# is green leaf litter ok to use ?



## supergoose (Jul 24, 2007)

hello

i was just wondering if it was ok to use fresh picked green leaf litter after being well washed or shuld i only use brown fallen leaves?

also is there any kind of leaves i shuld not use ?

thanks for any info you can give


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## crb_22601 (Jan 12, 2006)

Green leaf liter will actually disenegrate faster. If you can get dried brown leaf litter that would be perfect.


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## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

Agreed. Green leaves also tend to grow alot more mold. When a tree is getting ready to drop a leaf, it actually pulls alot of stuff out of the leaf, so its not wasted. Those substances, present in green leaves, act as a catalyst for decomposition.


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## tyler (Feb 23, 2006)

It's best to use the dried brown leaves that have already fallen. Freshly picked green leaves start to rot into mush overtime because they still possess the live cell organelles.


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## slaytonp (Nov 14, 2004)

"Leaf litter" by definition is already dried and fallen from the trees. For a humid vivarium, you want something that decomposes slowly, such as dried oak, magnolia, almond, and some others. You want it to last for a while, which green leaves in a humid vivarium won't do.


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## elmoisfive (Dec 31, 2004)

You can turn your green leaf 'litter' brown and dry it in the process by baking in the oven (at least this works for magnolia leaves). Stinks a bit so I'd have the house well ventilated though.

Bill


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## supergoose (Jul 24, 2007)

thank you all yor the fast responce and great info . i will take a walk in the woods and see what i come up with .

33 more days till my first PDF's woot


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## Baltimore Bryan (Sep 6, 2006)

just be sure that there haven't been any pesticides used where you plan on getting the leaves. like already mentioned, you can bake the leaves in the oven for around 30 minutes at 350 F. i think... good luck


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## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

elmoisfive said:


> You can turn your green leaf 'litter' brown and dry it in the process by baking in the oven (at least this works for magnolia leaves). Stinks a bit so I'd have the house well ventilated though.
> 
> Bill


I'm just curious how these dried leaves hold up compared to actual leaf litter. Plants translocate a lot of sugars and other nutrients out of their leaves before they drop, leaving the fallen leaf with mostly hard to break down cellulose and tannins. I would think dried green leaves would still break down considerably faster but have never tried it.


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## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

Baked green leaves seem to last longer than green leaves, but not as long as actual 'dead' leaves the tree dropped itself. This is from casual observation of oak and magnolia leaves in my leuc viv.


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