# Leaf Moulds



## rs79 (Dec 7, 2004)

When Jan told me of the leaf mould thing I collected a bucket of leaves from under a small silver birch thicket. But there's a lot of pine needles and maple leaves, too; I may not use it.

What leaves have people used and had some if not stunning success with?

Richard


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## Kai Witte (Jan 30, 2006)

Hello Richard,

Just give it a try: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/showpost.php?p=284843&postcount=42

Usually, I prefer leaf-mold: the almost completely decomposed leaves (blackish humus) tend to work best. It depends on your local climate and geology how long that takes: often 2-3 years but can be longer or shorter...

You can also try utilizing the raw leaves from last autumn but that needs more monitoring and/or preparations. More later...


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## rs79 (Dec 7, 2004)

Hi Kai;
I hope you have warmer weather there, we certainly do here now and all the snow and ice is gone and it's actually nice outside and there are traces of green showing thorug what remains of the snow.

Leaf mould, to anybody of British extraction is easy to get. You find it where you raked all the leaves too in the fall. Mine are willow and maple. I did make a hunt for silver birch leaves last year but they're dry in a big box in the barn. Guess I didn't understand to collect the black yucky stuff.

But I have that in my garden. So no problem.

Additionally had anybody tried putting this stuff in fishtanks in any way in submersed culture?

I will say (again!) that manure under sand does seem to do the same thing in aquaria. Here's a two foot tank of GRA and my own tank of "versicolor" (WEN? UND? X?).



















So, what I really want to know is, does it matter if its Beech tree to the point where somebody has actually compared Beech tree leaf mould to other types. Or are you saying "we've found any leaf mould works the same" ?


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## dirtmonkey (Mar 12, 2007)

Richard, can't help with the "leaf mould" part, except that Chestnut and Oak are in the same family (Fagaceae, after _Fagus[\i], the genus of Beech trees) of trees and they might be worth a try. They all produce a very acid compost.

Can I ask what kind of manure? Old/dry or composted, I assume? I've tried rabbit and rat pellets before with pretty good results... Or a pointer to where you already posted, I might not have time to read up on the past threads yet... Search doesn't work for me on this site very well. Your pictures speak volumes.

Vincent_


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

I take any kind of tree leaf litter and mix about 50% leaves and 50% topsoil and compost them for about 3 weeks and they work very well.


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## Linda (Mar 3, 2006)

in ontario, you can get a presidents choice leaf mould at Zehrs for 3.99 that works well in planted tanks. i will be picking some up soon.


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## DelawareJim (Nov 15, 2005)

Richard;

Many of us in the States are trying what ever our local trees are and noting how well our plants perform for comparison with others.

Aaron is using straight Maple leaf mould, Sean I think is using an Oak, Catalpa mix. I've seen their setups and both are doing well.

As an experiment, I tried straight peat which has shown very poor results. Growth has been very slow with small, chlorotic plants.

There is a little more discussion on the NACS forum;
http://forum.aquatic-gardeners.org/viewforum.php?f=30&sid=d4f212f972236b299053d800b8ad15a7

Cheers.
Jim


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Try 50% soil and 50% peat by volume. It works quite well for me! The soil has some iron, and the peat helps keep it soluble.


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