Fall Leaf clean-up...bagging leaves?

[walds11]

I live in a township where they require leaves to be bagged for curb side pick-up. I picked up an Echo PB-413T Backpack Blower at the end of last season. The blower rocks, especially coming off an electric blower. My property is almost a 1/2 acre. It does not get hammered with leaves, just spread out throughout the season. We have 3 leave pick-up dates in the fall, so I usually blow atleast 3 times a season and do some small clean-ups here and there. Blowing them into piles is the easy part, it's the bagging that's a pain. Any ideas or shortcuts for bagging leaves? I thought about getting one of those leaf grabbers.

http://www.gardenhardware.com/kin-sw617.html

http://cgi.ebay.com/GARDEN-GRABBER-LAWN-GARDEN-LEAF-RAKE-YARD-WORK_W0QQitemZ120042973882QQihZ002QQcategoryZ29516QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[MOW PRO LAWN SERVICE]

If it makes a job easy i say go for it.

[haydenb]

If you try one of those devices and like it let us know... After paying 250+ each fall for leaf pickup the past two years... I'm sitting on almost 1 acre... I decided to go for it myself this year. I mow my own lawn and like working outside so why not! I just bought a Redmax 7001 so getting the leaves in piles should be short work... but then the dreaded bagging! Actually my strategy is to wait for a few more gusty days like this past weekend and let most of the leaves blow into the neighbors' yards... lots less bagging :)
And then once the bagging is done, I am the lucky owner of two giant sweet gums which drop tons of prickly balls each spring. Wait... Did I say I like working outside in the yard?:dizzy:

[LarryF]

The town I live in doesn't require the leaves to be in bags, so I don't have the problems described in this thread. But if that were not the case, I'd seriously go in for mulching the leaves as discussed here.

http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?t=89412

A lot of the pros seem to think highly of mulching. Maybe you who do have to bag the leaves should consider this.

[haydenb]

Mulching... thanks great suggestion. I really should try that. I have a Gravely Pro walk-behind mower I bought used off a friend a couple years ago so I should have plenty of power for mulching... just need to see about getting a mulching kit for my 50" deck.

[LarryF]

Mulching... thanks great suggestion. I really should try that. I have a Gravely Pro walk-behind mower I bought used off a friend a couple years ago so I should have plenty of power for mulching... just need to see about getting a mulching kit for my 50" deck.

That site I referenced also had a lot of discussions about what blades to use when mulching leaves, as well as how to configure those blades. I didn't see any real bottom line that everyone agreed to, but apparently one could benefit from some of that advice in addition to just blocking the discharge port with a muching kit. Lots of funny names, like gator blade, raptor blade, etc., but for your mower, the following web site shows only a "mulching" blade.

http://www.mowproducts.com/lawn-mower-blades/13-50-cut-deck/