I have a big yard with two Elm trees and am tired of raking leaves every year (takes a 8 hour day) or paying someone to do it. My yard is too small for a riding mower plus hills.
Does anyone use one of these walk behind models or the Lawn vacuums? They seem really expensive.
You honestly don't even have to empty the bag too often since the vacuum mulches the leaves pretty well.
Link - ( New Window )
You honestly don't even have to empty the bag too often since the vacuum mulches the leaves pretty well. Link - ( New Window )
I have the Toro version, but I gave up on it. Three problems:
1) At its best it's a slow process. You still have to rake into piles to use it effectively and the vacuum is slow.
2) It clogs easily if you suck in too much at once, which can be difficult to avoid. A particular problem with early season leaves that still have a lot of moisture, or with damp leaves.
3) if you need to clear a clog past the impeller, it's a PITA to disassemble/reassemble.
Just mulch the leaves thoroughly. You may have to make more than one pass if you have a lot of them, but it's still a lot easier than raking, blowing, vacuuming, or anything that involves bagging in any way. The leaves turn into tiny shreds that decompose to free fertilizer, or blow away easily without creating a lot of litter.
The trick is having a GOOD mulcher. You need good power, the more the better. Multiple blade designs, either stacked or side-by-side really help, too.
The mower deck has to be engineered for mulching, which begins with sealing up all the exits like discharge chutes and bagging exits, and also includes interior baffles to control air flow so that the leaves continue to recirculate in the deck and get cut to bits by repeated blade strikes. Just putting a mulching blade on a deck that isn't engineered for mulching doesn't cut the mustard.