Leaves - what to use

[B737]

Something I looked into was the TVK20, it is like the gold standard for material collection. Auto dump and supposedly very effective using its PTO powered suction in addition to the mower deck.

I didnt go this route because I have room to move the leaves with the blower, the TVK was more expensive, more complicated, and took up a lot more space to store.

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[milanmark]

Im on a tiny 3 acre wooded parcel that is all mature oaks. Surrounded by many many acres of the same. I am a fanatic about leaves because removing the leaves is the only way I have stopped the deer tick infestation on my property.

I use a PTO leaf blower, blow into piles, scoop them with the grapple, move to the curb for city pickup. It was once an impossible task, now I can usually get it done in about a day.

happy dog (and humans), without ticks.

hat did you put on your grapple so it would pick up leaves? Some sort of wire fence? Thanks

 

[B737]

hat did you put on your grapple so it would pick up leaves? Some sort of wire fence? Thanks

Plastic construction fence (snow fence) and zip ties it is a leaf eating machine!

 

[milanmark]

Plastic construction fence (snow fence) and zip ties it is a leaf eating machine!

Bingo! I like this idea! And I was looking for plastic fence for my chickens to expand their run! Thanks!

 

[milanmark]

Thanks for all the replies and ideas! everyone has their own circumstances and different ways of dealing with them.... For me the sooner I get the leaves done in the fall the sooner I get back to deer hunting!

 

[bird dogger]

Im on a tiny 3 acre wooded parcel that is all mature oaks. Surrounded by many many acres of the same. I am a fanatic about leaves because removing the leaves is the only way I have stopped the deer tick infestation on my property.

Kevin, now the neighborly thing to do would be to invite all the neighborhood kids over to jump and play in your mountainous pile of leaves before you dispose of them!! (the leaves, that is!!)
David

 

[NCL4701]

I have three yards to do, all of which have many oaks. A blower or vac would be sweet but I was too cheap for either for a job I do a couple times a year. I start by mulching/blowing toward outside of yard with zero turn. When the piles get too big for the zero turn I aggregate and move them with the pine needle rake on the Kubota. When those piles get too big I grapple them into the woods. Not “ideal” but it works.

 

[SteveBX23]

I blow mine into long rows aimed at the road, then push the rows to the street using a front end loader. I would push the limits of my ride on mower before I grabbed a leaf rake and tarp. That’s not happening…:

 

[Dieseldonato]

I just mow mine over. Eventually they dissappear. Leaves are a year round thing here living surrounded by woods. They don't bother me. My dad on the other hand has this dump cart thing that attaches to the mower. Works pretty slick. Has a little engine driven shreader/ blower that sucks from the deck shreds the leaves amd sends them to the cart towed behind it.
My neighbor across the lane is semi retired and uses the backpack blower method. It works for him. It's a daily chore but his property is pretty little. He just blows the leaves back into the woods.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

chop all your trees down, then when the NEIGHBOUR's leave land on YOUR property, get THEM to pickup each and every leaf !

old farmer trick was to bolt a pip to the front of his rider deck, tie a tarp onto it. mower deck blows cut up leaves onto tarp, drives to 'compost area', backsup, leaves fall off, goes for more. It was simple, cheap, easy and gee, it WORKED. Great for big lawns, not mini forests though.

One thing for sure.. the older you get, you'll swear there's MORE leaves to deal with !!

 

[NCL4701]

One thing for sure.. the older you get, you'll swear there's MORE leaves to deal with !!

That’s the truth! I used to do ours with a broom rake and pickup truck. If I had to do that now, we’d have a lot more “natural area”.

 

[milanmark]

I may have missed it if mentioned... but anyone use a landscape rake or a pine straw rake for leaves? I like the idea of a pine straw rake better but I have a quick hitch and and not sure how that would work with it....

 

[bird dogger]

I may have missed it if mentioned... but anyone use a landscape rake or a pine straw rake for leaves? I like the idea of a pine straw rake better but I have a quick hitch and and not sure how that would work with it....

Before I purchased the pto blower I used a small rotary landscape rake (miniature hay rake essentially). I'd pull it behind the 4-wheeler. It was sure better than hand raking. But depending on the amount of leaves and grass, you could only turn the row over a couple of times before there was no room for the row to pass through under the framework. But turning over a few rows from each direction into one large row, hand raking rows into piles, then loading into a trailer for dumping......worked fairly well.

But nothing beats the ease of a pto blower if your site is suited for it. And you can still use the blower to blow into piles for scooping up and hauling away. Blowing the leaves back into the woods even eliminates that chore.

Here's a pic of my old blower. Essentially the great grandpa to B737's newer one.


the little landscape rake still does a pretty nice job of dethatching in the spring, so it still earns its keep.

 

[skeets]

You guys over think stuff to much sometimes,, just keep running over them a couple passes and they just mulch up in to little pieces and are no more

 

[lmpres]

I pay the 2 teens in my neighborhood who started a landscaping business.

 

[lynnmor]

One thing for sure.. the older you get, you'll swear there's MORE leaves to deal with !!

I noticed that as well, then did some deep thinking and figured out that the trees got bigger.

 

[SteveBX23]

You guys over think stuff to much sometimes,, just keep running over them a couple passes and they just mulch up in to little pieces and are no more

Partially. Too much of anything can be bad, and when my leaves fall, its like the trees declare holy war and they are trying to bury me alive. I must fight...

 

[NCL4701]

I may have missed it if mentioned... but anyone use a landscape rake or a pine straw rake for leaves? I like the idea of a pine straw rake better but I have a quick hitch and and not sure how that would work with it....

I use a pine straw rake as part of the system as described in post #27. It isn’t a complete solution, at least not for our mostly oak hardwood leaves. As I use it probably no more than 2 to 6 hours per year, it’s the cheapest 72” rake I could find at the time. If it’s quick hitch compatible I would be quite surprised.

 

[SteveBX23]

I use a pine straw rake as part of the system as described in post #27. It isn’t a complete solution, at least not for our mostly oak hardwood leaves. As I use it probably no more than 2 to 6 hours per year, it’s the cheapest 72” rake I could find at the time. If it’s quick hitch compatible I would be quite surprised. View attachment 79515 View attachment 79516 View attachment 79517

Does this have any affect on collecting acorns when raking? Or do they slide between the tines too easily?

 

[NCL4701]

Does this have any affect on collecting acorns when raking? Or do they slide between the tines too easily?

It gets up quite a lot of the acorns. They get caught up with the leaves so a good percentage get moved with the leaves. Some get left behind. If you’re trying to collect acorns for deer bait or some similar thing where you want buckets of acorns, I don’t think it would work very well for that.