cottonwood leaves - Compost? Shred? toss?

Most of the leaves I have access to are cottonwood... which can be (according to some ) alleopathic.

Does anyone use cottonwood leaves for mulching? or have any thoughts on this?  

Sandy

Hi S Smithsson,

I just did  a quick peak around the internet and I saw a couple of articles stating cottonwood leaves are alleopathic on rice.  Other seeds appear to be unaffected or the effect is weak.  My thoughts would be to get some biological action in those leaves to break them down ASAP.

It is worth noting that there were a bunch of alleopathic leaves on that list including oak leaves which I use regularly.

I strongly suspect that getting good, biological activity going is going to be your best friend here.


Eric

Not sure if it is helpful to your situation or not, but cottonwood leaves are fantastic tinder for fires.

I think one's ecosystem makes a difference too:

1. if you're surrounded by cottonwoods, the chances are, your soil has the necessary microbes to break down the chemicals already. People say not to use cedar chips, which is true in general, but in my environment, I use them on paths all the time and the weeds don't mind in the least! I'm surrounded by cedar forests.

2. levels of rain/snow/fog. My ecosystem is wet *all* winter. Allelopathic chemicals tend to be leached out along with everything else. If anything, leaves help because they protect the soil and the soil organisms.

3. some plants/seeds are affected more than others by allelopathic tendencies. So choosing some beds/plants to mulch and some to avoid might matter. Even Black walnut has a few shrubs that can grow closer to it than most can, and it seems to be the King of allelopathy. I think its reputation is even worse than cedar's.

4. I agree with Eric Hanson - the healthier your soil, the less this will be a problem. Good compost tea applied just  before the leaves might help, and Eric's got an excellent thread about using mushrooms. They're ones that like wood chips, rather than leaves.

That said, if you've got a spot where your can trap the leaves and let them decompose for a year or 3 before adding them to your beds, that would also be a good approach.