Leaf Planning - is a sweeper enough?

[rossn]

Time for a little leaf planning.

I'm on an acre, with about 1/4 of it getting pretty heavily covered by 6-12" of leaves (3 mature maples). Most of the rest of the lot is pines/spruce and some larger honey locust. About 35 mature trees, in total. Last year was the first year here, and using the small leaf shredder yielded about 3 yards of finely mulched maple leaves (about 800 lbs)... maybe another 4 yards of pine needles (now have a 3pt pine needle rake). It was painful shredding these with the electric shredder, and want to figure out an alternate solution this year for picking up and mulching the leaves well. The maple leaves are too think to leave... though I'd be OK leaving like 1/4 of them if mulched.

Equipment wise, I have a Massey Ferguson GC 1705 with the 60" MMM.

Using a sweeper, would I be able to pick up most of these leaves, once 'mulched' with my mowing deck? Or, would that still be pretty tedious (or not work well)? Most would be going to the garden.

Alternate solutions that would cost a lot more are a Protero PTO catcher (think I probably have enough HP to mow and vac?) or a Cyclone Rake or similar. Of course, for something I use a few times a year, I'd prefer to not spend tons of money, take up significant storage space, or have to maintain additional engines, if avoidable.

Thanks for your thoughts as to what I can get away with (with out great pain)!

The pile in the pics is about 3' tall.

 

[smstonypoint]

Thanks for your thoughts as to what I can get away with (with out great pain)!

IMO, the least costly solution (in terms of money and time) would be to add a chute blocker to your mower. The red maples and oaks (red and white) on the two + acres that I mow produce prodigious amounts of leaves. I added a chute blocker to my ZTR and mulch all of the leaves. The leaves are mulched so finely that I leave them in place. Of course, my lawn isn't "estate quality."

My blocker is similar to this:

Steve

Addendum

I forgot to mention that I also use "Gator" blades.

 

[CalG]

I'm not the example for procedure, and am truly looking for a "better way" as you are.

I have two acres of former "sugar bush". I like to call it "a hundred head of maple". All over 80 feet tall!
A good portion is left to be forest and fend for it's self, But I keep "yard" on about half, so call it an acre to mow, and an acre to pick the leaves off so there will be green to mow next season ;-)

I use the "combined forces method". I've got a back pack leaf blower, a 54 inch "Mighty Vac" commercial walk behind. A 24" Snapper lawn mower with a bagger, and a dumping utility cart pulled behind the garden tractor (Bolens HT)

What I do.... (I'm gonna pay for revealing;-)

Sometimes as often as three times a week, I either BLOW the leaves into a row at the edge of the lawn, and then run the big mower over the collection only to come back with a hand rake to pick the chopped leaves up into the yard cart to be hauled to a collection spot for composting. (That's the "I can't believe I'm doing this" process ;-)
Or
I just blow the leaves off the lawn and over the bank. (I'm lucky to have that option, but it seems so wasteful in an organic material starved environment).

Or
I blow the leaves into a central pile and use the rake to load them into the cart and THEN dump them over the bank in one location. Steep bank! (every 5 or six years, I pull the rotted leaves off the bank and use them for compost in the gardens.

Or
In the front yard, I just use the mulching blade fitted, bagging lawn mower. Placing the mulched leaves into the yard cart and dumping them at the compost pile.

Like you, I want one of those tag behind lawn vacs, but I just can't bear to add such a bulky implement to my collection. And really. Only a vac with a mulcher really fits the need, because I need to reduce volume (full leaf bulk in the autumn is daunting!
Plus, shredded leaves make great garden mulch, where whole leaves matt and cause rot. Go figure.

Oh Well, I've butted my head against leaves for over thirty years. The grass grows green each summer, and I don't need a membership to the gym. All is good. ;-)

 

[smstonypoint]

I'm not the example for procedure, and am truly looking for a "better way" as you are.

I have two acres of former "sugar bush". I like o call it "a hundred head of maple.
A good portion is left to be forest and fend for it's self, But I keep "yard" on about half, so call it an acre to mow, and an acre to pick the leaves off so there will be green to mow next season ;-)

I use the "combined forces method". I've got a back pack leaf blower, a 54 inch "Mighty Vac" commercial walk behind. A 24" Snapper lawn mower with a bagger, and a utility cart pulled behind the garden tractor (Bolens HT)

What I do.... (I'm gonna pay for revealing;-)

Sometimes as often as three times a week, I either BLOW the leaves into a row at the edge of the lawn, and then run the big mower over the collection only to come back with a hand rake an pick the chopped leaves up into the yard cart to be hauled to a collection spot for composting. (That's the "I can't believe I'm doing this" process ;-)
Or
I just blow the leaves off the lawn and over the bank.

