Cleaning Up Leaves The Simple Way

[integrityman]

Originally Posted by LawnMan19

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

I so wish you could try my set up. Maples, oaks, hickory, cherry, catalpa, tulip, magnolia, bald cypress all get reduced to minute particles. Locust leaflets do well too.....even the small little tiny leaves. done on a regular basis it really does work,,,,wet or dry.

[Weekend cut easymoney]

Try again...worked a lot with wet leaves...one hoa has 800, 000sq ft of turf....no dust and alittle more difficult

[Darryl G]

Originally Posted by integrityman

Id mulch those in a heartbeat and it'd look fantastic.....

There's really sparse grass on that lawn. There's no way you're mulching that lawn without leaving visible leaf bits all over. I'm all for mulching and do it when it's appropriate, but sometimes it just isn't. One of the problems where I am is that we get freezing temps at night in the fall and usually lots of rain which makes the turf areas soft. I want to be running lawns over as little as possible.

[Darryl G]

Originally Posted by Weekend cut easymoney

That was an easy one...notice the pile that disappeared?

That pile didn't disappear. I can see leaf bits all over the place and you ran the lawn over in a random pattern rather than in nice rows. Sorry but it really doesn't look that great...it looks OK and that's about it. And what was the point of mulching them up along the curb? Please tell me you didn't leave it like that. That looks like a wooded area right near there...can't the leaves just be blown into there?

[integrityman]

Originally Posted by Darryl G

There's really sparse grass on that lawn. There's no way you're mulching that lawn without leaving visible leaf bits all over. I'm all for mulching and do it when it's appropriate, but sometimes it just isn't. One of the problems where I am is that we get freezing temps at night in the fall and usually lots of rain which makes the turf areas soft. I want to be running lawns over as little as possible.

Same here.....except this area is extremely flat which equates to longer periods of soft lawns.....and I still mulch. Im telling ya....it works quite well.

[Darryl G]

I've got Gators, I've got Gator G6s, I have blocking plates and baffles and wavy mulchers and the whole 9 yards and I don't like running a lawn over multiple times and leaving leaf bits all over...I think it looks unprofessional and in some cases leaves enough that it creates a mat of ground up leaves that does not readily decompose.

[integrityman]

Originally Posted by Darryl G

I've got Gators, I've got Gator G6s, I have blocking plates and baffles and wavy mulchers and the whole 9 yards and I don't like running a lawn over multiple times and leaving leaf bits all over...I think it looks unprofessional and in some cases leaves enough that it creates a mat of ground up leaves that does not readily decompose.

My lawns look absolutely fantastic. My mulch setup doesnt leave "bits all over." My customers are psychiatrists, dentists, engineers, retired university faculty and so on. In other words, folks that won't and dont put up with $hitty looking lawns. My set up delivers an incredibly appealing and aesthetically pleasing lawn.

I guess I believe too in the whole notion of the idea of "best practice", returning the leaf/ organic matter back to the turf and not hauling it off.

It sounds like we both take a ton of pride in our work like many of the folks on LS.

Agree to disagree

[ed2hess]

The idea in putting up this thead was NOT to try to convince folks who have invested in the vac systems and leaf boxes to change. You made the investment and got your process down and that is great. We can't beat you on quality. But we will have a lower price. The purpose was to give info to individuals that might have limited resources and still want to get a piece of the leaf pie.

I will show you in the future some situations where we blow leaves onto the street at some condo properties. While the guys are getting all the leaves onto the street I lower the mulch deck and mulch them down on the street. Eventually the deck will be as low as it can go. After getting them reduced I take either our Walker or Scag Cougar and pick it all up. Street will almost be clean as a..
I seldom have more than a couple plastic bags full of debris.

[jrs.landscaping]

Originally Posted by Weekend cut easymoney

Live Oak leaves...in St. Augustine

P.S. we cut 4-4.5 in the summer as it gets hotter...

I'm curious how long that took you to mulch those leaves?

I could have made one pass with a bagger and loaded it into the truck in about 5 min. I agree that mulching can be done almost anywhere, almost, aome properties just don't allow multiple passes to spread the leaves out. I think for us in the Northeast it is more economical to collect or blow leaves rather than trying to grind them into the turf.

[corey4671]

You ain't cleaning them up this fast
http://youtu.be/HCkEgVR4l4o