The suck of raking leaves

[Mister Brenton]

For those of you with a treed lot in the northern climes, what is your most effective method for leaf removal? Tractor with leaf vaccuum? Mine filled up every 20 feet, often clogged, and was a pain to empty. Plus I sold it anyway. Lawn vacuum (looks like a push mower)? Works great, but for small quantities. Pain to empty and fills up fast. Gas blower - takes an eternity on moderate load. Rake with tarp and drag tarp to street - obviously the most labor intensive Hire out the job - never tried. Wonder what it would cost? Any other options aside from a few gallons of gas and a lighter?

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[55fanatic]

hmmm I have used the lawn vacuum... with a giant bag... it also mulched them while I was doing it...

It worked great when I used it... Not sure what it was though cause I rented it from a local store

[AsianML]

I just mow over it and mulch it.

[Eurosport]

cut down your trees problem solved!

sounds like you have a high load, not sure on that one
i only have a small/moderate load i guess, i use one blower, one vacc, rarely rake...

[rockjock]

I have 2.5 acres all covered on one prop in western WI-
we have a 445 JD that we mulch, then bag with-works great-
for wet and heavy-we rake as much as we can on tarp and burn (then mulch the remaining)
I'm sure a grounds crew would hire to clean it up-all they do is drive around and mulch it into a billion pieces (some will bag if you ask-around here they charge by the hour or acre if they have that much-I got a quote of $600-and all the leaves were not down-I told him to head south where he belonged....)
Rider mower or push? If its a push-take the side plate off and blow them to the side-work your way inside like a circle/square (always blowing the same way)-then rake/tarp

[Mister Brenton]

I have a rider with a mulch kit affixed. It works on a very light load but turns it into a brown soup of the load is higher, which it is not due to 3 days of storms. I was hoping to go over it repeatedly over a few weeks time, but everything came down with a thwump this week.

[C43AMG]

Originally Posted by Mister Brenton

For those of you with a treed lot in the northern climes, what is your most effective method for leaf removal?

Just wait.............they'll go away.......eventually.

[S55inPA]

i spent all day sunday blowing leaves. i have a tractor with
high capacity collection but i still use my leaf blowers.
i spent 7 hours on sunday blowing leaves and then cut
the grass on monday. after yesterdays storm the parts
of the yard are covered again. back to the leaf blower
again this weekend. the only good part is i have two
blowers. one for me. and one for the wife

[LRM1]

Originally Posted by Mister Brenton

I have a rider with a mulch kit affixed. It works on a very light load but turns it into a brown soup of the load is higher, which it is not due to 3 days of storms. I was hoping to go over it repeatedly over a few weeks time, but everything came down with a thwump this week.

One word. Landscaper.

I have tried everything. I too have a riding mower with a vacuum kit that I used for years - pain in the neck. Fills too fast, gets jammed up if there are more than 10 leaves.

Blower just means that you have to do something else - in my town, bag it. No street allowed.

I have about 3/4 acre and it costs me about $500 a year to have it cleaned. Now that I have a full time landscaper it's $350 - $400. WOrth every penny. I have my weekends from October till Thanksgiving back

[amdeutsch]

1) I like the exercise
2) It gets me away from the one claiming to wear the pants
3) My dog and I are having fun
4) I use my blower to get them into the neighbor's yard to let them deal with it
5) I drink beers while doing it

etc

MBW to fill in more suggestions

[LRM1]

Originally Posted by S55inPA

the only good part is i have two
blowers. one for me. and one for the wife

Sounds like a fun wife j/k

[S55inPA]

Originally Posted by LRM1

Sounds like a fun wife j/k

she hasn't noticed yet but i have ever so quietly
purchased a second push mower, a second leaf blower,
and a second snow blower! times are a changing...she
hasn't figured it out yet

[markopolo]

MB,
60" Zero-turn (JD) with Gator blades attached.
The rest after that is... Gone With The Wind.

Need more instructions, you have to come over, beer on-board, I'll buy kielbasa

[Gullwing]

Get a few pounds of Tannerite and several large containers of water, will remove all the leaves and grass for at least a 50 foot radius.

[sf280]

Anyone with experience with this blower Vac from Stihl?

http://gearpatrol.com/blog/2008/11/1...vacuum-blower/

I am looking for a new one myself and I like the vac part for cleaning up once I have made my piles of crap to pick up. Right now I have some crappy Toro electric one that has to go.