Or I blow the leaves into a central pile and use the rake to load them into the cart and THEN dump them over the bank. (every 5 or six years, I pull the rotted leaves off the bank and use them for compost in the gardens.
OR
In the front yard, I just use the mulching blade fitted, bagging lawn mower. Placing the mulched leaves into the yard cart and dumping them at the compost pile.

Like you, I want one of those tag behind lawn vacs, but I just can't bear to add such a bulky implement to my collection.

Oh Well, I've butted my head against leaves for over thirty years. The grass grows green each summer, and I don't need a membership to the gym. All is good. ;-)

Just reading this has made my back ache.

Steve

 

[rossn]

Ahaha... that does sound painful, CalG! My biggest issue is that I need quick, and ideally not a ton of storage. Getting the leaves mulched to some degree for the garden or composting is important, too.

Part of my issue is that the actual grass area on the half of my property where the trees are doesn't have a ton of grass... there is a mixture of rock and grassy areas (and some just dirt, due to the chickens).

smstonypoint - My lawn is pretty crap shape, too thought I don't want to entirely block the light. I was actually thinking about just blowing the leaves to the grass, then running them over with the mower a number of times, then using a smaller sweeper... I don't know how well that would work. I had thought about mulching blades or a chute blocker, but hadn't checked into it much because I knew I would need more than just the mulching. That said, I posted up over in the Massey forum to see if anyone has located any blades or a chute blocker that fits the Massey 2325 MMM.

 

[2458n]

One of the little tow behind trailer vacs work well for me running mulching blades. Sweepers fill up to quickly

 

[rossn]

Thanks. One other thing I should mention is that I generally have a lot of tight spaces to fit. Very few places where I'd mow consecutive rows. That doesn't do well with a) the large deck or b) trailers such as the vacs or sweepers because I often have to back up. Unfortunate, but the reality of it.

 

[leonz]

The cyclone rakes engine frame and bagger bolt right to the rear of the tractor and the cyclone rake when operating is just an extension of the tractor and the bagger stays directly behind the tractor as it cannot swing. The caster wheels let it swing easily behind the tractor.

You can back up without jack knifing the bagger as it stays in a direct line as its bolted to the tractor and you can use the vacuumm tubing to suck the leaves and clippings out of the bagger and discharge them a long way away with more tubing.

The cyclone rake baggers fold up and you can hang them on a wall and the engine and blower frame is simply wheeled away to a storage place out of the way.


I would call them and ask for an information package and the CD and then make a decision.

 

[CalG]

"The cyclone rake baggers fold up and you can hang them on a wall and the engine and blower frame is simply wheeled away to a storage place out of the way."

I love this line... No room in the work shop was used to achieve these goals....

(sic No animals were used......)

 

[fishheadbob]

Lots of leaves here. Mulching hard often handles them. Sometimes the prevailing winds and a leaf blower encourage them to migrate to the 200 acre forest across the street, and sometimes I'll drag out the leaf sweeper and pick up the finely chopped stuff and use it in the compost pile. The leaf sweeper is the most labor intensive, but sometimes is the only recourse.

 

[RjCorazza]

I also use a chute blocker and gator blades on my ztr mower for leaves. Whats left gets blown into a tree line.
I do have a propelled shredder that I have used on large piles when I get behind.

 

[drb1215]

I have about the same amount of leaves in my yard. I use to mulch them, but it would still leave a lot of debris on the lawn. I looked at the cyclone rakes, and other pull behind units that would work behind my yard tractor (didn't have the Kubota at the time)...they were a bit expensive for the amount of time it was to be used per year.

I ended up just putting a 2 bushel bagger on my lawn tractor. It chops up and compresses the leaves enough to where I need to empty only about 4 times (a short ride from the lawn to the mulch pile), and acts like a vacuum cleaner on the lawn. The only thing you need to be mindful of is that the chute will get clogged if you try and go too fast.

 

[KennyG]

Seems like we all go through the same decision agony. Lawn sweepers are just too much work for lots of leaves. Mulching them in place with the mower is good for some but it sounds like you are in my situation with too many leaves to make that practical. I went with the Cyclone Rake. Yes, it's expensive but I've had mine over 5 years now and it's like new. The eventual cost of ownership of this thing will be well under $100 per year. The storage space required is minimal and that was a big item for me. As far as getting in tight spots, not so good. Even though it's rigidly attached, it makes the whole rig really long. Also it takes some getting used to since when you turn left it swings WAY out to right. I have the accessory tube which allows to you easily pick up leaves from flower beds and inaccessible areas, but when you do this you lose the mulching function (all comes from the mower deck.) Good Luck.

