My east Tennessee yard is 1 1/2 acres with too many oak trees. Nice in the summer but hell in the fall due to all the leaves. I have tried mowing them up but oak leaves don't fragment / mow up all that well. I've worked myself to near exhaustion raking, blowing and loading onto tarps and hauling to the back of the property.
So my question is what is the best way or best equipment to use to take care of lots of leaves?
I try to cut 1 or 2 oaks a year but the problem is severe.
Well, if you got the largest RIDGID shop vac and put a large trash bag in it, you could vacuum up bagfulls of leaves. Put the vac in a little wagon for easy transport. After a couple bags, a small wood chipper would make easy work of each bag's contents. You'd need a small generator to power the vac and maybe also power the chipper. That, too, could be in a wagon. A little wagon train of leafy destruction.
Never tried this crazy idea. Maybe the leaves will jam it before you can suck up all that much. Then again, maybe the vacuum will compact the leaves as it sucks, allowing you to truly clean up.
You could rent a small driveable vac, like the kinds that they use on parking lots. That would be a half hour of easy driving.
You could take a roll of quarters (one or two rolls) and fling them all over your yard. Tell the neighbor kids that they can keep whatever they collect - but they can only search the areas with no leaves. Loan them a rake and ... hmmm, you'd probably want to KEEP the trees. Nevermind. Plus, you'd have yard monkeys over your lawn for days.
We have about 1/2 your area but huge 150 yr old trees. First I take the riding lawn mower with the bag attachment and run over entire area that I want to pick up never emptying bags. When done dump bags and clean out chute then go back over chopped up area emptying bags when full. Think I am getting about 6-8 to 1 compaction so it really cuts the trips/empty time down
I have a vacuum trailer I tow behind my garden tractor/mower. It does a fantastic job. I built it myself. It holds 44 bushels and just needs to be emptied once when mowing my 1 acre. The hose connects to the mower deck. If the leaves are dry, it will chew them up into pieces smaller than 1 inch square.
Frank, Can you share some of the details of the vacuum trailer you constructed, it souls like a jewel. I'd sure like to build something like that. How about posting an e photo? What size and brand mower do you use, does it have mulching features? Thanks again, Scott
Pat, Sound like your system works well. What size and brand mower do you use? I suppose its a rear bagger. A 6 to 1 reduction in volume would sure be helpful. Thanks Again, Scott
It's my experience that mulching decks don't have as much output to the bag, compared to regular cut/bag decks. You need a tow-behind unit that has it's own engine. (8hp or better) HTH
My Craftsman 17 hp 42 inch mower will blow the leaves right back into a trailer with a high cap. No extra engine. I mow about an acre of leaves in the fall and rarely use a rake. It's a Rube Goldberg contraption, but it cost nothing to build as it was made from scraps.
I use a 10+ yr old monkey wards/MTD 18hp 46 reg deck/blades with the twin bag attachment. Couple of yrs ago found the plug that turns the deck into a mulcher but if I don't empty the bags/tube first time around acts like a mulch mower without messing with plug. Don't really think make/model that important Neighbor uses Snapper 38 inch same way. Think The key is mulch first and pickup later. Northern tool and hyd has the chipper/shredder cart combo for about $750 IIRC that is mentioned farther on. Think 2 advantages would be better compaction like 15:1 and if you take the deck tube off it acts like big shop vac to get out of fencerow gardens etc. Have a 5 hp chipper that have been toying with idea of making my own but havn't got my round tuit yet. 1 thing I am going to try soon is leave bag frame/tube on and wrap a burlap bag with bottom out around tube to just let mulched leaves fall to ground in windrow. Without an extension they just go everywhere including on me! Think your place like mine and even with mulching need to pick up or will kill grass overwinter
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