POP TIPS: fall leaf management
Phil Forsyth
Just a quick reminder to POP Orchard Partner sites to complete our annual survey, due 11/30!
POP TIPS: Autumn Compost in the Orchard and Compost Pile Building
Compost Benefits
Why apply compost in your orchard? The benefits are many. Adding compost will add organic matter to your soil, and thereby feed your trees and bushes with vital nutrients. Additionally, spreading compost around the base of your trees and bushes will help with water retention and may reduce your irrigation needs. Compost also buffers the soil PH, as well as enhancing the soil structure, porosity and density. Lastly, compost will boost the microbiology of your soil, especially beneficial fungi and bacteria. This increased soil life can actually serve to reduce disease pathogens in your orchard!
Compost Timing in Orchards
One of the best times of year to put compost down in your orchard is in the late autumn. When at least half of your trees’ leaves have fallen, you can lightly spread your compost-- 1” deep around the base of your trees starting a few inches out from the trunk--and then mow the rest of the leaves to help them decompose faster and mix them with the compost you have spread. You can mow again when the rest of your leaves have fallen. This process of mowing and composting not only creates more fertile soil, but also helps to break down any fallen leaves and fruit that might carry diseases into the next year. If you want even more water retention and added wind protection, you can also add a layer of wood mulch or straw on top of your layer of compost.
Tips for Autumn Composting
The autumn is an excellent time to gather materials for making your own compost. A healthy compost pile will have one third “greens” and two thirds “browns.” Greens are materials high in nitrogen, such as your food scraps or your garden weeds. Browns are materials full of carbon, such as brown leaves, wood chips, or straw. These “brown” materials are more plentiful in the autumn, but harder to find naturally in other seasons. Therefore, the autumn is an excellent time to save your brown leaves (in bags, burlap sacks, or a fenced in pile) to be used throughout the other seasons.
If you have a huge excess of leaves, you can also make a compost pile of only leaves. Put a layer of leaves, followed by compost or soil if available, and continue this process until you have a pile at least 3 feet high and 4 feet in diameter. With only a couple turns of the pile, this leaf compost should be ready to spread in your orchard or garden by the next fall!
Composted leaves (aka leaf mould) are gold!
