If you are a gardening lover and your garden has a big Oak tree, sometimes you’ve thought about does oak leaves good for fruit trees? Because trying that will be a good idea rather than frustrating about falling leaves of the oak tree.
The recommended PH level for fruit trees is around 6.0 to 7.5, which is close to the neutral level. Oak leaves are good to use as mulch for fruit trees even it’s acidic. Oak leaves can’t produce a big difference with the PH level as a mulch.
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Why oak leaves good for fruit trees?
Having an Oak tree in a garden is an common thing to see. But also it falls the leaves as same as it provides the shade.
Using those fallen leaves as mulch for the fruit trees in your garden is a worthful thing to do.
But why does oak leaves good for fruit trees?
Some people neglect using oak leaves as mulch in their garden. Instead, they’re thrashing or burning it. That’s because they believe the acidify of oak leaves hurt their trees.
Oak leaves are acidic as much as around 4.5 to 4.8 of PH value. And fruit trees generally love the soil with a neutral PH level.
In that case, oak leaves do not be affected to turn the soil completely acidic. It can just put down the PH value for a very small amount.
Because leaves help to maintain the neutral PH conditions for the fruit trees while working as a mulch, oak leaves will be good for fruit trees in your garden.
On the other hand, oak leaves working well as a mulch with hard woody trees such as apple. So that’s another reason why does oak leaves good for fruit trees as mulch.
Also, oak leaves don’t decay quickly when it’s using as mulch for any of the trees. Because of that, they couldn’t be affected to change the quality of the soil unusual way.
So using oak leaves as mulch from 6 inches away from the trunk of the fruit tree is not a bad thing to do if you love your garden.
Benefits for fruit trees from oak leaves
Now you know that oak leaves good for fruit trees to use as mulch. But what are the benefits we are having from using oak leaves as mulch for fruit trees?
Oak leaves providing the exact value that a tree expecting from a mulch. So we can see lots of benefits from using oak leaves as mulch on fruit trees as same as oak leaves working as a good mulch for roses,
Here are the benefits.
It retains the moisture of the soil
Most fruit trees required a good moisture on the soil. So using a mulch on the fruit trees is an ideal thing to try on.
And oak leaves are doing a pretty good job behind the scene of working as a mulch for fruit trees. They also can manage the moisture of the soil as the way fruit trees like. But how they do that?
Here are the details that I found with that.
Once you use oak leaves as mulch for tress, they work as a filter for the sunlight. They handle the sunlight that coming onto the soil and the root.
Because of that, they help trees to get rid of over evaporation and providing conditions to reduce drying the soil.
So if it doesn’t a good benefit that is another fruit tree having with oak leaves?
Also, this is another point to provide a big “yes” for the matter of “does oak leaves good for fruit trees for mulching?”
I recommend you to read this ultimate guide about using mulch to conserve soil moisture for further knowledge.
Increase the health of the soil
Once we planted a fruit tree, we are hoping that one day we could be able to have fruits from it.
But our hopes only become a success if that fruit tree has good healthy soil. That’s why you put organic and inorganic fertilizers on them.
But if any of our fertilizers couldn’t able to see the success with the healthiness of the soil, adding an oak mulch may be going to make the tree happy.
If you believe it or not oak leaves are rich with minerals, vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin C, vitamin D, and vitamin E. So if you thrashing the oak leaves still, you are missing a huge opportunity.
Fruit trees need a lot of nutrition because they have to do a big job with flowering and providing the fruits.
So using oak leaves as mulch is going to treat your fruit trees with much of the nutrition they needed.
Therefore you and I proved another point about the benefits that fruit trees having from oak leaves.
It controls the weeds
Weeds are a main problem that every gardener or farmer is facing. They absorb the essence of the plant or tree that we treating for.
As a gardener, I have tried many weed killers. Some of them worked while some weren’t.
But I was really excited when I heard about mulching also a great way to get rid of weeds. So I thought oak leaves will better to feed for my fruit trees with a mulch.
Like the way I thought, that is really going to work. Oak leaves control the weeds in two recognized ways.
Firstly, when they apply as a 3″ or 4″ thick layer mulch, they cut down the chances of sunlight falling on the weed seeds or plants.
Weeds required sunlight for the process of photosynthesis even they absorb the essence of the main plant. Because of that case, oak leaves also can help to control weeds around a fruit tree.
Another way that oak leaves mulch to prevent fruit trees from weed diseases is by restricting the chances of weed seeds join with the soil.
Most weeds need the soil to grow up even they are really harmful to plants. When there is an oak mulch, new weed seeds point on the mulch instead of growing up on the soil.
But the coolest thing is using oak leaves for this matter makes more good for your fruit trees.
That’s because oak leaves stay out for a long time in a mulch than the other ones. So using oak leaves as the mulch is good not only for fruit trees, it can also bring in good results for your vegetable garden and flower garden by controlling weeds.
It repel one of the most harmful pest
In the beginning, we just want to know about if oak leaves good for fruit trees on the garden and use them as mulch.
But surprisingly, I like to disclose to you a special reward that you can have from using oak leaves as mulch for your fruit trees, vegetables, roses, or anything else.
Because oak leaves are acidic, it can repel caterpillars from your garden.
Wow! isn’t that cool?
Caterpillars are not likely to work with acid. Because that’s gonna harm them. But not for our garden.
Once you mulch oak leaves under the tree or plant you need, you’re ready to go!
Caterpillars will run away when they smell acidic oak leaves.
And this can be known as one of the best secret uses of oak leaves.
Related: How does oak leaves repel caterpillars
Does oak leaves suitable to mix with compost?
Compost can be also known as the best organic fertilizing method in the garden. Often gardeners use grass clippings and leave them to mix with compost.
But does composting oak leaves is gonna worth it? If it could be affected to harm the plants and trees?
It’s time to know about it.
You can make compost with any kind of leaves. But using only the oak leaves to make compost is useless because it’s acidic. Compost should be in a neutral PH value.
So mixing oak leaves with other kinds of leaves to make compost is a really good idea. And compost that mixed with oak leaves good for fruit trees also.
Again I would like to say composting oak leaves with other leaves will never, ever become useless.
Are oak leaves poisonous?
We have recognized that oak leaves are a good solution for many of the problems in our garden and that gives us many advantages.
But some people still believe that oak leaves are poisonous and they toxicities for the plants.
Is that actually true?
Many gardeners keep away from using oak leaves for their garden because they think it kills plants and trees because of the acidiness of them.
Actually that’s a myth. If we can use oak leaves with compost, why we can’t use it with other plants.
A leaf being acidic dosen’t means that it desen’t tend to kill a plant or tree. Also oak leaves works good for fruit trees which are very sensitive with the conditions they have.
But oak leaves can be toxic for some animals like dogs, cats, and horses. Expect those animals, oak leaves not gonna hurt any of the plants on your garden.
Conclusion
Oak leaves can be hurt you by falling hundreds of leaves on your lawn every day. But now you know what to do with oak leaves instead of burning them.
Oak leaves can be known as a great treatment for many plants. Especially oak leaves works good for fruit trees rather than any other variety of trees.
Oak leaves giving unbelievable benefits for fruit trees and other trees, while oak leaves good for roses, tomatoes, and vegetable gardens.
Also, oak leaves are a good addition to mix with compost even it’s an acidic leaf.
Some gardeners believe that oak leaves are not good for fruit trees, vegetable gardens, or any other plants because of their acidness.