# Mulching leaves for lawn



## paulgp602 (Oct 31, 2006)

I wanted input on if mulched leaves are good for the lawn. In the fall I have alot of oak and maple leaves on my property. This year I plan on using my riding mower to chop them up into fine pieces. Is it ok to leave what's left on the lawn or should it be bagged? Do mulched leaves hurt the grass in the spring?


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## Roospike (Oct 31, 2006)

Mulching leaves for the lawn are fine and turn into good compost.
If mulching leaves and grass full time then one need to take extra care to make sure your yard gets thatched and plugged for aeration.
Thatched and plugged for aeration in ones yard is good practice if mulching grass and leaves or not.


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## senorFrog (Oct 31, 2006)

If you're mulching leaves, do yourself a favor and get a set of these...

Info: http://www.gatorblade.com/index.html

Buy here: http://www.jackssmallengines.com/gator.cfm


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## PAJerry (Oct 31, 2006)

I've been chopping all the leaves up for years, and it doesn't hurt a thing. If they didn't belong there, they wouldn't fall there!


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## Webwidow (Nov 3, 2006)

First off I can't believe I am now one those crazy lawn people. here is my dilemma. I have worked my bum off on this lawn. Poor soil, on a hill, no shade, all poor conditions for a lawn. Anyway, we thatched seeded the lawn, now it is beautiful again. As it is for 2 weeks each spring and fall. 
Nice pretty young grass popping up on our 3/4 acre of lawn. My concern is if I leave the mulched leaves on thru-out the winter that I might suffocate the poor lil sprigs. Last year we had snow and ice all winter from Thanksgiving to spring. What to do? Been doing some research but haven't found the answer. I just don't want to kill it all yet again. Any suggestion for a new lawn?


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## begreen (Nov 3, 2006)

If you leave a dense bed of chopped anything, including leaves, as mulch it will smother the lawn. I hate leaf raking because I had to do it way too much as a kid. Now I mulch the leaves with the riding mower. I collect about 3/4 of them in the bagger and put them on the garden beds. The last 1/4 gets chopped up but not collected. If it's a wet year, I have to go out and rake up the mats that form before I can collect them. Looks like that is going to happen this year. After an amazingly dry summer and near perfect Sept/Oct. the heavens have opened up and we are getting the pineapple express. The jet stream is hosing us. One storm after another promised for at least a week. Just as the leave are starting to fall  :-( .


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## senorFrog (Nov 3, 2006)

Get a set of the gator baldes I linked to a few posts up.  They are really cheap.

Tip - Stick with it and do one full mow of the lawn before deciding.

For a ton of info on mulching leaves go here...

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/tractor/


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## CrazyAboutOrchids (Nov 5, 2006)

I garden organically and mulching leaves can be GREAT for your lawn. So many folks pick up everything off their lawns in an attempt to have that perfectly manicured lawn, but in the process lose about 10% of the nitrogen requirements for their lawns by not mulch mowing all year long. Mulch, mulch, mulch.

Having said that, it does depend on how many leaves you have. I live in NewEngland in the midst of many, many deciduous trees. There is no way I could mulch mow my leaves. We have one of these babies that I bought hubby a few years back 




We use it twice a week for most of October and some of November. We dump what it collects and the leaves can break down and then I sprinkle it back on the lawn. But for us, mulch mowing is not an option as the leaves can be knee deep twice a week for a few weeks during the fall leaf season.

But it CAN work if you don't have many leaves on your property. You do need to pulverize the leaves and the gator blades are great for that. You may need to make more than one pass ont he leaves to break them down like you want. Get two sets so you can switch them out during the season.


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## velvetfoot (Nov 6, 2006)

I ordered one of those blades.  Of course there's still some snow on the ground...


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## drizler (Jan 4, 2007)

I have a 5' tractor drawn deck and have always mulched everything I ran over.   It just makes the grass grow faster and better like its getting free food.    Free fertilezer and zero work its a no brainer.   A mulching blade isn't much more than one with a dip in it like a F 4 U Corsair's wings ,  a section on the rear side bent upwards on the trailing edge and the exit chute plugged up.   my deck has the whole back end occupied by pieces of simple chain hanging down to keep the grass in there longer.    You might have to mow a little slower or up the power setting  as needed.


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