leaf fall..

[mushymanrob]

well... this years leaf fall period is a strange one!

clearing leaves up (as many of you know) is my main task at this time of year. im self employed and work as a grounds maintenance contractor. i have been on one site continuously for 13 years now and another for 12. planing work to fit in with leaf clearing is rather tricky... if the leaves fall too early or too late, or if its wet, this can cause me problems scheduling work and keeping all my customers satisfied.

every season theres on week where the bulk of leaves drop, i hope that it occurs within the week ive allowed for it! lol, this week, the first week in november. forunately the leaves have dropped (c80%) bang on time here in derby. leaf fall though usually occurs over the 2 months of october and november with the bulk right in between.

what is odd about this year is that the speciese that normally drop earliest... lime, horse chestnut, poplar, are late by a week or two, whilst the late droppers, especially ash and thorn , are early!

year after year i can find no pattern to leaf fall... temps, moisture, light, must play a role but what? ive never noticed any correlation between these factors and leaf fall.

anyway, this years bulk is bang on time and because the 'late droppers' are early, it looks like november will be an easy month for me!

[Chris Knight]

well... this years leaf fall period is a strange one!

clearing leaves up (as many of you know) is my main task at this time of year. im self employed and work as a grounds maintenance contractor. i have been on one site continuously for 13 years now and another for 12. planing work to fit in with leaf clearing is rather tricky... if the leaves fall too early or too late, or if its wet, this can cause me problems scheduling work and keeping all my customers satisfied.

every season theres on week where the bulk of leaves drop, i hope that it occurs within the week ive allowed for it! lol, this week, the first week in november. forunately the leaves have dropped (c80%) bang on time here in derby. leaf fall though usually occurs over the 2 months of october and november with the bulk right in between.

what is odd about this year is that the speciese that normally drop earliest... lime, horse chestnut, poplar, are late by a week or two, whilst the late droppers, especially ash and thorn , are early!

year after year i can find no pattern to leaf fall... temps, moisture, light, must play a role but what? ive never noticed any correlation between these factors and leaf fall.

anyway, this years bulk is bang on time and because the 'late droppers' are early, it looks like november will be an easy month for me!

I think the large-leaved trees have evolved so that their leaves will drop earlier in the event of high winds, but if there are no winds, they just hang on until gravity does the job. Smaller leaved species or ones with divided leaves like ash are less likely to have branches snapped by higher winds, so probably react to day length, temperature and other seasonal factors.

In the south it was the horse chestnuts that went first, their leaves fairly ragged from wind damage in the spring.

Do you have leaf drop dates for previous years?

[Gray-Wolf]

Hi Mushy!

Seeing as our Ash were really late opening I too was surprised to find them one of the first to go! All of the Ash trees out back are now 'naked'. Is this as uncommon as I suspect?

[mushymanrob]

Do you have leaf drop dates for previous years?

not specifically as leaf fall takes place over a period of time, so for speciese no... but i have work diaries that indicate at what point leaf fall is at, but really its judging the bulk of the fall which is usually right now! tbh if anything this year will finish early as mentioned, the late droppers are falling now.

the most notable year for 'lateness' was 2001, where the bulk of leaves was really very late, falling in the third week in november. i was leaf clearing (fresh fallen) in december, notable amounts too and not just stragglers or wind blown leaves.

Hi Mushy!

Seeing as our Ash were really late opening I too was surprised to find them one of the first to go! All of the Ash trees out back are now 'naked'. Is this as uncommon as I suspect?

hi gw

yep! lol the ash have fallen very early. they are the last of my trees to drop and they are all but off, 2 - 3 weeks early. they are dropping along with the acers which are on time, and some lime and chestnut which are late.

i dont mind though as its dry! :lol: that makes leaf clearing so much easier.

[Gray-Wolf]

Thanks Mushy! The other thing I am enjoying (until thurs morning I think) is the splendid colours we are being treated too! I'm sure the lack of winds has left many leaves to 'turn' that would normally have bitten the dust by now! Ah well, come thursday's blow it'll all be over with........then I can wait for snow drenched branches........

[Andy Bown]

what is odd about this year is that the speciese that normally drop earliest... lime, horse chestnut, poplar, are late by a week or two, whilst the late droppers, especially ash and thorn , are early!

The ash tree behind our neighbour's gardeb is still almost fully leafed! This didn't surprise me because it was the last to get leafed in early summer, however having read the above accounts it seems strange.

It was snowing leaves yesterday afternoon with a moderate breeze that picked up ahead of the front that moved SE.

[Michael Fishermans Friend]

Yep fully agree the colours this year are beautiful compared to other years, the general dryness and lack of wind has left the leaves on to turn colour, but in general I think leaves have fallen earlier this year. I know the maples we have, have dropped early but our large chestnut has quite a few leaves on.