Well its almost upon us the leaf removel season. Last year I ended up doing a lot of leaf removel jobs. I was just wondering what equipment you guys use and how you schedule leaf removel.I prefer to mulch leafs with the mower then go bacvk over with the billy goat. Ideas on anything that works better is apperciated!
Leaf removel tools..plan of attack...
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I'm going to use my backpack blower and blow all the leaves on the lawn and then mulch them all up. Seems like the easiest way to do it. I agree with Cutter, it will be very dusty. I speak from experience. Have fun.
Charles-What does the lawn look like after you get done? Forget my way, I think Charles knows the easiest way to do it.
[Edited by Scag48 on 08-22-2000 at 10:29 PM]
Charles-What does the lawn look like after you get done? Forget my way, I think Charles knows the easiest way to do it.[Edited by Scag48 on 08-22-2000 at 10:29 PM]
We treat leaves differently as the fall progresses. In the DC area.
1. We mow-bag with light fall on the grass.
2. We blow into tarps and/or shove into garbage cans when the leaves are heavy, leaving what's in the beds there for the present. Leaves are taken either tossed into the back of the pickup, which, when that's filled, we call the leaf rig to begin. At the customer's preference we'll either leave them it the curb or the leaf rig comes by and vac/mulches them up. Customer is charged a leaf surcharge based on the volume of leaves (crew leader notes on the route sheet). Customer can also opt to have us stop mowing and take over leaves. We're following a weekly mow schedule at this time.
3. After all the leaves are down and if the customer has authorized it, we return to do a full property leaf cleanup, leaving them clean for the winter. In the DC area, this is usually all finished by the second week in January.
Leaf control is a big money maker for us. The leaves get recycled.
1. We mow-bag with light fall on the grass.
2. We blow into tarps and/or shove into garbage cans when the leaves are heavy, leaving what's in the beds there for the present. Leaves are taken either tossed into the back of the pickup, which, when that's filled, we call the leaf rig to begin. At the customer's preference we'll either leave them it the curb or the leaf rig comes by and vac/mulches them up. Customer is charged a leaf surcharge based on the volume of leaves (crew leader notes on the route sheet). Customer can also opt to have us stop mowing and take over leaves. We're following a weekly mow schedule at this time.
3. After all the leaves are down and if the customer has authorized it, we return to do a full property leaf cleanup, leaving them clean for the winter. In the DC area, this is usually all finished by the second week in January.
Leaf control is a big money maker for us. The leaves get recycled.
Through October we blow the bulk of leaves off the lawn areas into the beds and cut the grass the usual way (ie. side discharge). Come mid-late november when we do a fall cleanup, we use backpack blowers to blow out the beds, then backpacks, a little wonder pushblower, and rakes to move them into piles. Rake the piles onto tarps and drag 'em to the curb for pickup. Afterwards we cut the grass short with our baggers on to vaccuum up any remaining leaves. When we leave a property it is totally immaculate. Takes a while to do but we charge $40/man/hour and it's a nice influx of money at the end of the season.
Dave
Dave
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I just blow all the leaves out of the beds into the lawn.
Then I mow clockwise then mow again starting in the center
and working outward with a 52" toro with a high lift blade on the bottom and a shreddit blade on top.
Then I mow clockwise then mow again starting in the center
and working outward with a 52" toro with a high lift blade on the bottom and a shreddit blade on top.
I get a lot of leaf jobs around Thanksgiving and Christmas. I hate to do it, but it's good $$$. I got a chipper vac and a 4x8 trailer with 3' sides. I'm making a cover (looks like a camper for a p/u). The leaves get blown and raked to the curb, then get sucked up, shredded and blown into the trailer and hauled away. Illegal for contractors here to leave debris for the city to haul away. Hope this works, but it can't suck worse than raking. Also got my dealer to order a Stihl blower/vac.
Before this I used a 21" to "vacuum" leaves and bag them. Anyone else do it either of these ways?
Before this I used a 21" to "vacuum" leaves and bag them. Anyone else do it either of these ways?
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422 Posts
We blow the leave off all our lawns weekly in mid october -November. In December we do our final Fall clean up blowing out the beds and off the lawns. If you keep up with the leaves its not too bad. we use a 3 man crew two back packs and a 9 hp ground blower. We put all leaves curbside for city pick up. One guy blows the leave out of the beds with a back pack, the other two guy blow the the lawn from back to front. The back pack guy is in front of the ground blower blowing down while the ground blower blows acrossed that helps loosen any leaves caught up. If you have a ZTR thats great for pushing big piles of leave to the street.
Good Luck!!! And Hey its not the bad guys!!! Work smarter not harder. If you can deal with the rain and wind the money is great. Travis AG&G Lawn Maintenance
Good Luck!!! And Hey its not the bad guys!!! Work smarter not harder. If you can deal with the rain and wind the money is great. Travis AG&G Lawn Maintenance
Charles, you crack me up. As for doing leaves we use backpacks and rakes to get them out of the beds then wheel blowers to do as much moveing as possible. Once there at the curb we vac them up. The only hard parts about doing leaves is when you have to tarp them out of back yards with tiny gates or when the wind is blowing in the opposite direction. We do leaves 3/4 times in the fall, or more if customer wants it. I always try to get everything up before the first snow, other wise everything gets matted and frozen.
To Acute Cut
You're hurting yourself undercharging the mow price to do leaves. Charge your time and equipment on it, plus the disposal charge that the dumpsite charges, plus the time to get it there, plus the truck and vac usage, etc. Leaf season can be your best time of the year. We use an F450 with an ODB leafbody and an ODB Metro unit to vac, 16" across the tube.
You're hurting yourself undercharging the mow price to do leaves. Charge your time and equipment on it, plus the disposal charge that the dumpsite charges, plus the time to get it there, plus the truck and vac usage, etc. Leaf season can be your best time of the year. We use an F450 with an ODB leafbody and an ODB Metro unit to vac, 16" across the tube.
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