r/composting • u/Ok-End9913 • 1d ago
Question are some tree leaves just bad at composting?
i've been gathering fallen leaves for my compost and raised beds, and the difference in how they break down is pretty noticeable. some get soft and crumbly fairly quickly, while others seem to survive in the pile forever.
i usually collect whatever is available nearby, so everything ends up mixed together. lately i've been thinking about whether certain leaves are better left out or handled separately. i also collect some from along neighborhood streets, which raises the question of whether road residue or treatments used on street trees could be a problem in vegetable beds
i don't want to overcomplicate a pile of leaves, but i'd rather not spend months making compost that isn't ideal for the garden either
if you've experimented with different kinds of leaves, which ones broke down well for you? and do you do anything differently with leaves collected near roads, or just leave those out altogether?
42
u/ibathedaily 1d ago
Certain leaves, like many species of oak, are adapted to decompose very slowly so they can remain on the forest floor for as long as possible so they can act as fuel for fires. They curl up when they dry out to allow for more air flow during a fire. Any leaf that stays flat when it dries out is likely not fire adapted and will decompose more quickly.
12
5
u/toxcrusadr 16h ago
I'm curious as to how this benefits the trees, i.e. how the natural selection process would have proceeded to end up with this result.
7
u/ibathedaily 16h ago
Fire adapted species are usually shade intolerant. The saplings canāt grow in dense shade, but when a fire comes through it kills much of the understory and creates space for acorns to sprout into oaks. If the fires are regular, then they are relatively low intensity and donāt significantly affect mature trees with thick bark that have evolved to survive fires.
3
20
u/Every_Macaron8992 1d ago
Some leaves just have bad vibes. its not a species or genus kind of thing. Its just those leaves are dicks. Gotta work with/around it.
5
u/Purplefire180 1d ago
Some species break down slower but the road shouldn't impart anything that makes a difference. Can shred them if you feel like it
4
u/Sophockless 1d ago
I don't really care if some leaves take longer to decompose. particularly oak and walnut leaves can take a while, but while they're still retaining shape they provide some structure to my pile. Anything not broken down just goes back on.
You can shred leaves with a lawn mower if you want them to break down quicker.Ā
Re: street pollution, I try not to collect too much leaves from roads. If you're not growing vegetables in your compost, it's probably not a big deal.Ā
3
u/AccomplishedRide7159 12h ago
I have found the very best way to speed the composition of leave is too mow them up with the grass. It shreds beautiful and automatically mixes browns and greens. And yes, oak leaves (particularly live oak) take much longer to break down.
6
u/Prize_Bass_5061 1d ago
OP is a bot
7
u/froggointhepond 1d ago
I'm genuinely curious why you think that, I don't see anything suspicious
3
u/Prize_Bass_5061 1d ago
It's the overly broad question, always tacked on at the end of an improbable scenario. That's usually a sign of an engagement bot. The lack of post history points the same way.
if you've experimented with different kinds of leaves, which ones broke down well for you? and do you do anything differently with leaves collected near roads, or just leave those out altogether?
Then there is the ludicrous behavior. All leaves break down by spring, so the claim that they aren't decomposing doesn't hold up.
The timeline also doesn't make sense. It's fall heading into winter, so the only thing most people are planting right now is cover crops, and those don't need compost. I'm not sure why someone would need accelerated compost from freshly gathered leaves within a month when waiting until spring would work fine.
9
u/froggointhepond 1d ago
None of that points to engagement bait like at all and OP has made other posts in this subreddit and other related gardening subs, they just have their profile settings to private as do many other people. And no leaves don't all break down by springtime, I commonly use the previous years leaves in my garden beds. Plus, not all places have brutally cold winters where it's impossible to grow anything. But it doesn't seem like OP wants the compost for right now but was asking about how road residue might impact the safety of the compost because they wouldn't want to spend all that time composting only for it to not be safe. OP just seemed curious and I think it's perfectly fine to question things
7
u/Slight_Energy_8825 1d ago
āAll leaves break down by spring.ā
With almost a decade of composting under my belt, Iām confused by this. Unless in a very carefully tended hot pile (and often not even then), the majority of leaves collected in the fall where I live will not break down by spring. In my experience, Iāll have (shredded) oak leaves still intact and recognizable in my pile well into the following summer. If itās a cold pile or if I āleave the leavesā (which absolutely doesnāt work in my heavily treed area; you end up with a foot-deep, slimy, anaerobic mess), it can take multiple years for some leaves to break down.
3
1
1
u/Kranken_DeHogge 13h ago
I have piles of shredded leaves from landscape crew dumps that are at various stages of decomposition, and it's been about 11 months since I got them. Some piles interior are fully decomposed, some oak-dominant piles are still not, some piles that were able to shed water are still barely decomposed at all.
Whole leaves are another matter.
2
u/Lucifer_iix 15h ago
If the leaves have WAX on them, they will not get wet. Thus grinding and sredding helps a lot. Just like a good heat cycle during hot composting will stop the leaves from being hydrophobic.
2
u/markos_666 13h ago
I have a Gingko Biloba tree. They have rather unique shaped leaves, being a very ancient species of trees. They do not break down easily and tend to form these layers of tightly packed leaves. I basically just started using them in pots with the veggies and what not to seal in the moisture better for the hot summers. It worked pretty well. In the end, I don't really care how long it takes. I hand sift larger chunks out the bottom of my final compost bin and toss them into the newer piles to spread those microbes and stuff. it gets done when it gets done.
1
0
u/Prize_Bass_5061 1d ago
What happened to you post history?
-2
u/TheHeftyWithholding 1d ago
Yeah my account got wiped at some point, reddit went through and cleared a bunch of old stuff a while back. I used to lurk way more than post so it is what it is
39
u/gamersdad 1d ago
Oak leaves take longer than many others to decompose.