Leaf Vacuum options if you have utility tractor and zero turn mower

[Bullwinkle123]

So a while back I bought a tractor, one specifically NOT intended to mow my lawn. Too big, too heavy, the R4 tires will tear it up the lawn if used too much, and it compresses the soil.
I try to keep it off the lawn except for occasional things like distributing mulch, raking garden plots, that sort of thing. My yard is also a bit of a maze in places.

For 11 years I've had yard services cut the grass, they all use zero turn mowers. And I've reached the limit of my willingness to pay for these services, so I'm buying a ZTR. Probably either a Kubota Z400 series, or an eXmark Radius series.

So, let's talk leaf vacs. As I am progressively firing the various services I used to hire out around my house, it may be more difficult to get them to come for things like leaf cleanup, and there's nothing (yard-wise) that I hate more than leaf cleanup. (Unlike mowing, I like mowing just fine). Even on a small yard, herding leaves with a blower onto a tarp and hauling them off, ugh. I'm also getting older, lazier, and generally more decrepit, so give me a tool!

With all this new zero turn mower and tractor equipment, I'm thinking I may as well pony up the dough for a leaf vacuum of some sort, like a Trac Vac or a Cyclone Rake. Here's how I see my options, and the concerns that go with them that I'm hoping you can advise on. First, what I ruled out: bagging system that attaches to the rear of the mower. Maybe it's great for grass, but I'm pretty sure it's a lot more filling and emptying cycles than I like for my yard full of maple trees that borders hundreds of acres of forest.


1. Get a trailer type vacuum that is designed for leaves, and pull it behind the ZTR. Only ... I'm not sure the Kubota Z400 or eXmark Radius are a good idea with a bigger leaf vac. Certainly there are the warnings about overloading the hydraulics on these mowers. Opinions? The Z400 has a kind of cheesy "hitch plate" to which appropriately designed things are meant to be attached, I guess, but I can't find specific towing specs for it.

2. Use the mower or blower to blow the leaves away from the numerous contoured places I have to ride (house, gardens, stone walls), then ride in with my tractor (with some vacuum, PTO powered?) to suck up big the resulting semi-piles of leaves, away from the contoured or weight-sensitive places.

3. <other?> - preferably easy and quick as possible, not hours of pushing leaves around with blowers, raking them into containers, then using some mostly manual process to dump them into compost piles.

Ideally I'd be looking at a solution under $2k, but if it makes my life substantially easier and lasts a long time, more can be justified compared to the $600+/yr I spend on normal fall cleanup with a service (not including the $600/month they want to charge me now for mowing). Is it me, or has there been a crazy-high cost escalation in paying guys to mow grass and wield string trimmers in recent years? Maybe it's just not compatible with childhood memories of mowing the neighbor's yards for $2 a mow, times change.

 

[Carl_NH]

Bullwinkle

I did leaf cleanup with tarps for 5 years until I got a trac vac about 15-16 years ago and it works great. Either one including the cyclone rake is a good option too. I started using the trac vac with my cub Cadet 1811 mower 44" deck and it did a very good job.

I got the Ferris Zero turn in 2010 52" deck IS2000 with 25 HP Kawasaki (commercial unit with separate pumps and wheel motors) and started using that with the trac vac and noticed the hydro oil was getting hot 200* when pulling the trac vac and it smelled a bit burnt. So I spoke to Ferris and they said these machines are not meant to pull heavy loads, then I noticed the larger Ferris machines had a transmission cooler installed, so I fabricated one using a 40$ transmission cooler and piped the return lines to the holding tank thru the cooler, changed the oil.

Now the temp doesn't get over 150-160* and no more burnt oil and no issues pulling the trac vac for the last 9 years. So your concern about the lighter duty ZT mowers and towing IMO is valid, so if you do get the Kubota Z400 get a smaller Cyclone rake model. If you want to go bigger, I would look at some near commercial - like the Exmark, Scag, Kubota line if you plan to tow a bigger leaf vacuum for the long term. Also get Gator blades for your zero turn and mulch them into the grass, then windrow them and vacuum them up - this reduces the volume and vacuum and clean up time a lot.

Another option since you are surrounded by forest is to get a PTO driven blower for your MX and blow most of the leaves into the forest area and mulch the rest.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Another option since you are surrounded by forest is to get a PTO driven blower for your MX and blow most of the leaves into the forest area and mulch the rest.

Didn't even know they made blowers for PTOs, interesting!

