Leaf Cleanup--need to know what the pros do

[JonT]

Looking for the most efficient method of leaf cleanup for my yard. I was thinking about buying a hurricane-power leaf blower and blowing them into a pile and then mulching them with a mower but that wont work when its so dam windy here (which it is most of the time). Any other ideas?

[masraum]

leaf vacuum?

Besides the special made leaf vacuums, my blower will convert into a "mulching" vacuum.

[masraum]

http://landscaping.about.com/cs/lawns/gr/chipperShredder.htm

http://drpower.com/TwoStepDualCategory.aspx?p1Name=DRPowerHome&Name=LeafLawnVacDual2Step&BC=0%3aHome&LinkType=2&src=IP00050

[JonT]

Ive got an electric blower/vac but it chokes on anything to easily. Thanks Steve but those are more than I want to spend right now but they sure look nice and effective.

[Rick V]

I put mulching baldes on the tractor, close the discharge shoot, and just mulch them up and leave them in the yard. It does good for the lawn. I also don't have too many leaves so not much of an issue for me.

[legion]

I've got a 60' ash and 4 50' maples. When the leaves come down, it would cover my grass 2 inches thick after mulching. Thankfully our city picks up leaves from the curb, so I just blow them there. When all 5 trees are shedding at the same time, it's a 6 hour job by myself.

[Jims5543]

I am sort of a newb to this leave think. I have lived most of my adult life in Florida with little leaves to deal with. Even then I have always lived in subdivisions so leaves just get put to the curb.

Any advise for my house in North Carolina? I am on 1 acre and like legion the leaves will be 3+ inches thick on the lawn around the house. I really have no real neighbors, one below me and that is it.

I was considering burning them. I have a spare 55 gallon drum and was just going to turn it in to a leave burning furnace.

Or, shoudl I gather them up and haul them off?

[jhc]

I have 2.5 acres, all tall trees. The best is to mow and pick up with leaf vac and pile into a compost pile. Or mow over the leaves, shredding them into little bits and then use a blower to blow off the grass.

[pwd72s]

Depends on your lot size, I guess...but I saw a cool idea on a public TV show...use leaf blower or rake, gather leaves on a tarp. Two people drag the tarp & leaves to a circular 4-5' high container made of chicken wire. Place leaves inside. Next spring, thanks to rain water, leaf mold to place into flower beds.

Me? Bought an electric B&D "leaf hog"...it's tons of work, and yeah, if the leaves are wet, when you try to bite off too much, the damned thing clogs. But it's chopping does reduce the mass considerably. My most hated tree? Neighbor across the road has 2 huge pin oaks. They only shed when a stiff sou'wester is blowing, from his property to mine. Of course, NEVER will they shed all at once. Once picked up, I don't bother with a
compost ring...I just scatter the chopped leaves among my fir trees out back. They rot quickly enough.

[HardDrive]

5 gallons of 87 gasoline.
1 match.
1 bottle of rum.

[StevoRocket]

Wait till the wind blows them all over your neighbours garden. Works for me.

[85eurocarrera]

Get smaller trees. ;-) I did just that by moving to a new development. Now I get to watch them grow. I do miss them though. Unless they get growing fast, my kid is gonna miss out on the leaf pile fun!

[Porschephile944]

When I was in high school I was in charge of leaf cleanup at my parents house. Several techniques will work with varying levels of success. By far the best is waiting as long as possible for a windy day to blow all the leaves into the woods. This happened one year during the night, I was the happiest person you ever saw the next morning. Second technique is to get a leaf blower and blow the leaves into the woods. If your yard is to big dealing with extension cords becomes a pain and this technique will take way to much time/effort. This last technique was my favorite if mother nature wouldn't eliminate the problem. Take your riding mower and mulch the leaves, do it just like you would if you were mowing the grass without picking up the clippings. Now go back over the leaves and pick them up just like you were mowing the lawn. The key to this technique is to not mulch the leaves to fine or the mower wont pick them up, you just want to mulch them enough so that you don’t have to empty the bags every 50 feet because they fill up with leaves. The other key to this technique is that if you have a lot of trees and the leaves build up really bad is to do this a lot when the trees really start to lose there leaves.

[Z-man]

I have a Snapper rider-mower with a 'patented high vac' blade. It will go through 3 inches of leaves and leave a clear path. It works excellent. However, it is not a mulcher, so the catch/bag fills up quite fast in the fall. I have a wooded section in my yard and I dump the leaves in the mulch pile.

-Z-man.

[RickM]

I do what Porschephile944 does.

I "cut" the lawn and let the basket fill up. I continue with the filled basket untl all leaves are shreded....usually in one pass. I then empty the basket and go over the lawn again. I probably have 6 - 8 baskets of finely shredded material for the 1/2 acre of lawn I do. This technique drastically cuts down on the volume and amount of work.

Also, I do not use mulcher blades but use a 48" Ransomes Bobcat which is quite powerful.

[bell]

i just wait til it snows......problem solved

[Bill Verburg]

I used to have an acre of lawn surrounded by very large Elms, Maples and Oaks that I tried to keep loking good

when I was young and ambitious a sheet spred out on the lawn, rake into it, dispose as you wish

when I got a little older a Kunota diesel w/ lawn vac/shredder/ dual bagging was just the ticket

Then I got smart and moved to a .25 acre of which only .125 acre is lawn. But the pool is murder to keep clean.

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by StevoRocket
Wait till the wind blows them all over your neighbours garden. Works for me.

Are you sure you're in the UK? That's my neighbor's method. Damn!, I have enough leaves of my own.