The Green Industry's Resource Center

rbljack · #1 11-13-2012, 04:24 PM

ok, here in west texas we dont have the volume of leaves that most of you are dealing with in the fall. I do have one customer though, that has many mature trees in her yard that are Pecans, and Oaks. Because she is a weekly customer, im still mowing her yard, and mulching the leaves so they arent building up too bad.

My question is this: she has some flowerbeds that are full of viney ground cover like english ivy, and vinca. She wants all the leaves blown out or removed from those beds when I mow also. No big deal, because she is my best paying customer, and I dont mind providing that extra service for her.

My question is this: Will I backpack blower do the job? Ive been contemplating getting a BR600 for a while now. Or am i better off getting one of those cheap poulan pro blowers that can also be a lawn vac? Ive used those as a leaf vac before, and the bag over the shoulder is always a PITA.

Any recommendations? My thought was to blow the leaves into the yard with a back pack blower first, then mower as normal. Id like to hear what yall have to say. Keep this in mind though....the leaves are a thorn in her side. She enjoys her manicured yard all season, but really hates leaves left behind..LOL.

Sprinkler Buddy · #2 11-13-2012, 04:30 PM

The back pack will get the job done no problem. I have a few yards that I blow them out of the ground covered beds before I mow so I can mulch them up with the mower.

rbljack · #3 11-13-2012, 09:58 PM

yeah, im comparing the br600 to the stihl 86 blower shredder and cant make up my mind.

Any other inputs? I want to get this done as quickly and efficiently as possible becausse im not charging anthing extra for the service, but she pays well all year long, so its a fair trade off.

Darryl G · #4 11-13-2012, 10:06 PM

A backpack blower is a more useful tool overall. I have a shredder vac, and it's nice for window wells and corners and getting every last leaf out of ground cover...basically detail work. It doesn't get used much though and I could do without it, whereas I could not say the same about backpack blowers. For the man who has everything, a shredder vac is nice, but a backpack blower is almost mandatory in my opinion.

knox gsl · #5 11-13-2012, 10:49 PM

Get a backpack, and I will trade wet red oak leaves for pecan any day.

nepatsfan · #6 11-14-2012, 06:08 AM

I used to have the stihl shredder vac. It got stolen. I wasn't that upset. I never replaced it. We do a LOT of leaves. I didn't find it that helpful.

agent walker · #7 11-14-2012, 10:23 PM

Never used a shredder but ive put a ton of hours on backpack blower, including stihl br600. And id charge extra to blow out the leaves. I dont run a $550 piece of equipment for free

andyslawncare · #8 11-15-2012, 07:39 PM

take the mower across the english ivy, it will come back in the spring.

rbljack · #9 11-15-2012, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andyslawncare

take the mower across the english ivy, it will come back in the spring.

LOL...thats not an option. But even if it was, i aint going through that with my Honda HRC...no way no how.

There are also bushes, and flowers along with the ivy. I have an old blower vac that im going to try when I go back over there on Tuesday, but from everything im reading, im leaning towards the back pack blower for my next purchase. The only problem is that I dont have 600 bucks to throw at another piece of equipemtn at the moment, so I may have to do it with tools on hand for the moment.