Leaf Blower?

[terry]

Will a small gas operated 'Leaf Blower' work as a 'vacuum'.

i.e. sucking leaves into a bag slung over operator's shoulder.

Any other advice re 'not raking up' leaves. TIA

[Bob F]

Some units may be designed to do this. Others are not.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, I've been using a B&D electric blower/vacuum. Mostly in vacuum mode bagging leaves. So far so good. If yard is big, I'd prefer gas one. Lawn mower works well too.

[jimmydahgeek]

Yes Some will work for this. Buy a good one not a cheap one.

Use a chain saw and remove the source of the problem.

[ransley]

Echo used to have their cheap model do that, not any more, and I can only guess a stick or small object could ruin the plastic blowers blades, efectively ruining your machine.

[Jim Elbrecht]

no - but a blower/vacuum might.

Create a spot[s] where you can blow them to. About 1/2 of mine go over a bank, under a lilac bush, against a wall, or under a peach tree. Then they become mulch and nearly disappear. The pile might be a couple feet deep in Oct/Nov- but by March you can barely tell there were leaves there. It returns the nutrients to the soil & keeps the weeds down.

The rest of mine get blown into piles- then I pick them up with a hand pulled 30cubic foot [or so] leaf-cart that I built of PVC & plastic hardware cloth. Then they go to the compost pile where they seem to disappear by spring.or

Here's an idea on the leaf cart - $120 for a 15-20 cu footer. Mine has 24" cart wheels & is larger- but you get the idea.

Jim

[trader4]

amazingleafcart.com/

Some of the gas powered blowers have an attachement which consists of a large tube that can be attached to the bottom of the blower, creating a mulching vacuum. They have a shoulder bag that holds the mulched leaves.

They are OK up to a point. The problem is the bag fills fairly quickly. I use it for window wells, getting between shrubs and the house, etc. It's really of no use for larger areas.

[Van Chocstraw]

Complete waste of time. I used a gas powered blower/vac and wore it out.It's slow and plugs with sticks often and you have to rake into rows anyway or you'll never get done. The bag fills up quick also so you're always emptying it into another bag. It's easier to just rake and hand bag. A walk behind mower/mulcher/bagger was my next step which worked just dandy except I had to empty the bagger every 5 feet. I bought a used Craftsman riding mower and bought a new bagger for it and use it just for bagging leaves and cleaning up the lawn clippings after several mowings. It has large 2 bin collector which is the best and easiest way to pick up leaves They make 3 bins collectors also. I've also seen those lawn sweepers in action that are wheel driven and towed behind the garden tractor. They seem to do a good job though I don't know about emptying the thing.

[aemeijers]

I suspect more likely that they simply don't work. I can't definitely address gas units, but the bag attachment for my electric blower is useless. It'll suck up one dry leaf at a time, from pavement, but beyond that, picking them up with bare hands is quicker. I still use it as a blower, as much for light dry snow as for leaves, but have mostly gone back to garden cart and a matched pair of rakes used as giant salad tongs. It blows leaves okay, but my yard is so big, that by the time I blow one end to the far end where I compost them, it is less work to just fill a cart at a time and roll them back there. And I don't have to fight with the cord. I only use the blower for the pre-cleaning to get them sort of into piles, and to clear the back 30 feet or so directly into the trees.

Maybe if I had a more powerful gas blower, it'd be more useful, but small gas engines and I don't have a good history. For vacuuming, the only units I have seen that actually work are on wheels, either pushed by hand or pulled with a tractor, and have 6 or 8 inch diameter hoses. Sort of giant versions of a carpet vac, with a hose you can unclip to clean in tight areas.

-- aem sends...

[Steve Barker]

yes, the stihl bg 55 and 65 have leaf sucking options.

[aemeijers]

If you regard trees and leaves as a problem, you should probably live in an apartment, methinks.

-- aem sends...

[Tony]

Use a mulching lawn mower or mulching blades. It's good for the soil. If the grass doesn't like it, just give it a little lime.

