Dealing with Leaves?

[ExFlyBoy5]

First off...this IS not a thread about the effects of raking/mulching/leaving your leaves on the lawn. Folks that have righteous indignation as to what I do with MY LEAVES need not share their opinion.

With that disclaimer out the way...

We have a fairly large fescue lawn that we overseed every year. Also, there are a LOT of trees which means a lot of leaves in the fall. We have tried different ways to deal with the leaves, but none are easy and it's time consuming. Currently, we have a leaf "rake" that attaches to and is pulled behind our lawn tractor. We dump that at the top of our drive where we mulch them and then use the mulch in various places. The rake doesn't work well since the land is hilly and irregular. For reference, when finely mulched it produces seven (7) 50 gallon bags of compost. That is with one collection period...we usually do this 3x a year. So...it's a lot of leaves.

So...we are considering a mulching device that attaches to the lawn tractor. The prices range from about $800 (John Deere branded leaf mulcher) to $2000+ for the pull behind (HUGE) mulcher that I would prefer not to use because of price and storage considerations.

So, what say you? If you have a pull behind device of sorts, do you like it? Do you recommend a particular brand/type?

And yes, we understand that it's preferable to leave the leaves. BUT...if we do that, we have lots of bare spots where the grass doesn't grow because of the sheer amount of leaves. So, that's why we chose to collect/compost those leaves.

 

[Ronstar]

I used to have a leaf rake and it didn't work well for the same reasons as yours. So I sold it and got a high powered backpack leaf blower.

We have a lawn that is totally surrounded by wooded natural areas. So I blow the leaves off the lawn into the natural areas or into leaf burn piles at the edge of the natural areas. I burn some in the leaf piles and leave the rest in the natural areas.

In your case, maybe you could blow them to a compost area and use a small leaf/ wood chipper to make compost.

I don't know anything about the mulching device you speak of. My mower is a mulching mower. Sometimes I mow the lawn/ mulch the leaves before blowing them off.

 

[marko]

Our landscapers come and haul them away.

 

[RE2Boys]

https://www.harborfreight.com/search?q=leaf vacuum mulcher

We have two of these units, suck up leaves, deposit in clear trash bags (local requirement) for curb pickup or in our vegetable garden.

 

[Bamaman]

I've got a lake house with huge white oak trees all over the lot. I chomp all the leaves on the flat part into huge piles, and then I use a pitch fork to throw them into the back of my truck and on my utility trailer.

I ride through the countryside until the leaves disappear--back to nature. There are no subdivisions--just two 18 hole golf courses and farms for miles.

The last time I took the leaves to the city dump, I mulched and hauled away over 5,000 lbs. Often the weather turns wet by the time the leaves come down and it takes me until May to complete the job.

 

[Jerry1]

I’d get one of these:

https://www.drpower.com/power-equipment/leaf-blowers-vacuums/tow-behind-leaf-vacs

There are some brands that fold up pretty compact if storage space is an issue. I just use a back pack blower and my city collects them if we get them out to the road. My neighbor has off of the pull behind vacuums and it works great. I just can’t justify it given that most of my trees are evergreens, so not a lot of leaves. This time of year, it’s just a couple afternoons of work.

You didn’t say how big your yard is. That would make more of a difference to me than the amount of leaves.

 

[38Chevy454]

I use combination of a blower to get leaves away from the fence and out of the flower beds, a pull behind leaf rake for a small garden tractor, and a homemade mulching kit for my zero turn mower. The big collection goes on my burn pile and gets rid of the leaves. Any leftover the mulching of the mower takes care of. I mow about 2 acres total. But majority of the leaves are only half of that, and mostly from the line of large 50-60 ft tall trees along one property line.

My homemade mulching kit is a piece of sheet metal I welded up that I bolt on and block the exit from the deck. No special mulching blades on the 60 inch deck. Just blocked exit so everything has to get cut up.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Thanks for all the replies. The area in question is a little less than an acre (just the front yard). There is no real efficient way to blow them all the way to the clearing in the back (plus that would mean going through another acre that is the backyard with even MORE leaves).

We paid a landscaper one year to do it, and they didn't mulch it...so there were 3 (or 4?) trailers worth of bagged leaves...probably 100 or so bags. They spent 3 days dealing with them...so yes, it's a LOT of leaves. They did it for a flat rate of $500 and would you believe they didn't offer that service again?

Also, we can't burn them, so that's out.