[NdnMbLova]

I just stare at them and they go away.

[BKLYN_C]

Couple of mexicans will suck all leaves in just 15 minutes.

[Phin]

OP,that all sounds like a lot of work anyway you go about it...sell your home...move out here to SoCal (WLA),where most of us can't afford a nice big spread like you got out there....


btw last night the wind blew so hard around my place... a big branch from a Pine tree broke off 2 units down from me...hell there's friggin' pine needles everywhere..my patio is a mess...covered with debris from the "wind storm"

[S55inPA]

Originally Posted by sf280

Anyone with experience with this blower Vac from Stihl?

http://gearpatrol.com/blog/2008/11/1...vacuum-blower/

I am looking for a new one myself and I like the vac part for cleaning up once I have made my piles of crap to pick up. Right now I have some crappy Toro electric one that has to go.

i have a bunch of stihl power tools in my shed. they are imo
the best. if your lot is not too big that looks like a good way
to get the job done.

[M1M2M3]

Landscaper does everything, including snow removal and salting. about $500 mo. my friend outside of this area pays about $400.

[Mister Brenton]

Originally Posted by sf280

Anyone with experience with this blower Vac from Stihl?

http://gearpatrol.com/blog/2008/11/1...vacuum-blower/

I am looking for a new one myself and I like the vac part for cleaning up once I have made my piles of crap to pick up. Right now I have some crappy Toro electric one that has to go.

I have that. Different brand but same idea. See that little bag on the end? It gets heavy and fills up in minutes.

[electromethod]

Vacuums are great if you get one with a massive bin to tow behind the tractor, but it makes maneuvering a bit difficult when your property is chock full of trees. For years now I have used a 48" wide sweeper and strategically placed tarps. Allows me to quickly sweep the grass @ full speed rather than slowly dragging along. When the bin fills up, I drive over to the closest tarp and dump the leaves on it. I then fold up the corners of each tarp and tie up real quick and drag over to my dump site on back end of property. Don't know if you have as much property to clean, but I usually end up with 5-6 loaded pickup truck beds worth of leaves. The sweeper was the best investment I ever made... works without problems and is FAST.

[electromethod]

Originally Posted by S55inPA

i have a bunch of stihl power tools in my shed. they are imo
the best. if your lot is not too big that looks like a good way
to get the job done.

Save your money. Sears makes one that is 100 bucks too...... these handheld vacs are too light weight. It's good for someone with a small lawn that wants to vacuum a small amount of leaves. It mulches the leaves and leaves you standing in a cloud of dust which makes breathing difficult for a few days. I only use mine to clean out the paths in my gardens, and even that I detest doing because the thing is so fickle..... a pine cone gets sucked up and it starts whining, so you have to shut it off and dig the cone out.

[sf280]

Originally Posted by electromethod

Save your money. Sears makes one that is 100 bucks too...... these handheld vacs are too light weight. It's good for someone with a small lawn that wants to vacuum a small amount of leaves. It mulches the leaves and leaves you standing in a cloud of dust which makes breathing difficult for a few days. I only use mine to clean out the paths in my gardens, and even that I detest doing because the thing is so fickle..... a pine cone gets sucked up and it starts whining, so you have to shut it off and dig the cone out.

I know the feeling, that is how my $100 Toro one works, pretty much sucks, so I wanted to know if Stihl or Echo ones were any better. I have a half acre lot, but it is mainly hill that does not require maintenance. I am mainly trying to get rid of all of the pine needles from my neighbors trees and also to blow out the beds and then suck up the crap.

[electromethod]

Originally Posted by sf280

I know the feeling, that is how my $100 Toro one works, pretty much sucks, so I wanted to know if Stihl or Echo ones were any better. I have a half acre lot, but it is mainly hill that does not require maintenance. I am mainly trying to get rid of all of the pine needles from my neighbors trees and also to blow out the beds and then suck up the crap.

I think all of the blower vaccuums are going to have the problem because they use plastic gears. You should look into getting a sweeper. I saw last time that sears now has a smaller one than the one I have. I can't vouch how well the smaller one works, but the big one has been a dream. I have over 60 fully grown pine, maple, and oak trees on my front lawn of ~2 acres. The pine needles are great mulch fyi....... I have about an acre worth in the back which is chock full of pine trees and when I need mulch, I just swing over there with the sweeper and get a bin full of pine needles.