more than 13 years of doing so, I've never had issues with my grass in the spring. Yes, I do rake towards the late fall seasonal drop, as I have way too many to just keep mulching with the mower... but I always mulch at least 1/2 to 2/3rds before doing so. I have locust, red maple and ash trees, as well as a large pine and a number of ornamental smaller trees. All get mulched into the lawn... including all grass clippings during lawn growing seasons.
I started mulching our grass and fall leaves 4 years ago. We get mostly oak leaves and pine needles. I mulch the same way you did in the video. We used to get loads of dandelions and now they're sparse. Also this past summer we noticed our grass was slow growing. I mowed less than half as much as I did in past years. The lawn looked okay but seems thinner. Next spring I plan to use more fertilizer, add seed, and water more. Mulching is more work than normal grass mowing but a high quality mower mulching blade helps.
The question is how much is to much...? My trees would deposit about a 12" to 16" depth of leaves if i had to guess. I have aDR lawn vac that grinds them up. I them use them as mulch in all my planter beds.
It's a great question...i have not seen anything that indicates "too much". Be a function of how fine you can mulch them and frequently of being able to mulch them up before it gets too deep.
In the shady spots, I don't mulch the leaves as the grass tends to get smothered. Also grass isn't growing well there. I would keep using them in your beds or compost pile. Maybe mulch some but that sounds like alot of leaves!
I can only comment on my personal experience, my backyard has several big trees that keep dumping leaves, I mulched it and went over it half a dozen times multiple times a week til everything looked like confetti and still had die-off followed by a season of super thin grass and moss in those areas. Now I bag it all up after overseeding and my problem spots are thick again. Never ever ever, will I mulch back there again. I couldn't make it work. Sounds like you may be in the same situation. Don't treat everyone's opinion on this topic like gospel, that's what I did and it backfired. Put it in your beds as your gut suggests.
I am in a similar situation. I have some large oaks, some maples, some chestnut and others with large leaves that I can't identify. And of course, my neighbor's leaves. After mulching several times, the mulched leaves just make rows of mulch between mowing paths. And the grass dies where it doesn't get sunlight. The last 3 or so years, I switched to blowing the leaves to the rear of the lot, which is downhill. That is just too much work for an old man, but it is better for the grass. I was considering a leaf vac, but was unsure if one could handle the job. And they are quite expensive.
We got 5 live oak trees. Mulching those leaves stifles the grass imo. The leaves last forever and barely break down if you dont bag mow them up, which is terrible for the Bermuda. I bag mow for those reasons.
I tried reseeding this year. Unfortunately the squirrels ate half of it, even though I covered it with mulched grass clippings. 🤷🏽♂️ I guess I’ll try again in the spring.
@@GregPhillips.22 Same here in KC, only had one big rain event for months. Doubled my water bill trying to get my new grass to grow. Overseeded front and side yard and grew new grass on a backfill around the patio. Got good germination, but had to switch focus to front yard and half of my new grass around the patio died. Without in ground irrigation it's tough. Working on above ground irrigation solutions now. Great content. Go Wolfpack!!
Lived in my house since 1999, i mulch grass and leaves from maples trees every year. In the fall when trees drop all leaves i mulch then run mower back over with bag on because if I don’t my dogs bring leaf clippings into the house. My lawn looks fantastic every year, I water twice a week and apply organic fertilizers 4 times a year, weird what you say about dandelions ai never heard that but now that I think about it I really don’t get them?
Needles would be hard to mulch up. Plus the structures of a pine needle are more complex than a leaf. Exception being the "veins" and stem of the leaf wound be comparable to that of a pine needle. Other than that would be a guess on my part on the nutrient and/or pH effect on the soil.
Does the leaf type have a different effect such as pecan, ash , and red bud trees ? These are the prominent species that fall / blow into my yard . TIA
Michigan State only looked at maple trees. There may some small differences but if it were significant such as toxicity I would think MSU would have said something or at least looked into it as well.
turf.umn.edu/sites/turf.umn.edu/files/files/media/tree-leaves-and-weeds.pdf
I’ve been mulching leaves into my lawn for the past 7-8 years. So much easier/neater than hauling them to the curb and have also used them in the landscape beds. Highly recommend.
Buffalo NY here. I mulch as much as I can, before I rake leaves. Especially since I have several locust trees and their leaves are a pain to gather up. In more than 13 years of doing so, I've never had issues with my grass in the spring.
Yes, I do rake towards the late fall seasonal drop, as I have way too many to just keep mulching with the mower... but I always mulch at least 1/2 to 2/3rds before doing so. I have locust, red maple and ash trees, as well as a large pine and a number of ornamental smaller trees. All get mulched into the lawn... including all grass clippings during lawn growing seasons.
