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Fall clean up

Sep 20, 2012#1

Q

Quality lawn Service

When do you usually start fall cleanup? And how do you do it? I use my Sthil blowers and chip it all so I can get more in my trailer. Any advice on better ways to do it? I also do not have a bagged for my mower nor do I plan on getting one.

Sep 20, 2012#2

D2hornets58

Quality lawn Service said:
When do you usually start fall cleanup? And how do you do it? I use my Sthil blowers and chip it all so I can get more in my trailer. Any advice on better ways to do it? I also do not have a bagged for my mower nor do I plan on getting one.

If theres a lot of leaves on the lawn I usually blow most of them into a pile then get rid of it. Then i just mow over the lawn and pick up the rest of the leaves. This seems to be the quickest way for me but not sure for you because you dont have a bag for your mower.

Sep 21, 2012#3

lawn mower fanatic

I suck them up with my mower. And now that I have a blower I will use that also. Then I just put it at the edge of the road because the municipal workers come by and suck it up in their trucks. Sorry the second picture is blurry! :frown:

Sep 21, 2012#4

D2hornets58

lawn mower fanatic said:
I suck them up with my mower. And now that I have a blower I will use that also. Then I just put it at the edge of the road because the municipal workers come by and suck it up in their trucks. Sorry the second picture is blurry! :frown:
View attachment 8804

View attachment 8805

View attachment 8806

How often do they come around to suck up the leaves? Around here we are not allowed to do that. If we want them to take away the leaves I have to put them in those brown bags that you buy then they come and take them. I never use them though because it takes to much time to put the leaves in them. It would be nice if i could just put all the leaves on the side of the road haha

Sep 21, 2012#5

lawn mower fanatic

They come around maybe every 2 weeks I would say. It is definitely convenient! But in 2 weeks, you can create a super big pile! Sometimes it stretches the whole length of your property!

Sep 21, 2012#6

D2hornets58

lawn mower fanatic said:
They come around maybe every 2 weeks I would say. It is definitely convenient! But in 2 weeks, you can create a super big pile! Sometimes it stretches the whole length of your property!

Haha yeah those could get pretty big...Do you have to put a tarp over it or something so they dont blow around?

Sep 21, 2012#7

lawn mower fanatic

D2hornets58 said:
Haha yeah those could get pretty big...Do you have to put a tarp over it or something so they dont blow around?

No, you don't have to. They usually stay wet enough that they don't blow around. A few people put tarps over them.

Sep 21, 2012#8

D2hornets58

lawn mower fanatic said:
No, you don't have to. They usually stay wet enough that they don't blow around. A few people put tarps over them.

I wish i could do that that where i live

Sep 21, 2012#9

exotion

Blow off all hard surfaces and shrub beds if they want then rake up the bulk and mow the rest and haul it away :/

Sep 21, 2012#10

lawn mower fanatic

This is what they do around here:

Sep 22, 2012#11

A

Ariena

exotion said:
Blow off all hard....../QUOTE]

Do you use a blower or do you just do it yourself?

Sep 22, 2012#12

exotion

super powered lungs

Sep 22, 2012#13

lawn mower fanatic

exotion said:
super powered lungs

:laughing::laughing:

Sep 22, 2012#14

Ric

lawn mower fanatic said:
This is what they do around here:

lawn mower fanatic I was just curious with all those leaves they pick up, what do they do with all of them. Seems like there should be something they could do that would show a profit and make them useful, like composting them or something?

Sep 22, 2012#15

lawn mower fanatic

Ric said:
lawn mower fanatic I was just curious with all those leaves they pick up, what do they do with all of them. Seems like there should be something they could do that would show a profit and make them useful, like composting them or something?

They take them to a local farm and make mulch, and I mean a LOT of mulch!!!!! Throughout the year lawn care companies come there to get their mulch for people's properties.

Sep 24, 2012#16

B

boston

2 backpacks and 1 walk behind blower does the job for me. My tractor would get clogged if I tried to suck them up and mulching them makes a mess usually

Oct 19, 2012#17

Semiretired

I have a 3+ acre yard with about 200 trees, most of which are pin oaks. When we first moved here almost 18 years ago we tried a mower and a hand held blower. That accomplished almost nothing, so we then purchased a 8 h.p. Little Wonder blower. Big improvement, but it was still a lot of work pushing it around on my slightly hilly property, so I then bought a self propelled 16 h.p.Giant Vac. That was another step up, but, at 265 lbs., it was still a handful on the hills. Then I discovered the JRCO Blower Buggy, which I bought and mounted on the front of my Scag mower to carry the Little Wonder around on. That was an immense improvement. I also had a custom made tow bar fabricated so I could tow the Giant vac around behind my J.D. yard tractor or the wife's zero turn, which was another improvement. biggest issue with those, though, was having the blowers blowing the wrong direction when turning around to go back for another run at the leaves without stopping every time to either throttle down the blower or shut it down till I got back to my starting point. I have now taken care of that issue. A couple of weeks ago I bought the ultimate leaf blower, namely a Buffalo Turbine KB3. 23 h.p., 10,000 cfm, electric start, and wireless remote control throttle and 360 degree rotating nozzle. Anybody want to but a Little Wonder or Giant Vac blower?

