These leaves came from under my Alabama red maple. They make a pretty mulch for my Silk Hope.
18 trees mulched so far this fall.
TNHunter
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I have Siberian elms, so the leaves are pretty much unrakeable (and I probably wouldnât much anyways) but they drop so many dang branches I eventually have to rake those to mow the lawn.
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They are amazing for a dusting of snow, both on the car and on the driveway (or solar panels in my case)
Back to using sugar maple leaves today.
24 fruit trees mulched so far.
That is my H63A persimmon.
TNHunter
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Love the cage did you make it or buy it? Is it just for stability or does it help with the deer?
@Bdav âŚ
I cleared some land behind my home several years back and found a wild plum tree⌠it was in bloom⌠looked great. I left it but cleared all around it.
That fall a buck rubbed it and actually broke the entire top out of the tree.
I make those cages out of cattle panel and they are mostly for protection from deer⌠buck rubs.
TNHunter
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Thanks for the information. It looks great and professionally fabricated not like some of the stuff I throw together to correct a problem with critters.
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how do you bend the cattle panel so evenly?
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@steveb4 ⌠i basically stand on the panel laying flat on the ground⌠and insert a hickory handle from one of my digging tools (a ginseng digger) and use that as leverage to bend each section 90 degrees.
I can make them square or round⌠just takes a little more time to make them round.
Catttle panel is 16 ft long x 50 inch high.
Round cages made from it are like the ultimate tomato cage⌠last a lifetime and more.
TNHunter
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why im thinking of making some. the garbage you buy at the stores are so cheap nowadays.
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Success report: I had success mulching leaves with a push mower but I had to learn how to configure the push mower for mulching mode.
Configuring the push mower to mulch meant removing both the side chute and the bagger so that leaves and grass inside would stay under the mowerâs cutting circle to repeatedly be hit by the blade. The manufacturerâs instructions for the mower specified that configuration. The chopped bits of leaves were no bigger than my thumb.
After I finished covering the lawn, where the leaf mulch was deep to the point I couldnât see 50% of the grass below in a square yard area, I re-attached the side chute and sprayed the chopped bits out to distribute across the lawn. I have both Maple and Oak trees whose leaves normally take more than a year to decompose. Maple and Oak tree leaves form a mat called a âduff layerâ on the property borders. Previously I have experienced Maple and Oak leaves killing the grass when left on the lawn where the leaves formed a layer of 2+ individual leaves deep.
I also bagged some of the deep layers of mulched leaves and used it around my nursery beds and as mulch on my plants.
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Be careful when bending cattle panels to make cages. That activity sent a member of this household to ER.
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