Leaves Cancel The title field is required!

1. Kyle Fick

   

   4 posts
   
   10/5/2012 5:10 PM

   Alrighty all, Mulch or collect leaves?
   
   I've always preferred to mulch leaves in the rough while we have grass growing, and then use a debris collecting machine (rak o vac, etc.) in the spring after dragging cores, etc. I recall way back in college that the ground up leaf litter was high in Potassium and phosphorous, and that the high microbial impact of decomposition of the leaves also contributes to the decomposition of the layer that would be below this, the thatch. Besides that, we've just fertilized for our cool season grasses in the fall, and why take away the nutrient rich clippings with the leaves right?
   
   I'm curious to hear the other philosophies out there. I still feel there is too many benefits to incorporation vs. removal, but this young dog can still be taught new tricks.
   
   Kyle Fick

   
   
   
   
2. Dalton Andrew

   
   10/5/2012 9:10 PM

   You can start a compost pile, that's what we have done using leaves, sticks, aeration plugs etc.
   
   Andy

   
   
   
   
3. Virgil Range

   

   0 posts
   
   10/6/2012 6:10 AM

   I use to toro pro force blower to blow the leaves to an area that's out if play then I mulch them. I try do do all the leaf removal in the fall because spring is always busy doing other things besides blowing leaves.
   
   Virgil

   
   
   
   
4. Hardy Andrew

   
   10/6/2012 3:10 PM

   We blow 'em in the woods. Heavily treed property with thousands of 100+ year old trees. Only way we can keep up

   
   
   
   
5. Rosenthal Gregg

   
   10/6/2012 3:10 PM

   Here in Chicago area we do same chop and blow leaves back into wooded areas. Too many big old trees to mess with mulching leaves, if we really want it plenty of leaf mulch in wooded areas. Right now it is beautiful many fall colors, leaves dropping cool air from Canada coming on down (thanks!), grass is green and frost may be on the turf this weekend! Many projects tee widening, bunker re-edging, list goes on....Fall is in the air for sure!
   
   Loving life back here in the windy city....Gregg Rosenthal

   
   
   
   
6. James Smith

   

   112 posts
   
   10/7/2012 6:10 AM

   I believe that every course may be a little different in this. My course is pretty flat compared to most but we have a lot of surface runoff for our main drainage system. We also get lots of rain which tends to flood to some extent. I vac up our leaves and compost them because if we mulched them they would just float during one of our 1/2"-1" rains and end up in the bottom of our ponds which are not very deep now because of 30+ years of mulching. This also cuts back up on thatch cleanup after the hard rains where some of the clippings and leaves will flaot to the edges of the flood area.

   
   
   
   
7. Justin VanLanduit

   

   0 posts
   
   10/7/2012 9:10 AM

   We normally mulch although I'm a bit concerned this year with added stress on this already dry and weak rough. I believe we may do more blowing of leaves into native areas as well as buckthorn thickets and then burn next spring. A goal of mine is to start getting buckthorn in areas cleaned out and the leaves will help me burn these areas better as the soil is pretty bare. We always burn native areas each spring as is so a little bit of leaf mess won't hurt.
   
   As for the comment on composting them; how much time are you finding you need to dedicate to turning material? Is there an odor involved? Space required? Something I've thought of but have never really gotten into the specifics.
   
   Justin

   
   
   
   
8. David Brandenburg

   

   3 posts
   
   10/8/2012 3:10 PM

   We blow them off fairways, greens and tees and mulch them in the rough. For a week or so the rough near the fairways may be overwhelmed with leaf clippings but for the most part we have no problem.

   
   
   
   
9. Dalton Andrew

   
   10/8/2012 8:10 PM

   We have quite a large area behind our shop, there is some odor, but we hardly notice considering our piles are pretty small. We turn them once every couple of weeks with a loader. I just started this process myself, not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. We do blow leaves, but vacuum areas where we can't blow them and that's what is thrown in the compost piles.
   
   Andy

   
   
   
   
10. James Smith

    

    112 posts
    
    10/11/2012 12:10 PM

    I have a decent size area next to my shop that may be about 200' X 200'. I currently have 6 large piles from the last four years of composting with each being a little better composted depending on what year it was started. I turn mine over about every other month (I know it should be more). I chip all of our branches from the course and use that as well as any thatch that we have to clean up from the course. Of course our duck weed ends up there when it get washed out of the ponds as well as any other water weeds. We will also throw in old sand from our bunker renovations.
    
    I basically give it away to get it off of my property and when my area gets too full my greens chairman who owns a concrete plant and lots of land will send his big trucks over as well as a heavy duty loader and haul it to his place for fill. Compost is a lot easier to get rid of then debris and if you really did it right you could make a deal with local landscapers to sell it to them. It just takes about 1 year to get a pile composted if turned over frequently.
    
    Before we started composting I was paying anywhere from $3,000 - $5,000 per year to haul off the debris and limbs we would acquire throughout the year. The cost of fuel and possibly a little labor for mixing is all it now cost us which would be well under $1,000 a year so there is big savings that can be had by composting.

    
    
    
    
11. Justin VanLanduit

    

    0 posts
    
    10/12/2012 2:10 PM

    James,
    
    Do you have any negative odor involved? Are you throwing your clippings from daily mowings in there as well? I will be starting a project next week that involves me reclaiming my "dump" area from numerous years of debris. If I can get the room I wouldn't mind looking into doing some composting. My thoughts were too that I'd use it to topdress high traffic areas as well as divot mix along with sand if possible.
    
    Justin