By Enrique Arayata
ISA Certified Arborist® OH-7252A
October 16, 2025
As we transition into Autumn here in central Ohio, that means many things: shorter days, cooler temperatures, football season, pumpkin spice everything, and more specifically, fall foliage! Green, deciduous tree leaves start to turn into beautiful shades of orange, yellow, red, and more until they eventually fall off of the tree in an effort to conserve water and energy. Commonly, you might see homeowners and property managers raking up these leaves to put them in piles by the curb or into yard waste bags. If you are one of these people, I’d like to take a moment in today’s article to persuade you to think otherwise and to… leave those leaves!
Fallen tree leaves don’t have to be yard waste. Sure they can choke out your grass, be a slipping hazard on concrete, or be subjectively unsightly, but an alternative to spending money on yard waste bags and laboriously bagging up your leaves is to rake or blow them around the base of a tree! This low-cost action comes with many benefits that your tree will thank you for!
Photo Credit: Maryland Grows Blog
Cost-Savings
Yard waste bags can add up, and so can mulch and soil amendment! Leaves can serve as a natural mulch and soil amendment alternative. By placing fallen leaves around your tree, it can save you money by not having to purchase yard waste bags, mulch, and soil amendment.
Weed Suppression
One reason for removing leaves is that it can choke out grass in your lawn. The same can be said for weeds. Fallen leaves can act as a natural tree ring to choke out weeds and reduce resource competition from aboveground weeds for water, soil nutrients, space, and more.
Wildlife Habitat
Leaves can be a habitat for microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, and more), worms, insects, birds, pollinators, and more! Leaf litter can help keep the natural food chain in motion and aid in the life cycle for certain insects like moths and fireflies. Additionally, as leaves get consumed and processed out from insects, more organic matter gets put back into the soil and increases its quality.
Natural Soil Fertilizer
As leaves decompose and break down, thanks to some of the microorganisms mentioned earlier, nutrients are put back into the soil for tree roots to intake for increased health and vigor of the tree! This will help to create a more renewable cycle of tree care, thus reducing the amount of human intervention needed for the tree such as watering, fertilization, etc.
Photo Credit: Washington Department of Natural Resources
Temperature and Moisture Regulation
Similar to mulch, leaves can act as a temperature and moisture regulation for a tree. It’ll keep the belowground soil more consistent with its temperature and moisture level. During hotter parts of the day, it’ll keep the soil cooler. During cooler parts of the night, it’ll keep the soil warmer. Leaves retain water and can help add moisture back into the soil for a tree’s roots to absorb, thus leading to less frequent watering in the case of drought or newly planted trees.
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Hopefully the benefits outlined in this article have made you think twice about bagging away those leaves! It is definitely a valid concern to not have wet leaves be a slipping hazard on your side walk, have leaves choke out your grass, or have the leaves make your lawn look messy, but raking or blowing them into a ring around a tree’s base is one way to reduce those three worries and help your tree out in the process. A 2-to-4-inch deep circular ring around the tree’s base is more than plenty to help your tree out. In terms of diameter, the leaf ring can be as wide as your landscape space might allow, as wide as the amount of leaves might allow, or up to the canopy drip line of a tree (the outermost perimeter of the tree canopy). My only warning to you would be to keep the base of the tree exposed! Do not pile up the leaves and create a volcano or mound shape. The ring should be generally flat or in-line with the surrounding grade.
Tree leaf ring installations nor yard waste bag pickups are services that we at Russell Tree Experts provide. However, if there is a different tree care service that we can help with such as removal, pruning, stump grinding, cabling, fertilization, clearing, and more, please visit RussellTreeExperts.com/Quote or call us at (614) 895-7000 for a free tree work quote by one of our 25+ ISA Certified Arborists®!
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Enrique Arayata I Media Production Manager, Russell Tree Experts
Enrique is an ISA Certified Arborist® and FAA Certified Remote Pilot. In his free time, he enjoys working out, hanging out with his family and girlfriend, video production, photography, cars, technology, and cooking. Enrique has a BA in moving image production with a double minor in film studies and studio art specializing in photography from The Ohio State University, and an AA in web graphic design from DeVry University. His favorite tree is the Kwanzan cherry tree.