What Happens If You Don’t Rake Your Canonsburg Lawns Leaves?

What Happens If You Don’t Rake Your Canonsburg Lawns Leaves?

Leaf raking is a time-consuming task, but it’s one that many suburban homeowners feel obligated to undertake eve autumn. This fall, while millions of Americans pull their rakes out of storage, others will simply skip the task, choosing to I ‘leave the leaves” in place. Others will opt for partial raking or an alternative solution, such as mowing their leaves into a layer of mulch. Which choice is best for your Canonsburg lawns leafs?

Let’s examine both sides of the leaf raking debate, including:

• Is leaf raking a legal obligation?
• The case for not raking your leaves
• Downsides of not raking your leaves
• Alternatives to leaf raking
• Leaf Raking a Legal Obligation?

Generally speaking, Canonsburg homeowners aren’t legally required to rake their leaves.

Local governments may require that raking leaves onto the street only occurs within a certain date range. This prevents leaves from spending an excessive amount of time piled up in the public right of way. However, local governments don’t typically attempt to force uninterested homeowners to rake their leaves.

While you have the right to a lawn full of yard waste, there are liabilities if your leaves become a safety hazard. Depending on your state’s laws, someone could sue you if they slip and fall on your property due to unmanaged leaves.

Unraked leaves may not seem particularly dangerous, but once they become wet and matted. unsafe surfaces are formed. Leaves that have piled up over concrete steps can easily cause a slip or a trip. Leaves that cover up holes could result in twisted ankles, and leaves that coat the sidewalk could cause a cyclist crash.

The Case for Not Raking Your Canonsburg Lawns Leaves

Environmental experts and wildlife advocates would like to see less leaf raking. Leaving the leaves in place is environmentally friendly and offers benefits to your yard. Leaves that are raked, piled up, and removed by a local government often end up in landfills. Sometimes they’re processed in industrial composting systems, but not always.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 10.5 million tons of yard trimmings per year are added to landfills, making up over 7.2 percent of all municipal solid waste. Leaves in landfills require energy use for transport and storage. Once in the landfill, they combine with other organic materials to release greenhouse gases during decomposition. On the other hand, leaves that are allowed to decompose on the ground inject carbon into the ground, creating rich, fertile soil.

Leaf litter that’s left in place provides food and habitat for insects, including butterflies. More insects mean more food for birds. While a plain, turf-grass lawn doesn’t offer many benefits for wildlife, a lawn covered in leaves helps bring your property to life. As long as your leaf litter isn’t excessive, there are benefits for your soil, grass, and landscaping plants, too. As leaf litter breaks down and enters the soil, it serves as a powerful fertilizer and soil stabilizer.

Downsides of Not Raking Your Leaves

If your lawn produces or collects a large volume of leaves, leaving the entire load in place does have downsides. Here are the problems you might encounter if you go rake-free with your leaf-heavy lawn.

Grass Damage

A carpet of dead leaves can block sunlight from reaching your grass. This kills patches of grass in your yard, making it easier for shade-loving weeds to invade your Canonsburg lawn. The effects of not raking leaves can be seen quickly in areas where grass grows year-round. If left on top of the grass for a few weeks, leaves will smother the grass. In regions with snowy winters, the leaves will remain beneath the snow all winter, only to be revealed during the thaw. In spring, the leaves will smother your grass as it tries to green up.

Contribute to Lawn Flooding

Unraked Canonsburg lawn leaves on a lawn often clog outdoor drains, which leads to oversoaking of your lawn, damaging it. Leaves clogging drains, gutters, and natural drainage passageways can flood your garden, your basement, or turn your lawn into a mud pit. The best course of action is to manage your leaves and prevent flooding disasters.

Invite Fungus

Wet leaves are a lawn management problem on their own. Whole, dead leaves decay slowly and trap moisture, often attracting gray or orange fungus that can spread to lawn grass and garden plants, killing them. Grass afflicted by fungi like brown patches and dollar spots can appear yellow, brown, or have a wet yet slimy feel. Most importantly, unraked Canonsburg lawns leaves can contribute to these diseases, or even be the may cause them.

Fungus invasion due to dead leaves is often found in cool, high-moisture climates. Regions, where fall leaves are buried in snow and then exposed to spring thaws, create the perfect conditions for a “snow mold” fungal invasion.

Is it Better to Rake Leaves or Leave Them?

If you have enough fallen leaves on your Canonsburg lawn that 10–20% of your grass is covered, you need to do something with those leaves. If left alone, those leaves will smother your lawn, invite pests, and breed fungus that can spread to your Canonsburg lawn and garden. But, you don’t have to rake your leaves. You can easily call Ski’s Landscaping, they take pride in being the best landscaping company in Canonsburg. Skis will create a tailored package to meet all your specific properties needs.