Leaf season....uuugggghhhh!

[Turfdude]

Evan,

A Peco vac for your ZTR does work well. It will hold at least the same amount of leaves as a moderately full 16'X20' tarp. I have a similar sized residential property w/ the majority of the leaves in the back yard. We opt to not use the vac a lot as it is extreemely dusty (unless there is a lot of plush turfunder the leaves which is still growing). The township we work in does only 2 collections a season at at year end, we use a hitch mounted swingaway leaf vac for our one dump truck - works great!!

Anyway, we always recommend do whatever gets the job done the fastest in this case, 2 guys w/ backpacks (6200's or 7000's) & one on an 8HP Little wonder push blower, along w/ some elbow grease.

General amount of time to do leaves only on 2.5 acre lot w/ an average of 12 overfull 16'X20' tarps of leaves.... 6-8 manhours/week (and at least a mortgage payment for me!) by month's end.

Bob

[Toroguy]

To mulch or to vac?

My only concern regarding mulching is I worry that over time the build-up of matter will raise the height of the property. In older neighborhoods I see the grassline three inches above the sidewalk? Is the walkway sinking or the turf rising?

I am only one dude, I cannot lift a tarp o'leaves into a truck bed continuously. I am forced to mulch, and as previously mentioned a weekly service should reduce the leaf depth to a manageble level.

Hustlers,

Im figuring on finishing this week, just awaiting on those last Maple leafies to fall. MOW ED could probably identify what type of Maple, I need more education

[thelawnguy]

". In older neighborhoods I see the grassline three inches above the sidewalk? Is the walkway sinking or the turf rising?'

Probably both. But the real culprit is the sand spread during the winter months, figure even a 1/16 inch a year left on the snow shelf and a subdivision built in the 50's, there's 3 inches of sand buildup alone.

[dlandscaping]

we did a job today.all oaks in the yard about 15-20 of them. the whole yard is about 1/2 acre and was completely covered with oak leaves. we spent two and a half hours there tonite till pitch dark with the 10 hsp billy goat, stihl backpacks and a toro 36 with doubles. the leaves were a lil wet. i tried mulching them with the toro and it turned into a plow of 4 ft of leaves. it stalled many times and the discharge shuot was completely blocked and the blades wouldnt turn on. there was too much to mulch even goin over it 6 times and taking chunks out of it by the billy goat and tarps. there were two many leaves to mulch with any mower. we did about half the yard with a 4 person crew tonite. there are woods in back so no transporting these leaves thank god. the woods are now completely full ill post pics if i can. there was a good 60 sq ft place for leaves that is now full about 6 ft high and another 40 sq ft opening is almost full with 4 ft covering it. i will have to go back tomorow to finish. It has been 1 week since we were there last and the it was spotless. today we couldnt see any grass anywhere.

[Toroguy]

Great point Bill, the areas nearest the roadway are the areas with the most noticable "rise".

Thanks,