The Grass Doctor

Why do people blow leaves off of their lawns?

Everyone wants to go green, and the leaves are food for the lawn. So why waste the gas to run the leafblower, and blow away the very thing that would feed your lawn? Not to mention, annoy the neighbors with that terrible noise on an otherwise beautiful day. Why?

Public Comments

1. Leaves are not food for the lawn and they do look rather messy in bulk. for a clean lawn thats environmentally friendly go to http://www.rubberecycle.com/
2. it depends on where you live, If we don't get the leaves off the lawn in MN with the snow piled on top of it they get wet and moldy come spring, and they kill the grass.
3. If the leaves are left on a lawn (especially in piles), it begins to decompose, in turn, causing the grass beneath the piles or leaves themselves to mold and die. When the leaves are blown off a persons lawn, it allows the grass full exposure to the sun, which allows for growth. I hope this answer justifies the leaf blower noise. =)
4. They are too lazy to use a rake. What they should really do is grind up the leaves with a lawn mower because, yes, decomposed leaves are food for the lawn, but only if they are ground up first. It is correct that just leaving them piled up on top will kill the grass.
5. Leaves do make good fertilizer - all the professional literature I have read agrees on this point. The thing to do is to use a mulching lawnmower - the kind of mower without a collection bag - to shred the leaves.
6. I have beautiful, lush dark green grass. We normally bag the clippings and leaves every other mowing. Otherwise we don't bag them and they get cut up as mulch. Either way, if there is any debris left on the lawn, it's just not attractive and takes away from the lush tidy-ness of the freshly mowed lawn. We blow the little bits off, but the majority of it is mulched or bagged. We take great pride in our yard and want it to look good. Scattered leaves just aren't pretty - but we do recognize their value. We don't try to annoy our neighbors with the blowing noise, so we only mow/blow at appropriate times. I believe my neighbors enjoy the fact that I keep a tidy trim yard - that is leaf free too. =]
7. Most people blow the leaves off of their lawns so that someone else, like me, will have to pick them up!
8. because it can kill a lawn
9. If it is a very big tree there will be too many leaves to just chop up with a lawn mower
10. I never bother with raking the leaves. I do what is the smartest and laziest way. I mulch them. or just run over them with a mower and its literally food for fodder! LMAO! its true.