good or bad?

[BUFFS]

I will have a load of rhubarb leaves to compost, would laying them around the roots of rasps cause any problems?, as some leaves carry a toxin to stop young stuff growing , such as walnut leaves, which have to be composted first, I wouldn't want to lose my rasps as they are cropping great this year..

[burnie]

Never done it, I do put the leaves in the compost bin though

[self-contained]

I've used wilting/offcut leaves from various plants (rhubarb, cabbages etc) as mulch. Doesn't seem to have caused any trouble, and has helped with water retention/feeding. I've read the nitrogen in leaves can inhibit germination and affect very new seedlings, but I can't imagine the slowly released nitrogen will have much effect on an established fruiting plant that is (presumably) being given more appropriate feed as well.

[Jay-ell]

I've used the leaves to mulch various beds with out problems (obviously not seed beds as the leaves will just smother the drills). The raspberries will have no problem with the leaves - the oxalic acid in the rhubarb leaves stops some things eating them but do nothing once broken down.

[Bren In Pots]

I've always just put mine in the compost bin, never thought of doing anything else with them.

[veggiechicken]

I leave the rhubarb leaves on the rhubarb bed.

[BUFFS]

I usually put all the rhubarb leaves onto the compost, but as I wanted to give the rasps a winter feed, I put a load of leaves that had been blocking my pathway around the base of the plants, then 3 days later they said on Beechgrove that some plants leaves have poisons in them, so I wanted to find out before putting the rest on and possibly killing all me lovely rasps, which would have been awful, there is nothng better than scots rasps as they ripen slowly and develop their wonderful taste. now I know, I can take the leaves and put them around the stems, saving me carrying them to the compost, then carrying the compost back to the same spot to use, as the rasps are 2ft from the rhubarb, so I will cut out the middle man and save me creaking legs..

[Nicos]

I've either chucked mine on the compost or left around the rhubarb plants...will have a go too at using as a mulch around the raspberries. Hopefully it'll block the growth of the nettles which are established there.