who can tell me about using a walkbehind or stander to suck up leaves?

[Chris Feenan]

Do a search on here for Protero before you go that route. Looks like well designed and built equipment, but people have had serious problems with them. Like this guy

They should come on here and explain what happened in the past if they want to lose their bad reputation.

[ashgrove landscaping]

I have used a ferris 61" walk behind for years with the grass gobbler and extension. It will fill up quick with un chopped leaves but you just have to chop them up with some gator blades a few times then suck up the remains. Works REAL good at an easy budget. The stander won't be as good on hills as well as bumping over rocks an things. Also the ferris walk behind is completely bullet proof!!! I ve had many of them and know!

[cpllawncare]

Originally Posted by ashgrove landscaping

I have used a ferris 61" walk behind for years with the grass gobbler and extension. It will fill up quick with un chopped leaves but you just have to chop them up with some gator blades a few times then suck up the remains. Works REAL good at an easy budget. The stander won't be as good on hills as well as bumping over rocks an things. Also the ferris walk behind is completely bullet proof!!! I ve had many of them and know!

Standers are fine on hills, if you know what you're doing, as far as bumps and stuff it's like any other mower. with the set up I described two passes and you done, if the leaves are light you can do it in one,

[orangemower]

Originally Posted by d.klas

I am wondering if I should buy a Wright Stander or a Ferris Comfort control DD walkbehind (with velke/sulky)... both of them are good grass cutters but for the sake of leaf clean up.. I dont know how well the bagging attachments work for that..

Can anybody please tell me in detail their experiences with the side bagging attachments?

I dont have enough money to buy those vacuum systems you attach to a truck and have it suck up leaf piles... Id rather buy a machine that I can use from april- late november that can do it all.. I want to stay away from Walker.. They are excellent finishing mowers and the GHS is great but they require lots of maintenance and are pretty expensive..

Any help would be appreciated!

Dan

Whether it be a truck loader for leaves or a mower capable of doing leaf clean up with the proper attachment (bagging kit) you won't be able to do anything since you don't have the money to get what you really need to do the job.

[jsslawncare]

Originally Posted by d.klas

Thats true.. I dont want a tilt on the deck when it fills up.. neither do I want to be emptying the attachment too often.
The only reason I like the Stander vs a Zero Turn is because a stander can go more places that a zeroturn cannot. Are there any other alternatives for the stander? or would the Zeroturn with bagger be the best option?

Well, you can forget that with either mower.

[cpllawncare]

Forget the bagger system all together on a WB or a stander your only option is gators with a full mulch kit, or blowers, rakes and tarps.

[Chris Feenan]

I am not disagreeing. A walk behind or stander can't hold enough leaves to be a primary leaf removal tool.

But I use blowers and tarps to remove most of the leaves, then use a mower to clean up the ones that escaped the blowers, or didn't get raked onto the tarp. The bagger that does this final cleanup of the lawn doesn't have to have a large capacity. I use a Scag triple bagger and it doesn't usually even fill the bags completely.

It takes too long, IMO, to blow ALL of the leaves to a central point, and then rake ALL of them onto the tarp. If you know you can leave a few behind, and get only 90-95% of them in the first pass, it is a much quicker operation. And even a small bagger can be used to do the final cleanup, if that is all that you have.

As long as I am at it, when I hear that guys are mulching all of the leaves, never picking any up, and "not a trace of shredded leaves can be seen" I have to believe that they don't live in a Deciduous Hell like the Northeast. No way your lawn looks good if all you do is mulch here in upstate New York.

[cpllawncare]

If the leaves are dry, and we're not talking about magnolia's or knee deep leaves, then yes we can make them disappear with mulching, it's organic material it doesn't hurt the grass when mulched with a commercial mower

[stonebridge]

Originally Posted by cpllawncare

If the leaves are dry, and we're not talking about magnolia's or knee deep leaves, then yes we can make them disappear with mulching, it's organic material it doesn't hurt the grass when mulched with a commercial mower

i have done several this year, where you could barely see any grass and i triple cut the yards and there were no leaves in sight, all owners were happen and impressed with g6 blades a chute blocker and 1 perimeter pass then 1 pass backwards with chute closed then go forward with chute open and repeat, after yard is done, cut it like normal to stripe it and done no leaves

[SDLandscapes VT]

Stonebridge--it works for you. I m happy for you. Mulching generally doesn't work here in New England because of the volume of leaves on the properties. I tell people that cleaning leaves requires a multi system approach and depending on the weather, leaf type, and volume this should help you choose how to clean things up most efficiently