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Location

Message

Date Posted

DeWitt, Iowa

Oak leaves are all i can get a good amount of for my patch. will they work?

11/6/2009 9:14:24 PM

Anamosa, IA [email protected]

They break down slowly and are somewhat acid. You can chop them up with lawnmower and use in compost. Probably best not to put very many leaves on in the fall.

11/6/2009 9:36:50 PM

DeWitt, Iowa

Okay thanks
I was also wondering can you put on too much coffee grounds?

11/6/2009 9:51:01 PM

Boise City, Oklahoma, USA

I doubt there's an OD on coffee grounds, but the oak leaves are best composted first to get rid of the tannin levels.... And you can add properly finished compost either spring or fall.

11/6/2009 9:59:08 PM

Anamosa, IA [email protected]

Coffee grounds are great. Worms love them.

11/7/2009 5:50:22 AM

Williamsburg,KY

I read somewhere, for every 5 lbs of coffee grounds use 1 tsp of lime...this is for a compost pile.

11/7/2009 7:31:36 AM

leaves are leaves, breaking any of them up is the best idea, if you add them make sure you balance with N, they act as the carbon source

leaves also add lots of trace to the mix

11/7/2009 8:03:20 AM

Las Cruces NM

I have to disagree in that all leafs are not created equal. As Iowegian pointed out, Oak leaves can take a LONG time to compost and acidifies the soil. Compared to sugar maple leaves that compost rather quick and are more alkaline -- makes great garden compost! And then there is black Walnut leaves.... I would guess Oak leaves probably have a high C/N ratio. That is not to say you can't use Oak leaves, that would depend on current soil conditions ... and I would still compost first.

11/7/2009 11:44:18 PM

Gold Hill, Oregon

the only leaves you don't want to use r black walnut.

11/8/2009 1:40:34 AM

Paradise Mountain, New York

Sugar Maple leaves have a ph of 4.30, red maples 4.70, white oak 4.40, white ash 6.80, american beech 5.08. Now as far as to worry about oak leaves acidifies your soil, I wouldn't worry about it. When we make compost, you add leaves (carbon) plus you have to add nitrogen rich material to make your compost pile work to heat up to make a good finish compost. As a good rule of thumb, most compost has a neutral ph as 7.0. If you check under Growers Diaries, you will see were I have used over the years, hundreds of cubic yards of compost and lot of the leaves I haul home are Oak leaves. My ph this year was 7.6.

11/8/2009 6:29:30 AM

Monrovia, CA

What about California oaks, or 'live oaks' These are evergreen and not deciduous like the eastern oaks. Are they any more problomatic to compost?

11/9/2009 6:06:18 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

Liginin (sic) is probably the best reason to compost completely. Early on the oak leaf will only allow acorns to grow under the oak tree...when fully composted it has many beneficial aspescts to photosynthesis.

11/9/2009 6:56:33 PM