Raking leaves in the fall is such a huge part of our American suburban culture that most of us don’t think twice about getting rid of all those fallen leaves littering our lawns each year. Last week when I saw a Scott’s commercial advocating mowing the leaves versus raking and chucking, I was intrigued. Could this be a viable alternative or is this just another big corporate attempt at greenwashing?
Here’s the commercial:
Public service or Greenwashing?
Can this be true?
Apparently, research conducted at Cornell, Purdue, Rutgers, Michigan State and other universities since the early 1990’s supports this opinion. Here’s an example of the research:
“Between 1995 and 1998 researchers at Michigan State set mower decks to cut at three inches, then mowed up to 450 pounds of leaves per 1,000 square feet of lawn each autumn (that’s equivalent to about eighteen inches of leaves).
At such a high rate, very little grass could be seen at the end of the mowing season. However, once growth resumed the following spring the remaining leaf litter quickly decomposed. In this study not only was the excessive volume of leaves not harmful, the shredded leaves actually improved lawn quality over time as organic matter and nutrients in the decomposing leaves was returned to the soil.”
Yard waste is the second worst polluter in America’s landfills today (#1 is paper). If leaves can truly be mowed and left on lawns instead of raked, collected and thrown away, this could have a significantly positive impact on our environment.
Great job Scotts! I’m impressed and look forward to experimenting on my own lawn this year.
