Leaf shredders?

[Jmellc]

I am looking into a small leaf shredder, electric. I had been raking leaves onto a tarp & pulling into the woods but that is getting harder. We raked up piles this weekend & I cut them up some with my string trimmer, then hauled them with a garbage can & hand truck. Much easier. Would be faster with a mulcher I can set on the barrel. HD has a Martha Stewart model for about $125 that has mostly good reviews. Have any of you had this model or others you liked? I can’t pay big bucks for a pro model.

 

[joshmodelskidoo]

I mulch with my push mower. My parents had a plug in toro leaf blower that you could take the fan cover off and attach a tube to mulch and blow them into a bag. It was a huge pain so we would start by the house with the rider and drive in circles till the leaves ended up in the woods

 

[readhead]

I just run the lawn mower over them and they disappear. My wife likes to make some leaf mold over winter for spring planting so I use the bag a couple of times and then replace the bag with the mulching plug.

 

[bugnout]

I've been looking into a leaf mulcher as well. Looks like they are not very expensive. HD has the corded 12 amp Works WG509 with metal impeller that looks like it would do a good job. 18:1 mulch ratio. I haven't pulled the trigger yet because I missed the weather window for mulching. It will have to wait till spring now.

 

[RTM]

I’ve owned this one in the past, don’t bother.

Amazon.com

It’s basically a giant garbage disposal, and clogs if the leaves are the least bit wet. The discharge is undersized so you can’t get your hand in there.

ive also tried a leaf blower that converted to vacuum, and as noted above, a pain to use.

the Martha version may work due to the simple flow path, but with so little safety blocks for you hands, I wonder how effectively it shreds.

I use a Tazz K34 now.

 

[jonshonda]

I have tried various methods to make the task as easy as possible, and what I have found is using my Honda push mower first to mulch up the leaves into tiny bits. Then bag them up and dump them into a wheel barrow. Leaf shredders are only useful for places mowers cannot reach. Wayyyyy too slow imho.

 

[mikedodge]

My wood chipper can do it but we do it the old way and bag them.

 

[TriumphFan]

I have a leaf/tree problem in the Fall. It seems insurmountable especially since my kids have grown up and moved away. I found using my riding mower with bags as the leaves first start falling works well on the grass and my leaf vacuum works great on the driveway and patios.
Using the lawn mower also keeps the grass short and provides green for my leaf pile to begin composting.

 

[captain14]

If I don’t directly mulch the leaves with my mower I would use the bagger attachment to pick them up and dump in the garden for compost. Seems to work better and easier to me. Especially if you keep ahead of the leaves as they fall.

 

[Git]

I’ve owned this one in the past, don’t bother.

Amazon.com

It’s basically a giant garbage disposal, and clogs if the leaves are the least bit wet. The discharge is undersized so you can’t get your hand in there.

ive also tried a leaf blower that converted to vacuum, and as noted above, a pain to use.

the Martha version may work due to the simple flow path, but with so little safety blocks for you hands, I wonder how effectively it shreds.

I use a Tazz K34 now.

Exactly

I owned that same exact one, looks like I bought it from Amazon in 2006. Got tired of having to take the upper housing off to unjam it. I ended up buying a gas powered wood chipper, but it is certainly overkill just for leaves. I would waste money on one like that at this point

 

[Bubba Fett]

Mulching mower. Grinds the leaves down and distributes them into the grass, where they decay and become fertilizer.

 

[Jagmandave]

I had one that you set on top of a barrel, electric, plug-in version. It worked particularly well on dry leaves, but I got real tired of changing the strings, so I made some out of metal wire, those lasted really long and did an excellent job, but do NOT put your hand in there to help push the leaves thru.

Now I dig them out from around the bushes then mulch them all up with the mower. I have a huge pin oak tree in the front yard that drops prodigious amounts of leaves all winter long, so it used to be quite a chore. It also drops millions of those nuts and those things are HEAVY when you get a bunch of them in the barrel!

I also use my leaf blower with an attachment that sends them thru a 15ft long hose directly into the barrel, that works pretty well too, especially when they're dry - but be sure to get one with a metal fan blade if you're going to be sucking up pin oak tree nut shells. Those will break a plastic fan.

 

[neophyte]

I’ve owned this one in the past, don’t bother.

Amazon.com

It’s basically a giant garbage disposal, and clogs if the leaves are the least bit wet. The discharge is undersized so you can’t get your hand in there.

ive also tried a leaf blower that converted to vacuum, and as noted above, a pain to use.

the Martha version may work due to the simple flow path, but with so little safety blocks for you hands, I wonder how effectively it shreds.

I use a Tazz K34 now.

Those are based off a unit that was manufactured in Germany at one point.
I don’t know if the German units were the first electric chipper shredders made, but they may have been one of the first sold in the USA.
I forget when the German one was available. Maybe the 1980s or 1990s.
The inexpensive Chinese version is a very similar machine, but probably built to a lower standard, and from reviews, it sounds like some of the parts were junk, or made from pot metal.
Ive occasionally seen the decade or two decade old German version for sale used, so I presume those units might have been built better.

I forget who the German manufacturer was.
( It might have been Austrian, It’s been a while)

 

[FMB4]

I too ran leaves over with a push mulching mower. Fifty plus foot poplar is gone now, so leaves from it, of course, aren't a problem now. However, leaves from out neighbor's trees are still just a bit of work. But hey, our neighbors had to deal with our poplar leaves for nearly 20 years...

