Leaf blowing. Tell me it gets better
 

I recently had my back yard redone. The day my landscaper finished is the same day that some crazy strong winds whipped up. The very same winds that helped light my hometown on fire. My yard was spotless. Now it looks like the trees vomited in my yard. It’s a foot deep in the corners.

I’ve been busy. Work. Today? I pulled out my POS corded leaf blower. Wow. It is challenging. I had leaves going everywhere. Eventually I got it blown to the part of the yard we built for my dog’s bathroom. It was easy to rake from there. I’m not ready to hire a weekly yard guy. Does it get easier?

I’s Clear I need a cordless blower. Gas? One of the 80v battery rigs?

Get a leaf blower that converts to a mulcher.

"Does it get easier? " Not really... You just have to stay on top of it.

From experience, blowing leaves is much like herding cats.

I’m lucky as I have a couple of guys that do it for me .

The pool guy comes on Thursday , and makes it spotless .
Then “mo and blo” come on Friday and blow a load of sh@t in the pool :rolleyes:

The last couple of weeks , I’ve caught them and told them not to come in the back yard .

I’m thinking of buying my own leaf blower from Home Depot then I can simply blow all the sh@t into the pool myself ....

First house with a tiny yard had four 25 year old maples and one ash of the same age. I was a young twenty something homeowner with no money.

The first year, I bought a rake. From the end of September until the beginning of November, it took me 8 hours to rake every week. I had to muck the gutters several times by hand consuming a further 8 hours.

The second year, I bought a small, Walmart-quality gas leaf blower. I began by blowing off the roof and gutters and it only took about three hours each week.

A few years after that, I bought a tow-behind leaf sweeper for my neighbor's riding lawnmower. I had assumed lawn mowing duties when the husband died. I blew off the roof, gutter and the other areas the lawnmower couldn't reach, and I could do BOTH yards in an hour.

My recommendation? Get a good, gas-powered leaf blower. If you want to do it fast, get a yard vacuum, but they are $$$.

https://www.amazon.com/Billy-Goat-KV600-Litter-Vacuum/dp/B00EAIPCWY?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag =duckduckgo-ffsb-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creative ASIN=B00EAIPCWY

I recently purchased an Echo 58v for my dad, went back later and got one for myself....handy, but a toy blower, suitable for blowing off a deck, clearing grass off sidewalks/driveways.

I have two powerful 2-cycle backpacks (one Echo, one Stihl) that produce hurricane force winds and will move some leaves...night & day difference.

This mornng I dropped $1700 for a Cyclone Rake....it's gonna help a bit...I hope.

Naw...it don't get easier...you get smarter...

Do ya know anything about bamboo....see, I was thinkin' about planti...:)

No it doesn't get easier and only gets worst. I have no neighbor in the back so its all canyon (thanks goodness its all down hill). I have about 3/8 acre of trees and brush that belong to me. My neighbor's got these huge fooking trees that like to rain leaves by autumn, so when the wind god decides to exercise his lungs, its a huge mess. I got so tired of cleaning back there when my kids were small. They play on the deck so my supreme commander demanded that it stays clean. that weren't happenning. I clean it by lunch then its all over by night fall, and if it blows, its covered the next morning. Finally I decided to hire a mo and blow guy that does the other houses. 50 bucks, he comes twice a month to keep everything under control.

Use whatever tool works best:
Wait until a completely dry day, blow them all into a single pile, rake + rake/snowshovel into the compost bin, or onto a tarp to drag into a corner.

It gets easier when all the leaves are done falling. Pains me to look at my yard right now. Storm supposed to stop Monday...it'll take me a couple of days. Cindy argues I should hire it done, but even at age 73, it's a male pride thing.

Stihl gas blower. I keep one in the yard and one in the garage. A PITA Oct-Jan. But a good blower is worth having. A POS blower will make you crazy. Also makes drying the car and motorcycles after a bath much quicker.

Don’t bother with it until there is NOTHING left on the trees or you’ll end up just frustrating yourself and redoing work a dozen times. Of course this means you’ll have a window of about three hours between when that happens and when it rains for five weeks straight and then immediately freezes, encapsulating the leaves on the ground in an impenetrable layer of ice until spring (that’s what seems to happen here every single year) but at least you won’t have wasted the effort!

I agree it's a pain. We have a LOT of leaves and over the years we have discovered & accumulated the best tools to do the job. We have wide rakes, narrow rakes, a battery powered blower, and a gas blower.

And this to collect all the leaves in.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1508670560.jpg


It is admittedly a piece of crap, but it saves a lot of time. My mower has a bagger attachment that connects to the vacuum and sucks up huge volumes of leaves. By the end of leaf season we have a compost pile 5 feet tall by 10 feet wide by 30 feet long.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1508671024.jpg


These are very handy, and at $5, worth every penny.

Like I said in another thread.. leaf blowers are a bit deceptive in advertising. Look for the one with the highest CFM as that's where the work gets done. A lot of the cheaper leaf blowers want you to focus on how many MPH they generate. I use a Husqvarna 150BT backpack blower 251 MPH 692CFM. I can move 3/4 to 1-1/2" river rock around with it and frequently do because that's what in our flowerbeds. I can easily clean stones off my concrete approach to my garage. I do have a small battery powered blower by Greenworks that's decent but a toy in comparison. I can move things with my Husky at idle that the battery powered blower will struggle with.

It's fantastic. I would guess it is about 90% Oak, maple, and hickory leaves and 10% grass clippings, kitchen waste, and the straw and chicken poop from the chicken coop.