Oct 19, 2012#18

L

LMmowing

Hello, I have found a fast way to clean up a yard in no time.
I have a john deere JX75 6hp Self propelled with a bagger and a handheld echo blower.

First I blow the drive way down real good, blow ALL the leaves into the lawn, also blow all the junk in the road into the lawn.

Then quickly just run the rake through real fast from one side to the other if there is alot of leaves.

Then bag the lawn, but the trick is to leave the lawn mower a 1/4 inch HIGHER then the lawn then all the power of the mower goes to picking up leaves.
When your done bagging your bagger will only have leaves and there will be no mess in the road or driveway, saving you time so you don't have blow down again and it keeps more leaves from going back into the lawn.

Have a great day!

Oct 19, 2012#19

V

Vern2

I sell to neighbors for organic gardening, very, cheap. Recieving area is my grass clippings and neighbors horse manure. I have 50,000 square feet I mow.

Object: Find ways to get rid of grass clipping, and leaves in the fall. Garden

Everything picked up with, pull behind sweep, works great.

Oct 19, 2012#20

slammed

Blow what I can in the woods and what I can't I vac up.

Oct 19, 2012#21

lawn mower fanatic

Semiretired said:
I have a 3+ acre yard with about 200 trees, most of which are pin oaks. When we first moved here almost 18 years ago we tried a mower and a hand held blower. That accomplished almost nothing, so we then purchased a 8 h.p. Little Wonder blower. Big improvement, but it was still a lot of work pushing it around on my slightly hilly property, so I then bought a self propelled 16 h.p.Giant Vac. That was another step up, but, at 265 lbs., it was still a handful on the hills. Then I discovered the JRCO Blower Buggy, which I bought and mounted on the front of my Scag mower to carry the Little Wonder around on. That was an immense improvement. I also had a custom made tow bar fabricated so I could tow the Giant vac around behind my J.D. yard tractor or the wife's zero turn, which was another improvement. biggest issue with those, though, was having the blowers blowing the wrong direction when turning around to go back for another run at the leaves without stopping every time to either throttle down the blower or shut it down till I got back to my starting point. I have now taken care of that issue. A couple of weeks ago I bought the ultimate leaf blower, namely a Buffalo Turbine KB3. 23 h.p., 10,000 cfm, electric start, and wireless remote control throttle and 360 degree rotating nozzle. Anybody want to but a Little Wonder or Giant Vac blower?

WOW...it looks like what you now have will do the job! It is huge!!

LMmowing said:
Hello, I have found a fast way to clean up a yard in no time.
I have a john deere JX75 6hp Self propelled with a bagger and a handheld echo blower.

First I blow the drive way down real good, blow ALL the leaves into the lawn, also blow all the junk in the road into the lawn.

Then quickly just run the rake through real fast from one side to the other if there is alot of leaves.

Then bag the lawn, but the trick is to leave the lawn mower a 1/4 inch HIGHER then the lawn then all the power of the mower goes to picking up leaves.
When your done bagging your bagger will only have leaves and there will be no mess in the road or driveway, saving you time so you don't have blow down again and it keeps more leaves from going back into the lawn.

Have a great day!

That is pretty much what I do....works great!!

Oct 23, 2012#22

Perry

Don't Let Anyone Take Away Such A Valuable Resource.

How long is the grass under those leaves? Good to see one poster
mention the potential for making compost / mulch. Composting
grass clippings alone is always fraught. But if the tedium can be
tolerated, catching a mix of fallen autumn leaves & grass clippings
is the stuff of par excellence in composting. It gets the C:N ratio
just about perfect.

Leaf mould is also an option, but it is trickier to make.

