Leaf blower

[Bob Minchin]

Is there such a thing as a good electric leaf blower?

I have no other petrol powered machines and have no desire to go that route. Just a few times a year I could do with something to round up a)Wet magnolia leaves on equally wet grass, and b)lots of small wisteria leaves that get into awkward crevices in the garden making raking very difficult.

I do not want to vacuum them up, just blow into heaps for collection manually.

Quite happy to search and fettle a used machine provide I'm confident it will do the job.

TIA

Bob

[News]

In message , Bob Minchin writes

We have a mains powered B&D leaf blower/sucker and it does the job - but

*only* when the leaves are dry. Trying either sucking or blowing when leaves and/or ground is wet is a waste of time.

[Capitol]

IME, no. The Flymo is too heavy, the Homebase cheap one vibrates too much, but blows better. The old model Eckman vacuum leaf collector worked surprisingly well, but wore out it's collection bag which scraped on the ground. Of the three, the Eckman is best IME. Of course that Eckman is discontinued and I have no experience of the new double the price unit, which has been "improved".

[Bob Minchin]

Thanks Graeme, I was rather expecting that might be the case. Trouble is the leaves tend to drop just as the weather gets wetter and not enough power in the sun to dry them out even of it does shine at all.

What power is your B&D machine? Just been looking at a Bosch 2500W seems quite poky - but that is a vacuum too. I wonder if there are any blow-only mains ones that are optimised for blowing without the leaf munching facility option which could absorb power in the fan design.

Bob

[Bob Minchin]

Eckman is a new name to me but on their website, black friday price for a 3000w unit (also a bag draper!) is £40 - might be end of old model or a bargain price new model? I'm tempted certainly.

Bob

[Chris Hogg]

Forget a leaf blower; just rake them into piles with a spring tine lawn rake and then gather them up by hand. It's what I do. The ones in places too awkward for a rake can be left to rot. I can't imagine blowing wet leaves is going to be very effective anyway. They tend to stick together and be generally uncooperative, especially as a good few of them on the grass have been partly pulled into the ground by worms.

[DerbyBorn]

Chris Hogg wrote in news: [e-mail]:

+1 ...and they are noisy and are another thing to store.

[Andrew Mawson]

I have a Billygoat leaf sweeper / sucker that's up for grabs as my gardener seems to prefer using a wide rake. Bought it s/h a couple of years ago - Briggs & Stratton engine - it's sat in my container ever since :(

Andrew

[Albert Zweistein]

+2 ... and pay for.

[Broadback]

Another problem with leaf blowers is you cannot control where the leaves blow. I have an awkward neighbour, if only one leaf gets across to her garden there is a vociferous complaint. A real PITA.

[News]

Indeed. I usually wait until we have had a windy day or three, then hope for a calm day. To be honest, our leaf blower is rarely used. We just use brooms and a lawn rake then shove the lot in sacks. The leaf vac is very good at chopping the leaves meaning more leaves per sack, but the vac container is not that large, so needs to be emptied fairly frequently.

I fibbed. Just had a look, and ours is Flymo, not B&D. Well, it is orange :-) Described as Flymo GardenVac, 2200W Turbo. Were it ever to self destruct, I don't think I would replace it. Our garden wall is bordered by a row of trees next door, mainly horse chestnut, but sycamore too, so plenty of leaves in the autumn, but sweeping and raking works, not that we ever seem to get all of them. Always a few left under hedges or plants, in odd corners etc.

[Capitol]

The Eckman I have is:-

Only 1600W but replaced by a new one that I can't find a link for.

[The Natural Philosopher]

In general earthworms will clear all the leaves within two weeks

[Bob Minchin]

Thanks for the link.

I cracked and ordered this one

For 40 notes even if it is a lemon, I could possibly get most of my purchase price back on ebay next autumn.

Bob

[Adrian]

Got a B&D here. It's utterly shit. Try and vac anything but BONE dry leaves up, and it's clog city. Try and blow them, and not much happens but a lot of noise.

[Adrian]

The neighbour, or the blower?

[News]

In message , The Natural Philosopher writes

Not in this f'ing garden they won't. There are leaves out there I recognise from the day we moved in 14 years ago :-)

[ss]

If like my place the leaves tend to collect in a couple of corners then peg out some netting as the leaves start to fall, then just bundle it up and tip it in the council garden waste bin.

[newshound]

Not *quite* what you are asking, but I bought a powered scarifier last year to help with the moss, and that picks up wet leaves on wet grass fine (on the least scratchy setting).

[Malcolm Race]

Used a billygoat at a local school. Honda engined version is more reliable than the B&S. Normal felt bag soaks up water when used in wet conditions making the balance of the machine tip towards the operator. There is a 'wet bag' which is better as the sides are mesh. I only used it on hard surfaces but it is a powerful vacuum.

PS If you use the wet bag when the ground is dry, you will be covered in dust!

Malcolm