Just make sure the compost using these leaves is well aged and you will not have a problem. A good hot compost pile should eliminate the spores and any fungus.

Composting diseased plants is controversial, but there is ample research that shows that composting diseased plant tissue can result in antibodies, in the compost, to these diseases. I have been composting all of my plant material for many years and have not seen any indication that putting diseased plant tissue back into the garden causes any problem and have seen a reduction over the last 35 or so years in plant diseases. Many of the people I correspond with all over the world tell me they see the same thing, a reduction in plant diseases after they have composted the diseased plant tissue.

That's reassuring to hear, Kimmsr. Thanks for the reply.
Do you think the same would apply to lasagna beds, since that is where most of my leaves ended up. I doubt there will be much heat generated in those beds.

Apparently it is not the heat of the digestion process that develops those immunities, but the process itself. As the bacteria work, and this happens in both the compost pile and in the garden soil, they find these pathogens, determine they are not good guys, and find ways to keep those disease pathogens from becoming a problem. Those people that I correspond with all over the world have done both, composted diseased plant tissue and worked that diseased plant tissue into the garden. One couple in New Zealand wrote that when they started gardening where they live today both Early and Late Blight made growing tomatoes immpossible, but they kept working that diseased plant tissue into the soil, along with other organic matter, and today they have no Blight problems.
This was noted and written about by Sir Albert Howard and from that tried and written about by Friend Sykes and Lady Eve Balfour as well as J. I. Rodale.

That's interesting Kimmsr. It seems to be the opposite of traditional gardening practice. I've often wondered about how diligent I had to be about what went into my compost.

Compost is a such a win win situation because the less work you put into it, the better it is.

That is the opposite of "conventional" gardening because those "conventional" gardeners use synthetic materials to try and grow plants which makes them more attractive to insect pests and diseases so the "conventional" gardeners need to spend more money on "stuff" to control those plant pests and diseases which is further detrimental to our environment.

We're starting to get into some sticky territory here with some unsupported generalizations :-) I'm not sure whose definition specifies that "conventional" gardeners are only those that use synthetics but I'm sure there are a great many that would take exception to that statement. And while there is ample documentation to support the disease suppressing nature of compost, I've yet to see similar documentation to support that this same disease suppression can be derived from simply incorporating the uncomposted yet infected material back into the soil. That notion blows the entire practice of crop rotation out of the water. To theorize that it is not the 'heat but the process' that allows this phenomenon is a bit of an oxymoron - the process IS the generation of heat. That's what composting and decompostion is all about.

The "conventional" wisdom is that diseased plant material should not be included in the compost pile simply because it is less common for home composting operations to reach a temperature of 140F and maintain it long enough to destroy the pathogens. Unless you can achieve this temperature and maintain it for at least several days, you run the risk of merely spreading the fungal spores or other pathogens around. If you can really "cook" a pile (and can measure the results) then I would not be shy about including most diseased plant material. I would still avoid diseases like verticillium wilt or Phytophthora ramora as the liability is simply far too great to mess around with.

The "conventional" wisdom is that diseased plant material should not be included in the compost pile simply because it is less common for home composting operations to reach a temperature of 140F and maintain it long enough to destroy the pathogens.

gardengal - And what supports your claim that this is the "conventional wisdom"? It may be for those that are either new to or inexperienced in composting and how the compost process works. But it isn't for those who are experienced and knowledgeable about the process.

North - as kimmsr said "Composting diseased plants is controversial" and both sides claim to have the one and only "truth". You'll never get agreement on the issue - sadly. So, the best approach is for you to experiment yourself with it and see which works best for you.

All I can offer is my personal experience of 40+ years of composting literally everything I clean out of the garden regardless of its condition and no untoward problems.