Waste not : Want not

Oct 23, 2012#23

B

bgred

Try this.....
I have a 1/4 acre lot so it may not work with larger propertys but it worked for
me. First (if you want) use the leaf blower or rake out behind bushes and flower beds and move
the leaves to the lawn. Second leave the mower to a higher summer setting and mulch the lawn
and leaves. Third (and lastly) set the mower a little lower and re-mow the lawn using the bag to
pick up whats left. During the last step cut the lawn in a clock wise direction starting with the
outside edge and moving to center. I use a Mulching blade with my mower and there is a little
discharge on the right side of the mower (hence the reason for a "clock wise" direction). It takes
some time but you will have a fewer amount of bags to fill and no leaf blowing and bagging leaves.
I don'nt have pictures but the lawn was as clean as it is during the summer.

Oct 23, 2012#24

lawn mower fanatic

bgred said:
Try this.....
I have a 1/4 acre lot so it may not work with larger propertys but it worked for
me. First (if you want) use the leaf blower or rake out behind bushes and flower beds and move
the leaves to the lawn. Second leave the mower to a higher summer setting and mulch the lawn
and leaves. Third (and lastly) set the mower a little lower and re-mow the lawn using the bag to
pick up whats left. During the last step cut the lawn in a clock wise direction starting with the
outside edge and moving to center. I use a Mulching blade with my mower and there is a little
discharge on the right side of the mower (hence the reason for a "clock wise" direction). It takes
some time but you will have a fewer amount of bags to fill and no leaf blowing and bagging leaves.
I don'nt have pictures but the lawn was as clean as it is during the summer.

That seems like it would work good! :thumbsup:

Oct 24, 2012#25

lawn mower fanatic

Today I did a huge leaf clean-up AND mowing....in one! The grass was super high, and if that wasn't enough, in the backyard there was a foot of leaves on the ground. I remembered they have lots of roots and rocks in their backyard, so I was not going to just suck it up with my mower, because I would have hit a big rock!! So I used my blower and made big piles on the end of the lawn that ended up being 2 feet tall! Then I raked them on to a tarp and drug them out to the street. Then I went over the lawn and bagged the rest of the leaves. It took awhile, but look at all the leaves I got. The far pile in the 1st picture is 8 feet long and like 3 feet tall!

Oct 24, 2012#26

D2hornets58

lawn mower fanatic said:
Today I did a huge leaf clean-up AND mowing....in one! The grass was super high, and if that wasn't enough, in the backyard there was a foot of leaves on the ground. I remembered they have lots of roots and rocks in their backyard, so I was not going to just suck it up with my mower, because I would have hit a big rock!! So I used my blower and made big piles on the end of the lawn that ended up being 2 feet tall! Then I raked them on to a tarp and drug them out to the street. Then I went over the lawn and bagged the rest of the leaves. It took awhile, but look at all the leaves I got. The far pile in the 1st picture is 8 feet long and like 3 feet tall!
View attachment 9359

Do you have any pics of the lawn?

Oct 24, 2012#27

lawn mower fanatic

D2hornets58 said:
Do you have any pics of the lawn?

The front....yes:

I will try to dig up some of the pics I took of the back yard from last year....give me a second.

Oct 24, 2012#28

lawn mower fanatic

Here is the best one I have. The branches of the trees touch the ground....so it is a pain sometimes:

Their yard goes past the second pole in their yard...you can see a leaf pile on the other side of that!!
Here is another pic of after I picked up the piles:

Oct 24, 2012#29

D2hornets58

lawn mower fanatic said:
The front....yes: View attachment 9360

I will try to dig up some of the pics I took of the back yard from last year....give me a second.

Looks good...Also looks like that car has a nice dent in the door haha

Oct 24, 2012#30

lawn mower fanatic

D2hornets58 said:
Also looks like that car has a nice dent in the door haha

Haha yeah I just noticed that! :laughing:

Oct 26, 2012#31

B

bgred

lawn mower fanatic said:
Today I did a huge leaf clean-up AND mowing....in one! The grass was super high, and if that wasn't enough, in the backyard there was a foot of leaves on the ground. I remembered they have lots of roots and rocks in their backyard, so I was not going to just suck it up with my mower, because I would have hit a big rock!! So I used my blower and made big piles on the end of the lawn that ended up being 2 feet tall! Then I raked them on to a tarp and drug them out to the street. Then I went over the lawn and bagged the rest of the leaves. It took awhile, but look at all the leaves I got. The far pile in the 1st picture is 8 feet long and like 3 feet tall!
View attachment 9359

Nothing worse than a buried suprise in the leaves!

Oct 26, 2012#32

slammed

bgred said:
Nothing worse than a buried suprise in the leaves!

Yea I hit a block that my neighbor tossed in the edge of a leaf pile today. Good thing the deck pushed it on over the bank.

Nov 3, 2012#33

A

Acculawnsystems.com

How many man hours did it take and what did you charge?

