I have several laylandi trees and wondered if I can use the fallen foliage as soil conditioner or compost.?

Question

I wonder as nothing seems to grow under the trees, even the grass has died.

Thank you for any advice

aNDY

Answer 1

You can use the dead foliage as mulch around other conifers. They are too acid to use for most plants. You can compost but I would compost seperately from other stuff as it will take ages to rot, try a leylandii and newspaper and grass clippings heap, then it will make a soil conditioner for acid loving plants, don't put it on your veg plot. The bare soil under the trees is probably due to dryness, not anything poisonous in the tree.

Answer 2

Nothing grows under them!! They take all the moisture from the soil and if they are too close to the house, they take moisture from the brickwork too. Horrid things (has chopped down and dug about 20 out this year!)

Answer 3

I would advise againt it. There are many acids in the sap of conifers and might mess up your soil ph

Answer 4

If you put the trunks into a shredder, you can have loads of free wood chippings to keep the weeds down.