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We are surrounded by big trees and every autumn all the leaves fall off into our garden. A leaf blower would be handy, but i wonder about the practicality. I don't want a petrol motor one, and I wonder if an electric one is sufficiently powerful, particularly if battery. What do the STW experts advise ?
What do the STW experts advise ?
A rake?
Mains here. Use the vac attachment for when we get a significant accumulation in the corner of the garden (prevailing winds). Blower useful if you've been doing a load of gardening and you can't quite pick up some of the cuttings, and can blast it into the border.
Its the most pointless task anyone could choose to do. Just leave them, its good for the soil.
Its the most pointless task anyone could choose to do. Just leave them, its good for the soil.
This, but if you must, just set your mower blades on high and hoover them up.
Not so great for the drive though. My flymo garden vac blows pretty well.
just set your mower blades on high
Also this with the added benefit of them being mulched for composting.
Rake 'em or leave 'em. Bloody planet is burning and folk are using leaf blowers ffs.
Just leave them, its good for the soil.
When I do that (usually through lack of time), they accumulate below a fence, stay there all winter, then the snowdrops and tulips I have planted there struggle and the grass all dies and struggles to regrow. Saying that, I just use a rake/lawnmower combo when I do get to do it.
Its the most pointless task anyone could choose to do. Just leave them, its good for the soil.
And bollox's your lawn.
While I've an ancient main-electric blower, I only use it for clearing the main alley - for actually removing leaves I use the lawnmower on a higher setting.
Last week I 'hoovered-up' 5 barrow loads. and that's an equestrian-sized barrow - and needs doing again...
Makita 40V is superb (UB001). Will be pricy if you don't have a battery though. Then again, once you have a battery you can buy more Makita 40V tools...
I was wondering if a scarifier (most come with rake attachment) would be more use, but then I think my lawn needs scarfying.
I resort to lawnmower to pick them up and shred them, mainly into the compost (where we struggle to get them to compost) and occasionally to the brown compost bin.
Unfortunately we have a neighbours with a total of 7 huge sycamores. Thier leaves and seeds take hours of collecting. If I didn't the garden would die and be covered in more sycamores. And for some reason, even when mixed with shredded paper and other things, sycamores refuse to compost easily.
Most blower/vac's mulch the leaves. These go into the compost bin.
I find leaves get stuck in the blower/vacuum, particularly if damp. Consequently I use a snow shovel to lift them into the green bin. Job jobbed.
Makita 40V is superb (UB001). Will be pricy if you don’t have a battery though.
If you already have 18v batteries the single and twin battery makitas both have more than enough oomph (and I'm sure the other main brands are no different) and are light, quiet and fuss free compared to petrol ones
You can also strap them to an office chair
I wouldn't buy a battery one if that the only use you have for the batteries - leaf blowers are pretty seasonal tools and some batteries can be ruined by infrequent use
Trees on all sides, including 2 big plane trees, doing nothing is not an option. I bought a bare-tool leaf blower when I bought a hedge trimmer and they share batteries. It doesn't replace a rake, but is a good compliment. Also very handy for "sweeping" the patio and the drive, clearing dust out of a garage or van, blowing up a paddling pool, mucking about with hovering balls in the airflow. etc.
Battery power is plenty, struggles a bit with wet leaves on long grass, but then so do I.
Blower is always a misname, you will never use the blower only the shredder.
Get one with a all metal impeller and high shred ratio, the best part is just reducing the volume for removal. I often rake into a pile, then shred the pile, makes it tiny to throw in the green bin. If you need to get something that wont rake, like sycamore seeds, then you need to move around so think about weight.
Wear ear protection.
The horror! LEAVES! LEFT TO DECOMPOSE! Won't somebody think of the lawn stripes! ?
I have the twin makita blower. Pretty effective though i get through a few batteries doing the whole lawn (1.5 acres - over 100 trees) - I just blow them into a big piles then put them in the trailer and dump them in a corner. If the ground isn't too wet under foot (clay soil so turns into a shit show) and the amount hasn't go ridiculous I just run the mulcher ride on over them.
