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Hello plant people, how are you guys doing today? If you're new around here, my name is Ashley and
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I'm a soil scientist. On this channel I like to take that science and apply to all things plants
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and in today's video we're talking about whether or not you should leave your foliage in place for
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the fall throughout the winter. And there's pros and cons to both methods so we will be going
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through all of them. When it comes to annuals I will say straight up throw that all in the compost
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The reason being is the less foliage you leave behind the better. If you have mulch in place
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That's awesome. And I would treat the dead plant foliage very similar to the actual mulch itself
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So if you have a disease or a pest issue that you notice from the year before clear off that foliage
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Compost it the exception of this is powdery mildew, which will overwinter in your compost
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If you have a powdery mildew issue mulch and the plant all go in the garbage in the fall
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It's all done we need to clear out the topsoil and the foliage that it harbors in and hangs out in so if you can
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you know toss it into the compost when possible try to put like a fresh layer of mulch on and that
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sort of thing now if you are in an area that has a poor snow capture and it is an annual bedding
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you trying to capture more snow then leave the annuals in place to act as kind of like a snow barrier in hopes of catching some of that excess snow Now when it comes to perennials you want to follow the same steps so if you have
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disease or pest issues then clear that foliage off. If not leave it in place because it's going
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to do quite a few different things. First off it's going to protect the actual perennial itself
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the root biomass of the perennial from any extreme cold and act as an insulator especially if you
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don't have mulch in place it also is going to act as an area where beneficial
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bugs can hang out hibernate and go to sleep for the winter before waking up in
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the spring again and then also probably the most important reason why you should
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keep your perennials in place for the fall is let you know where they are in
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the spring especially if you are a dig gardener so you're tilling you're you
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know pulling roots you intend to move the flower bed next year whatever the
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case is leave the perennials in place because it's gonna tell you exactly where
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those perennials are located in your soil if you do not do this method and
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you start digging away then you may end up uprooting your perennial and then it
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could not come back next spring because you've caused some sort of damage so
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have a way of marking or knowing where it is and typically the best way to do
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this is actually just leaving the foliage in place the good news is for the most part with the ornamental perennials anyways there very few pests that will overwinter in the foliage so for the most part you can leave that foliage in place this was a
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super super short video I have to apologize for that but you guys wanted
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lots of content on fall and closing down the garden I thought this was an
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important topic to speak to because I think a lot of people leave the actual
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foliage in place because they think it's beneficial to the soil or the nutrients and the truth about it is is that
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by the time it decomposes and Remineralizes into compounds that are usable for the plants. It's probably going to be too late in the year
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So air it may be years down the road so the quickest way to actually
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Remineralize that is to put it in the compost where it's nice and warm and there's high humidity
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So you're going to be able to transfer your plant biomass into usable nutrients much faster
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in a compost setting. Whereas leaving it on the surface of the soil really isn't doing too, too much other than
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giving a little place for critters to hang out in for the winter that are beneficial
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and the non-so-beneficial ones as well. And then giving a cover for the plant or the root biomass below
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So that cover or that insulator can also be achieved with just mulch for example Newspaper will do the same thing So you can mimic this or make it very similar with just using a mulch setup Keep in mind Like I said if you remove it you do want to mark where it is
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You would be surprised year-to-year how much your garden changes or how much your garden plans change and
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I mean what you think is good now you're going to want to change in the spring
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So you can somehow mark the areas that your perennials are in with a stake or with a border
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or with mulch different colored mulch whatever the case is that's gonna help
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you hugely identifying where that root biomass is so that you can use it or
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change it as applicable I want to thank you guys so much for watching if you
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enjoyed this video be sure to give it a thumbs up hit that subscribe button down
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below and let me know in the comments if you leave your plant foliage in place just so you can figure out or remember where it's supposed to be or if you
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remove it for past reasons and because you know composting will remineralize
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realize that nutrients much much faster. I will talk to you guys next time. Bye
