Fallen Leaves

[Luckbox]

I have a question about fallen leaves. Being a new transplant to North Carolina from Florida this is my first Fall where the leaves fall off the tree. I have just spent 6 hours raking up all the leaves in the yard and was wondering if there is a better way. I have watched my neighbors use a blower and I have seen the blower/vac at Lowes and HD and was wondering why they don’t use those. I was also wondering why you don’t just out the bag on the lawn mower and just mow them. I generally don’t use the grass catcher and just mulch the clippings back into the lawn, but with the number of leaves I think I would need to use the grass catcher. I was just looking for some input on the best way to pick up the leaves.

[DonHo]

I like to use the mower with a bagger then compost the chopped up leaves.

DonHo

FYI, you'll have to stop to empty the bag a lot but it's worth it.

[jhart]

I use a blower to get the biggest part of the leaves and go over the lawn with a mulching mower if there is time before the snow. A couple of our trees are always really late in dropping their leaves, so it's always hit and miss with those two and the snow. After blowing the leaves into piles, I use some tarps and then put the leaves over some of the garden beds.

[JoeyGee]

I think I am one of the only people on the planet that prefers raking to blowers. I have a blower, and I do use it occasionally, but usually there are enough leaves on the gound that using the blower is counter-productive for me. I prefer to just rake them all onto tarps and drag them to the curb or to a compost pile.

Maybe I'm just a glutton for work...

[iceman61]

Blowers, rakes & tarps here too. Our family place at the lake is loaded with tall trees so we have tried everything. We blow the leaves to central piles. then rake them onto a tarp, 2 people grab the corners into a canoe shape & take the leaves to a central location where we burn them. We end up with a pile about 20' x 30' x 10' tall.

If your pile is huge like our's, towards the end of burning the leaves start to compress onto each other & burn slow, kind of like trying to burn a book. When this happens I crank the blower back up on low & feed some air in the fire & they burn up quickly. I learned this trick after watching an excavation company that set up a "burn pit" to burn piles of stumps they had cleared off some land, but they were using a huge blower & metal pipe to feed air into the center of the fire.

Just be careful not to blow sparks all over the place. If you have to use an excellerant on the pile use diesel & not gas. The fumes from just a cup of gasoline will spread out in all the little spaces between the leaves & create a flash bomb so to speak. Sounds funny but I've seen it happen to a neighbor. After he counted all his finger's, shook the singed hair off his head, & rubbed his burnt eye brows off, we all had a good laugh.

[Cheeky]

backpack blower, then go over with the bagged mower....but i live on 3.5 acres with too many trees.

[gsmittle]

My two strapping teenage boys mow the snot out of the leaves with a mulching mower--when I can get 'em off the couch. The boys, not the leaves...

g.

[scmhogg]

Use a blower to blow the leaves on the neighbor's yard. Then watch what they do.

Steve

[Ed62]

I have a lawn tractor with a double bagger. It makes the fall leaves pretty easy to handle. After they're cut up and bagged, I put them on the garden or in the compost pile. There are places I can't get to with it, so I use a leaf blower and/or a rake in those areas.

Ed

[crokett]

I have 2 acres and lots of leaves. I try to get them often enough with the mower so as not to have to do any cleanup. That did not happen this year so I will be using a blower then rake the heavy stuff onto a tarp and then haul it off.

Blowers work well if it isn't windy and if the leaves aren't wet. Wet leaves are matted and don't blow very well. With wet leaves you need a rake.

The reason your neighbors don't have the walk behind blower/vac is probably because a handheld blower can be had for much less money than a blower/vac.

[thestinker]

I just mulch mine up into the lawn with the mower...they compost pretty well, I'm on about 1/3 acre with 13 large oaks....leaves are my nemisis.

[gerti]

For me it is an electric blower to blow them off the driveway, deck and other areas I can't get to with the lawn tractor, then I mulch them with the tractor. Dust mask mandatory. No trace of them is left by the time the white stuff is gone. And what you don't take out, you don't have to put back in in form of expensive fertilizer.

[Hoakie]

If they are dry I mow/mulch even if I have to mow the lawn twice to get them mulched well. I find that this is still less work better than raking/blowing plus disposal

[Black wallnut]

And what you don't take out, you don't have to put back in in form of expensive fertilizer.

I am by no means an expert, don't play one on TV and did not stay at a Holiday Inn last night but one thing I remember from my days working in Ag fertilizer is that it takes nitrogen to break down organic matter. Depending on your soils condition the addition of fertilizers may still be a good idea.

In years past I've tried mulching with my mower. Too many trees, did not work. My driveway is lined with willows spaced 5-6' apart. We always seem to have some rain in the fall and I am always busy hunting so by the time I find the time to clean up the mess the leaves are wet. What do not blow away to the neighbors property get raked and burned. This year it snowed on the day I was planning to rake. We still need to finish. I have what look like wind rows on either side of the drive that are probably frozen to the ground now.

[mater]

I usually have to get mine up 3 times a week until they all fall to keep them off the grass. I use a RedMax back pack blower and it gets the job done. I pile some of them in a compost pile and then cover it with horse manure and also grass clippings in the summer and I get some nice compost to put back in my yard. Composted leaves will do wonders in a yard.