Fall Leaf Cleanup

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,337]

This is one of those topics that seems to come up every year on every tractor site. So I apologize beforehand. Also, we had a related topic last month see it here.

Last few years I mulched the leaves using the JD mulch kits on both my old JD 112L and my JD LT133. My wife has complained about that as some of the mulched results would be tracked into the house. Anyways, I sold both of those JDs, so I really don't have a way of "handling" the leaf issue this year. And I have a lot of them as I have a lot of trees, mostly oak.

I'm thinking about buying one of those lawn sweepers this year. The thing with mulching, bagging, etc. is the leaf dust that gets created when using those methods. I'm thinking the lawn sweeper would have no dust and would also eliminate the mulched results so nothing gets into the house. Anyone else have their comments on using lawn sweepers.

[wh500special 2,053]

T-MO,

For my final mowing, I cut my grass as short as practical w/o scalping everything and let the wind do the rest. I have thousands of trees along the back and sides of my property but don't collect leaves since it would be a battle in futility. With no fences and a stiff wind, they are here one day and gone the next, back again, then gone, etc.

The impact on my neighbors for this practice is zilch since they all do the same thing and my yard is shaped such that most of theirs funnel to my treeline anyway...

I recently bought a JD sweeper - hey, it was cheap - at the Portland show and am pretty satisfied with how a sweeper picks things up. For me I plan to use it when I have excess grass smothering things in the front yard on those times when i didn't get the grass cut in a timely fashion and probably should have used a baler...

From what I can see though, unless you invest in a "high speed" sweeper they are most efficient when you're travelling at higher speeds than you'd sensibly mow. The high speed models have higher brush velocities and hence work better at mowing speed. Dust generation is negligible, especially if things aren't completely dry. but if too wet the wheels on the sweeper suffer for traction and the brush doesn't turn...

The bin does fill really quickly though if you collect unchopped leaves meaning lots of trips to the compost or burn pile. Probably best to mow 'em first but the tradeoff might be that they fall too deeply into the turf to be completely swept up. I guess ideally you'd be using a RD deck too.

Growing up, we lived in town but had a bagger on the 211 w/37" deck. i recall it working great on leaves, but the deck becomes a bit of a bulldozer unless you collect often. Dusty too.

Speaking of a bulldozer, a snow blade makes a surprisingly efficient leaf piling device if you have a lot of them to corrale. Drop it on the ground and push them into big piles...if you have a manual lift tractor the blade floats nicely and doesn't dig up much turf. If only you had a blade for that 753 .

What to do with the collected leaves though? If you don't chop/mulch them some it seems like they take years to decompose in the mulch pit since they mat down and set up an impermeable layer. You can burn them (in some places) but it is a tedious task that takes a lot of standing around and drinking beer. or you can do what our old neighbor used to do: He'd load them in the back of his truck, put a tarp on them, and go for a ride. When he got to the country he'd remove the tarp and drop the gate and finish his drive....i never much liked that idea especially now that "I" live in the middle of BFE....

Bad thing about a lot of Oaks is that they hold their leaves until spring, so you're collecting then too...But, if you clip the grass short you might take advantage of their delayed release.

Steve

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,337]

Good info, Steve. The wind here only seems to pile them where I don't want them, i.e. along the neighbor's privacy fence. And I have a lot of leaves that raking, using a leaf blower, etc., would be tedious task. Mulching worked the best, but as I said, creates a lot of dust and also eventually a few find their way into the house. I rented a sweeper a few years ago and it worked okay, but the brushes were almost shot on it. So, I'm thinking a new sweeper should do fine (I hope).

If the neighbor would take down his blasted fence, there would be less leaves to worry about when the wind blows, but he's talking about building a new one. If it would keep his cat and dog out of my yard, I be tickled to have that fence, but somehow they tend to end up in my yard anyways.

Thanks, again, for the info. I'm going to picked up a sweeper tomorrow - hopefully it would do a good job. I've use a snow blade on leaves before when I had my JD 214. I have a snow blade on my C-125 Automatic, so it might be used some to move leaves around a bit. :USA:

[sorekiwi 761]

I have the Craftsman High Speed sweeper, it works really well. There was a lot of discussion over at MTF last year, and it seemed to be that the Craftsman was the one most people liked. Turned out it was on sale at the time too, I think I paid $220 which is more than I wanted to pay (coulda bought a couple of tractors for that!) but it really does work well. I only use it in the fall for leaf control, as I have 17 soft maple trees in my yard.

I do chop up the leaves with the mower first as it really does reduce the volume, but by the time the catcher is full, it is really heavy - no hope of dumping them from the seat by pulling on the rope, you definately have to get off to tip the catcher up. (if its full of unmulched leaves the rope works fine.)

