Grass Blowin

[Red_Rattler]

Does anybody else hate people who blow there grass clippings in the street? It totally recks a perfectly good job. And these people call themselves professionals? I admit people in my crews do it too, but when I find out about it, they have hell to pay with me, and they are automaticly set on my **** list awhile while they go clean up their mess.

[MIDSOUTH]

in a subdivision it is a no-no, but on a very busy road the cars do quite a good job cleaning it up for you.

[Keith]

Originally posted by MIDSOUTH
in a subdivision it is a no-no, but on a very busy road the cars do quite a good job cleaning it up for you.

Agreed :D

[GreenQuest Lawn]

Hear in MI They are starting to give tickets to the unlucky soul that blow clippings, leaves, ect. into the road. I dont mind when people do as long as its not exessive but when my account is next to theirs and i have to clean up brown dead grass every week thats piled 4-5" deep along the curb and on the sidewalks, you know who ill be calling.

[Randy Scott]

The rest of the property that you just finished mowing did not end up blown on the street, why does the last pass or two have to go on the road? Just seems tacky to me but that is only my opinion. :) Aside from the fact that when I drive my $40,000 truck past this guy blowing it into the road and I wonder if I will have to turn around and go kick his ass because he's bouncing twigs or rocks or whatever off the side of my truck!

[kutnkru]

I have to second Randys nomination for a Sq.Pt.Shovel to their bloomin noggin for being so irresponsible!

Just my .03
Kris

[gusbuster]

All liscnesed LCO's that work in the City of San Bruno, got a letter about getting fined for blowing any debris in the street. Seems like cut grass is clogging up the storm drain system. Now the city should write to all the homeowners that wash the grass out into the street. It's not only pro gardners that leave debris out in the street.
John

[kutnkru]

I think that we will wait about as long for that letter to go out to them, as the one telling them they have to record the information on their fertilizing efforts for the year as well.

Its a sad but true reality.
Kris

[1MajorTom]

We park our truck on the street across from our house. Well one our neighbors, when he cuts his grass, he shoots it out all over the sidewalk and street onto our truck.
Now, it is not so much that his grass sometimes sticks to the truck, but the mess it makes all over the walks and road.

It bothers me because I always feel that others will think that since we are a lawn company, that the grass is our mess that we left there. So usually the next morning after the neighbor has cut his grass, I will broom up the walks and road just to get rid of the mess.

[MIDSOUTH]

Originally posted by Randy Scott
The rest of the property that you just finished mowing did not end up blown on the street, why does the last pass or two have to go on the road? Just seems tacky to me but that is only my opinion. :) Aside from the fact that when I drive my $40,000 truck past this guy blowing it into the road and I wonder if I will have to turn around and go kick his ass because he's bouncing twigs or rocks or whatever off the side of my truck!

Randy, I run mulching kits, so you don't have to worry about me blowing anything on your truck, as far as blowing stuff in the busy road - I do blow the edgeing clippings in to the road instead of stepping out and getting splattered by an oncoming vehicle, they disappear quite quickly, I bet alot of you are guilty of this. I only blow stuff in the road when there is not a vehicle passing, I do have a 40000.00 truck and I respect other people enough I would not intentionally do damage to their vehicle. My question to you, if a rock slung out from under the deck and knocked your window out, would you still kick his ass? This would most likely be an accident and I am just curious. That what I have business liabilty for and comprehensive insurance on my vehicle for.

[kutnkru]

I am just as guilty as the next guy for blowing the edging into the road. However, I do the edging first and then the mowing so there is less than most would have afterwards when we do this.

As to the original post, I think that it is extremely unprofessional for us to mow in a fashion that disperses the clippings into ornamental beds, onto homes, and into the streets. There are so many ways to operate the machines that we should have mastered by now to make a living, that this truely should not be an issue.

As far as smacking someone for damaging a vehicle, I think that if they are mowing under unsafe conditions and it is apparent that they have a blatant disregard for the safety of others, that YES they desrve to be B-Slapped once for their stupidity.

Case in point would be mowing a vacant lot and cutting on a grade with the discharge pointed towards the street with the deflector bungeed to the deck so that its out of the way.

