CELEBRATING 26 YEARS! Welcome to My weekly series! THE LANDSCAPE ASK PROFESSIONAL Linda K. Lilli of Sprigs & Twigs Linda K. Lllie has been President of Sprigs & Twigs, Inc for the last 26 years. She is a graduate of Connecticut College in Botany, an accredited NOFA Organic Land Care Professional, a Connecticut Master Gardener and a national award winning landscape designer for her design and installation projects. My neighbor and I have a bet. He says fallen oak leaves make soil more acidic and I say that's not true. Can you settle this?. Dennis, Essex Actually. you are both right in a way. Acidity is measured bya term called pH which is represented by a number scale fromo to 14. ApH of 7 is neutral: pH below 7 is acidic and pH above 7 is basic (or alkaline). Back a hundred years ago, a Danish chemist first developed the concept of pH (which means power of hydrogen). Since then, it has been universally used in most fields of science. When oak leaves first fall off the trees, they have an acidic pH in the range of 45 to 55 depending on the type of oak tree they came from. If you were to mix them into the soil immediately. they would temporarily slightly acidify the surface layer of the soil. but as they quickly decompose, the soil would become more alkaline. The net effect is that the oak leaves would not acidify the soil in the long run. Leaves are actually a good thing to work into your soil. As they decompose, they become food for the microorganisms that are essential for a healthy soil eco-system. They also help with minimizing soil compaction and keeping the soil structure loose. It is good practice to remove thick layers of leaves fromyour lawn to keep them from matting down and inhibiting the grass growth in the spring. Running your mower over the remaining leaves is really helpful to raise the organic matter content of the soil. I know some folks tike to remove the leaves from their woodlands because they like the appearance. but keep in mind you are depriving the trees of their natural fertilizer. Sprigs D&Twigs EMAIL OR MAIL YOUR QUESTIONSs TO: info@sprigsandtwigs.net or Linda Lillie, Sprigs & Twigs Inc, x 245, Gales Ferry, CT 06335 (best SPRIGS & TWIGS VOTED THE BEST BY DAY READERS EVERY YEARI CELEBRATING 26 YEARS! Welcome to My weekly series! THE LANDSCAPE ASK PROFESSIONAL Linda K. Lilli of Sprigs & Twigs Linda K. Lllie has been President of Sprigs & Twigs, Inc for the last 26 years. She is a graduate of Connecticut College in Botany, an accredited NOFA Organic Land Care Professional, a Connecticut Master Gardener and a national award winning landscape designer for her design and installation projects. My neighbor and I have a bet. He says fallen oak leaves make soil more acidic and I say that's not true. Can you settle this?. Dennis, Essex Actually. you are both right in a way. Acidity is measured bya term called pH which is represented by a number scale fromo to 14. ApH of 7 is neutral: pH below 7 is acidic and pH above 7 is basic (or alkaline). Back a hundred years ago, a Danish chemist first developed the concept of pH (which means power of hydrogen). Since then, it has been universally used in most fields of science. When oak leaves first fall off the trees, they have an acidic pH in the range of 45 to 55 depending on the type of oak tree they came from. If you were to mix them into the soil immediately. they would temporarily slightly acidify the surface layer of the soil. but as they quickly decompose, the soil would become more alkaline. The net effect is that the oak leaves would not acidify the soil in the long run. Leaves are actually a good thing to work into your soil. As they decompose, they become food for the microorganisms that are essential for a healthy soil eco-system. They also help with minimizing soil compaction and keeping the soil structure loose. It is good practice to remove thick layers of leaves fromyour lawn to keep them from matting down and inhibiting the grass growth in the spring. Running your mower over the remaining leaves is really helpful to raise the organic matter content of the soil. I know some folks tike to remove the leaves from their woodlands because they like the appearance. but keep in mind you are depriving the trees of their natural fertilizer. Sprigs D&Twigs EMAIL OR MAIL YOUR QUESTIONSs TO: info@sprigsandtwigs.net or Linda Lillie, Sprigs & Twigs Inc, x 245, Gales Ferry, CT 06335 (best SPRIGS & TWIGS VOTED THE BEST BY DAY READERS EVERY YEARI