LEAF MOLD
By Al Krautter
This past fall I harvested 50 plus years of leaf mold that I composted in beds in the back fields of our Nursery in Westchester, NY. It was my father’s love for leaf mold that led us to a unique way of handling plant material at Sprainbrook and led us to producing our own leaf mold in abundance. We did this so we could incorporate it into our soil mix. After making a lot of mistakes we learned the basics of composting. Placing leaves in big piles didn’t work for we were not getting enough air to circulate in the middle of the pile. We came up with some unique ways of composting over the years as we learned the basic principles of composting. We learned how to overwinter plant material through a leaf mold composting operation. We set our Nursery stock on field beds, healed them in half way and created a block display of different nursery stock varieties. Unilock paths led the customer to these displays filled with hundreds of trees, evergreens, flowering shrubs, fruit plants, ground covers and specimen plant material. In the fall prior to winter we added leaves to the spaces between the root balls and filled the leaves to the top of the root ball.
Every fall gardeners who maintain Westchester properties look for places to dump leaves and dumping charges are expensive. We gladly accepted their leaves. As leaves break down in the winter, the activity of the microbes kept the root balls warm and the decomposed leaves break down into rich leaf mold. Fungus activity takes place all year round even during cooler temperatures. After 50 years of doing this we developed deep, rich beds of pure leaf mold. This fall we harvested from these beds and piled the leaf mold into a huge pile which we have stored in our large cement bins out back. We will sell it for the first time this year. My father referred to leaf mold as “black gold” and as kids he had us collect this high carbon product for him in the woods. He learned in his trade while studying in Germany the great value of incorporating leaf mold.
Leaf mold is very rich in carbon and should be added to all beds and is of particular importance to your acid loving plants. This includes your foundation beds, your rows of border plants used to provide you with screening, your perennial beds, your tree beds and your shrub beds. Adding 2 inches of leaf mold will make a big difference to your soil for years. Carbon is what feeds the microbial life in your soil and the microbes are the key to healthy soil and developing a sustainable garden. Screening your yard for privacy has become very important for most home owners. Many hedges or border plantings have lost their bottom branches due to lack of vigor and lack of proper pruning. You will find that your plants will do better with just one application and the results will last for years as you build up your food web within the rhizosphere of your plants. This is what created a sustainable garden. LET THE MICROBES IN YOUR SOIL WORK FOR YOU DAY AND NIGHT.
Leaf mold is produced by fungal decomposition. To sell by the bag they would have to sterilize it so it is weed free. Sterilizing leaf mold would destroy the fungus. Leaf mold serves as a soil conditioner rather than a natural fertilizer. Its main advantages are the minerals it releases and its ability to retain 4 1/2 times its weight in water. The high quantity of minerals in leaf mold comes from the roots of trees that permeate deep into the soil and bring rich minerals up into the leaves. Many people consider this to be better than mineral rock dust in supplying minerals to your soil. Leaf mold changes the structure of the soil. It’s fungus development that is the key benefit to the soil. The little root hairs of the fungus grab onto the soil particles which help bind loose soil and at the same time help to break up compact soil. The fungus will move into the surrounding soil in all directions which will make your surrounding soil a better soil. Of particular interest to gardeners is a fungus called Mycorrizae. Mycorrizal fungi extend the reach of some 95 % of all plants. The fungus forms a symbiotic relationship with the roots of plants and the carbon available in the soil. In return for carbon in root exudates fungi break down organic matter and absorb needed nutrients from the soil and then transport and deliver these product to exchange sites inside the roots. With this fungus the root systems of plants become stronger and develop deeper into the soil. This is what makes your plants healthy and self sustaining. Leaf mold will continue to break down into your soil and will last a lifetime. As it breaks down, it will release humic acids, carbohydrates, lipids, and stuff I have never heard of. It is complex and impossible to manufacture.
As the foundation of the soil ecosystem there is nothing better. No wonder my father learning his trade in Germany made us as kids go into the woods and collect leaf mold to add to his soil mixture. Leaf mold has been an integral part of our soil mix throughout our long history and is what made our soil so great. It is sought after by customers because it grows such great plants for them. . My father referred to it properly as “black gold”. A onetime application of leaf mold will make a life time difference for your plants. We recommend a 2” layer to be applied over all shrub, perennial tree and screening beds. It took us over 50 years to produce this product and I want to make sure you have the opportunity to purchase it at a fantastic price.
We are selling our leaf mold at sixty dollars a yard picked up at the Nursery. You can have your gardeners pick it up at the Nursery and spread it for you or call us and we can find someone to do it for you. We will load leaf mold in to the back of a pickup truck using our ford tractor. As a perk to your gardener, we will give him a gift certificate for five dollars for each yard he picks up. Composted materials usually sells in bags for ten dollars a cu ft. so if bought, carbon rich compost by the bag the equivalent cost is $270.00 a yard. So the savings is incredible.
Adding 2” of highly carbon compost to your beds prior to adding your mulch will rejuvenate your planting and add life to your beds. If we can build up the food web in the riziosphere of your plants, we will have created for you a self sustaining system that will benefit all your plants. Nature has developed a system for us to follow. We have the ability and knowledge to enhance it and work with Nature as long as we know what we are doing. I have always wanted to have the ability to make a full length movie of the amazing interactions of life that can take place in our soil. Anyone interested in exploring such possibilities I would be glad to become involved. Unfortunately we never get to see what takes place and as a result we cannot relate to it. But if we could, we would learn to understand it. For now we will have to be content in seeing the dramatic differences taking place in our garden. We will also witness attitude changes in ourselves that will take place when we become involved with Nature’s ways.
We have been opening up March 1st for the last 3 years and no longer have a heating system in our greenhouse. Under every other bench we have filled to the top with leaves which supplies us with the necessary heat. Leaf compost operations are heating greenhouses and schools up north. They are heating my greenhouses. Get your schools involved in clean energy alternatives. View my video and pass it on to the science teacher in your school. We need to get this type of education into our schools. Global warming is real and we need to act before it is too late. Leaves are a part of my compost mixtures that heat “Krautter’s year Round Organic Vegetable Garden”. With temperatures dipping to below -10 degrees here in the Sprain Valley all of my vegetables survived in my unique invented structure.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO
