TIMES UNION, November 7, 2022
Leave the leaves: Environmentalists say to ditch fall yardwork
Letting fallen leaves decompose is better for soil fertility, wildlife and your wallet, according to the DEC and USDA
Alexandra Zissu
Nov. 2, 2022Updated: Nov. 6, 2022 11:17 a.m.
The state DEC recommends letting fallen leaves decompose to use as mulch or compost.
As the last of the leaves drift down from the oaks and the ashes to join the maples already on the ground, a growing number of Hudson Valley residents have no intention of raking or blowing them. Leaving leaf litter where it falls saves hours of yardwork and/or money paid to a lawn care service. But the real benefit is to soil, insects and little creatures.
This is not the quirky opinion of local plant lovers and sustainability types; the state Department of Environmental Conservation officially encourages keeping yard trimmings, mulch and leaves on your property. Ditching fall cleanup is supported nationally, too. In a mid-October blog post on the USDA’s website, the federal agency advises giving up the “tedious task of raking and bagging leaves and taking them to the landfill,” stating “the best way to reduce greenhouse gases and benefit your garden is to leave the leaves!”
Left to decompose, leaves create a natural mulch that suppresses weeds and fertilizes soil. It can also be used for lawns, vegetable and flower gardens, and placed around trees and shrubs. The DEC notes composting leaves promotes waste reduction and reduces the need for curbside collection. (Of note: Burning leaves is illegal in New York.)
According to the USDA, fallen leaves also “serve as a habitat for wildlife including lizards, birds, turtles, frogs, and insects.” These creatures are part of an intricate natural system that “helps keep pests down and increase pollination in your garden.” (Information on the impact of fall leaves on insect habitats is widely available from government and research institutions, including U.S. Fish and Wildlife, University of New Hampshire, Penn State and Tufts University.)
Basically, the more leaves on the ground, the better the local environment is for wildlife. To that end, Judith Karpova, who is involved with the town of Rochester’s environmental conservation commission, has also given up cutting down the stalks of native plants like golden rod and bee balm in the fall. She came to this decision by attending events organized by Women Owning Woods, a program run by Cornell Cooperative Extension.
“I began to realize these aren’t just interesting individual pretty things that pop up here and there. These native plants are actually integrated into a bigger system,” she said. “I found out all those plants I had been ‘cleaning up’ were actually harboring insects over winter and insect eggs. If you break them down and throw them out, you destroy them.”
Rather than be part of the “insect apocalypse,” Karpova now considers the empty stalks on her property to be high rises. “They are always going to be occupied. Insects go up and down inside them. There, they are sheltered from rain, cold and predators,” she marveled.
Karpova’s approach to fall cleanup has also been influenced by the ecologist Douglas Tallamy, who in his book, “Bringing Nature Home,” writes of how much wildlife oak trees support.
Tallamy’s sway was apparent in a note Karpova wrote to her neighbors on NextDoor last month urging others to join her in the “no blow October” movement. Her plea received over 25 responses.
“I was pleasantly surprised to see how many people in the area are already hip to it,” she said. One supporter declared: “The day of the fossil-fuel-maintained grass lawn is over.”
Still, several of her noisy leaf-blowing neighbors were opposed to the concept, suggesting leaving leaves would mean more ticks and increased allergy and asthma issues. Several were concerned that leaf piles would result in bald patches on lawns come spring.
“It is important to learn what the objections are,” Karpova said. “One guy said, ‘I look around and all I see are woods, what’s the problem?’ And I’m like, but that’s a different ecosystem than a meadow. And the insects are different. Bees don’t overwinter in the woods; they overwinter under the leaf litter in meadows.”
Karpova had backup on NextDoor in the form of Catskill Native Nursery’s Diane Greenberg, perhaps the Hudson Valley’s most well-known professional ecological gardener. She claimed that her landscaping crew gets as many ticks on lawns as they do from walking around meadows.
“Our tick problems have mainly come about due to imbalances in the ecosystem and disruption in the wildlife food chain,” she noted. The lack of wild spaces, she said, is to blame for the local abundance of ticks; predators of rodents — a main vector of Lyme — thrive in wild habitats versus tidy lawns.
Greenberg also suggests ditching leaf blowers, which some municipalities across New York state have banned — at least at certain times of year. California has passed a law that will phase out the sale of new gas-powered lawn equipment, including blowers, by 2024.
“Leaf blowers operate at the equivalent of 200 mph winds. Their strength easily blows apart small creatures like butterflies and moths and can break the internal organs of salamanders,” Greenberg said. Their smog also contributes to climate change. “Rotted leaves enrich your soil … it’s what our forests live on, making the point that life feeds on life and needs nothing artificial to help it along.”
Karpova is reallocating the time she has gained by ditching fall cleanup to ridding her property of invasive plants like knotweed and barberry, relying on DEC information on how to deal with them. If she needs to relocate leaves, she uses a rake. Chopping them up might disturb spiders, snails, worms, beetles, millipedes, mites, and more — including the animals like chipmunks that rely on these for food.
No leaf piles have ever made bald patches on her lawn, she said. Karpova also participates in No Mow May to benefit bees and pollinators. By the time June comes around, her grass “hasn’t suffered.”
“One of the rewards is you get birds all over the place; they can sustain themselves on the native insect population,” she said. “The area around your home is full of song. It’s so beautiful. You plant your berry and fruit-bearing trees, and you get flocks. You can’t beat it.”