Thanks for sharing!!!
I started mulching our grass and fall leaves 4 years ago. We get mostly oak leaves and pine needles. I mulch the same way you did in the video. We used to get loads of dandelions and now they're sparse. Also this past summer we noticed our grass was slow growing. I mowed less than half as much as I did in past years. The lawn looked okay but seems thinner. Next spring I plan to use more fertilizer, add seed, and water more. Mulching is more work than normal grass mowing but a high quality mower mulching blade helps.
Also look into aerification too. Am hitting mine hard next spring.
Great insights! Thanks for sharing
Leaves = free organic material which is what the fertilizer companies are pushing. I don’t wait till I have a lot on the lawn I mulch /mow 1 x a week
That's key. Waiting until they are all on the ground and then mulching them in is too much at one time.
The question is how much is to much...? My trees would deposit about a 12" to 16" depth of leaves if i had to guess. I have aDR lawn vac that grinds them up. I them use them as mulch in all my planter beds.
It's a great question...i have not seen anything that indicates "too much". Be a function of how fine you can mulch them and frequently of being able to mulch them up before it gets too deep.
In the shady spots, I don't mulch the leaves as the grass tends to get smothered. Also grass isn't growing well there. I would keep using them in your beds or compost pile. Maybe mulch some but that sounds like alot of leaves!
I can only comment on my personal experience, my backyard has several big trees that keep dumping leaves, I mulched it and went over it half a dozen times multiple times a week til everything looked like confetti and still had die-off followed by a season of super thin grass and moss in those areas. Now I bag it all up after overseeding and my problem spots are thick again. Never ever ever, will I mulch back there again. I couldn't make it work. Sounds like you may be in the same situation. Don't treat everyone's opinion on this topic like gospel, that's what I did and it backfired. Put it in your beds as your gut suggests.
I am in a similar situation. I have some large oaks, some maples, some chestnut and others with large leaves that I can't identify. And of course, my neighbor's leaves. After mulching several times, the mulched leaves just make rows of mulch between mowing paths. And the grass dies where it doesn't get sunlight. The last 3 or so years, I switched to blowing the leaves to the rear of the lot, which is downhill. That is just too much work for an old man, but it is better for the grass. I was considering a leaf vac, but was unsure if one could handle the job. And they are quite expensive.
We got 5 live oak trees. Mulching those leaves stifles the grass imo. The leaves last forever and barely break down if you dont bag mow them up, which is terrible for the Bermuda. I bag mow for those reasons.
Acidity or not, it’s easy to mow & an added bonus of less dandelions is great!
I was surprised by what MSU found on dandelion control.
I tried reseeding this year. Unfortunately the squirrels ate half of it, even though I covered it with mulched grass clippings. 🤷🏽♂️ I guess I’ll try again in the spring.
It's been a difficult fall due to lack of precipitation. In my area we have only had 3 rain events since late August.
@@GregPhillips.22 Same here in KC, only had one big rain event for months. Doubled my water bill trying to get my new grass to grow. Overseeded front and side yard and grew new grass on a backfill around the patio. Got good germination, but had to switch focus to front yard and half of my new grass around the patio died. Without in ground irrigation it's tough. Working on above ground irrigation solutions now. Great content. Go Wolfpack!!
Lived in my house since 1999, i mulch grass and leaves from maples trees every year. In the fall when trees drop all leaves i mulch then run mower back over with bag on because if I don’t my dogs bring leaf clippings into the house. My lawn looks fantastic every year, I water twice a week and apply organic fertilizers 4 times a year, weird what you say about dandelions ai never heard that but now that I think about it I really don’t get them?
It was interesting to me as well.
I only have pine trees in my surrounding properties. Might there be a difference for that?
Needles would be hard to mulch up. Plus the structures of a pine needle are more complex than a leaf. Exception being the "veins" and stem of the leaf wound be comparable to that of a pine needle. Other than that would be a guess on my part on the nutrient and/or pH effect on the soil.
Does the leaf type have a different effect such as pecan, ash , and red bud trees ? These are the prominent species that fall / blow into my yard . TIA
Michigan State only looked at maple trees. There may some small differences but if it were significant such as toxicity I would think MSU would have said something or at least looked into it as well.
@@GregPhillips.22 Thanks Greg. I only asked the question due to pecan leaves seem to be pretty acidic.
I hate raking. I always mulch the leaves back into the lawn.
❤
I will have to pass, im bagging, lawn looks SO much better
If you do it right with mulching blades and the discharge on the mower blocked you'll never go back to bagging.
@@ssom06 Not on 1/2in bermuda
I’m not feeding Asian Jumping Worms