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Mulching Leaves

12K views 22 replies 16 participants last post by  Duekster 
#1 ·
Hey guys,

How many of you guys mulch leaves in the fall with your mowers? I was thinking about getting a mulch kit put on my 36 walk behind and visiting every property every other week or so. Do any of you guys do this? what do you guys think. Thanks
 
#4 ·
I mulch them and then do an end of season final clean up. Easier, no complaints when the leaves are still falling on the lawn, make decent extra money for not much extra time, really depends on the area and how much leaf cover. As in I'm not going to wait 4 weeks then try to mulch. I'm mowing still during "leaf season" so I think it just works better. Sometimes the final clean up can be a lot but usually with the weekly mulching it ends up being just making sure all the beds are blown out and leaves mulched. I'll take away if needed. I usually leave at the curb for the town. I don't have a kit just mulch blades, not the wavy ones but the ones with the 4 "teeth". Shreds them pretty good. Just need multiple passes.
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#5 ·
I mulch them and then do an end of season final clean up. Easier, no complaints when the leaves are still falling on the lawn, make decent extra money for not much extra time, really depends on the area and how much leaf cover. As in I'm not going to wait 4 weeks then try to mulch. I'm mowing still during "leaf season" so I think it just works better. Sometimes the final clean up can be a lot but usually with the weekly mulching it ends up being just making sure all the beds are blown out and leaves mulched. I'll take away if needed. I usually leave at the curb for the town. I don't have a kit just mulch blades, not the wavy ones but the ones with the 4 "teeth". Shreds them pretty good. Just need multiple passes.
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I pretty much do the same thing as you. It works for me. I however have to start the removal process early on a few places. The leaves get over baring within a month to the point I can't keep up. That's when I start bagging and remove them. No curbside pick up here.
 
#9 ·
I will say this. I have one place and now my own place which I moved to this year and mulching leaves is just not an option during the final few weeks. At my place I'm not too concerned with bits and pieces of leaves all over the yard as I have a good chunk of property. At a customers house, I can't have that, at one with a small yard where you can't spread it out. One thing that changed my perspective was picking up a leaf loader. No not a fancy 18hp billy goat, a very old well cared for 5hp parker unit. The ability to remove them without the need to drag a tarp, jump on the piles, etc... just made removing an easy task. If I needed to remove on more properties I'd need a larger loader for sure as this isn't the quickest loader but works fine. But like I said above, I can mulch for the first couple of weeks without a lot of debris but after that removal is the best option. It just looks better in most situations. Again everyone will give a different answer or opinion but when you have the right equipment for removal why not. I noticed another landscaper doing leaf removal on some of my neighbors places using a lawn tractor dragging one of those towable leaf loaders. Maybe not the most efficient but those lawns were SPOTLESS when he was done. He uses a regular zero turn for mowing if any of you are concerned about the lawn tractor. So it really depends on the place, your equipment, and what your standards are. I'm beginning to like removal better.
 
#10 ·
most of my customers like their leaves mulched until they are not visible, i do this with my scag wb with a mulching plate. i do have one customer who wants their yard bagged, i do this with my 22" toro. i really do not care for bagging because by mulching leaves, i do not have to fertilize as much in the spring.
 
#11 ·
I have to bag 90% of my work due to upscale residences. However, I do have many leaves to deal with on some of the established homes with large trees. I have tried mulching and it doesnt ever get the job done to my standards. I picked up an old chipper shredder and it has cut down the volume of my leaf removal volume by at least 500% I can pack huge amounts of leaves in my shredder bag because it shreds it so small. The only issue I have is covering the the shredded leaves on the trailer, because in the end its almost dust and make make a mess when transporting if you dont get it covered good.
 
#12 ·
I did a leaf clean up yesterday in Penn National. I had them all cleaned up bagged and loaded in my truck in 2hrs. Quoted them $200. When the lady opened the door, her first word was wow. LOL They moved up this way from down south and said they never seem so many leaves. hahahaha To me, it was a small clean up. I have others that take 4 trips to get them all.
 
#13 ·
I mulch the leaves on most of my properties using my Kubota z-turn or ex-mark wb.I read an article that said lawns with mulched leaves especially Maple leaves had less weeds the following year.I figure the mulched leaves must leave nutrients in the lawn and i find that by mid spring of the following season the mulched lawns often look better than my bagged lawns.
 
#14 ·
We mulched leaves for years until we picked up a leaf loader. We are in a fairly heavy leaf load area. We noticed the very next spring that the lawns were healthier with the leaves removed. Now we try to convince out clients to at least let us put them in the woods if they have any rather than mulching if they don't want to pay for the vacuum pick up. No tarping and dragging either. Built leaf plow blades for the walk behinds.
 
#16 ·
We mulched leaves for years until we picked up a leaf loader. We are in a fairly heavy leaf load area. We noticed the very next spring that the lawns were healthier with the leaves removed. Now we try to convince out clients to at least let us put them in the woods if they have any rather than mulching if they don't want to pay for the vacuum pick up. No tarping and dragging either. Built leaf plow blades for the walk behinds.
What criteria is being used to make the claim that, "... the very next spring that the lawns were healthier with the leaves removed."???

What kind of leaves and why didn't they enrich the soil??? :)
 
#17 ·
Mulching leaves works very, very well. Ive used mulch kits on all my mowers. (Exmark z w/ Triton deck, Toro 40' WB and Toro 60' Z) On the lawns with heaviest leaves I go a litter higher on the N application in late fall. No hauling no loading. Blow leaves from landscape areas onto the lawn and mow away.
 
#18 ·
I only mulch leaves at the beginning of the cleanup season when leaves are at the nuisance level. Once they start getting thick I either blow them to the woods or bag them. I don't like having to run a lawn over as many times as it takes to mulch up the leaves, and on some lawns with thin turf it's just too hard to "hide" them. For me, mulching works to a point, but beyond that it's more work than just collecting/removing the leaves.
 
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