Leaf Control - Recommendations
 

I haven't shared too much yet but we just moved into a small place in the country. Approximately 4 acres, lots of woods (maples, ash) which means....lots of leaves.

It looks like dealing with all these leaves is going to be a formidible task.

Any recommendations on how to do this, on a large scale? Suck 'em up? Blow 'em away? Small children with rakes?

What do you guys up in the Northeast do?

Lots of room, so if we can get them out of the flowerbeds/off the driveway/out of the lawn and gathered up, then we can certainly find a place to compost them/burn them.

Thanks in advance -

K

FIRE or wind.


Mike


BTW, congrats on the upward move. Glad you got it bought!

I live in a wooded setting. The last couple of mows of the year I just circle around the house blowing the leaves farther out with each pass until they're in the woods.

Best thing to do is get a yard vac, like a trac-vac that attaches to your lawn tractor, run it like yer mowin, take it and dump it where you can burn or compost. We have an acre we mow with about 6 big maples, saves our backs and shoulders this time of year.

I have a LOT of trees for a 3/4 acre lot (probably around 40-50 mature). I burn mine, but it's about a 3-4 day process to get them all.

For 4 acres, I'd look into a riding lawn vacuum.

I just sold a Little Wonder blower that I used to tow either behind my riding tractor or my ATV. These blowers make shot work of the leaves and have about a huricane force wind out of them.:)

lol that is what we did on the golf course. There was a small wood area and we would light them on fire and let them burn until all gone.

The first year I tried getting them in a huge pile. Don laughed and then explained what I was supposed to do.

Enjoy the quiet country Keith.

patrick

I would get some chicken wire and set it up like a hockey goal and blow all the leaves in there that way they wont blow away. Then pick them up or burn them, but atleast with the wire you don't have to worry about them blowing away. If its not too many leaves I would rake them in rows then get out the lawnmower that has a mulcher attached to it and run them over. They go right into the bag.

Easiest way to control leaves is with a backpack blower and a large tarp or 2. Blow the leaves into multiple big piles, rake them onto the tarp, pull tarp to intended burn\compost location. Do not wait until all leaves are off the trees because then you will probably have had some rainfall and the bottom layer of leaves will stay wet forever and be very hard to move. I have an acre and it usually takes about 30 minutes to an hour each weekend to move the leaves until all the leaves are off the trees. With 4 acres I would imagine 2-3 hours a weekend.

I mulch as much of them as I can back into the lawn with repeated passes of the lawnmower. Before I started doing that I would fill up 75 bags every fall, these days it's more like 10 bags.

^ Mulching. Start early and do it often...;)

I run my mower over them repeatedly and mulch them up as fine as possible and just leave the compost on the lawn. This was recommended to me by the chemlawn, (now trugreen) people many years ago and I never rake anything organic off of my lawn, grass clippings etc. I just run it over about 2-3 times and leave it and I have the greenest lawn in my neighborhood. I see people raking their lawns and gathering leaves and I always wonder why they're taking all the nutrition that comes from the ground and carting it off to a landfill. Leave it and it goes back into the ground and replenishes the soil lots less work too, win/win situation................:D

I have way to many leaves to mulch. If I tried mulching leaves and leaving it there, it would kill my lawn.

Good input, everybody (...and fast, too!).

Keep 'em coming -

K

Same as posts 10, 11, 12.
Have 60 some trees and bushes on little over an acre.
8-9 hugh trees over 50 yrs old. 5 are on death row...as soon as i get the nerve to climb 50-60 ft w/a chain saw...
Have to clean gutters 2-3 times each spring and fall too.

That's our approach too. Too many trees and acreage to pick them up w/o making a full time job of it. Mow them a few times in the fall (until they're tiny flakes) and by spring, they've disappeared. I've never had to fertilize.

Eric

best way IMO, cut all the freakin' trees down with one of these.
http://www.stihlusa.com/graphics/pro...s/MS192TCE.jpg
Next problem ;)

My last house was in the middle of 200 wooded acres in a virgin stand of timber and most of the trees were 80-100 feet in height, I did the same procedure I do today and mulched all the leaves with the mower by running in a circle and recutting them as many times as needed. I doubt you have any more leaves than I did Bob. It's surprising once they are mulched up how little area they take up and won't lay all winter on top of the grass and kill it. By doing this your also making the mulch into an ingredient needed for top soil. Just my past experience is all, and I saved myself a bunch of time and effort required to rake and burn them or bagging them and carting them off to a landfill.

BTW make sure the blades are sharp on the mower too, I just sharpened mine about a month ago and it makes a difference on how quickly the leaves get mulched. Also run the engine speed lower than you normally do to recut the leaves as many times as possible as opposed to throwing them out the discharge chute as far as you can.

I don't know, I have never seen anybody with as many leaves as I have. Looking at my property with Google maps, you cannot see the ground from above, all trees. All very large standing Oaks and Poplars. All of my trees are as tall as what you say yours are. I have tried mulching, it just makes a mess. Again, my best method I have found is to have a good backpack blower, blow the leaves into large piles and then carry them off with a large tarp to my burning area. I have used the ashes to fertilize the ground, and makes for a very nce lawn. I just take a couple of hours a week to do it.

Oaks are the tuffest. Need a man tractor for those.
Everyone round here burn'm.