leaf vac

[killerjeep]

I have been searching around for a cheap way to **** up some leaves. We have a John Deere ridding mower with bagger. Why cant I just extend the house into some enclosed trailer? I have seen on the web where people have done that and it seems to work. Most though go to another leaf sucker/chopper device then into the trailer. I can see needing that if I was not going threw the mower deck already to just **** up leafs but does any one thing its really necessary?
Does my idea of just extending the shoot tube into the trailer seem to work for any one?
Thanks

 

[Milton Shaw]

You would normally need to get the extra vacuum blades that pick up the leaves better and then have much more air flow to move them into the hose and trailer. Dry leaves do well, wet leaves will never fly. Gator blades are one brand that has more lift and blow, plus they chop the leaves into smaller pieces to maximize the capacity of the trailer.

 

[Jagmandave]

The cheapest way I know to do it is to pay the neighborhood kid!

No really, he came by yesterday with a buddy and in 2 1/2 hours my yard looks pristine, and they hauled off a metric ton of leaves and pin oak nuts just from my front yard, cleaned out the flower beds and around the foundation, plus blew out the gutters - they did a terrific job. $100 well spent IMHO!

 

[ddawg16]

The cheapest way I know to do it is to pay the neighborhood kid!

No really, he came by yesterday with a buddy and in 2 1/2 hours my yard looks pristine, and they hauled off a metric ton of leaves and pin oak nuts just from my front yard, they did a terrific job. $100 well spent IMHO!

And....your doing some good because your giving them some extra cash before the holidays.

 

[killerjeep]

I am trying to help out my parents. They have 3 acres of land and 1/2 to an acre thats NOT with trees. The quotes they have so far to clean the leaves are nuts. They fall for about a month. Its crazy. They are not young any more and dont plan to live there much longer so spending a ton of money on some thing for maybe 2 years and I have no trees so would have no use for it. Looking for some thing to help out.

 

[Krodad]

it does not take much to get the leaves balled up in the chute, then you're packing them in there and will have to take it all apart to clean out. It happens on my JD with the standard rear bagger sometimes from either a stick getting lodged, wet leaves, whatever.

the other thing to consider is that once they are on a little yard trailer, then what? Do you get to take them to a burn pile and just dump them, or do you have to load them in a truck? If you have to handle it all again, I'd think twice.
I have enough leaves at times that I don't get more than 30 seconds before I have to stop and unload, but it's quick and easy to do with the 3 bags back there, and I'm off again.

 

[Higgins]

We have a Agi Fab Lawn Vac we purchased 2 F&F several yrs ago for ~ $1,200 The cart will hold 32 Cu Ft of finely chopped up leaves. Best investment we ever made.... Has made picking up the leaves a breeze ... The only down side is I have to empty the leaves into our compost pile, but not a big deal. The end result is ~ 400 - 500 Cu Ft of finely chopped leaves in the compost. So next yr. I have some great compost for the yard!

This beats paying the local landscape crew $250 each time the leaves need to be picked up!! LOL, and I get a little exercise out of the deal!

AL

 

[killerjeep]

we have a place to dump them on the 3 acres. But we still need to get them up.
So gator blades would help?

 

[Dave in Mass]

I am on a corner lot with no place to send the leaves. But I do have a fair amount of trees.

I have a small JD Lawn Tractor. Home owner special for sure. Model LA110. Best investment I ever made was the 20 dollar mulching cover for the discharge chute. For the most part I just chop them up and leave them. Might have to go over the edges and corners two times to make them disappear.

I try to keep ahead of this by doing it every weekend during the fall.

Once all the leaves have fallen, I mulch them one more time and then put my bagger on and go over the yard semi slowly. Picks everything up and yard looks nice.

I have two sets of blades so the newly sharpened ones will go on before the first cut in the spring.

I also have an old corded leaf blower. It doesn't blow woth a damn so I replaced it with a back pack blower which blows really well. But the old corded blower had a vacuum attachment with a bag on it (about the size of a pillow case). The vacuum still works great and chops up the leaves 10 to 1 before putting them in the bag. This is really handy for sucking out behind bushes and fences etc....

 

[pieceofwork]

we have a place to dump them on the 3 acres. But we still need to get them up.
So gator blades would help?

My home is SURROUNDED by large oaks, and backs up to about 10 acres of deep woods. So many leaves that if I try to just mulch them with my Gator blades, I'd have two feet deep of leaf mulch in my yard.

Far and away the single best investment I've made in my home maintenance is a Cyclone Rake They are not cheap but it's the nicest designed, best made product I've probably ever purchased. It stores in almost no space, and is made from heavy duty materials. Mine is 6 years old and going strong. Just oil, air filter and a spark plug. Top quality, a great warranty and it does an amazing job. Like you, I have a place to dump leaves on my lot, which makes it super convenient. Although Cyclone Rake suggest using a hi-lift blade I've had great results just leaving my Gator Blades on. I have the smallest - the "Classic" and wish it was larger at times, but it still beats raking, blowing and dragging huge tarps of leaves around several times a year for 6 hours at a time - it now takes me about 1.5~2 hrs start to finish. Most of my neighbors pay several hundred dollars a year for leaf removal, my Cyclone Rake has paid for itself many times over. Can't say enough good things about it and the company!
Edit, just re-read the OP - if you are looking for something short term - these things sell quickly on CL, so after a couple of years you'd get your money's worth back out when you sold it.

 

[Riley]

Go to your local tool rental; well call first, get the most powerful backpack leaf blower they have, probably around $25 for 4 hours, for 3 acres I'd get it at close for a day.

Blow everything into accessible piles then have a guy that does leaves, most landscape or mowing places in the fall, come vacuum them up.

That's what I do, it takes about three visits to get everything but that means I spend about 50 for the truck vacuum and 25 for the blower each time, so I still end up at $225 for the year but it beats the ridiculous "full service" quotes around.

And, I don't have to bag leaves!!

 

[TN_GARAGE]

What about those giant leaf bags sold on amazon?

One of the comments that caught my eye (i don't own one).

I have used this type of bag for many years and, while the bag does drag, it has never worn the bag to any appreciable level - even dragging the bag when it is very heavy and full of leaves over asphalt has not caused wear to the bag. This is one of the better purchases I have made in my life - it has made dealing with leaves much easier.

 

[killerjeep]

I saw the leaf bag. I was wondering about that.

They got a quote the other day to **** up the leafs and I heard when the guy walked up he said WOW. Handed them a quote for over 500 I was told. Thats if they had the leaves blown into some piles.
We are trying to get them out of there. To much house and land for a couple of 70+ year olds.

Been checking CL and nothing really around here at the moment. Maybe when every one is done using them.. lol

 

[firecracker]

WOW that comes with a big grin as well.

 

[Arne73]

Built this a few years ago and I'm generally pleased with the results. It's the same 8HP blower unit used by Agri Fab but with a hard sided trailer.

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As others have said, the leaves have to be dry and once collected they have to be unloaded. I've gone the composting route and it takes up a lot of space so I burn them instead.
One other thing to consider: I try to clear approx 4 acres of wooded land and before I can run the vacuum I have to collect all the fallen sticks that could clog the chute. That's a project in itself. It's a big job but the results are nice once it's done.