 

[LD1]

Put a bagger on the mower

 

[shooterdon]

I am also surrounded by forest. I have two dozen trees in the lawn as well.

Last year I purchased mulching blades and mulching kit for my rider and it worked well. You cannot let the leaves pile up high, so you will need to mulch 2-3 times. But it as so nice not having to dump anything. The blades I used were Gators.

Try that first as it is cheap and easy...plus no additional stuff to maintain.

It worked so well I am selling the Little Wonder walk behind blower I was using.

 

[BoylermanCT]

I am also surrounded by forest. I have two dozen trees in the lawn as well.

Last year I purchased mulching blades and mulching kit for my rider and it worked well. You cannot let the leaves pile up high, so you will need to mulch 2-3 times. But it as so nice not having to dump anything. The blades I used were gators.

Ditto on the gator blades. Each fall I use my ZT and mow from the outside to the inside to blow the leaves into a long pile in the center and then I mow thru it and it turns the leaves to finely shredded mulch that after 3-4 passes disappears into the lawn. No more raking and hauling leaves on tarps to the woods. My yard is 3 acres with large oak and maple trees with woods on all sides.

 

[texas42]

I live about 40 miles north of Dallas, Texas and have 3 1/2 acres with 70 trees, mostly mature native pecans.
I did the backpack blower/tarp thing for a while, but that got old and a lot of work.
Luckily I have a 2320 JD CUT with a MMM although I use a 60 inch ZTR for my mowing needs.
So, about 10 years ago I purchased a Cyclone Rake (the larger XL model) to go behind the 2320.
Cyclone Rake makes a TPH adapter that I use.
Works very well and I can't say enough good things about Cyclone Rake's customer service.
I start my leaf cleanup around Thanksgiving and finish about Christmas.
I usually get around 12 Cyclone Rake loads for the season.
I think the design of the Cyclone Rake with it's rigid hitch to the tow vehicle is a more efficient design because the suction hose can be shorter and not bent when turning.
I would not want to put this size Cyclone Rake behind a ZTR as a full load would just be too much for most any ZTR especially if the leaves are a little damp or wet.
The amount of leaves I have, if mulched in place, would be so heavy it would kill the grass. (tried that)

 

[muskieken]

So I have a regular 22 inch toro self propelled lawn mower, I mulch MY leaves back into the earth. the only thing I have to do different between my neighbors who all put their leaves to the curb is instead of cutting my grass once a week in the fall, I usually have to do it about every 4 days until the snow flies which is no big deal it's better for the lawn better for the trees so I don't understand why my neighbors don't mulch leaves back into the ground.. anyways instead of buying a vacuum why don't you buy the mulching kit and just cut your grass a couple of more times especially since you say you enjoy cutting the grass yeah there's a little science involved in that you know you have to wait a couple extra days to mulch the leaves because the grounds little soft but anyways I'm jumping off my soapbox ,,,but I just watched my neighbor replace his cub cadet with the new JD with the big leaf sucker on the back and I'm thinking to myself why don't you just the mulching kit ,because you have to drive around sucking up the leaves it would be the same as mulching then back into the earth were they came from.

 

[tradosaurus]

I have 40 of trees surrounding my house with a few trees fairly close. You can imagine how many leaves I get come fall. I've tried raking and burning, using a pull behind leaf vacuum.
The most effective I found with no raking or burning? Mulching blades.
As soon as the first leaves hit the ground I start mulching. I keep mulching periodically (every few days) until most if not all leaves have fallen. And pray I don't get rain in between.
The problem I found with the leaf vacuums is when the leaves get wet they clog up the machine.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Put a bagger on the mower

I had a little house with a postage stamp sized lot surrounded by trees with a vanilla 21" mower and bag. The bag basically became useless once the leaves really came down, filling the bag after about 3 steps. Let's say that bag is a 1.5 cu foot bag.

So, I'm _assuming_ that the problem scales in the same unfortunate way with a 2 acre yard. What size are those big 3-bag rears. 9 cu foot? So 6x the storage. But the lot size is easily 6x the size, and surrounded by forest instead of a few urban yards. It feels like I've just changed scale of things, but not the fundamental math.

That's why I was looking for something with more capacity/capability with a Vac Trac or something. Or is my mental hypothetical math wrong here?
All I know from experience is that teeny tiny yard with teeny tiny mower _always_ required tarp and blower once the leaves got heavy.