I read a article sometime ago about a factory that was coming to the outskirts of chattanooga tn. that was going to take the citys leaves and compress them into logs to heat with... I dont think it ever got started...?? also watched a little invention tv show where a guy took a hyd. splitter and made a thing to compress the leaves into a log... they did a little experiment and lit the leaf log and also had a wood fire going... the leaves burned at a higher temp than the wood.. not sure what the wood was... any of you ever made a leaf log??
Leaves??
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No, I would think the smell would kill that deal, especially for us guys with stoves in the house. Also I would think leaves would smolder and smoke too much.
ss~zoso~ss
ArboristSite Operative
I have seen vids of leaf pellets, I think that would be a more viable option for heating with leaves as there is a higher surface area / volume ratio
??? Why would it be a problem with a stove in the house? If you are smelling smoke in the house there is something wrong with the installation.
Harry K
513yj
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Mine smells some but it's due to the stinkin cold spell that wont go away and having to chuck wood in every 4-6 hours.
Most all of the pellet machines will handle leaves with out a double reduction required for sawdust/or fine wood chips ( under 6mm in size) Once compressed they are like any other softwood pellet. As with any pellet making operation devil is in the details. collection, transportation, storage before and after, packaging, moisture content of raw materials, resizing of raw materials, binding agent ( this depend on the type of system used) and a bunch more. I could go on but it gets somewhat boring.
If wind, temperature and whatnot is right, just after I load the box, we get a strong smell in the house when the wife opens the door to let the dogs out... it comes in the open door. Occasionally, just after loading, if the wind is swirling around the house just right a tiny bit of smoky smell will find its way through any little leaks in the house. But everything has to be just right to set-up the correct pressure differential on the northeast side side, and the smell is normally limited to just one room... the living-room where the front door is (same door the dogs go out, northeast side). I never notice any smell in the house from opening the firebox door, no matter how often I need to open it... I don't believe I've ever even seen smoke come out the firebox door. Actually, my wife will sit downstairs sometimes with the door open, after loading, and watch the fire 
I get enough fire-watchin' during the fire pit season.
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I get enough fire-watchin' during the fire pit season.*
513yj
ArboristSite Operative
If wind, temperature and whatnot is right, just after I load the box, we get a strong smell in the house when the wife opens the door to let the dogs out... it comes in the open door. Occasionally, just after loading, if the wind is swirling around the house just right a tiny bit of smoky smell will find its way through any little leaks in the house. But everything has to be just right to set-up the correct pressure differential on the northeast side side, and the smell is normally limited to just one room... the living-room where the front door is (same door the dogs go out, northeast side). I never notice any smell in the house from opening the firebox door, no matter how often I need to open it... I don't believe I've ever even seen smoke come out the firebox door. Actually, my wife will sit downstairs sometimes with the door open, after loading, and watch the fire
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I don't have smoke coming out but it still smells some. We sometimes leave the door open to make s'mores or burn up some brats.
chuckwood
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I hope this doesn't work and that it won't catch on. I get free leaves by the truckload from the city in late fall/early winter, and by spring time the big pile is packed down well enough to spread all over my garden. I use a 4 wheeler pulling a trailer to spread the stuff, and I do it before the plants are too tall for the quad and trailer to go over them. Then I'm done for the rest of the year. The leaves prevent moisture from evaporating out of my soil so I don't need to water. They are spread deep enough so that weeds can't grow. The soil is getting rich and black and I don't need fertilizer anymore. For some reason, my pesticide use is also way down. Don't be a burnin' them leaves - use 'em for mulch!
Some leaves are harmful to your garden plants... Black Walnut for one. Black Walnut leaves contain a substance called Juglone... it can make many different sorts of plants sick or stunted, and can flat-out kill plants like tomatoes. Ever notice that nothing much good grows under a Black Walnut tree?? There are other tree and shrub leaves that can be harmful to garden plants also... as well, some types may have pests and fungus infections that can wreck havoc in a garden. Indiscriminately spreading leaves on a garden will eventually bite your butt... some are real healthy for a garden, some are risky, and some are flat-out wrong.
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chuckwood
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Well, so far my butt ain't been bit, and my garden has been very successful with the leaves. I'll admit that I've had fungus problems with the tomatoes, I had to spray them a lot with fungicides, and I'm not using leaves any more with them. The 'taters love the rotten leaves. As for Walnut leaves, I'm aware of that, and it's sort of a crap shoot there. Since walnut trees are the first in the season to lose their leaves, they are mostly gone by the time people start raking and blowing in earnest. I don't think there will be as much of a chance of walnut stuff being in there. I grow most of my own food, and its nice having the city bring mulch in by the dump truck load at no cost to me.
Dad grows potatoes up north by just laying the pieces on top of the damp ground by the creek and covering 'em with yard waste... pine needles, leaves, grass cuttings and whatnot. He keeps adding to the "compost" all summer with whatever is cleaned up in the yard, grass trimmings, and whatnot. In the fall he walks over, grabs the stem, and lifts 'em right out... a little shake and they're whistle clean, hangin' off the roots to be plucked like grapes.
The next year he tosses the seed potatoes on top of the old "compost" and starts covering them again.
It's pretty slick... I don't believe he's used a shovel, spade or fork to harvest potatoes in 10 years or better.
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Del_, What are the white jugs suspended for...? I sure hope they're not to mark the wire for the crop duster...
vanhalenps4
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I agree that leaves should be composted and used to grow more trees not burnt. They make these logs in parts of Africa with poor soil where things have been overcut and there's nothing left to be burnt. Over there they use wood for everything:cooking, boiling water, heating. You can use dried grasses and stalks, shredded paper, etc. Anything that would burn too fast on its own, compress it into a block and it lasts longer..
if there's wood available anywhere, the input cost/energy will almost always be lower than doing this.
if there's wood available anywhere, the input cost/energy will almost always be lower than doing this.
vanhalenps4
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That garden is beautiful by the way, del
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