I assume you’re looking at your yard, just like I’m looking at mine and wondering “do I really need to rake up these leaves, or will they be fine?” If you’re asking this question and wondering if you could free up your weekends from some yard cleanup, keep reading for your best practice this year. 

There are two main factors that contribute to making this decision. The first one is how many leaves are covering your lawn and the second is whether your trees had any foliar fungal diseases this year. 

Leaf Coverage
If your lawn has about 20% leaf coverage, you’re good to go! At this level, the leaves can still move around with the wind, break down naturally, and add nutrients to the soil. You’ll know it’s around 20% if you can clearly see most of the grass peeking through the leaves.

At 50% coverage, it’s still okay, but this is the point where we suggest a mow to mulch the leaves. Chopping them up will help them decompose faster, enriching the soil as organic matter. 

Once you go over 50% leaf coverage, it’s best to remove the excess until you’re back under that 50% threshold. Too many leaves can create a cozy winter haven for voles and suffocate your lawn, stunting its spring growth and potentially making it struggle to thrive all summer.

Leaving a manageable layer of leaves on the lawn is an easy way to return nutrients to the soil and encourage a healthier lawn. Just keep an eye on the coverage to avoid issues and enjoy a greener, stronger lawn!

Disease Management
The second factor that will aid in the decision is whether your trees had a foliar fungal disease. If your aspen trees were affected by Marssonina Leaf Spot, you’ll want to remove the leaves immediately so the disease doesn’t spread to your other trees or neighboring properties. Any other foliar fungal diseases need to be treated the same way. 

Evergreen trees don’t require as much concern, unless they have/had the fungal disease, needle cast. Be sure to pick up the needles immediately to prevent continued spread. 

If your trees suffer from any of these fungal diseases, give us a call and we can do a diagnosis and put together a treatment plan. If you’re not sure, we’ll have a consulting arborist come out and do a property walkthrough.

Getting Rid of Yard Waste
If you would rather pick up your leaves and dispose of them, I’ve listed a couple options for the local towns to utilize when getting rid of yard waste. Please see below: 

Bozeman
If you live in the city of Bozeman, they offer a leaf pickup service for certain areas of town on certain days. Click on the link for a full visual of the map and when your neighborhood is scheduled for leaf pickup. 

Second, the Bozeman Convenience Site is accepting compost material such as “grass, leaves, straw, manure, garden remains, plant trimmings, branches less than 1/4″ diameter, etc.” Their rate is $15/ton.  

Livingston
The city of Livingston is hosting their Leaf Collection Day on Nov 7th – all of your material needs to be out by 5:00 AM.

Belgrade
Everything can be directed to the Bozeman Convenience Site or the Logan Landfill. 

Once all your leaves have fallen and you’re only looking at about 20% coverage on your lawn, you’re good to go, find something much more fun to do on the weekend! 50% or so, just give it a quick mow to mulch up the leaves and over 50%, it looks like you’re going to be picking up leaves or call one of the awesome Lawn Maintenance companies in town to see if they offer a fall cleanup service and let them do it for you!