Re: those darn acorns!
- To: M*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Re: those darn acorns!
- From: R* F* D*
- Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 11:48:51 -0500 (EST)
At 09:23 PM 2/21/2001 +0000, you wrote:
> Is anyone else going crazy with this problem? All of
>the hundreds of Oak acorns, if that's what they're
>called, that made into my nice piles of aging oak
>leaves, AKA compost pile, are sprouting like crazy. I've
>spent hours sitting out there in the yard, hand sifting,
>and trying to pull them out, and it's phenomenal. I mean
>nature kinda went overboard on this one, IMHO. I mean,
>how many Oak trees does one need? What is the point?
>Something is wrong with this picture. I'm afraid I'm
>going to just have to go through all the flower beds
>where I carefully laid in a nice 6 inch layer of Oak
>leaves, which are now rotting beautifully, crawling with
>worms, and strip it out to get rid of these infernal
>sprouting oaks. (!!)
>Any ideas, oh brilliant ones?
None. I have the same problem, having laid in a raised bed of sandy loam
under some oaks.
You will be able to avoid the problem by shredding the leaves with a lawn
mower and using the air discharge to blow away the much lighter leaf shreds
from the acorns. Do the rest of the sorting with a lawn rake, and you will
get rid of most of the acorns or damage them enough to turn them into
compost. And the shredded leaves are easier to carry and break down a lot
faster.
It's more work, but a lot easier than hand pulling all the oak seedlings.
Don't let them get too big, because they quickly put out tap roots.
Richard F. Dufresne
313 Spur Road
Greensboro, North Carolina 27406 USA
336-674-3105
World of Salvias: http://www.eclectasy.com/gallery_of_salvias/index.htm
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