The fall season in North Carolina brings cooler temperatures and an abundance of fallen leaves. As the leaves gradually fall, you may not feel a sense of urgency to remove them from your lawn. It's important, however, to remove leaf piles this fall as soon as possible to prevent them from causing damage or other problems for your turf. Heavy piles of leaves can block essential resources for your grass, attract unwanted pests, and create the perfect environment for lawn diseases.

Leaf Piles Smother Your Grass

A large pile of leaves cover a lawn in Matthews, NC.

It may feel more convenient to allow all of the leaves to fall from your tree first and then begin the process of removing them; however, if the layer of leaves on your lawn is too thick it can smother your grass. Leaving a thick layer or pile of leaves on your grass negatively affects the lawn's health by blocking it from receiving essential resources, such as sunlight, water, and oxygen.

Sunlight not only provides energy for your lawn but also permits grass to produce the chlorophyll it needs to keep its bright green color. Energy from the sun paired with proper water and oxygen intake creates a strong root system for optimal lawn health. To ensure your grass can maximize these resources, you should keep your lawn free of leaves!

When leaves smother your lawn, resources like sunlight, water, and oxygen can have trouble reaching the grass!

Leaf Piles Attract Pests

A big reason that it's important to remove leaf piles from your lawn during the fall is that they can attract pests. When leaves accumulate on your lawn, pests will be attracted to them for numerous reasons. For one, pests will use these leaf piles as shelter because it will provide them with a place to hide from other animals. Also, leaf piles can provide warmth to pests that are looking for a way to escape the cold weather. What's more, leaves can actually serve as a food source for certain pests. By removing leaves from your lawn, you will be taking away a very attractive habitat for pests, and they may move away from your property in search of a more hospitable environment.

Leaf Piles Create the Perfect Environment For Lawn Diseases

Piles of leaves restrict your lawn from accessing necessary nutrients and resources that help keep it strong and able to defend itself. This restriction of nutrients leads to a vulnerable lawn that's more susceptible to lawn diseases. It's particularly important to take care of leaf piles before the colder winter months set in, as snow can add weight to the leaf piles, causing even more damage to the grass underneath. Wet piles of leaves under the snow trap moisture on the soil's surface and can even lead to mold growth and inhibit grass growth in the spring! There are several types of snow mold and lawn diseases you want to prevent. The following are some common types of lawn diseases in North Carolina that can be caused by heavy leaf coverage:

  • Gray snow mold
  • Pink snow mold
  • Powdery mildew
  • Take-all root rot
  • Red thread

Contact Us Today to Schedule Our Leaf Removal Service

At %name%%, we remove leaves from your lawn by blowing or raking the leaves onto a tarp or onto the curb where we can then vacuum them into our truck. We offer our leaf removal service independently or can be added to our fall yard cleanup program. We offer this service to residential and commercial properties, as well as HOAs, in Matthews, NC, and other nearby cities such as Weddington and Ballantyne. Give us a call at (704) 649-0430 to sign up!