Cleaning Up Leaves The Simple Way

[Weekend cut easymoney]

Originally Posted by Darryl G

Tha'ts your problem...you're trying to use a 13# backpack...you need at least a 25# one!!!!

By all means , use the biggest and baddest blower....been there and did that for years and learned the mulching trick. Stumps and hidden ok obstruction s certainly would be a situation for blowing only.
In manicured lawns mulching them up and then bagging is far more effecient than walking leaves across a big yard and then using a large vac at the street, which is yet another piece of equipment , and typically only used a few months each year...then hauling a large volume of air mixed with leaves to some site to dump....try mulching you might like it, you get to use your mowers vs. Buying specialized equipment

[Weekend cut easymoney]

Originally Posted by Florida Gardener

I don't care who you are or what setup you are running, but you are not gonna mulch live oak leaves in st Augustine. I've used plates, kits, wavy blades, gator blades, etc. they just get stuck in the grass. You can get about half of them each time you cut, but that's it. Now, every other kind of leaf is vapor if mulching down here. We don't do leaf cleanups, we just mulch. Again, except for live and laurel oak.
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Ill post photos tomorrow if i have time...live oak leaves are more difficult than red oak leaves, ...certainly not near as difficult as you say....we do it every spring....

[Weekend cut easymoney]

Originally Posted by herler

I know what you mean, here's a new thread...
Leaves you ain't Mulching I don't care who you are:

That is not a lot of leaves....mulched that amount with a 21inch lawnboy with mulch kit 20 years ago before we got ztrs

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

That wont work on the other side of the country. All the pictures below are wet leaves. The last picture there was snow on the ground 2 days before the clean up.

The average clean up around here is about 25 cubic yards of leaves.

[New2TheGreenIndustry]

Originally Posted by Think Green

There in Texas........drought conditions? Dry leaves is always easy to make them into powder in one or two light passes. The right mower, gator blades, powerful engine and mulching kit.
Appears to be Zoysia grass........real easy to make it look good. Bermuda that is thinning isn't so nice in presence.

There is the occasional customer that doesn't think that this is considered a cleanup. The kindred spirit of dragging the old raking is the only thing in their comprehension. Leaf mold is beneficial to the soil, and promotes OM. Some people will want you to thatch this stuff out during the Spring to allow for new growth and air circulation. I haven't had a problem with my zoysia's after a fall season of mulching and bagging if needed. During the summer, these grasses couldn't help but benefit from the extra boost from OM.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is OM? Organic material?

[ed2hess]

Originally Posted by SECTLANDSCAPING

That wont work on the other side of the country. All the pictures below are wet leaves. The last picture there was snow on the ground 2 days before the clean up.

The average clean up around here is about 25 cubic yards of leaves.

You guys are doing way tooo much work for simple clean up. There isn't enough leaves on any of these pictures to keep me from running a turf tiger with mulch kit across them. All those tarps and raking and blowing is a lot harder than riding on a mower. Don't you have a lawnmower with a good mulch kit?

Ask Santa for one of these kits..

http://www.scag.com/hurricaneplusmulcher.html

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

Originally Posted by ed2hess

You guys are doing way tooo much work for simple clean up. There isn't enough leaves on any of these pictures to keep me from running a turf tiger with mulch kit across them. All those tarps and raking and blowing is a lot harder than riding on a mower. Don't you have a lawnmower with a good mulch kit?

Ask Santa for one of these kits..

http://www.scag.com/hurricaneplusmulcher.html

The mowers I use have mulch kits built in. No need to buy extras. They also wont work for wet frozen leaves.

[Weekend cut easymoney]

Don't knock it till you try it, I've mulched wet leaves, dry leaves, big leaves, small leaves and they all get cut up the same...wet leaves just means less dust...
P.S. started raking, then went to blowing, tried bagging and then went to mulching
Lower the mower to about 2 to 2.5 inches snd cut in a clockwise pattern twice arond the lawn, blow leaves into the center from drives and trimm4d area snd the continue to go in a circular pattern until ground up...worst case scenario, you have a few bags to bag up.
Visiting uncle in indiana i did the same technique with a riding side dischsrge tractor...same result..the leaves practically disappear.

Remember, most leaves are 90 percent air

[echo]

I'm only here because I'm trying to decide which wheel blower to buy, but I gotta say this is a hoot. No way mulching/disposing of leaves is the same in the northeast as it is in the south. We mulch them, plow them, blow them, etc... and there is no way you're going to 100% mulch leaves in the northeast no matter how many times you run them over with mulching kits/blades. If you could there would be no need for leaf equipment/trucks/vacs/blowers/city curbside leaf removal trucks/, etc...

[LawnMan19]

Originally Posted by echo

I'm only here because I'm trying to decide which wheel blower to buy, but I gotta say this is a hoot. No way mulching/disposing of leaves is the same in the northeast as it is in the south. We mulch them, plow them, blow them, etc... and there is no way you're going to 100% mulch leaves in the northeast no matter how many times you run them over with mulching kits/blades. If you could there would be no need for leaf equipment/trucks/vacs/blowers/city curbside leaf removal trucks/, etc...

Yeah, I agree theirs no way to "just mulch them in" up here in the north I've tried with no success.