Just my .03
Kris

[Scraper]

Well all that said...I clean up the street as well. Nothing worse than looking back and seeing grass in the street. In my opinion the job isn't finished then. The one thing that bothers me is the lawn crew that has an account next door to mine and blows their clippings to my curbsides when they are done. Evidence is usually still green and it is evident before I even unload the trailer. So to you guys that blow the clippings out into a fast moving traffic lane...think where those clipping will end up. Better not be in front of one of my properties!

[MIDSOUTH]

Kris,
My first post was a little off, I did not mention that I never side discharge (I think that looks tacky leaving grass clippings and clumps on the lawn, I always mulch, my properties have a bagged look when I am done), the only things I blow in the street is edgeing clippings. As far as slinging a rock, my mowers have slung rocks out from under the deck with a mulch kit on, luckily it never hit a hotheads vehicle, I'd hate to leave him in the street in front of the yard all brusied and bleeding for b-slapping me, I guess I could take my redmax and blow him back up into the yard, but that would look unprofessional too. But I do apologize that you and randy took the first post wrong, I repeat I never discharge with a mower, always mulch.

[kutnkru]

We are not on the same page Buddy Row. My previous post was not directed at yo personally, but at LCOs in general.

You mentioned that you blow the clippings from edging into the street. I agreed that we too do this, but I do the edging before the mowing to try and eliminate as much debris as possible. Yet I think that it is unprofessional for people to not pay attention to how they mow. The topic at hand.

You asked under what circumstances I would loose my temper. I stated that when we as an Industry do not use the proper safety and attachments correctly that this could result in a confrontation.

Obviously things will happen, and have happened as a result of trying to be as safe as possible, Im not free of fault here either, just as you stated it has happened to you.

And its not about the Brooklyn Street Rules. Its about operating in a professional manner. And no if i loose my temper with someone thats not, nor is it when people mow with their chutes pointed towards a busy street where children are playing across from them cutting. These are some of the circumstances I was trying to point out that might need drastic measures.

I dont know about you, but one of my girls gets hurt because of neglegance on the contractors part, and they better hope a red max will help. LOL

The intent was to answer your questions not direct them towards any specific individual.

Hopefully this puts everyone back on the same page.
Kris

[Edited by kutnkru on 02-28-2001 at 04:38 PM]

[Chopper Lover]

You touched a nerve with me when it comes to grass in the street.

I was riding my Harley down a residential street one day and started into a turn. Unavoidably, I rode through grass that had not been blown from the street from earlier in the day. As my front wheel got into the mess it kicked out and sent me to the ground sliding down the street until I came to a stop with a 700# bike across my left leg. Fortunately I was able to wiggle out from under it on my own. Eventually a passerby helped me to my feet and we got the bike upright. Had I been riding faster, or the circumstances been different, it could have been much worse. (Yes, I rode it home.)

After a few hundred dollars in parts and about a month to grow the skin back (knee, both elbows and my right hand) and everything was back to normal. Had I not been wearing thick jeans and gloves it would have been worse. All that is left are the scars. All because someone was to lazy or uncaring to blow the grass away properly.

Moral of the story, get the grass off the street. It may make the difference between life and death.

Thanks for listening,
Mark

[Edited by Chopper Lover on 02-28-2001 at 05:29 PM]

[MIDSOUTH]

Kris, First off my name is not Buddy Row, now we are on the same page and I agree with you, If I had kids and some prick was being careless I would come unglued and then probably bruise him up. But you have to remember there is jail because this called assault, even if it is the other person fault for being careless. My point is we all do it everyonce in a while when nobody is looking. No hard feelings intended. All this rain I have not got anything else to do but to look around lawnsite and put in my .02.

Chopper lover, Sorry to hear about your mishap.

[syzer]

I always make sure grass is off the street some times it gets old, I have to blow it all the way down the curb side to the entrance up the entrance and into the grass =). Still better them my 40 hour job though =).

[Jason Pallas]

Just my two cents - but I almost really got into it with a scrub LCO last year that kept blowing all of their clippings across the street to my customer's curb. Because we did the 2 lawns at nearly the same time (his crew usually finished theirs well after mine), it looked like I left the clippings in front of my customer's house. After I asked him not to blow his clippings across the street like that twice, he did it a third time.
I tracked him down, jumped out of my truck and confronted him a third time (with a much less nice demeanor). I must have looked pretty serious and pretty crazed because for the rest of the season, I never had any problems with him. Clippings in the street does look unprofessional - a lot of companies here do it / a lot don't. For my 2 cents, it just looks a lot more professional to blow the curb.

