Leaf mulcher/blower question.

[unregistered358967]

Does anyone have one?

Simply put, we have too many trees and not enough manpower to pick up the leaves. Unfortunately we have a lawn, not a forest where we can just let the leaves lie. We must rake and bag and it's really taking forever.

If you have one, does it work well? Thanks.

[Surge223]

I have one made by Stihl and I love it. You can change it from blower to mulcher in 5 minutes or less. It compacts the leaves to something like 40:1 IIRC. I use the mower to get the leaves in a windrow, them suck em up with the mulcher.

[unregistered358967]

Super thanks Surge. So far we have 10 bags of leaves and are nowhere near done. Ugh. The compact factor would be key for us.

I should mention that we have a small JD yard tractor, maybe I should look into some sort of part. Honestly, this is my first year with this yard and it's a little overwhelming. If anyone has other tools they use like a lawn vacuum, please chime in, I'm open to all ideas. Hiring someone to help will be a last resort.

[fireweed farm]

Originally Posted by Surge223

I have one made by Stihl and I love it. You can change it from blower to mulcher in 5 minutes or less. It compacts the leaves to something like 40:1 IIRC. I use the mower to get the leaves in a windrow, them suck em up with the mulcher.

How big is the blower/mulcher? Handheld?
The stihl one I've seen was so small, I figured worth buying a good backpack (shindaiwa has been WAY better in my opinion than stihl or echo), blow leaves in to big piles and rake onto a tarp laid beside pile, or blow into the forest or garden beds. Just way way faster. But not mulched.
But that is with lots of leaves, may not be financially viable for a city lot once per year.

[fireweed farm]

Also, the backpack blowers don't have vacuums. Really about brute force blowing and piling leaves. Rent one of each and try them out is my suggestion.

[gilberte]

These machines have always puzzled me, why blow the leaves around? Aren't they going to have to be picked up at some point? Why not just rake them up and be done with it?

[Rustaholic]

In town a lot of folks just blow them into the front yard close to the street then rake them into a pile and the city comes around and picks them up.
Yesterday I drove past a place in the country where the homeowner did that.
Pure nonsense. There will not be anyone coming out there to pick them up.

[newfieannie]

I want one but not sure what to get. guy across the street has one with a bag on his back. he must be able to blow and suck it up at the same time. it all looks so effortless and here I am with a rake working like a horse. then I have to bag all those leaves. something has to change around here. ~Georgia

[Use Less]

My powered push mower mulches the leaves right where the land in the yard like nobody's business. Just have to find dry days between the rainy ones to go mow. I'm planning to rake enough to fill the big wire compost bin Dad built. If we get leaves out to roadside, the town picks up and composts on an abandoned road spur just outside town. NYS law.

[myheaven]

I want one of those Dr power rakes. It goes behind the mower. It chops aND sucks up the leaves.http://www.drpower.com/power-equipme...-lawn-vacuums/

[fireweed farm]

Originally Posted by gilberte

These machines have always puzzled me, why blow the leaves around? Aren't they going to have to be picked up at some point? Why not just rake them up and be done with it?

It's like using a maul vs log splitter. To save your back and lots of time. And not all leaves need to be piled, plenty can 'dissappear' into the gardens to smother weeds and add organic matter.

[fireweed farm]

Originally Posted by Rustaholic

In town a lot of folks just blow them into the front yard close to the street then rake them into a pile and the city comes around and picks them up.
Yesterday I drove past a place in the country where the homeowner did that.
Pure nonsense. There will not be anyone coming out there to pick them up.

Maybe a friend is coming for free mulch. Don't be the judge just yet.

[geo in mi]

Leaves are a valuable resource.......until about the twentieth trip up and down off the 9N to unload them. But I pile them all in a good location for next year's midsummer mulch(and fishing bait bed)--then put them back into the tractor box and redistribute them all over my garden. Just another annual "chore" to me. In the back yard, I let the neighbor's blowing leaves blow into the grass that I haven't mown, on purpose--then go over and over it all, making finely chopped, wingrowed grass/leaf mulch. That gets stacked up for instant compost around brocolli and cabage next year. Lot of good nitrogen with the grass clipping mulch that way.

geo

[unregistered358967]

Thanks for the input everyone. We did a combination of the above. The Toro fairy secretly dropped something off last night (my dear father), one of those combo blower/vaccum ones with the over the shoulder bag. We set the kids to raking everything in a row, then we'd take turns sucking up the row. What was left, we ran over with the riding mower to make bits. We're in no way done but it's much better. And yes, it compacted nicely the amount of leaves we can get in each bag. We have a limit of 10 per trash day so this helps a lot!

I was looking at those heavy-duty walk behind suckers but we don't have a large enough lot to justify that..plus I want the kids to do some physical labor.

When we lived in IL, yes, we did rake leaves to the end of the lot and a truck with a huge hose would come by and suck it up. But here we're relagated to bags. We dump as much as we can in our back beyond the fence but pretty much ran out of room.

Thanks again everyone.

[myheaven]

Leaves are fantastic mulch for the garden and flower beds.