Nov 8, 2012#34

Q

Quality lawn Service

The only problem I have is that I don't have much time. I'm 16 and have 15 seasonal fall clean up accounts. Plus we do not have pick up on the street. What I have done for this year is 2 guys 2 backpack blowers "sthil of-course" 1 sthil blower-vac for window wells and flower beds and 2 5 hp chipper shredders. We blow them in a pile then chip them up and I can turn 2 full properties leaves into a 4x8 trailer with 3 foot sides. I then take them to a place that chargers $2 a yard so they charge me about $7 to dump it. I charge average around 400 per season for fall clean up

Nov 8, 2012#35

ringahding

lawn mower fanatic said:
They come around maybe every 2 weeks I would say. It is definitely convenient! But in 2 weeks, you can create a super big pile! Sometimes it stretches the whole length of your property!

Here is what we have to do in MinneSnowta..

[video]http://s935.beta.photobucket.com/user/ringahding/media/030.mp4.html[/video]

Nov 8, 2012#36

lawn mower fanatic

ringahding said:
Here is what we have to do in MinneSnowta..

[video]http://s935.beta.photobucket.com/user/ringahding/media/030.mp4.html[/video]

That is pretty cool!

Nov 26, 2012#37

lawn mower fanatic

The municipal leaf truck came through our area today so I took some pictures....it sure is dusty!!

Dec 2, 2012#38

Lohman mows lawns

lawn mower fanatic said:
The municipal leaf truck came through our area today so I took some pictures....it sure is dusty!!
<img src="http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9910"/>

<img src="http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9911"/>

<img src="http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9912"/>

Ur lucky you have one we don't I have to hual it all home and burn or take it up our cabin and dump it

Dec 3, 2012#39

A

ACDDURHAM

If your municipality or county does that, lucky you. That was cool. We can't do that here by leaving it on the curb, we'd be fined ! Thanks for the video.

Dec 3, 2012#40

metz12

I rake out the sides of like the house and sheds whhere i cant get with my mower and bag them. Also I like to use the blower and spread the leaves out a bit so im not clogging up my mower deck and burning belts!

Dec 3, 2012#41

lawn mower fanatic

metz12 said:
I rake out the sides of like the house and sheds whhere i cant get with my mower and bag them. Also I like to use the blower and spread the leaves out a bit so im not clogging up my mower deck and burning belts!

I would have had to use a rake to get the leaves out from against the deck and walls when I did a mowing/leaf clean-up today like you do but I first used the weedwacker around the house and found it shoots the leaves out from against things when I trim around the deck so I can just can suck them up with the mower after that. :thumbsup:

Dec 3, 2012#42

metz12

lawn mower fanatic said:
I would have had to use a rake to get the leaves out from against the deck and walls when I did a mowing/leaf clean-up today like you do but I first used the weedwacker around the house and found it shoots the leaves out from against things when I trim around the deck so I can just can suck them up with the mower after that. :thumbsup:

oh cool! thats a good tip!:thumbsup: i'll definatly try that this weekend! im doing a small leaf job. plus i havent run my weedwacker in a while so it will be good for it!

Dec 3, 2012#43

lawn mower fanatic

metz12 said:
oh cool! thats a good tip!:thumbsup: i'll definatly try that this weekend! im doing a small leaf job. plus i havent run my weedwacker in a while so it will be good for it!

Yeah, I'm doing a leaf clean-up job tomorrow...it will be 68 degrees! :thumbsup: It will be the last time. I was hoping they would call me soon because if they didn't I wouldn't be able to put the leaves in the street, because it ends in the middle of the month. I might try to go over the lawn once mulching and then vacuum them up with my mower the second time, if there are not that many leaves. The past 2 times I was unable to do that because the leaves were so thick it would clog the mower. :thumbdown: I had to use the blower and put them into a pile and then rake the leaves onto a tarp and drag them to the street, then vacuum up everything else with the mower...it took awhile!

Dec 3, 2012#44

metz12

lawn mower fanatic said:
Yeah, I'm doing a leaf clean-up job tomorrow...it will be 68 degrees! :thumbsup: It will be the last time. I was hoping they would call me soon because if they didn't I wouldn't be able to put the leaves in the street, because it ends in the middle of the month. I might try to go over the lawn once mulching and then vacuum them up with my mower the second time, if there are not that many leaves. The past 2 times I was unable to do that because the leaves were so thick it would clog the mower. :thumbdown: I had to use the blower and put them into a pile and then rake the leaves onto a tarp and drag them to the street, then vacuum up everything else with the mower...it took awhile!