It helps to keep in mind that many of the main disease problems in the garden are fungal diseases and are not just soil-borne but are also air borne/wind borne pathogens. So since we can't purify the air in the garden, I'll just keep on composting. ;)

Good luck to you in your gardening efforts. ;)

Dave

Dave - check any of the common popular resources for home composting: USDA, ATTRA, The Composting Guide and the big land grant universities that sponsor the extension services like UC Davis, OSU, Cornell, Ohio State and TAMU, just to name a few. All caution against adding diseased plant material to the home compost unless the proper thermophilic stage can be achieved and confirmed. This means reaching a uniform temperature of approximately 145F (63-65C) and maintaining it for a minimum of 96 hours.

While you may be an accomplished and experienced home composter yourself, not everyone is, nor do they bother to research the subject or understand the process. Or even monitor their home compost temperatures. Unless they are able to do so accurately, it is just safer to avoid adding diseased material that can lead to further problems.

"Conventional" gardeners are those that use synthetic fertilziers and, for the most part do not add much if any organic matter to their soil.
There are many people that have not read Sir Albert Howards "An Agricultural Testament" where he sets out the basics of organic gardening which includes observing that the practices of some people allowed them to grow strong and healthy crops and animals next door to crops and animals that were unhealthy. After reading about this idea Friend Sykes sold his profitable and healthy farm and bought one that was unhealthy (and unprofitable) and applying the principles Sir Albert Howard had laid out turned that farm into a healthy and profitable farm.
There are some people here that practice a kind of almost organic type of gardening that do not believe what Sir Albert Howard wrote is true and are afraid to make the full committment to real organic gardening.
It does work.

"Conventional" gardeners are those that use synthetic fertilziers and, for the most part do not add much if any organic matter to their soil.

LOL!! By who's definition? Yours? I routinely add compost to my garden in the form of a mulch and the only 'fertilizer' I ever use (other than for container plants) is rabbit manure occasionally on heavy feeders like roses and clematis. In my garden, there is simply no need to do more. So by your definition am I therefore an "unconventional" gardener?? Hardly - just one that is merely practical and with a substantial horticultural background that has helped me understand plant biology and their cultural/growing requirements. And there's thousands more out here just like me.

Unfortunately, this forum often provides a disservice to new members or novice gardeners with unsupported statements like this that are phrased in such absolute terms. Sure, there is plenty of great and extremely helpful information to be gained here but the dogmatic approach of some and the routine dismissal of anything that diverges from that narrow viewpoint is intimidating and discouraging to many who may be overwhelmed by their newness and the unnecessary complication of what is really a very simple process. After some 30 years in this field as a home gardener and as a professional horticulturist and landscape consultant, one thing I learned very early on is that there are very few - if any - absolutes with respect to gardening of any sort. We are all welcome to our own opinions but none of us are possessed with the ultimate truth. What works best for some may not be the ideal and most practical or efficient approach for others. To diss the opinions or experiences of others simply because they differ from one's own viewpoint is egocentric in the extreme and far from helpful and often very discouraging and offputting to those who have yet to develop a lot of their own practical experience.

Let's all be a little more cautious in how we phrase things and avoid dogma, broad generalizations and absolutes. They benefit no one.

I'm resurrecting this old thread as the title/topic is relevant to my concern. This autumn will be my first go at using shredded leaves from our yard as mulch. Rather than composting in a pile (so, we won't get the 140F benefit of killing fungal spores), we'll shred the leaves and lay them back onto our beds (which we annually cover w/ 3-4" shredded hardwood bark mulch...trying to cut back on this and use leaves instead).

A section of our yard is lined with the neighbor's volunteer hackberry trees, and tons of sooty molded leaves are dropping onto our side (never mind some of our perennials being affected, too). Is it okay to shred leaves infected with sooty mold and scatter them back into the beds? Thanks to all for any advice.

Sooty mold is harmless to plants......unless it it so dense as to prohibit photosythesis. It is just a mold that is growing on the excrement (honeydew) of sucking insects like aphids or scale. Adding leaves tainted with sooty mold to the compost or directly to the garden poses no risk.

Perfect, gardengal -- thanks for the quick reply!

My best chance at this will likely be to periodically stalk the neighbors' yards after their lawn crews come through. With a milder-than-usual winter ahead of us (I think we hit an abnormally high 88-90 a couple of days ago!), though, these trees may not drop their leaves until February.