Leaf shredders are valuable, efficient tools for the home and commercial gardener, particularly those that wish to pursue organic gardening and lessen the waste stream from their yard or facility into the landfills. Leaf shredders can make useful end products such as mulch but they can also process leaves into usable and quick converting fuel for making compost or leaf mold that in turn can nourish plants and improve soil conditions.
Reduce Landfill Waste
Shredding your leaves at home saves considerable labor, fossil fuels and landfill space. There is no need to be bag them up in plastic, set them at the curb on trash pick up day and see them hauled off to the landfill where they take up precious space and do little environmental good.
Create Fine Composting Material
The microbial processes involved in making compost work faster and more efficiently when the input materials are in small easily degradable pieces. Shredded leaves break down in the compost pile much more rapidly than whole leaves. Large or thick leaves such as those from magnolia would be very inefficient in the compost pile but when shredded finely make excellent input material. Shredding inputs boosts the efficiency of the entire composting process allowing you to process more compost more rapidly which in turn adds more nutrients to the soil.
Produce Homemade Mulch
Shredded leaves and leaf mold is an ideal mulch for nearly any garden plant, tree or shrub. It can also be used for winterizing plants and protecting plant roots and soil from temperature and moisture fluctuations. As an organic material, shredded leaf mulch will also degrade into the soil boosting the nutritional value of the soil where ever it is laid down. Finely shredded leaves can also be used as mulch or top dressing for lawn grass so that you can cut down on chemical fertilizing and watering a bit.