Wow that does sound like alot of work!! I would suggest trying to blow all or most the leaves off of the grass to the road or on a tarp then mow the lawn like you would normally. or else you could take the top layer of leaves off with your blower and then bag the rest. then your mower will cut the grass AND bag the rest of the leaves! thats probably what i would do depending on the amount of leaves.

Dec 3, 2012#45

lawn mower fanatic

metz12 said:
Wow that does sound like alot of work!! I would suggest trying to blow all or most the leaves off of the grass to the road or on a tarp then mow the lawn like you would normally. or else you could take the top layer of leaves off with your blower and then bag the rest. then your mower will cut the grass AND bag the rest of the leaves! thats probably what i would do depending on the amount of leaves.

Yeah that's what I usually do--blow, then suck up & mow the grass/leaves. It works pretty well. I just hate how if there are too many leaves you can't get a couple of feet without having to empty the bag...that's why I use the blower on that!

Dec 3, 2012#46

metz12

lawn mower fanatic said:
Yeah that's what I usually do--blow, then suck up & mow the grass/leaves. It works pretty well. I just hate how if there are too many leaves you can't get a couple of feet without having to empty the bag...that's why I use the blower on that!

ya that dose stink. those push mower bags dont hold to many leaves. but you dont want to burn out the engine if it gets too clogged up. but my yard machines doesnt exactly hold alot of leaves. I do a yard where its an acre exactly and i go down 1 time and the bags are full! but its nice i rake and blow stuff away from the house, spread it out a little and just go over it with the mower lol

Dec 3, 2012#47

lawn mower fanatic

metz12 said:
ya that dose stink. those push mower bags dont hold to many leaves. but you dont want to burn out the engine if it gets too clogged up. but my yard machines doesnt exactly hold alot of leaves. I do a yard where its an acre exactly and i go down 1 time and the bags are full! but its nice i rake and blow stuff away from the house, spread it out a little and just go over it with the mower lol

You could get one of these for your mower....it looks kind of weird, though! :laughing:

I was thinking about getting one of these for my mowers:

It would be OK with leaves but if I was trying to bag grass it might get too heavy when it starts to fill up. :thumbdown:

Dec 3, 2012#48

metz12

lawn mower fanatic said:
You could get one of these for your mower....it looks kind of weird, though! :laughing:
View attachment 10057
I was thinking about getting one of these for my mowers: View attachment 10058 It would be OK with leaves but if I was trying to bag grass it might get too heavy when it starts to fill up. :thumbdown:

Ya i have looked into those, but i would think the bag would get really worn down you know??

and a 2nd thought Are you thinking of getting a rider in the future? if you get big mowing jobs? or big leaf jobs?

Dec 3, 2012#49

lawn mower fanatic

metz12 said:
Ya i have looked into those, but i would think the bag would get really worn down you know??

and a 2nd thought Are you thinking of getting a rider in the future? if you get big mowing jobs? or big leaf jobs?

Yeah, it would probably get worn down. :frown: Yes, I would like a rider soon, or a stander or something, but I really don't feel like spending a lot of money....and I like the maneuverability of 21 in. mowers. Once I can't finish all the lawns I need to each week I will get a bigger mower.

Dec 3, 2012#50

metz12

lawn mower fanatic said:
Yeah, it would probably get worn down. :frown: Yes, I would like a rider soon, or a stander or something, but I really don't feel like spending a lot of money....and I like the maneuverability of 21 in. mowers. Once I can't finish all the lawns I need to each week I will get a bigger mower.

To tell you the truth, look on craigslist in the beginning of spring where its still kind of cold and people are doing their spring cleaning and getting a new riding mower. they will put it on craigslist for cheap. i got my yard machines for 100 bucks and it needed a new battery and a tune up. (i got my craftsman for free bu thats besides the point). tractors are great. really universal. I really like craftsman but something with a briggs and straton, kohler or any COMMON engine name shops will work on. also they are fun to ride around too!!

Dec 3, 2012#51

lawn mower fanatic

metz12 said:
To tell you the truth, look on craigslist in the beginning of spring where its still kind of cold and people are doing their spring cleaning and getting a new riding mower. they will put it on craigslist for cheap. i got my yard machines for 100 bucks and it needed a new battery and a tune up. (i got my craftsman for free bu thats besides the point). tractors are great. really universal. I really like craftsman but something with a briggs and straton, kohler or any COMMON engine name shops will work on. also they are fun to ride around too!!

Yeah, that's true...I might do that. Back to what we were talking about earlier this evening, you could get a Cyclone Rake or something of the like if you wanted to have a larger bag capacity for leaf clean-up. Cyclone Rake Lawn Vacuum Systems

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