Blending leaves

[Chris333]

So I got a whole yard full of leaves and an old blender...

I found it really doesn't work unless I add water. Then it works great. I've got them sitting on a foam plate outside to dry out.

How do you guys do it?

[wazzou]

I've always done them dry
I don't overload the blender and use the pulse feature so they fluff up and fall back down.
My second step though is what I find most beneficial and that is the use of a coffee grinder.  I picked one up at a family member's garage sale, cheap  and it really get's the finer stuff I'm looking for.

[svedblen]

Interesting you should ask because I was just thinking about doing the same thing. So apparently this was the time for a quick test. First I ran a handful of oak leaves in a blender like this:



They came out like this:



Not what I wanted. So I put the result in a strainer and sort of crushed them with my fingers. Excuse the crappy picture. Taken in the kitchen with my phone in nearly non-existing light (it is late evening here right now).



Much better. Possibly usable as ground cover. Question: do you really need the blender?
Tried to crush some leaves directly with my fingers, through the strainer.



Blended and crushed to the left. Only crushed to the right. No real difference as far as I can see. The strainer seems to be the trick. Not the blender.

[wazzou]

I think the blade on that food processor is too much on a flat plane to be effective.

[svedblen]

I think the blade on that food processor is too much on a flat plane to be effective.

Yes it might be. Anyway, it did not work any good.

[peteski]

Yes, food processors have much larger (and flat) blades than blenders or coffee grinders. Plus blender and coffee grinder blades spin much faster than food processor's.  I would say blenders and coffee grinders spin at tens of thousands rpms where food processors are in thousands of rpms.

That makes a big difference in the end results.

[davefoxx]

Chris,

Don't laugh, but I have a box of leaves that I harvested from the backyard two years ago . . . yes, two years ago . . . , but I never got around to blending them, because I haven't yet purchased the sacrificial blender.  My understanding was that you mixed them with water to blend them and then dried the resulting mess.

I'm curious to hear more of what other people have done.

DFF

[Chris333]

My leaves are laying outside drying now.

[Alaska Railroader]

I spent about a week a couple of years ago trying to perfect trees using real leaves and am very happy with the results. You can't get anymore realistic than the real thing...
I used a small coffee grinder, they aren't very expensive new.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xN9qh6LfJcs/VirQb1NGkPI/AAAAAAAADsw/0Rl0JrdTA1I/s912-Ic42/Trees%25252002.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VLgOgkedurY/VirQbUt6ajI/AAAAAAAADss/Vrpu-Q10Cus/s800-Ic42/Trees%25252001.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-aU0C0T_Fes8/VirQca4xnDI/AAAAAAAADs4/eRhO_Nqsehg/s720-Ic42/Trees%25252003.jpg

[Santa Fe Guy]

I did all my leaves dry in a blender and they came out really well. Not too many in at a time and just keep hitting the on /off switch to keep them agitated. Note to self "do it outside" next time less dust around. Now the missus is agitated. LOL.

[Chris333]

I started dry and figured I had to keep it packed. That worked, but only on the bottom. Tried pushing them down with a wooden spoon. Spoon is now in 3 pieces 

I'll give it a try dry later on.

[Catt]

For ground cover ( forest floor) I use the tea leaves from all the tea bags my wife drinks.I not only get the dead leaf colour I want but the tea bags themselves make great tarps.

[Alaska Railroader]

Different plants produce the different colors. I find that leaves from bushes have that more natural green whereas tree leaves usually only render browns.

[peteski]

Different plants produce the different colors. I find that leaves from bushes have that more natural green whereas tree leaves usually only render browns.

And then there is the very colorful New England Autumn foliage.


I get to see all those wonderful colors every Fall - but I also have to rake those damn (yellow, orange, crimson and any color in between) leaves!  And pine needles too!  I just did my first batch of raking earlier today - 99% pine needles.  Those are a real pine pain to deal with!  But I do love Autumn and its unique smell.

[Chris333]

So I'm sitting here with a large tray of brownie batter. That is what my wet leaves still look like. I put a small portion in the microwave to dry out and I think they got burnt. 

Looks like good stuff just need to dry it out and maybe strain out some stem pieces.