I dump my leaves on the wooded lot next door (not mine! ), and when the pile gets too high, i spread it out with a snow blade on another tractor (see you do need more than one!)

A couple of points to note: The ground has to be relatively dry, or else one wheel on the sweeper will lock up on turns and score a big track in the grass. Also I find it really hard to back into the spot I want in the woods, the drawbar is too short so when something finally happens, it happens really quick. I think more practice would help here. And the thing does take up quite a lot of room for the other 11 months of the year when I dont use it. Also dont run over gravel with it, it has enough "sweep" to pick up stones. I have some pea gravel paths, and a gravel driveway that I use the leaf blower on.

I dont do it since I got the sweeper, but I used to block of the discharge chute of my mower with fine chicken wire. This really does a good mulch job, but doesnt solve your problem of the residue getting walked into the house.

Hope this helps.

[sorekiwi 761]

Here's a link to a current thread at the other place....

http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=65946

[MaineDad 85]

I just mulch them up so they can feed the lawn. I run a dethatcher in the spring to help things along.

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,337]

Thanks, guys. I'm picking up a sweeper this morning. My local JD dealer has one. :banghead:

[Rollerman 290]

Terry lets see some pics when you get it & let us know how it works.

I may pick one up for my father...I don't think he can handle a pull start on a lawn vac & if I get him a sweeper it will have to be rugged or no big loss when it breaks.

He's kinda ruff on stuff.

I'll be makeing another lap around my yard today with the lawnvac...may do some of the neighbors too.

[Teddy da Bear 11]

I complained at the auction when they put the Raider I was bidding on with a home made

leaf vac. I thought this was the auctioneers way of getting rid of something no one would want.

Put starting fluid in.....new gas line....and it runs! Towed it behind my B-100 with a 48" deck..... Tried it out at my mom's house as we do not have any leaves.

It worked beyond my expectations.

I could not believe the suction that 8hp Briggs motor put out. I put my hand in the tube just to see what it was like. I thought "WOW!!" It would suck up a cat if need be....lol

But I think it picked up a stick and maybe damaged or broke an impeller blade.

Are they generally plastic or metal? (I have not opened it up yet)..

[Jim_M 178]

Mine only has a 5 horse Briggs and it will suck rocks up. The impellers are steel and it's pretty hard to screw them up. It might just be that the stick is wedged in the housing.

[C-Series14 15]

Gator Blades!!! Turns leaves to dust.... :USA:

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,337]

Stephen,

I went down to the dealer this morning and brought it home. No pictures yet, nor did I have time to try it out yet. I had to go over to the church and put in a new vanity in the men's room. Then, we went to my nephew's birthday party and just got home a few minutes ago. I did dragged it out back and as I was doing so, it was picking up the leaves. It should do fine, but I will report on it as soon as I can actually use it.

[Sparky-(Admin) 19,439]

Thanks, guys. I'm picking up a sweeper this morning. My local JD dealer has one.

Is it green? With yeller wheels ,

Mike..........

[KyBlue 652]

Is it green? With yeller wheels ,

Mike..........

Well its 'green' with envy that its not a true WH accy ... Okay that was a bad joke..lol

My yard aint big enough for one of them!

[HorseFixer 2,012]

When I got the motor home this year I had to take out 3 BIG TREES to put an addition on my driveway and that has cut back my leafs by a bunch. I use one of those billy goat things I believe its an Eager 1 or something like that to blow em. I do have a vac sweaper that came with my 953 and I got that for free (had to drive 1300 mi round trip to marquette to get it.) <_< but that thing hooks to the mower while running & grinds em up also and has some holes in the baggy thingy So ya still have Dust.

I think the blowers work well, but there needs to be some better engineering put into this leaf vaccume chore by the equipment mfgs, cause guys you gotta admit "IT REALLY SUCKS" no pun intended ya need to vaccume whole leafs and be able to vac and dump them quickly. "not all people have gardens and grind their leafs up for that purpose. In Niles where I live the city comes around beginning of nov and end of nov to pick up leafs twice a year.

[Greg Parnell 6]

I bought a Cyclone Rake lawn vacuum about 5 years ago to get up all the leaves in my yard and it works great. I pull it behind my MTD lawn mower with no problems.

Yea there is some leaf and dirt dust if it's really dry but to me it's worth it to get the leaves up really quick. I dump the mulched leaves in the back in the woods or give it to the neighbors if they want it. It was well worth the $$, a real time saver.

I did find it would not pick up sweetgum balls as good as I wanted it to so I cut all the sweet gum trees done. Problem solved :banana: .