burying leaves

[Jesus On Peyote]

Hiyas,

This will sound like a newb question, but here goes.

Im wondering if one has a bunch of old dried out leaves from a plant that they have fallen off, instead of putting the foiliage into a proper compost bin, im wondering if you can just bury them into the soil? I figure the worms would munch though them quickly.. Also, how about stems. and roots, (i donno about roots, doubt it)

Anyway,

thanks in advance

Peace

[tenacioustornado]

yep any part works worms do seem to like leaf mulch,but if it's composted it doesn't borrow anything from the soil depending on the leaves composition it may need a little nitrogen to break down.

[ThunderIdeal]

the only problem is that you're digging up the soil for no reason other than burying a few leaves. not worth it IMHO.

[bℓσωηG]

Feeding roots of plants are near the surface and also compost worms dwell in the first 5cm of soil near the surface therefore mulching around the plant is far more effective. You dont need to dig down as you might disturb the tap root.

[ThunderIdeal]

it depends on the situation but i'm thinking why disturb the leaf fall at all?

[apothecary]

Yes by disturbing the soil you are interrupting the natural process that is occurring and disturbing fine root hairs, only to add leaves which have already had their nutrients consumed by the original plant?

[Mr Stay Puft]

depending on soil type, and many other factors you could be causing anaerobic decomposition of the leaves... you are better off letting nature take care of them by throwing them down as a mulch.... if the leaves 'need' to be broken down discreetly them if you mixed them evenly through the soil that has been dug up then i cant see why it should pose any major problems...

[planthelper]

Hiyas,

This will sound like a newb question, but here goes.

Im wondering if one has a bunch of old dried out leaves from a plant that they have fallen off, instead of putting the foiliage into a proper compost bin, im wondering if you can just bury them into the soil? I figure the worms would munch though them quickly.. Also, how about stems. and roots, (i donno about roots, doubt it)

Anyway,

thanks in advance

Peace

ok, so will agree using leaves as mulch is the way to go...

but if you want to start somewhere a compost like heap because you have a lot of leaves and twigs, prunnings and such, than putting a bit of soil above a fresh compost pile made out of leaves is a good way to build a compost like structure.

in that case you put all the stems and roots onto the ground and all the leaves on top and than put a bit of soil on top of that heap, as this will copress the material a bit and strangly will aid turning the bunch of dried out leaves as you call them into good compost.

one can easely have too many fallen leaves in ones garden and composting them makes sence,

buring leaves, with a bit of soil will help, because the soil will help to encase the compost, as such it is what the plastic is for the plastic compost bin!

[Torsten]

for discrete disposal get a worm farm. however, this works better if you just do a little at a time.

alternatively, if you want to compost the leaves fast then make sure you mix plenty of nitrogen into the mix as this will speed up decomposition. fresh poo is great, especially chookpoo.

[Jesus On Peyote]

Cool thanks for the replies guys,

Yea, i dont just want to bury leaves to get rid of em, i was thinking that if t he leaves and stems compose in the soil and hopefully increase its quality, i may as well do that rather then going to buy a compost bin. Ill just burn up the roots and use your tips for the rest

Thanks again, guys.

Peace

[ThunderIdeal]

its too messy for some people but i'm an advocate of having a wood pile for slow rotting material. it will eventually be home to many wood decaying fungi and underneath may well be the best soil in your entire lot.

[planthelper]

wood pile is always good, agree!

the thing is though if you bury woody material it will decay much faster, and all you have to do is to but mulch on top.

say you got the sceleton of a hemp plant, if you don't bury it, it will hardly decay, but if it's kept moist, bacteria and fungus will cause a very fast deacay.