It does seem like the DR tow behind is the best best. They aren't cheap, but it would alleviate the HOURS DW and I are spending now dealing with them. I do love our trees, but I sure hate the leaves!

 

[RunningBum]

If you run a mower over them, is it still too much to leave on the ground? That's what I did when I had a yard with a lot of trees and it worked well for me.

 

[teetee]

My ego mower has the side discharge and mulch option so I just rake up the leaves, turn them into mulch, dump it underneath the trees and plants. Good exercise and no worries on the leaves traveling to the neighbor's yard. I ha e been doing that for 5 years or so.

Some years I even just set the mower to the lowest setting and leave all the chopped-up leaves on the lawn. The leaves are too small to get picked up by the wind. Though the lawn would look brown rather than green but at least I know the soil gets the nutrient.

 

[Graybeard]

I just mow the grass the final 1 or 2 times for the season using my 21 hp lawn tractor. I run around the house in an enlarging circle discharging the leaves towards the woods. When I am done, all the leaves are at the edge of the woods, some are cut up and some are whole. Then more leaves fall and what was a nice clean yard has almost as many leaves as 3 or 2 days ago! You know what happens next? The wind will blow the leaves to the borders of the woods and after a couple of windy days the yard is clear again.

Normally I mow twice to remove the leaves, this year I waited hoping to do it once. Sure enough, the next day, 11/5, the leaves left on the trees were losing up and falling fast. But in 2 or 3 days the wind blew them off the lawn. That what works here.

 

[jazz4cash]

I believe the DR Leaf Vac is the design that folds up compactly. That’s what I would do. We have a wooded area at the back of our lot but I wish we had better reduction than what the riding mower provides. I did use this device last year and it was OK for the wide open area. Yes, the neighbors will laugh

Lawn Tractor Grass Catcher Bag Leaf Collector Leaf Bagger for Riding Lawn Mower 6.6×4.3 Feet Wear-Resistant Large Capacity Leaf Bags for Fast and Convenient Garden Lawn Leaf Cleaning (Black) https://a.co/d/1YFoQkl

 

[EastWest Gal]

In our township they come by once a week and suck up leaves that we have raked to the street in neat piles one foot from the curb. The leaves go into a township compost system. If we want we can pick up compost in the spring for our yards.

I also put leaves in my compost box and on my raised beds. The soil that is covered with leaves now is immensely enriched by their presence in the spring.

 

[coveredbridge]

If you are considering a pull behind leaf vac , take a look at the Cyclone Rake. I've had one since 2005 and I've collected tons of leaves with it. I compost the leaves and use them as a soil supplement. It takes about 2 years for them to compost.

 

[thatguy]

At the old house we would rake the leaves onto a big tarp and drag them to the curb where the city would pick them up. Now we just blow them off the driveway into the woods.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

If you are considering a pull behind leaf vac , take a look at the Cyclone Rake. I've had one since 2005 and I've collected tons of leaves with it. I compost the leaves and use them as a soil supplement. It takes about 2 years for them to compost.

It looks like the Cyclone Rake would work well. The DR options looks OK too but has some pretty bad reviews about things breaking in short order. While I am not opposed to spending the money on such a device, I would like it to stand the test of time.

It would be easiest if we could use our tractor just to mulch them, but the yard is too hilly/irregular to do an effective job. We can't even mow the grass with it...we have to use a push mower.

 

[38Chevy454]

My pull behind leaf sweeper is like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Agri-Fab-45-...hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584001431363086&psc=1

Biggest hassle is storing the large size. It does fairly good job of picking up the leaves, helps if they are dry. I could pull it with my zero turn, but i have a small garden tractor that is easier. Usually DW pulls the leaf sweeper and cpme by to dump while i continuously feed the burn pile. It's too bad you can't burn them up. Leaves take a long time to really break down into compost if they just lay on the ground.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

My pull behind leaf sweeper is like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Agri-Fab-45-...hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584001431363086&psc=1

Biggest hassle is storing the large size. It does fairly good job of picking up the leaves, helps if they are dry. I could pull it with my zero turn, but i have a small garden tractor that is easier. Usually DW pulls the leaf sweeper and cpme by to dump while i continuously feed the burn pile. It's too bad you can't burn them up. Leaves take a long time to really break down into compost if they just lay on the ground.

That is pretty much like the rake we have and while it does well on level ground, it is terrible on our hilly terrain. And yes, it takes up too much room. I have threatened DW that I am going to put it on the curb and see how long it takes to disappear.