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orgmom
Joined: 03 Oct 2006
Posts: 4
Location: San Antonio,TEXAS
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| Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 7:40 am Post subject: fertilizing over leaves on ground |
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| When there are several inches of leaves under shrubs, is it necessary to remove or move them aside when applying granular organic fertilizer? |
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sandih
Joined: 04 Apr 2003
Posts: 997
Location: Dallas,TEXAS
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| Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 7:11 am Post subject: |
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| I would rake the leaves out and either compost them or mow over them with a mulching mower and leave them on your lawn. |
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Kathe Kitchens
Joined: 21 May 2003
Posts: 829
Location: Dallas,TX
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| Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006 2:32 pm Post subject: WHY RAKE? |
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Curious here...take away the natural mulch the plants have provided themselves and leave bare soil? Or spend money buying mulch that your plants have already provided and you removed? Help me make sense of this, please. Granular fertilizer should fall down and reach the soil relatively easily, as it does through any other mulch.
I'd leave them alone and spread my fertilizer as usual. If the biological activity is healthy, they'll break down and provide more soil food right along with your fertilizer. Seems to serve my plants just fine.
Kathe |
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khwoz
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 772
Location: Weatherford,TX
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| Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006 4:10 pm Post subject: |
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| I'd go with the suggestion Kathe gave. In the spring, make sure the mulch is not building up on the trunk burying the root flare. |
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RHE
Joined: 14 Aug 2005
Posts: 16
Location: Houston,TEXAS
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| Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 5:14 pm Post subject: |
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| If you have been gardening for several years organically, instead of adding a granular fertilizer, you should be adding more leaves. I try to add 8 to 10 inches of leaves each year to my gardens. So far this year I have added 96 bags of leaves and grass clippings (none from my yard). I will add about 300 bags this year. I don’t worry about them breaking down. By next fall I will have a lot of bare spots and plants that don’t know when to stop growing. |
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Kathe Kitchens
Joined: 21 May 2003
Posts: 829
Location: Dallas,TX
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| Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 3:54 pm Post subject: Agreed...with a little added point |
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Agreed on leaving all your natural mulches on your soil.
Let me add one codicil to that -
The breakdown, as noted clearly by Malcolm Beck and others, does take away a bit of nitrogen from the soil chemistry so a fertilizer at least once a year is really needed. If the soil activity is very high and healthy it isn't a big problem but it has been observed so just be aware of that issue.
Get Malcolm's newest book and read the section on this issue for more information. Makes sense to me in my own experience. Any extra input here, Howard?
Kathe :D |
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