I often read about gardener's grabbing leaf bags from neighbors and wood chips from tree services. Surely these have been sprayed with pesticides, chemical fertilizers, etc. What is the organic view on these methods?

I think I would want to know the neighbor and if they were using chemical sprays before "grabbing" their leaves.

I hear what you are saying but in truth, there is contamination in everything... so it becomes a matter of pro/con. Tree leaves are unlikely to have been sprayed with anything, hard to spray a mature maple! and fruit trees with no more than a dormant oil. I have used leaves for composting for many years, the time and heat it takes for composting may neutralise all but the most persistant pesticides. As for chemical fertilizers, most of them have enough lifespan to be viable for a few weeks, so only trace amounts would remain after composting and at that, the N content predominates.

Note that this is a dangerous over-simplification on my part, you do not know what specific formulations, what dosage, what combination, etc. I suppose that my point is: better some orgnic materials than none.

John from Ecologicalsgardens dotcom

How about neighbors who volunteer their grass clippings? They are more likely to contain herbacide residue- should I just say "no thanks"?
Keli

Residue in turf grass clippings CAN be problematic, yes. I suppose that, if you KNOW Mr. RoundUp lives next door, a polite "no thx!" would be advisable. Mind you, if you wish to improve a non-edible area (flowerbeds) free clippings are better than no clippings....

As usual, some links:

http://www.uoguelph.ca/GTI/94anrep/94r9.htm
On concentrations of 2,4-D residuals in turf compost
http://cbc.ca/consumers/indepth/lawn_arg./
http://trfn.clpgh.org/vgc/warfare.html#environmenthttp:...sticides/altern.html

John/Ecologicals

I guess that I live more in the country than the suburbs, because the chemical 'weed-&-feed' turf nuts don't seem to live around here too much. The rare immaculate lawn stands out from the rest of the neighborhood's mowed-dandelions-&-crabgrass yards,...& I wouldn't take grass clippings from "Mr. Perfect Lawn", but I probably would from most others. & I take leaves from EVERYONE!