Leaf mould

[rbull]

A fairly simple question.  Is leaf mould high or low in nutrients? 
Google produces lots of articles on leaf mould - most of them simply repeating exactly what the others say- except that most say that leaf mould is low in nutrients, while a minority say that it is full of nutrients that plants love.  Which is correct?  Surely  fairly simple chemical trials have been done in the past, but I can't so far find any references.  Does anyone know of real data on this?

[rbull]

[Robert_Brenchley]

Trees extract most of the nutrient from the leaf before it falls, so I'd be very surprised if leafmould has much in the way of nutrient. You want composted green material for that.

[BarriedaleNick]

Leaf Mould is high in carbon (http://compost.css.cornell.edu/chemistry.html) and low in nitrogen. Good for seedlings and a good soil improver sandy or heavy soils,..

[Monkey Brains]

Really good article about leaf mould by Alys Fowler in yesterdays Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/oct/14/alys-fowler-leaf-mould

[Digeroo]

I have found that leaf mould around my potatoes has cut down the amount of scab, which due to alkaline soils is very bad here.

It also seems to increase the number of worms in the soil.  I have found it a problem as a mulch because it dries up and blows away so I cover in another layer of straw.

I filled a darek type compost bin each of the last two years with leaves and then dug in part rotted, mostely because I wanted the bin for lawn clippings.  By the autumn there was not much sign of the leaves but loads of worms.

[rbull]

Thank you all for your responses.  I am sure that many allotmenteers will find them as useful as I do.  The concensus seems to be that leaf mould is low in nutrients but is very useful stuff nevertheless.  The Cornell data is worth a lot of consideration.  I am intrigued by Digeridoo's recommendation for potatoes because I, too, garden on alkaline soil (well, solid chalk actually), and I had bad scab on potatoes last year.  I will make sure I incorporate leaf mould in future.
Thanks again