[mandycharlie]

Mum has an enormous oak tree growing at the bottom of her garden, and has collected a couple of bags of leaves...   She was just about to take them to the tip.  So I said, quick as a flash "I'll have 'em".   But she said... "Noooo, they won't rot down"   I asked her to give me them anyways..

Will they rot down?

[WG.]

Leaf mould in 2 years - the bigger the pile, the better the product.  Stack separately from compost.

[mandycharlie]

[frazzy]

hi mandy i have a huge pile of oak leaves and there rotting down nicely they do take a bit longer to rot down but there black gold thats what the old boys on our site call them,  lovely stuff .make sure you keep them damp they rot down quicker.

[Trillium]

Definitely don't mix oak with the others and it helps a lot if you can somehow shred them up with a lawn mower or something. Perhaps a friend who has a shredder? It halves the breakdown time.  

[WG.]

Definitely don't mix oak with the others

Why is that then?  Does oak break down slower or something?   I tend to use any type of broadleaf all in together.   Except holly of course for obvious reasons.

[muntjac]

oak has a higher tannin level i think .or is that sycamore.oh stuff it shove em all in and chuck some sulphate of ammonia opn em as you layer em in they will be done in a year

[WG.]

stuff it shove em all in

I'm glad about that ... I really didn't envy Mrs Golf the job of sorting out the oak leaves from the others.

[Trillium]

Oak leaves have a higher tannin and acidic level, along with a waxy edge coating that's harder to break down. The pros highly recommend keeping the oak leaves (shredded) and pine needles in a separate bin so their much slower breakdown doesn't affect the rest of the compost. Because they're acidic, they produce a more acidic compost which is best used on acid loving plants such as rhododendrons and blueberries.
This is the organic way to deal with oak leaves. Otherwise, nuke 'em like Munty does and be prepared for mutations  

[WG.]

Thanks Trillium

[moz]

we have an oak tree in the garden and every january we use the lawn mower to pick up the leaves and chop them up. Then we put them into black bags and use a fork to put some holes in them, then we add half a watering can of water to each bag and tie the tops. Then they are stacked in the corner behinfd the compost bins and we put a paving stone on top of the pile of bags and leave it there. Then next year it may be ready but definately after 2 years.

The leaf mould from this is fantastic.

Cheers,