Considering doing it this weekend as the leaf drop seems pretty early this year.
This is a bit timely, I was about to go out on leaf patrol when I spotted the thread. I have the standard Flymo mains thing with bag, which I only use for sweeping the decking, most of mine gets the mower on the high setting, anywhere else gets rake and scoops. Today’s haul (it was done last on Friday)
And an hour or so later mostly with mower and scoops.
If we left them I would lose the MX5 in about a weeks worth of drop this time of year.
If we left them I would lose the MX5 in about a weeks worth of drop this time of year.
I hate to be the one to break this to you, but that's not an MX5.
The people saying just leave them clearly don't have dogs.
Trying to find the dog poo to collect it when your garden is covered in brown leaves is literally a minefield.
I just use the mower with the blades on the highest setting.
The leaves are mulched and used as compost for growing veg.
The horror! LEAVES! LEFT TO DECOMPOSE!
I do leave them to decompose - just where I want them to (as a mulch under hedges) rather than where I don't want them to - my lawn has all sorts of flowering plants amongst it and I don't mow it often (only twice this year) but also don't leave anything to mulch on it (leaves or grass cuttings) because that would over fertilise the lawn and cause the interesting stuff to get out competed by boring old grass.
The blower is actually used for work purposes more than gardening - it probably only sees action in the garden one or two days a year max.
What it is really good for is cleaning your car though. Forget fannying about with hoover attachments trying to get into all the nooks and crannies- just open all the doors and give it a 20 second 'luft'
We have a MacAlister mains one and it's useless and never gets used. The trouble is unless you do it frequently and after a couple of dry sunny days the leaves are too heavy and wet for anything short of a decent blower to shift.
I'm not sure what quirk of geometry causes it, but somehow despite a few trees in the garden, we don't actually have much an issue with leaves. Most of them I presume end up in the backs of flowerbeds where they're out of sight out of mind.
The people saying just leave them clearly don’t have dogs.
I do! I just taught him to shit in one place that doesn't get any leaf cover.
If you have 18v DeWalt cordless tools already and a 5ah battery... This works surprisingly well..
https://www.buyaparcel.com/dewalt-dcm562pb-18v-xr-outdoor-garden-brushless-leaf-blower-bare-unit/
Use in bursts rather than flat out all the time.
The horror! LEAVES! LEFT TO DECOMPOSE! Won’t somebody think of the lawn stripes! ?
I have a leaf blower. To be clear are you saying I can leave the leaves on the lawn (Maple x 10) and next spring they will be disappeared without deploying the leaf blower?
No dogs but do get visit from deer.
Had a blower/vac thing but it was tedious to use and just took up shed space so I threw it out. As mentioned above, lawnmower set high, run over the area and a quick rake of any hard to reach bits is way quicker.
I have a leaf blower. To be clear are you saying I can leave the leaves on the lawn (Maple x 10) and next spring they will be disappeared without deploying the leaf blower?
Nope, I'm saying they will eventually decompose because that's what they do. It may take a while but that's nature for you.
Apart from some trees, eg sycamore use it as means to annihilate competition by smothering the undergrowth with leaves that dont readily decompose
@midlifecrashes, are you related to Ted Rogers?
they will eventually decompose because that’s what they do
A dead badger in the middle of the garden would eventually decompose as well, but I'd probably choose to clear it up.
Would you buy a piece of utterly pointless equipment to blow the badger off your precious lawn though? Wait a minute, I would!
I just find the whole concept of people worrying about ****ing leaves and their lawns highly amusing. It is the very pinnacle of first world middle aged man (not) problems and amuses me no end. Please continue. We only get a thread like this once per year.
Honestly some people on here just can't imagine any scenario that is different from their own reality. Is it brain thing? Of course leaves in some scenarios can be left where they drop especially if you happen to live in a forest with no garden but guess what some people have drives, lawns and borders with plants and bulbs that would be killed by too much leaf cover and the leaf type really matters too. Plane tree leaves are huge and tough and take years to break down. Pro gardener here and if you have lots of leaves to move and when wet don't bother with vacuuming just blow into banks or piles and then rake up with a wire rake as a scoop. Then make gorgeous leaf mould after a few years to feed your garden and improve the life of your soil.