[Ssouth]

We always blow the clippings off of the streets. Normally we will blow both sides of the streets. ( we also mulch, so clippings are not a big issue) We blow the streets because that is what sets us apart from some LCO s in this area. I have two residentials were I refuse to blow off the streets due to heavy traffic. And yes on occasion I have left a few clippings from edging in the curbs but 99% of the time the job is not finished until there is nothing left on surrounding concrete or asphalt. Doing the little extra things is the reason you can charge a higher price for the same job that someone might overlook things like clippings in the street.

[bob]

A lot of my neighbors drive their Crapsman tractors in the street to turn around. This leaves grass trails all over the street. MOst of them just leave it there. The new guy up the street makes his first pass around the yard, shooting the clippings into the road and just leaves it there. This drives me nuts.

[Nathan]

I think it comes down to how professional you want to operate. The cleaner you can make a yard the better you will look to your customer and everyone else who sees your job. If you want to be like everyone else, do as everyone else does.

[lawrence stone]

Originally posted by Jason Pallas
Just my two cents - but I almost really got into it with a scrub LCO last year that kept blowing all of their clippings across the street to my customer's curb. Because we did the 2 lawns at nearly the same time (his crew usually finished theirs well after mine), it looked like I left the clippings in front of my customer's house. After I asked him not to blow his clippings across the street like that twice, he did it a third time.
I tracked him down, jumped out of my truck and confronted him a third time (with a much less nice demeanor). I must have looked pretty serious and pretty crazed because for the rest of the season, I never had any problems with him. Clippings in the street does look unprofessional - a lot of companies here do it / a lot don't. For my 2 cents, it just looks a lot more professional to blow the curb.

Great story cowboy. Instead of thinking on an emotional basis and not profiting from that situation you should try to think on a logical basis next time.

Instead of acting like a machismo nutcase you could have just sent a letter to the homeowner stating your issues with their contractor with a proposal to maintain that homesite.

[Cleve]

A real professional does not blow anything into the street. Take that any way you want to. You shouldn't depend on the passing cars to do your work. It just makes the next yard look bad.
The first thing we do is edge the curb and drive and then blow everything into the grass. That includes everything in the street. Then mow. When through and if anything small is on the drive or street it is blown into the yard. The intent is to leave a customers lawn and anything around it clean and neat. Most of our customers are bagged anyway so that anything loose is taken away. And the ones that are not bagged are cleaned of leaves and trash before mowing.

Seems the worst offenders around here are the biggest companies with the largest crews. I get the feeling sometimes that they are instructed by the boss to do this.

Cleve.

[HOMER]

Ditto Cleve,

My methods are the same and my philosophy is to create the mess when you get there, in other words make a bigger mess. If you start by edging first, then do your trimming second you have created more of a mess than when you first got there. Next step is to put EVERYTHING in the yard! Let your equipment do the work for you, not a rake and a broom. There will always be something that has found it.s way back to the top of the curb. If it.s small and can be well hidden back in the grass then we put it back, if not we suck it up with the little Stihl handheld coversion.

I have some commercial accounts that are impossible to do properly, way too much traffic. If I could do them at 3 am I guess it would be better. My thoughts are that nobody else would do any better on these than I am trying to do but heck, can't spend all day at one place. Get the heck out of Dodge on the Dodge before too many people see ya. :D:

[awm]

I dont mind putting it on residential streets.
Then the last thing i do is take care of anything
the cars have left.An exception is very wet grass
on 35 mph or more sts.This is just asking for trouble.
How you gonna sleep if you send a mother an kid into a pole or something.

[Grateful11]

I don't do in my customers lawns but I do it on my own. I can throw it 2/3rds of the way across and then zip down the road and throw it the rest of the way on the other side were no one lives. I try not to leave much in the road. But then again I live in the country and that's common practice. I always stop mowing when someone is driving by for fear of picking up something hidden and hitting a car with it. I hate to drive by were someone is mowing and they don't even think twice and just keep right on mowing.
Grateful