When the leaves fall, they could decompose and re-fertilize the soil. I'm sure this is what is meant to happen, to provide a cycle of vitamins for the trees. The trees need nutrients to make new leaves each spring, so is it good for the earth to continuosly remove natural fertilizer just so our lawns "look better"? Won't the trees eventually run out of nutrients from the soil??
2006-12-20 08:04:13 · 7 answers · asked by advicemom 4 in Environment
What a silly idea.
If that is really true then all gardening is bad and you should turn off your sprinklers, stop weeding and fertilizing and just let your yard go wild. Oh, and remove that unnatural house that is covering up so much of the land in your yard.
2006-12-20 08:09:08 · answer #1 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Raking leaves is bad for the environment if the leaves are hauled to a land fill or burned, but raking leaves can be good for the environment if the leaves are raked and composted. The compost can then be put into a garden or back onto the lawn. Composting leaves and reusing the compost is probably better for a lawn than leaving the leaves unraked over the winter. Unraked leaves can smother the grass and infect trees with fungus.
Removal of leaves can deplete a lawn of nutrients if there are no nitrogen-fixing plants, or if the soils are infertile to begin with. While fertilizers can be used to replensih the lost nutrients, they have some adverse effects on the environment. Fertilizers take a lot of energy to produce, and they are responsible for polluting many lakes and rivers.
2006-12-20 17:29:20 · answer #2 · answered by formerly_bob 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Actually leaves don't refertilizes the soil. The bacteria that decompose the leaves do.
But as for being bad, no it is not bad at all for your lawn or the environment to rake leaves. And your lawn won't run out of nutrients if you put down some artificial fertilizer every year or so. That should do the trick. The thing many people complain about with regards to lief raking is putting the leaves into a sealed bag. If you pound the leaves into a sealed bag they will not be able to decompose and will cause problems at the waste facility. Just dump the leaves loose in the dumpster and you should be able to rest at ease.
2006-12-20 16:13:14 · answer #3 · answered by Dallas M 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Raking leaves isnt bad for the environment just please dont put them in sealed bags or burn them.. either put them in a dumpster loose or even better make a compost there are a ton of great web sites to tell you how to do it.
2006-12-20 22:07:03 · answer #4 · answered by jody w 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
no, it's bad if you burn the leaves, but raking is perfectly fine
2006-12-20 16:14:42 · answer #5 · answered by Pops 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ask al gore...It is just fine to rake your yard. Don't let the idiotic democrats tell you otherwise.
2006-12-20 16:08:11 · answer #6 · answered by behr28 5 · 0⤊ 4⤋
no
leaves are already dead
lawn clippings are where the money is
2006-12-20 16:08:00 · answer #7 · answered by jasonalwaysready 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