They do eat battery and you want a decent one powerwise. Depends on budget but I use the Stihl pro range and it's bomb proof.
I just find the whole concept of people worrying about **** leaves and their lawns highly amusing.
Why worry about anything. I mean we don't need houses we could just live in mud huts. Bicycles? Tarmac cycle lanes? Just messing up the natural world aren't they.
Keep it coming, this is gold!
I find blowers most useful at blowing all the leaves off the end of your drive into the public highway. Nice-n-tidy.
Currently use a petrol one but I did have an ego battery one which I rated. Only sold it as I didn’t have enough batteries for commercial use.
Would anyone like to offset their leaf clearing activities?
In return for money I can supply you with a certificate that I won't be clearing leaves in some of the many, many hectares of woodland that I look after.
This is how I clear my conscience of the 50 square metres I like to keep clear of leaves in my garden (mower on high, leaf litter onto the raised bed).
I've a big AEG electric blower. It has a "turbo" button that makes it go extra fast... which reminds me, I need to get some roller skates.
The deck and front path and rooves get covered in them all year round (eucalypts seem to drop leaves constantly) and they won't decompose there. Well they'll probably wreck the rooves.
It's marginally easier than using a big broom in all honesty.
We have a conservation covenant on most of the rest of the six acres. Apart from the driveway it's pretty much all native flora left to its own devices.
Keep it coming, this is gold!
That's dead leaves for you, i guess.
It is the very pinnacle of first world middle aged man (not) problems and amuses me no end.
You must be new around here. This is a mountain biking forum. Trivia is what we do.
Would you buy a piece of utterly pointless equipment to blow the badger off your precious lawn though? Wait a minute, I would!
Don't be stupid, blowing wouldn't work, they're far too heavy. But if I had so many dead badgers in my garden that clearing them took a significant time when I'd rather be out riding my bike, I'd be keen to speed the process up, definitely. I'd probably be starting a thread on here about whether scooping machines or spiking machines are more efficient. I reckon if my garden was filling up of dead badgers a few times every autumn, I probably wouldn't be the only one.
In the same way, I've got an electric washing machine, electric hedge trimmers and a petrol mower, so I can do jobs more quickly.
The horse chestnut in the front garden has a leaf miner infestation. Do I have permission to dispose of the leaves?
After committing this heinous crime for two autumns the problem is very much reduced.
But AITA?
Why worry about anything. I mean we don’t need houses we could just live in mud huts. Bicycles? Tarmac cycle lanes? Just messing up the natural world aren’t they.
( ! )
Seems like a good moment to celebrate the return of the arsicon
I'd not bother blowing them anywhere - wouldn't be useful in my garden, perhaps there are some situations where it might be - but do rake up a few builders' bags each year and take them to the tip because they would completely overwhelm my garden otherwise (especially the paved and gravelled areas where they collect in huge drifts).
I did try composting them all at first but it's far too much material and the effort of taking them to the tip (where all garden waste gets properly shredded and composted anyway) isn't much compared to the collection.
Got one from the lidl middle isle for £25 the other day. Primary use case was to blow or vacuum dried leaves off decorative pebbles which otherwise need to be picked by hand. While I was at it I did the rest of the garden. I thought it did a good job. Longevity tbc.
We are surrounded by big trees and every autumn all the leaves fall off into our garden. A leaf blower would be handy, but i wonder about the practicality. I don’t want a petrol motor one, and I wonder if an electric one is sufficiently powerful, particularly if battery. What do the STW experts advise ?
just my 2 cents, I use one of these Macallister leaf blower as we have a massive tree down the bottom of the garden that drops tonnes of leaves onto the decking and it becomes a slippery place to walk. It’s quite a large decked area, so worth keeping clear.
tried an 18v battery powered one but it was useless. IMVHO mains power or petrol is the way to go. As unless you are onto the leaves instantly they get damp, hold and trap water like a barsteward etc and only a mains power leaf blower mulcher will pick them up. I use the mulcher function every year and it’s really effective. Even with mains power it’s still sometimes not the easiest task.