 

[theoldwizard1]

Mow ! Might take 3 times but it is the fastest solution

 

[Jagmandave]

But.....what about all the acid from some of these tree's leaves? You'll need soil amendment come spring after having that stuff soak in all winter, right? I prefer to remove the bulk of them and send them off as cover for the land fill instead

 

[sz0k30]

Unless you have a real small area to do, those hand held leaf shredders are a waste of time & money.

 

[MoBoost]

I have one of these, by Toro. It uses a cord, but I see that they now also have battery powered units. I have too many leaves to mulch or to use the lawnmower (fills the bag quickly). The Toro unit has a steel impeller that chops the leaves into small pieces, making for a dense fill of the lawn bags. It does have limitations; mulch and branches won’t always go through it and wet leaves can plug it.

 

[Jagmandave]

I don't agree, mine will **** up and shred an amazing amount of leaves in a couple of hour's use. Beats the heck out of raking and bagging them.....and bonus, they're shredded really small so it packs a ton of leaves into a regular sized barrel, and you can still lift it - well, the recycling guy can anyway!

I'm going to be doing a bunch of them tomorrow, I'll post some pics.

 

[seber]

I put shredder blades on the lawnmower. Never rake again. In addition, it helps build the soil and reduces thatch problems. I do have to sharpen them a little more often, but not much.

 

[Beelzeboss]

I bought a cheap 240v leaf blower/sucker/mulcher thing and it is the bees knees. Seems to have no trouble with sticks either.

 

[Al Borland]

Mower, Mulch blade. Done. Maple trees seem to hold their leaves and let them go all at once, and waits for high wind to blow the leaves down and into my a-hole neighbor's yard, LOL!

 

[PossumDog]

I had a Worx brand that looked very similar to the martha stewart brand. Basically a line trimmer on a mount. I used it 1-2 times and wasn't impressed. Partly it was extremely noisy I was worried about upsetting the neighbors (and it wasn't calming for me) and partly it was finicky with getting clogged. Ended up giving to thrift store after nobody on craigslist wanted it. Now I use a mower (again).

 

[Renegade1LI]

I have found running over the leaves with the tractor in reverse seems to do a really good job mulching & then drive forward to pick up whats left. If I use the mulching blades first then I have to change back to bagging blades to pick up.

 

[u3b3rg33k]

I can throw mine through my chipper/shredder, but that's slow - not the shredding part, but the getting them in part. much faster to blow+bag with the pushmower.

I wouldn't bag/blow at all, but I get so much blown over onto my lawn by the wind that it's crazy. I smothered some of the grass one year it got so thick - and I mean the mulched stuff.

 

[cpttuna]

I have 2 Craftsman leaf vacs with Tecumseh 4.5 hp engines. You can use them like lawn mowers or rake leaves in a pile and vac them up. Had them about 15 years now

 

[Dumber than lumber]

I mulch with my push mower. My parents had a plug in toro leaf blower that you could take the fan cover off and attach a tube to mulch and blow them into a bag. It was a huge pain so we would start by the house with the rider and drive in circles till the leaves ended up in the woods

We have the Toro model like you describe. My wife showed me how the efficient way to do leaves is to rake into a few piles, then use the vacuum configuration to do the “****-chop-and-bag” routine.
That woman has a few good ideas.

 

[Jagmandave]

I have the Toro also, and that's how I do it too.....put them in a pile then **** them up.

 

[MushCreek]

Timely topic. I have way too much yard to rake, and surrounded by woods, so LOTS of leaves. I put a mulcher attachment on my ZT, and it works well. However, I would like to gather some leaves to put on a field I'm trying to build up. The soil is terrible, and needs compost. I saw a picture of a homemade bagger added onto a ZT, and I'm thinking about trying it. They used galvanized duct work, and a big garbage can on the back. It would be ideal if it chopped up the leaves so they would break down faster.

 

[NORTON'S SHOP]

I use my Stihl SH86C and blow the leaves into a pile. Then I use the same Stihl to vacuum them into a 55 gallon plastic drum. Connect the Stihl to the drum with a Worx WA4054. Run the vac wide open. It turns the leaves to dust. I have a fairly large yard. What would probably take 50 bags to clean up all the leaves can now fit into two 55 gallon drums.

 

[shoot summ]

I blow mine into a pile, run over them with the mower, then do it again and bag them.

I have a Snapper hi-lift, with the lift blade on it will **** up acorns out of the grass.

 

[Steve_P]

I do the same as most have said- use a blower to clear them out of some areas, then cut them up with the mower. Just keep the discharge chute pointing in the same direction and keep cutting. And they're gone. I don't use a mulching blade and it's a side discharge mower.

 

[MushCreek]

I tried that with my ZT, but it blows the leaves too far. The mulching kit was the ticket. I think ZT's have a much higher blade speed, which is why you can mow at such high travel speeds. Mine is like a hovercraft.

 

[Showkey]

If you think leaf blowers are obnoxious, annoying and loud………..your really going love shedders.

 

[csp]

We have the Toro model like you describe. My wife showed me how the efficient way to do leaves is to rake into a few piles, then use the vacuum configuration to do the “****-chop-and-bag” routine.
That woman has a few good ideas.

Exactly how we do it with the same Toro.

The vacuum/shredder turns a 60' long pile that's about 4' wide and 2.5' tall into a pile that's 5' by 5' by 2' tall.

 

[CJM8515]

blow into pile on lawn (well away from the beds) and mow it. been doing it that way for 20 years no issue