Is it better to remove leaves from under fruit trees or leave them to
decay and serve as mulch? Trees in question are avocado, fig, orange,
plum, peach, and apricot.

On Mar 22, 1:59 pm, "esti" wrote:
Is it better to remove leaves from under fruit trees or leave them to
decay and serve as mulch? Trees in question are avocado, fig, orange,
plum, peach, and apricot.

Clean them up and compost them as they provide a source of innoculum
for diseases especially fungal , remove any mummied fruit as well.

esti wrote:
Is it better to remove leaves from under fruit trees or leave them to
decay and serve as mulch? Trees in question are avocado, fig, orange,
plum, peach, and apricot.


Not only do I leave them, but I also include leaves from my ash tree
throughout my garden in back. In front, most of the leaves are from my
oak, liquidambar, and zelkova. In my climate -- which includes hot, dry
summers -- the mulch is valuable for keeping the soil cool and moist
without wasting water. This winter, we had record-breaking cold. To a
large extent, it was the leaf mulch that kept my ground cover alive
through the freeze.

Of the trees you list, I have only peach in the ground. Through the
leaf mulch, I have primroses and grape hyacenth growing under the peach.

My dwarf orange is in a large pot, with a soil level too close to the
top to hold a leaf mulch. Instead, I use white crushed rocks.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/

It depends if the leaves indicate some problem, like fungus or some other
disease.
If that is the case, I would not add these leaves to the compost pile, but
dispose of
them. If the leaves and the tree are healthy, no problem.

Sherwin D.

esti wrote:

Is it better to remove leaves from under fruit trees or leave them to
decay and serve as mulch? Trees in question are avocado, fig, orange,
plum, peach, and apricot.

g'day esti,

yeh leave 'em there that's what nature does, i'd go a step further and
when the leaves have stopped falling i'd mulch over the top of them
with mulch hay or the like. keep the nutrient cycle going.



On 22 Mar 2007 10:59:21 -0700, "esti" wrote:

snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len & bev

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

Many suggestions. However, muclh instructions can be found he
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman/sub3.html


Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Arborist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.

"esti" wrote in message
ups.com...
Is it better to remove leaves from under fruit trees or leave them to
decay and serve as mulch? Trees in question are avocado, fig, orange,
plum, peach, and apricot.

You can remove them if you desire, however proper mulching would be goo.
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman/sub3.html

--
Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Arborist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.

"esti" wrote in message
ups.com...
Is it better to remove leaves from under fruit trees or leave them to
decay and serve as mulch? Trees in question are avocado, fig, orange,
plum, peach, and apricot.

When you say "nutrient Cycle" are you referring to essential elements or
carbohydrate based substances?


Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Arborist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.

"len garden" wrote in message
...
g'day esti,

yeh leave 'em there that's what nature does, i'd go a step further and
when the leaves have stopped falling i'd mulch over the top of them
with mulch hay or the like. keep the nutrient cycle going.



On 22 Mar 2007 10:59:21 -0700, "esti" wrote:

snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len & bev

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

Probably better to gather them up and put them in a mulch pile for at least one
season of curing. Otherwise, these leaves can leach nitrogen out of the soil as
they
break down. It's also less messy.

Sherwin D.

len garden wrote:

g'day esti,

yeh leave 'em there that's what nature does, i'd go a step further and
when the leaves have stopped falling i'd mulch over the top of them
with mulch hay or the like. keep the nutrient cycle going.

On 22 Mar 2007 10:59:21 -0700, "esti" wrote:

snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len & bev

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

On 22 Mar 2007 10:59:21 -0700, "esti" wrote:

Is it better to remove leaves from under fruit trees or leave them to
decay and serve as mulch? Trees in question are avocado, fig, orange,
plum, peach, and apricot.

My peach tree 'Dixieland' had brow rot last season. I didn't get one
edible peach, where the year before I have 15 bushels from one tree.
The practices of hygiene play a large part in fruit trees, unlike some
information I see here. I make sure the foliage is raked up, along
with the mushy peaches and I restore the mulch with a new layer of
freshly shredded wood. Well, not fresh as in newly shredded.

But that's my practice.k This year there are no bees to speak of.
It's always something.

Jangchub wrote:
On 22 Mar 2007 10:59:21 -0700, "esti" wrote:

Is it better to remove leaves from under fruit trees or leave them to
decay and serve as mulch? Trees in question are avocado, fig, orange,
plum, peach, and apricot.

My peach tree 'Dixieland' had brow rot last season. I didn't get one
edible peach, where the year before I have 15 bushels from one tree.
The practices of hygiene play a large part in fruit trees, unlike some
information I see here. I make sure the foliage is raked up, along
with the mushy peaches and I restore the mulch with a new layer of
freshly shredded wood. Well, not fresh as in newly shredded.

But that's my practice.k This year there are no bees to speak of.
It's always something.

I find that, no matter what else I do, I will still get both leaf curl
and brown rot unless I use a dormant spray on my peach tree. I use a
mixture of dormant oil and copper sulfate, spraying once right after
pruning and once again as the flower buds start to show color (just
before they open).

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/

On Sat, 24 Mar 2007 08:24:39 -0800, "David E. Ross"
wrote:


I find that, no matter what else I do, I will still get both leaf curl
and brown rot unless I use a dormant spray on my peach tree. I use a
mixture of dormant oil and copper sulfate, spraying once right after
pruning and once again as the flower buds start to show color (just
before they open).

If I don't get enough fruit this year I will spray next year. I was
tempted this year at pink bud stage, but decided against it.

Many references tell me not to mix dormant oil with any sulfur compounds. They
recommend a 30 day interval after doing the dormant oil.

Sherwin D.

"David E. Ross" wrote:

Jangchub wrote:
On 22 Mar 2007 10:59:21 -0700, "esti" wrote:

Is it better to remove leaves from under fruit trees or leave them to
decay and serve as mulch? Trees in question are avocado, fig, orange,
plum, peach, and apricot.

My peach tree 'Dixieland' had brow rot last season. I didn't get one
edible peach, where the year before I have 15 bushels from one tree.
The practices of hygiene play a large part in fruit trees, unlike some
information I see here. I make sure the foliage is raked up, along
with the mushy peaches and I restore the mulch with a new layer of
freshly shredded wood. Well, not fresh as in newly shredded.

But that's my practice.k This year there are no bees to speak of.
It's always something.

I find that, no matter what else I do, I will still get both leaf curl
and brown rot unless I use a dormant spray on my peach tree. I use a
mixture of dormant oil and copper sulfate, spraying once right after
pruning and once again as the flower buds start to show color (just
before they open).

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/

sherwindu wrote:
Many references tell me not to mix dormant oil with any sulfur compounds. They
recommend a 30 day interval after doing the dormant oil.

I find that, no matter what else I do, I will still get both leaf curl
and brown rot unless I use a dormant spray on my peach tree. I use a
mixture of dormant oil and copper sulfate, spraying once right after
pruning and once again as the flower buds start to show color (just
before they open).

Actually, I use a commercial dormant spray that already has the oil and
copper sulfate combined. I understand that this mixture is not
available any more, but I have seen it in separate bottles -- oil in one
and copper sulfate in the other -- packaged together with instructions
on how to mix them.

Copper sulfate is a fungicide that is usually classed as a copper
compound, not as a sulfur compound.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/