I've been contemplating on using leaves as mulch. Any opinions on that and what types of leaves I should use?
Ok just checking because I thought I read somewhere that you shouldn't use oak leaves or something of that sort.
Try sourcing older more broken down leaves - "the bottom of the pile". You want to dig down a little bit and get the black broken down material. Just about any deciduous tree leaves are fine with the exception of walnut? I think it's walnut. Oak, maple, beech - just about anything is perfectly fine but go for the broken down material. It makes excellent mulch. The other reason to not use this years leaves if you can avoid it is that they contain a lot of carbon and carbon based OM can suck mucho N out of your soil - since they are tough (high cellulose) it takes a lot of food (Nitrogen) for bacteria to break it down so the bacteria uses the surrounding N while it is breaking down the carbon. Leaves are fantastic to use as mulch - just dig down a little and get the material from last year or the year before. The pH of this darker more crumbly material is much more apt to be balanced then fresh material as well. I love leaves. J
Several different trees have compounds that are allelopathic.Allelopathy refers to the chemical inhibition of one species by another. The "inhibitory" chemical is released into the environment where it affects the development and growth of neighboring plants. Allelopathic chemicals can be present in any part of the plant. Black Walnut and Allelopathy "Several related trees such as English walnut, hickories and pecan also produce juglone, but in smaller amounts compared to black walnut. Juglone is one of many plant-produced chemicals that can harm other plants in a process known as allelopathy. (Additional common landscape trees with allelopathic properties: sugar maple, tree-of-heaven, hackberries, southern waxmyrtle, American sycamore, cottonwood, black cherry, red oak, black locust, sassafras, and American elm.)" All of these trees can be used in composting however the composter must tend the piles to maintain thermophyllic conditions. If the leaves of these trees are used for mulch without composting, chances are the soil will become inhospitable to most plants.