Leaf clean-up

[luckydooley]

Hope this is in an appropriate forum. I started in February and things have went exceptionally well. I am now starting to think about fall leaf clean-ups. I have a 6x12 open trailer with 2' sides to work with. I'm using the 4runner right now to pull, but I hope to have a pick-up by the time leaves begin to fall. I've got a stihl 85 handheld blower shredder vac and a br-600 and plenty of tarps to work with also.

I dont mind investing a few more dollars into some leaf removal equip, but my question is, working with what I have what is the most effecient way to remove leaves? Blow/rake onto tarp and drag to trailer? Or should I invest in a leaf vac? Walk behind, self propelled, trailer mounted? I would like to be effecient as possible, but cant invest any more than maybe a couple thousand dollars in addition to what I already have. Any suggestions highly appreciated.

After visiting my dealer they are suggesting a walk behind little wonder yard vac. They dont sell the self propelled model. They do carry billy goat push and self propelled, but suggested the little wonder. Thanks again for replys.

[STIHL GUY]

i have one person blow everything out of the bushes whil i go over onece with the mower and chop stuff up.. Then i go over again with the bagger while my friend uses the WB blower and tarp to get leaves into the truck. I am also making plywood sides for the truck to fit more leaves

[Raven386]

We usually take the same approach as Stihl_Guy.... we blow out all the edges, under the bushes etc. Run over it 1-2+ times with the mower then put the ultravac on and suck everything up. I've never heard anybody say that a w/b leaf vac was worth it. Do a search, its been discussed a few times. I know someone who bought one and now it sits in his garage, biggest waste of money IMO. If you do get a truck for clean-ups get yourself a Load-Handler. Its a huge time saver and its only $130 or so.

[luckydooley]

The Load Handler looks pretty sweet, I wonder can you use it for a trailer?

[J.A.G LAWNCARE]

what is a load handler?

[Raven386]

do a search on Google. its probably one of the best inventions ever made. Huge time saver. check it out, it really works.

[bryant lawn & landscape]

I wouldn't recommend the Little Wonder walk behind vac. I dropped a grand on one a couple of seasons ago, and it's taken up storage space ever since. The hose diameter is too small to go over anything but a single layer of leaves without getting the nozzle clogged. The bag also fills up really quickly. In my opinion, the walk behid vacs are best used for picking up cigarette butts and small debris in parking lots. On a positive note, due to the suction of the unit, after you've blown all you're leaves out, you can go through with the vac to put down some nice stripes, and pick up the final "dust" the blowers didn't get. I'm thinking about adding a hose on mine this year, and carrying it a round just for getting leaves out of landscape beds (instead of blowing them out).