 

[texas42]

+ one on Cyclone Rake. I clean up about 3 1/2 acres with 80 trees.
Got Cyclone Rake 6 years ago.
It's the easiest and fastest way to pick up leaves I have found.
Also, Cyclone Rake has great customer service

 

[MitchellB]

We use our leaves as mulch. We have not come up with a method I really like yet, but here is what we have tried in the past. We have about 2 1/2 acres now, but we have many small natural areas interwoven between mower and tractor width trails behind the house. We have a large pin oak in front with a large mulched circle around it (cause nothing will grow under there but poison ivy).

Some of our neighbors rake and bag leaves next to the street for the city to pickup. Other neighbors just rake everything to the street (and often into the street) for the city to come by about 3 or 4 times a year to vacuum them up in their big truck. These options are my least favorite, nor do I use them.

What I used to do when I had a large riding mower with a triple bagger is mow the leaves into the rear bagger and distribute the chopped leaves around the yard as mulch into the natural areas and around trees, shrubs and flowers. The bags filled up quick but provided free mulch.

I have also attached my rear scrap blade to my tractor, turned the blade backwards so it would not dig in and pull the leaves to the back portion of our lot into a big pile. I use this method also to scrap snow off our gravel driveways, so it does not disturb the gravel very much. I have often thought of trying a rock rake or pine straw rake to drag leaves off, but I do not own either of those two attachments. The backwards scrap blade does a pretty good job, but at the cost of some lawn destruction, but I am not one of those that obsess about the looks of the lawn.

Another method that I use now, since I do not have a bagger anymore, is to use the riding mower to blow the leaves into the natural areas. This often requires driving forward and backward slowly moving the leaves to one side of the lawn to eventually blow the mulched leaves into the natural areas and around trees, or to begin mowing in the middle of the lawn driving in circles until everything is blow to the outside edges. Not the greatest solution, but still easier than raking and faster than blowing.

 

[Ron of Va]

I do my lawn with a John Deere GT235 fitted with a mulching kit on the deck. I pull a Sears lawn sweeper to sweep up the mulch leaves. I have been doing it this way for years. I now own a Massey Ferguson with a dedicated mulching deck (disappointed, but more on that later).

When using a sweeper, the leaves have to be mulched or the sweeper will fill too quickly. The good part is you can cover a large area with minimal manual labor, and do so very quickly. Mulching the leaves, will leave crumbs all over the yard, but you will not notice them unless you get close and look down. If you don't mulch, and just sweep, then the sweeper cleans the yard very well, but the sweeper gets full quickly and keeps you busy just emptying the leaves.

Here is a fall photo, my JD and sweeper takes care of this, but I won"t let it get this bad very often.


I had some early leaves come down so I did an experiment comparing the JD to the Massey Ferguson with the Mulching deck. With and without the sweeper.


As you can see the MF with the mulching deck left a strip of non-mulched leaves in the center but a sweeper cleaned it up. The problem is un-mulched leaves take up too much space in the sweeper.
The JD with the sweeper does a better job, I have no complaints

 

[Fiziksgeek]

I the guy...maybe the only guy on here...with a PTO powered Protero unit. I love it, but I use it to bag most of the year. IF I were only bagging leaves in the fall, I'd go with one of the larger tow behind units. Cyclone rake models fold up, making them the easiest on storage. Just about the only other brand out there with a PTO powered unit (not uber expensive commercial type) is Trac-vac.

 

[4570Man]

I hate my cyclone rake. The bag is poorly designed and doesn't dump good. I've since upgraded to the new bag which is wider at the back so I'm hoping that helps. I prefer to mulch the leaves first. If I stay on top of it I can usually get it looking good enough like this. If I get behind I end up having to vacuum them, but I mulch them first. That significantly reduces the loads that I have to pickup.

 

[Ghost River Retrievers]

+ one on Cyclone Rake. I clean up about 3 1/2 acres with 80 trees.
Got Cyclone Rake 6 years ago.
It's the easiest and fastest way to pick up leaves I have found.
Also, Cyclone Rake has great customer service

Another plug for the Cyclone Rake!
I used one at at our former home for about 8 or so years, where we were on one acre with about 70 trees, mostly oaks. I must admit that when riding our Hustler ZTR with the Cyclone Rake behind it I felt privileged ... neighbors would drive by and just watch to see how well it worked; in fact, a couple families who lived in the neighborhood bought their own (I should have asked for a commission!). It did a fantastic job. Occasionally the leaves were higher than the mower deck, so I had to develop certain techniques to deal with them. When we moved to the farm, I knew that I wouldn't be vacuuming leaves, so we sold it with the house!
And yes, their customer service is very good.
My only regret was not getting the biggest one available.
GRR

 

[leonz]

Thats the nicest thing about my Mathews Company Lawn Genie I can chop them up and then pick them up or just pick it all up when I mow.