To mulch, or not to mulch?

To limit the amount of organic waste that goes into landfills, many West Island cities are running different leaf collection and pick-up programs.

Every year, the City of Beaconsfield tells its citizens to bring their leaves to the bulk material site at 300 Beaurepaire Dr. to later be trucked out to the St. Michel Environmental Complex in Montreal to be composted and recycled.

Beaconsfield’s Environment Advisory Committee, however, is also promoting leaf mulching and composting at home.

“We want to encourage people to mulch leaves on their property,” said councilor and Environment Advisory Committee head Kate Coulter, adding leaf pickup costs the city between $90,000 and $100,000. “It eliminates a very costly service for the City of Beaconsfield…It also has a secondary effect because of the advantages to the lawn. It becomes less dependent on fertilizers.”

Mulch, which is created by shredding leaves with a lawnmower or mulching device, can be used in the garden and on the lawn to enrich soil with nutrients, control weeds, and conserve water. Mulching also eliminates the need to use paper or plastic bags for your leaves and can lower the amount of greenhouse gases emitted during transportation – especially if you use and electric mower, Coulter said.

Mulched leaves can also be composted, alternating thin layers with other materials, such as kitchen waste.

“We are encouraging people to create a healthier lawn, at the same time as taking responsibility for things on their property all together,” Coulter said. “Mulch as much as you can. It helps your lawn and it’s better than putting them in the garbage. You’re putting a golden resource in the garbage.”

What about tar spots?

However, many properties in the West Island with maple trees have been affected by tar spots, a hardy fungus that appears as black dots on the leaves and is easily spread from tree to tree. Dr. Ajjamada Kushalappa of McGill University’s plant science department said he has noticed an increase of infected trees in the West Island.

“In past years, we didn’t have too much at Macdoanld campus (in Ste. Anne de Bellevue. Now, a lot of leave have the tar spots,” he said, explaining the fungus was first discovered in New York 50 years ago, and has since been spreading north. “These plants are more sensitive to other kinds of stress. It weakens the plants, and makes them more susceptible if there is an insect infestation, mineral deficiency, or drought, for example.”

According to Dr. Kushalappa, if infected leaves are not decomposed thoroughly, the fungus can be spread through mulch or compost. Infected leaves, he said, should not be used in a home composter, because the heat produced is not high enough to kill the fungus.

Hot, hot heat

In Kirkland, fresh leaf compost is available to citizens at the municipal garage compost heap at 25 Claude Jodoin St. According to Kirkland’s parks and greenspaces division head, Jean Lamothe, residents do not need to worry about fungus from compost produced in large quantities.

“The temperature is so high that there’s no problem with that fungus. But, we tell people to avoid putting those leaves into their own compost, because the temperature does not reach as high as in a huge pile,” he said.

Kirkland also has 30,000 paper leaf bags available for its leaf pick-up program that began this week. All of the leaves collected, along with the leaves from municipal properties, are put on to the pile, and turned about four times during the process to ensure adequate decomposition.

“And, in about nine months, we have fresh compost ready for our citizens to use,” Lamothe said.

More information about the individual cities’ leaf programs is available on their websites.