Leaf Blowing techniques

[J]

Hey folks,

I loved all your advice on my previous "leaf blower engine seized" thread. But now that I have a new leaf blower, I really need to know the best way to clear my "yard".

It's far from rectangular, but can be approximated by a 100'x200' rectangle with about 4 big deciduous trees in it, but also bordered on all sides (other than our house) by woods. Needless to say, it definitely gets lots of leaves. It's also far from flat, with what we lovingly call "the grassy knoll" on one side, and definitely sloping downward on the other end - but not a huge slope, and softly undulating, not a constant grade. It generally slopes along the long axis, so always blowing leaves in that direction is not the best option.

My goal is to just blow the leaves into the woods to decompose. Here's the thing though, if I try to keep a line of leaves that I slowly push toward the edges, before I get halfway I've accumulated enough leaves that pushing the pile any further gets slower and more difficult (especially if there's any dampness to the leaves, which there pretty much always is here in the fall). However, if I try to just blow a small patch for any significant distance, most of the leaves end up being blown off to the side. Trying to blow small patches and keep the leaves contained, takes a lot of walking around from side to side, and a lot of time. Also, if there's a little wind (generally in the wrong direction), it makes all these scenarios worse.

I end up using a mixture of strategies, but often I feel it would be faster (though much more physical effort) with a rake.

So, how should I be attacking this problem with a leaf blower?

Also, should I stack wood bark-side up or bark-side down? Don't answer, that's a joke. But like that question, I have a feeling there may be strong opinions on the right way and the wrong way to blow leaves. ;-)

Thanks.

-J

[angelica...]

I wouldn't. I'd use my lawn tractor. Whatever doesn't get blown into the trees gets chopped up to decompose wherever it happens to land.

Cindy Hamilton

[Ed Pawlowski]

Do it in stages. Clear the ones close to the woods so as you move the others they will not pile high. Seems backwards but works.

What I found best was to have my grandson do it. Much less effort.

[trader_4]

That's what I do here, blow them into the woods with much of them. We also have the town picking them up in the street, so the ones that are close to the street I blow there.

However, if I try to just blow a small patch for any significant distance, most of the leaves end up being blown off to the side. Trying to blow small patches and keep the leaves contained, takes a lot of walking around from side to side, and a lot of time.

I don't have that problem, I can blow small amounts.

Also, if there's a little wind (generally in the wrong direction), it makes all these scenarios worse.

The wind can help you if it's in the right direction. If it's not and it's strong enough then do it another day.

I use a rake for part of it too, where it's too far to the woods or the street. Then I blow them into piles and use a rake to move them to a big sheet or tarp and then drag it to the woods or street. Blowing into piles is faster and less work than raking.

Is that blower gas and powerful enough? Also I make sure to keep the grass mowed so it's not too long and it's even. That helps them move along when blowing and also helps the wind move them away, maybe to the street or a neighbor.

[OJ Oxford]

I have two large trees in my yard and they produce a LOT of leaves each year. When I was younger, I'd rake them all into 55 gal bags which our local township picks up. This gets old the older you get. The last time I did it that way, I had like 40, 55 gal bags full.

I've tried the leaf blowing in the past, but was never satisfied with the "control" over the leaves. For a couple of years, I attached a suction cylinder to the bottom and tried gathering them up that way into a bag, which fits over the blower output end. That got really heavy and tiring quickly, so gave up on that method.

What I do now I found to be the best, least work method of them all. Five years ago, I invested in a Honda lawn mower/ mulcher. I wanted something really good, so did some research beforehand and pretty much got a low end commercial mower. It has adjustable mulch or bag settings. Year one with it, I mulched all of the leaves and didn't bag any. Seemed to go until until spring when I noticed all these clumps of what looked like leaves in webbing all over the yard, on the sidewalks, etc. Took a while to clean up, but I realized that I mulched too much and some of the layers were stripped off by the wind and formed into these clumps. So, now every year, I start off with mulch at full setting and go over all the leaves. Then, I reset the mulch/ bag setting for 50% and go over it all again. I found that this was enough to grab most of the mulch that could be later lifted and clumped away by the wind, and I gather up about 8-10 bags (55 gal) of cut and bagged leaves for pick up. Note that these bags are quite heavy because of the compacting of the mulching process, but it still ends up being a lot easier than any of the other methods.

Good luck with whatever you decide. I mainly use the blower these days just to keep the sidewalks and walkways clear, but that's about it. No serious leaf work with it.

OJ

[Dan Espen]

I've dealt with huge piles of leaves for many years now. I'd like to be able to blow everything into the back yard and then down a short path to the compost pile, but that's never going to happen. As you saw, the pile gets big enough and you're just wasting time trying to move the whole thing.

For that reason, I use a very large trash can on wheels. 60 gallons I think. I'd like to get one of those bins with wheels they use in offices to collect trash but so far, I haven't found one in a retail outlet. I used to use a tarp, but found that I couldn't move as many leaves that way as packing them into a trash can. So, I recommend a large wheeled container. The larger the opening on the top, the easier it is to rake leaves into it.

[Clare Snyder]

start 15 feet from the woods and blow those leaves into a long pile - then into the woods. Then go back to 30, or 40, or 50 - whatever works for you and repeat. Just take it off in slices that are not too big to handle. Takes a whole lot less time and effort than trying to move them all at once. Works with a rake too (if you don't have an old tarp to move them with)

[OJ Oxford]

No garden here, although I may end up regretting that decision in the near future. I've tried staying ahead in the past, but I tend to do clean up twice, first time when about half of the leaves have fallen and the final time when they're all off. My trees tend to shed earlier than the others in the neighborhood, so usually by now they are all off. This year, they're a bit late as we had a frost later but in a week they'll all be off.

[Clare Snyder]

That COULD mean blwing them every 2 to 3 hours - - - - My lawn was virtually leaf free at 4:30 yesterday and there was enough this morning that I would not blow them in a single passd (and now there is almost an inch of SNOW on top - - - - Supposed to be about 14c on Wednesday so I'll hopefully get them looked after then - and perhaps the rest of the leaves will be down by then too - - --

[Tekkie©]

On Sun, 1 Nov 2020 07:16:03 -0800 (PST), J posted for all of us to digest...

axis, so always blowing leaves in that direction is not the best option.

leaves end up being blown off to the side. Trying to blow small patches and keep the leaves contained, takes a lot of walking around from side to side, and a lot of time. Also, if there's a little wind (generally in the wrong direction), it makes all these scenarios worse.

I had this problem for 20 years. I never found a good way. My "yard" is like yours. I now have the 'landscapers' do it. Leaves into the woods is a good thing. They decompose and provide good soil over a period of time.

My neighbor used to blow them on tarps and drag the tarps where he wanted the leaves. It was effective but labor intensive.

Good luck with your plan.

[invalid unparseable]

Funny, same here. I had bought a new corded better leaf blower to do the job this year but I also hired a new landscaper to do the lawn. I thought they were done for the year but they came in, blew all the leaves off my front yard which was my only problem area. They do not have to dispose of them as they just go down hill in the bushes on the bank in back of the driveway.

[rbowman]

I solved the problem with a mulching lawn mower. By springtime the confetti is broken down and ready to feed the next cycle.