Mains Stihl. Waste of money. has too little puff. So I bought a wide leaf rake for about £20 and have been using it ever since (more than five years). The blower hangs in the shed in shame. I can't imagine battery powered ones have more blow than mains. petrol or rake.
Not what the OP wants but.... I use a petrol Stihl blower. Excellent, lots of power no mains lead. I've got 4 very large Beech trees in the front garden, plus Maple, a Sycamore.... More in the back garden. I use the blower all year and at the moment I need to have a serious session after last weekends blow.
I can’t imagine battery powered ones have more blow than mains. petrol or rake.
This is pretty much what I guessed. Rake it is.
I can’t imagine battery powered ones have more blow than mains. petrol or rake.
No need to imagine when you can look it up: 9N blowing force for the mains BGE71 they sell at the moment, 15N for the Battery BGA60.
My 36V battery one does 9N. I find it usefully powerful.
I can’t imagine battery powered ones have more blow than mains. petrol or rake.
This is pretty much what I guessed. Rake it is.
He imagined wrong though. A mains blower will be a low powered domestic thing. I use the pro battery version of Stihl blower and it's just as powerful as the petrol one I used to have but much quieter, lighter and no fumes to inhale. Depends on the size of your problem though and if you want to spend a couple hundred or so or just do the manual labour with a rake.
You must be new around here. This is a mountain biking forum. Trivia is what we do.
To be fair this section of the MTB forum is about as far away from the subject matter as it is possible to get. I just find the whole concept of collecting and disposing of leaves, or blowing them about a bit, really funny. It is way too easy to get people slightly mardy on here too. That just makes it more fun!
I strongly recommend one of these, I saw a council employee using one and then bought one, one of the best twenty quid i’ve spent.
Dead badger - this thread has peaked.
If you've got enough leaves to consider buying a blower, there is no way you'll be able to use one in 'suck' mode. The bag will fill every 30 seconds.
In 'blow' mode you need a corner to blow them into otherwise you're wasting your time.
Mowing them up with a lawnmower is easily the most efficient way I've found.
Leave them you say... I end up with a pile waist deep at the bottom of my garden. It takes two goes to clear with the most powerful backpack Stihl petrol unit. Hate my garden sometimes 🙁
kilo
https://www.screwfix.com/p/spear-jackson-garden-tidy-leaf-grabber/95262?tc=DX3&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD8IdPwtABDG4ZRRuu9eu7tYK_kvy&gclid=Cj0KCQjwmt24BhDPARIsAJFYKk0YVl9RF9C2agKIbP_ISatcSAfNvSFjh5cg7QjON8mcSrV9PWaum_QaApTDEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds/blockquote >
Yep that's what I use after blowing them to one corner of a big hotel/restaurant car park. Also a leaf blower is almost essential if your trying to clear daily leaf fall from under 30+ outside tables & chairs. I'm still using petrol with 2 separate Makita BHX2501 blowers, 1 set up as a blower and the other as a sucker/vac. TBH the sucker is a lesser used item as there are often twigs mixed in and they cause blockages & unless you have a steel impeller then wear is a big problem.
Pointless bit of kit to do a futile job.
Pointless bit of kit to do a futile job.
0/2
I bought a cheap mains one from Aldi a year or two ago. Works pretty well as long as you don’t leave the leaves to get damp and compacted. It can get blocked but if you go steady it’s fine.
We have a small garden and a big tree. If we just leaf them (as I have in the past) the grass is ruined for the following summer and the boarders end up like a snow drift of brown sludge.
Its the most pointless task anyone could choose to do. Just leave them, its good for the soil.
I love the way the people with manor houses are all along the lines of "just leave them, it's good for the deer / lawn / the gardener deals with it / use the spare garden" etc.
The house is almost buried up to the first floor by leaves at the moment and I don't have a lawn to let the leaves rot down onto.