The soil in our garden area was heavy clay 10 years ago. If the clay was wet it stuck together like glue, and if it was dry it was like cement. After about a decade of adding a little compost to the clay every year, the soil now looks like this. I can dig down 6" with my hands, wet or dry.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1508674154.jpg


The 2016 compost pile is in the foreground, it has shrunk by well over 90% as it decomposed. The beginning of the 2017 pile is on the left. What is left of 2014 and 2015 is in the background. It will get distributed this week to make room for the rest of the 2017 leaves.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1508674154.jpg

No way, no how here with the rates of falling and amount. I've cleared my back yard three times before mowing already, and my Skag will mow through a modest amount. And I don't have "many" .... Don't need the Cyclone rake for my primary house....Still/Echo backpacks kick butt, but still a task. Some of my trees are almost empty, some half-way, and the one's in front haven't dropped a single leaf yet....it's just part of fall :)

Too much whining going on in this thread. As my sister would say deal with it. I have a Torro handheld blower mulcher and does a good job in the yard.

Just think of it. Nature gives you beautiful leaves on the trees which help the trees grow.
Picking up leaves is good exercise. If you don't like yard work you can always live in a high rise condo. And then you will have something to complain about.....:confused::eek:

I wasn't whining....I was bragging :)..

Another option is to get a good mulching blade for your mower. I have a 2 acre lot. I have 7 maple trees on my house lot and nothing but arborvitae on the other acre. when the leaves start coming down heavily or I get behind with the backpack blower, I use one of the pull type lawn sweepers. The rest of the time I'm using my backpack blower and the wind to my favor. But I don't have to pick my leaves up, the owner of the farm around me tells me to just blow them into his field and he lets me put all my grass clippings in the field as well.

I went lawn-less. Just plant/flowers beds covered with mulch. (Smallish wood Chips).

Which exasperates the situation

I have a cordless Ryobi 18v blower to round up the leaves and just bought a corded Black and Decker leaf vacuum from Amazon that sucks up and mulches the leaves. Did the front yard yesterday and will do the back today. It seems to be a decent combo.

Cliff, you might be just fine with something like an Echo 58v or similar. I actually cleared my back yard of modest leaf cover with my dad's before I gave it to him. It has a turbo button which blows well, but drains the juice. Home Depot has a 30 day return policy...go pick one up, try it and see...return if you don't scratch it up, etc. and it doesn't get 'r done. Nothing wrong with that...

We have alot of mulch in beds below our trees. I probably bag as much mulch as I do leaves in the fall. Then get it redone in the spring. Sucks but it's the way it is.

Or you can use this option to make life simple.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1508692406.jpg
Personally I love the 50-60 foot oak trees all over my home but at this time of year I start to wonder...

Worst part is, a backpack blower like the one I have will send your wood chips flying with the leaves, that's part of the reason I went to river rock in the flower beds.

I have a 16hp walk behind billy goat leaf blower. The kind the commercial guys use. Blows everything into to woods. The wind blows it back but at least the yard looks good for a day or 2. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1508720349.jpg

Just blow the leafs out off the patio sidewalks, beds, etc. onto the grass before mowin. The just mulch or bagem depending on how long I've let em pile up. Have a large cottonwood (they shed) so get leafs year round.

Have to rake the front yard anyway because it has a sweet gum tree. &#@!! spiny balls.

I bought a Stihl BR700 which is the biggest backpack blower they make. It will move knee deep piles of leaves if they are dry.

The next step is one of these if I can find a good used one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO3ymqfPrxA

Noooooo. First rain, they will float out and you will have to go get em'. That and DG. I have seen so many of those wood chips all over the streets after the first rain. maybe you are in the flats and water isn't hauling ass down a hill taking everything with it when it rains

Putting wood chips around the house is like putting out bait for termites.

I mulch.

...and mulch and mulch and mulch and mulch. Theory is that the nutrients pulled from the soil by the trees to build leaves goes back into the soil.

..other theory is that I'm lazy, don't like chemical fertilizers, and we have no leaf pickup.

...but seriously - unless you run a golf course - why bag and deal with all those leaves. Chop 'em up.

^^^^ I don't bag grass for that very reason...
My Z-turn Skag puts that back where it came from, but leaves...just way, way too many...I blow most into the woods behind my house or on my other properties, and probably mulch 20% or so back into the soil. On one property, a John Deere tractor pulling a 6' Woods finsh mower is no match for the leaves....hence a Cyclone rake....can't wait!

Blowing sucks :)

Don't think that model was available when I bought my last Stihl backpack but mine works too :). At least when I purchased, I noticed an interesting thing...on the top 2 (might have been 3), The engine specs were the same, but the air flow/nozzle design was behind the incremental increased ratings. I love Husqvarna stuff too, but no one seems to carry them around here...I've asked why at two commercial dealer types, and they both said parts/support.....maybe Stihl bribes them....I dunno :)

Being surrounded by farm fields, and not much else, I have never lifted a rake, or leaf blower in 22 years of living here. I do mow one last time after the leaves have all fallen, which the Winter winds blow into the next county. By January, there is not a single leaf to be found.

I got a stihl br350 backpack blower. Now blowing leaves is fun and easy. Highly recommended. I actually look for reasons to use it because it's fun. If you get one, be aware that the spark arrestor clogs up fast causing loss of power. I discovered this last week and cut mine off with a hack saw. Anyway, awesome blower.


Of course at some point you still have to bend over and pick up leaves to bag them but my wife likes doing that 😍 So that's when I take a break

Extra benefit of a good backpack blower is blowing the car dry after you wash it.

blowers are great for clearing a few inches of dry snow off of the decks and truck!