leaf litter

[divingne1]

I have been sun baking (or tried to sun bake but the sun doesn't seem to want to shine) some maple leaves but see that most people use magnolia leaves. I picked up some magnolia leaves out of someone's yard here in my neighborhood (should have seen the homeowner peeking out their window at me putting their fallen leaves in a baggie) and took them home and boiled them in a pot of water for 30 minutes...they smell when they are cooking by the way. My question is, they are still green on one side (even after boiling) but can I still use them as leave litter?

[divingne1]

Anyone? It is time to put the leaves in my tank so the springtails can get all cozy in it.

[Greatwtehunter]

I have heard a lot of people bake them after boiling for about 30 mintues. You might want to try that.

[Baltimore Bryan]

I usually bake at 350º for about 25-30 minutes instead of boiling. I'd say if you bake yours for about 15-20 minutes at 350º they will be fine since you already boiled them. Just make sure they aren't baked for too long so they don't become brittle and crumble.

[kyle1745]

I know the guy I buy my leaves from dries them somehow, but as long as you are comfortable with where you got them from I would not worry to much about them. No matter what we do we can not sterilize everything we use in our tanks, and in some case like this the little critters on the leaves could make great frog food. :-)

[divingne1]

SWEET!! Thanks...the oven is already preheated from the dog bones we made for the dogs. I'll just go put them right in.

[skylsdale]

I would add a few maple leaves as well...would be nice to have some varying levels of decomposition in there, and different types of leaves will help achieve that given the different speeds at which they begin to break down. Personally, I've been using a lot of alder leaves lately...

[markbudde]

Originally Posted by skylsdale

I would add a few maple leaves as well...would be nice to have some varying levels of decomposition in there, and different types of leaves will help achieve that given the different speeds at which they begin to break down. Personally, I've been using a lot of alder leaves lately...

It also depends on why you are adding leaf litter. Oak, magnolia and almond leaves are used frewquently here because they break down relatively slowly and tend to have low nutrient levels, such as nitrogen and sugar. This is great if the reason you are adding leaf litter is for ground cover and shelter. The opposite is the case if you are using them to grow in tank microfauna. Th eleaves which break down quickly tend to be best for springtails, woodlice and mites. I read a paper the other where they fed isopods different kinds of leaves (oak, maple, etc) and the isopods grew the fastest on Alder leaves. It was suggested that this is because alder leaves have lots of available nitrogen, since alder trees can actually fix nitrogen (take it from the air and make it biologically useful). SO right now I'm waiting for the alder leaves to come out so I can go harvest a bunch.
-mark

[divingne1]

I have seeded the soil with springtails and I also what the frogs to have cover. I have some maple leaves sun-baking now (if the sun will ever come back out).

[skylsdale]

Thanks for that info, Mark--I've been using them simply because I like the shape and look over maple leaves (you get some great whorls and varying structure in the LL layer with them, rather than the relatively flat/compressed structure of oak leaves). Good to know.