[Bob F]

You don't think my neighbor would mind if I cut down his trees?

[Bob F]

A tarp works fine too. Lay a steel pipe on the edge where you rake (or blow) the leaves onto the tarp. Grab two adjacent corners and drag it where you want the mulch, and lift the tarp out.

[salty]

I blow the leaves into a pile in the area where I want them, and then use the vacuum function of my Toro blower to suck them up and grind them. I leave the bag end open, so they run right through and out. That way the suction never diminishes, and the leaves get ground into little flakes that take up a lot less room, and more importantly, break down MUCH faster. If the leaves are dry, this doesn't take all that long to do.

The Toro Ultimate (Not super) vac/blower doesn't cost much more than the others, but has a metal impeller, which makes a pretty big performance difference. I also find it is much better balanced, which reduces back strain. Many blowers make you sort of hold them out in front of you, which is BAD. The Toro is designed so that you let your arm hang straight down at your side.

[terry]

That is a disappointing comment! Not everybody wants to live in a concrete/asphalt jungle. It also reflects an attiude typified by a recent advert here entitled 'Free wood'.

Person apparently has one acre of wooded ground and want's it cleared, for free! Person cutting taking the 'free' wood as payment.This typifies the developer who knocks everything flat and then lets the new homeowners go to a big box store to buy trees and bushes that are often not suitable for the local climate and try to plant them in the couple of inches of top soil the developer leaves on top of the backfill!

We will admit to burning occasional scrap wood to avoid burying it in the local dump.

But; since 1970 we have on this half acre which now accomodates our original house and our daughter's managed to grow some 70 trees. Trees of course sequester carbon (from carbon dioxide in the air) and significantly reduce our personal carbon footprint. Added to that amost 100% of electrcity is generated form hydro power, not by burning oil/gas/coal etc. So we are reasonably content, so far, with efforts to reduce our pollution. We also have a few acres of woodland near this community which is slowly going back to natural forest.

Now if we could get a practical electric car that would cost less tha half to operate and would not need oil changes, exhaust systems and anti pollution gear ................... !

The trees, which include, maples, oak, chestnut, sprice etc are a tremendous asset, and we have birds nesting where 40 years ago threre were no trees at all! Some of the oaks are now matured to where they are dropping acorns, we hope to grow a next generation from some of those and donate them to the new school being built nearby. the maples have been dropping seeds for yaers and every year we donate seedlings to other homeowners.

BTW if anyone wants to experiment; try 'Beech', slow growing yes. Ours (now up to 30 feet high) were grown from seeds picked up around old tree/park areas. Although not native to this part of N.America they grow well in this cool/cold climate, suffer little if any damge during ice storms and since they tend to retain their leaves longer than most deciduous varieties they also provided some windbreak. Very pleased with the results of our tree growing despite the rather thin and not very good and rocky soil. Also mulched leaves can be 'fed back' into soil to 'improve' it.

Trees provide privacy. Mature well cared for trees also add to the value of the property, perhaps as much as 10 to 15%. A local horticulturist has commented favourably. Some neighbours with trees we planted on their property years ago before they owned it are also delighted with trees that are now 30 to 35 feet high.

[Bob F]

I rake them rather than collecting them with my mower specifically because they last longer as mulch that way and smother the weeds better.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Joking? Very poor taste. You flunked.

[salty]

Oh, lighten up!

[Jim]

Yes...I actually took that a step further... Rather than a bag over the shoulder what I did was buy some dryer vent hose and hooked it to a Tarped over vented trailer on the back of my quad (4 wheeler). I have a 2 stroke gas Black and Decker leaf blower. The bag it came with would fill up real fast so I found that using 25 ft of dryer vent hose was a parfect fit over where the bag would attach... Before running the leaf blower I wrapped the vent hose with duct tape as 5 minutes running time without it would wear right through the walls of the vent hose...this system worked fantasically for three years and I clean aproximately 1 acre of land with that system. I don't do it any more as I kicked over all my poplar trees and replanted with pine trees...Hope that was of some help...Jim