Host an Event Volunteer Join Tickets

Support the plant database you love!

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?

Share

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Search Smarty Plants
See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

 
rate this answer
3 ratings

Thursday - November 04, 2010

From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Compost and Mulch, Soils, Trees
Title: Do leaves with tannins make good compost from Austin
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

I have a couple of old native pecan trees in my (or neighbor's) yard that drop bushels and bushels of leaves every fall. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I have a recollection that pecan leaves have too much tannin (or something else) to make good compost. Was I dreaming? Now that I am composting everything I can lay my hands on, should I throw the pecan leaves in the pile? Thanks!

ANSWER:

First, congratulations on your composting practices; nothing is better for the environment, in our opinion. Second, there are always arguments about what is okay to compost and what is not. We found this comment from an article by Neil Sperry for the Wichita Falls, TX Times Record News:

"Leaves of oaks, pecans and walnuts all contain tannins, and there are always those out there who contend that you should not include any of these in your compost piles or in your garden soils. Let me answer from my personal experiences. I grew up in College Station, where I used post oak humus as my main source of organic matter in my gardens and greenhouse soils. It was naturally composted beyond recognition of its origin, so the tannins were of absolutely no concern. For the past 32 years, I have lived and gardened at the floor of a pecan forest, and I’m knee-deep in pecan leaves every fall. I run them through the mower, compost them, and proudly use them without any repercussions at all. Two pieces of advice: Use your mower to speed the composting along, and include other forms of organic matter in your compost pile. Decaying manure, grass clippings, “scalpings” from your first lawn mowing of the spring, etc. A combination of several forms of organic matter is always a better idea than having only one."

The message here is compost early and often and long enough to do the job. The organic matter mentioned in the excerpt contribute nitrogen and help in the "heating up" part of composting. If you don't have enough "green" material, you can buy a bag of cottonseed or alfalfa meal at the feed store, and layer your leaves with that, remembering to moisten the pile and keep turning it. By all means, don't waste those leaves!

 

More Soils Questions

Detoxifying soil from York England
August 15, 2012 - How do you neutralize toxic soil, it may have been contaminated by Foxglove Digitalis Purpurea? Thankyou
view the full question and answer

Ground cover for sun in Phenix City, AL
April 04, 2011 - I live in Phenix City, AL and am new to planting. I have a 60 x 15 feet slope that is just dirt. I am going to till it next week and want to plant some various ground cover plants (that will grow to c...
view the full question and answer

Compare Natives to Lawn for Carbon Footprint Benefits in Durham, New Hampshire
September 22, 2010 - Are there carbon sequestration rate tables for turf (lawn) and bushes, shrubs, trees? I want to compare the carbon footprint benefit of lawn versus the same area put into native plantings.
view the full question and answer

How does Habiturf spread from Walburg TX
May 19, 2014 - How does HabitTurf spread? - by seed only? - when/how often must you let it go to seed to insure a permanent stand?
view the full question and answer

Replacing hawthorn bush with muhly grass from Plano TX
April 10, 2014 - I am thinking of replacing a hawthorn bush with a muhly grass plant or two in an edged area with river rock cover in Plano, texas. It is the black soil and not a sandy loam. We have a sprinkler syst...
view the full question and answer

Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today.