As temperatures drop and trees begin to shed, commercial properties across North Alabama are seeing a quick buildup of leaves. While fall color is welcome, the leaf drop that follows can create safety concerns and maintenance challenges. A steady plan for leaf management keeps your commercial property safe, clean, and ready for winter.
Tim Sansom, Business Developer at the Huntsville Branch of Michael Hatcher & Associates (Hatcher Landscape), shares why leaf management at your commercial property matters:
“Number one, we run into safety issues where leaf litter builds up on sidewalks and in parking lots and can create slipping hazards, and buildup of moisture and algae and things like that that can just be problematic where there’s high foot traffic,” Sansom says. “Wet leaves create slippery surfaces on sidewalks, entryways, parking lots, and steps. This increases the chance of slips and falls.”
In addition to safety hazards, leaves cause drainage issues, standing water, turf stress, and a messy curb appeal. The experts at Hatcher consider all of these when looking at a commercial property’s overall landscape management.
“You don’t want to have a lot of leaf litter built up and persisting over turf, so we do the best we can to remove that,” Sansom says, explaining that when leaves stay on turf for too long, they trap moisture and block sunlight, which weakens the grass heading into winter.
In some cases, leaves are mulched in place, or they are blown into large piles and removed with a leaf vacuum.
“In areas where we’ve got a lot of bedding, we might be able to keep some leaf litter for natural bedding,” Sansom says. “Otherwise, we would get it out of the preferred mulch that might be present in ornamental beds, and by doing that, we blow it out or vacuum it, depending on the volume. Either way, you don’t want to have too much leaf litter buildup in your landscape over the course of the winter. It just creates plant health problems, whether we’re talking about turf or bedding.”
Failing to remove fallen leaves on your commercial property can also interfere with the agronomic program you may have in place, reducing the effectiveness of treatments and further compromising the landscape's health and appearance.
Last but not least, first impressions matter. Sansom says that leaf buildup can make a commercial property look unattended, even if everything else is in good shape.
“Regular leaf management helps maintain a clean and safe environment for employees, customers, and visitors,” he says. “It also protects turf and plant material from preventable stress, and for property managers, it reduces the risk of accidents and avoids maintenance issues that can linger into winter.”
Ready to see what Michael Hatcher & Associates can do for your commercial property? Contact Tim Sansom today at tsansom@hatcherlandscape.com or 256-993-2888.
