Beech leaves for leaf mould

I've always understood that beech leaves were to be avoided when making leaf mould, owing to their relatively leathery feel, yet as we have 2 beech trees overhanging our drive, and I'm sweeping up loads of them I thought I'd check it out, and maybe scrunch them under the mower first, as I do try to do anyway, particularly with dry leaves. I'm finding contrasting advice from 2 recognised sources which is a bit strange -
RHS in its leaf mould section says among other things - "The best leafmould is produced from the leaves of oak, beech or hornbeam." "...Some leaves, such as oak, beech or hornbeam, break down with little assistance and produce an excellent quality product."

Gardener World's David Hurrion shows in a video how to make a leafmould bin, and singles out Beech as the leaf to be avoided!

I've also just happened on a lovely blog from Louise in the Cotswolds at "Blooming Lucky" which I found useful in her experience of making leaf mould. Sadly she has taken a break from the blog but I will be checking out all her past posts soon. On beech she says "Narrow leaves like Beech rot down quickly – I’ve definitely found this the case."

Mine don't look particularly leathery so I'll just run the mower over them and bag them off for a year or so.

 

They ought to form leaf mould without a problem. they being doing it in nature for a few millennia. They might just take longer than some other types, running the mower over them will speed things up, put a few holes in the bag to let oxygen in and also wet them if they are dry when mowed, a drop of a biodegradable washing up liquid to help with wetting.

 

Bit of a problem then as I have 5 ton bags and an 8 cu. metres pile of beech leaves slowly turning into leaf mould.
The same amount last year is now about 4 cu. metres of lovely black stuff, waiting for spring.
Load of piffle in my opinion.

 

I agree that shredding can really help - with lots of types of leaf, not just beech.
We have huge numbers of beech trees round here, which contribute to the street names as well as leaf mould. Oaks are also common, and at this time of year there's loads of them everywhere

It's more about having a suitable site and container for them if you want to make leaf mould more rapidly than would happen in nature. It takes at least a couple of years here, even with a good container, or when shredded, but the bin or compost bags with holes in them, just tucked out of site somewhere, works well if you don't have a suitable place to make a mesh container. If they're dry, wet them -as already said.
It's handy because you can push them into corners individually, which is easier if you don't have a larger garden to make a bigger area for compost or leaf mould bins.

 

I don't make leaf mould myself, but I volunteer in a large woodland with lots of different trees. The only area of wood where no understorey growth occurs is beech. It's as if the leaves stop other things growing and just lie there, whereas oak and birch disintegrate and things (mostly brambles and ivy) grow through

 

Beech and oak are often described as being slow to break down because they have a high tannin content which slows microbial breakdown. This is why you don't want lots chucked on the compost heap but in a leaf mould the process of decay is from fungal decomposition, which is naturally a slow process.
Beech leaves breakdown quite quickly for fungal decomposition but would stick around in a normal compost mix. The rhs used to say that they were slow to breakdown but they seem to habe changed that opinion in the last few years, it certainly wasnt the experience of people who had used them (in comparison to other leaves). The smaller the leaves are chopped, the larger the surface area and the quicker they will decompose. The darkness of the leaf mould is due to the tannin levels and it's why oak and beech produce a lovely dark mould.

 

It's not the fallen leaves - it's the other cunning behaviour of beech trees... Why Nothing Grows Beneath Beech Trees: Understanding The Challenges & Solutions

 

But but but... @Stephen Southwest
There is no discussion as to how beech is different! Plenty of other trees have heavy canopies (oaks) and mycorrhizal links (hazel) and tannins which dissuade growth (oak again). Yet my oak wood is full of blasted brambles and ivy. Which aspect is the most pertinent?

 

There are 5 Beech trees with TPO's on them in my garden and the roots definitely extend inwards as the road outside is a good 10 feet lower than us. Apart from the poor quality of the soil we have no difficulty growing things under the canopy.
My main whatever with beech is the sheer volume of beech mast they produce. Now they do not rot down or if they do it takes years. And how many baby Beech trees can one pull up in a weeding session? 40 or 50 in a day is normal.
The pigeons do a good job of eating the seeds or it would be in the hundreds.
Not as prolific as Ash though, or Sycamore.

 

Ash and sycamore are bad. If you miss a seedling, it can get roots to Australia in no time!

 

The American beech (Fagus grandifolia) does have well documented allelopathic properties to its leaves and leaf mould. Also very competitive for light and nutrients.
The European beech (Fagus sylvatica) is less aggressive and I can't see any reliable reference to its leaves being as phytotoxic as the American species. Its common use as a hedging plant in gardens suggests it does not significantly harm the growth of other plants.
I do suspect the someone has read an American website about American beech and inferred the same is necessarily true for European beech.

 

My sympathies, @Palustris. We have seven beech trees in our garden, and our entire road is classified as a conservation area, plus individual TPOs. Most of the trees are in a small woodland, with a layer of leaves covering the ground. If I ever want any leaf mould, I just take a bucket and spade and dig under the surface! However, three of the trees are on a slope above the one lawn that is actually flat, so that does get covered with leaves and the beech mast are a right pain to clear off the grass. The squirrels eat some, but are also guilty of burying them as well! I haven’t noticed any deterrent effect under the trees. Lots of ivy, although not so many brambles. And the gaultheria shallon that a previous owner planted under three of the trees is extremely prolific.

 

Worse thing about the beech mast is that they just go straight through my shredder, unchanged.
Spent part of the day in the garage today putting the leaf mould through the shredder to reduce it to a size which can be used in potting compost. Takes time as picking up leaves from the garden also picks up gravel/stones with which this garden is well endowed, so I have to go through the material to remove them before shredding.
So who would be an organic gardener then?

 

Thanks everyone. I'm certainly going to experiment a little, and as well as shredding as many as I can beforehand, I'll try the open pile/bin way with larger quantities, instead of several perforated black sacks.