I rolled my eyes at leaf mulch for 3 seasons, then my Philodendron came back from the dead

Rowan Knight · 2026-11-03T22:45:05.991925+00:00

Okay so 3 autumns ago my neighbor Dale kept raking his leaves into a pile behind the shed and I thought he was just lazy about bagging them. He told me to stop buying the $18 bags of bark mulch from the hardware store and just use his leaf pile. I smiled and nodded and kept buying the bags. Then last October my big Philodendron got hit by a cold draft when my shop heater died over a weekend. Leaves dropped, stems went mushy, I figured it was done. Dale dumped about 4 inches of his chopped leaves on top of the pot and told me to wait. Six weeks later there were two new shoots. Six weeks! I stood there in the rain looking at them like an idiot. Turns out the leaf layer kept the soil from drying out and the worms turned it into free food. I have not bought a bag of mulch since. Now I'm the weirdo in the alley collecting other people's bags before trash day. Only thing I'm still unsure about is oak leaves. Dale says they're fine if you chop them, but I've read they break down slow. Anyone actually use oak or is that a bad idea?

HW Forums

Loading…

I rolled my eyes at leaf mulch for 3 seasons, then my Philodendron came back from the dead | Botany Lovers - HW Forums