Pull behind leaf vacuum

[truckdiagnostics]

Used to pick up the leaves. Now mulch them with the zero turn with gator blades.

Sounds to me like you are picking up the leaves to put in the garden then mulching with your mower.

You could buy a lot of mulch in bags for what you are spending on a lawn vacuum. Consider mulching in place and telling yourself it is fertilizer?

 

[windcatcher]

"Sounds to me like you are picking up the leaves to put in the garden then mulching with your mower. "

That is the current situation. I'm trying to bring the old garden plot back to life with the mulched leaves + lime and whatever else I can till/plow under.

Ok, I understand that the 8" pickup tube is probably the best diameter. The Agrifab only has the 6" tube from what I've been reading.

I'm not sure what the DR power leaf vacuum has. I thought I read at one time it was a 7", but I also thought I read it had an 8" diameter pickup tube.

I do agree I need a unit with an electric start. I'm not worried about having to mess with another battery. It seems like batteries have been a part of my life since I was about 8 years old.

So far, we've had mostly owners of CR and one agri-fab. I would love to hear from a Dr. power leaf vacuum owner.

Oh yeah, how about the materials your impeller is made of for leaf vac owners? How is it holding out now? How many years have you owned your unit, and most of all, what kind of hardwood leaves are you picking up?

In my area of North Carolina, I have sycamores, red maples, red and white oaks, sweet gum, some pecan leaflets (they're easy to mulch), hickory, and the rest of the low land area trees where it stays wet.

Thanks folks. This really does help. Perhaps it will help someone else trying to make the change over too.

 

[windcatcher]

Also, as far as putting mulch into the garden, I've already put 6 tandem dump truck loads of double ground mulch into the garden. That was back in 2014, but the soil was so poor it didn't help much.

Plus, mulching doesn't take care of the yearly problem of getting the leaves up. So, I still need a leaf vacuum to get that chore accomplished. The soil amendment is a plus from getting the leaves up.

 

[KennyG]

Oh yeah, how about the materials your impeller is made of for leaf vac owners? How is it holding out now? How many years have you owned your unit, and most of all, what kind of hardwood leaves are you picking up?

The CR uses a plastic impeller. Of course, it's not just any plastic. I've had mine for over 8 years now and the impeller looks just like new. I sometimes pick up rocks about golf ball size and this year I accidentally picked up an aerosol can with no damage. CR does have an option of a special hardened liner for the blower. I added it because of lots of acorns and sandy soil.

I have mostly oaks and some maples. Whenever this topic comes up, some people always say why don't you just run over the leaves until they are chopped up and leave them on the lawn. At a certain point, that just doesn't work any more. I pile them up and end up with a 10 foot tall compost heap.

 

[ruffdog]

I only use the vac when the amount is too much to decay in the yard. Normally, just the last mowing when I mow shorter and pick up the leaves.

 

[dalola]

Whenever this topic comes up, some people always say why don't you just run over the leaves until they are chopped up and leave them on the lawn. At a certain point, that just doesn't work any more.

Why not?

I've been fall mulching for 30 years, living in a forest of 150' sycamores. There is no other tree anywhere with leaves as big & tough as sycamores.

 

[DJ54]

I bought a used Agri-Fab last summer, for $200.00. The PO had screwed the gas cap on, and got it cross threaded. He put a pair of pliers on the cap to remove, and broke the neck loose in the gas tank. It started on the 3rd pull, with 3 year old gas in it. It is a bit weathered from setting outside, but still in pretty good mechanical shape, so I bought it. I repaired the fuel tank by removing, cutting the cap off, filling tank with water, and spot welding the neck in the tank. I happened to have a gas cap like it in my spare parts. I buffed the flywheel magnets, and cleaned up the pickup, and installed a new plug, and fresh gas. It now starts on the first pull. I made my own boot for the discharge chute on the mower. Just some sheet metal, and of all things, apiece of used 6" exhaust pipe from a buddy's semi that had gotten damaged, and was in the junk pile. The elbow in the pipe, made a perfect, no restriction elbow for the boot.

It works better than I ever imagined. I use it to vac up grass clippings in the yard, to mulch around my plants in the garden. I use it weekly, and have enough grass to get 3 trailer loads. I normally use leaves, brought to me by a neighbor, who has a lawn service, who also provides leaf pickup in the Fall. I didn't have enough last year, so started looking for a lawn vac, so as to use grass clippings, and found this one.

Another neighbor brings me his leaves,and just rakes, then hauls them in his lawn trailer. It takes him forever, as the man has to haul nearly 50 loads. To make it easier for him, I bought the hand wand to pick them up. He just mows the leaves in big windrows,and I vacuumed them up. We were both surprised at how many that little trailer holds. I guesstimated 8-10 loads of his loose leaves, in one trailer load.

The only reason I didn't use the tractor in the picture to vac them up, is the deck sets too low, as compared to my Wheel Horse at normal cutting height, and his new Sears. That plus the fact I put a new Kevlar pto belt on the ST-10, and with the adjustment set loose enough I can pinch the belt together with 2 fingers, it is that loose, it still drives the mower. I'll put it on another tractor this Spring, with a higher lifting deck, as I use the ST-10, and 3 pt. attachments in the garden.

The only complaint I have with it, is, the 6" hose is extremely stiff, and I find it best to only make left hand turns, or, very wide right hand turns. They now use a more flexible hose, a somewhat clear vinyl type, like is used for the hand wands.

If you have a place to stack/store your leaves, I might suggest using them for mulching also. I put them down about 6" thick, but after a couple rains, it compacts them down to an approx. 3" layer. Suppresses weeds very well to the point, I have to look for a few type of weeds that may poke through occasionally. Sure saves a lot of work, and can't help but think it adds a bit of compost tea, every time it rains. By Spring, the leaves break down into very fine compost that I plow down. It seems to be to the point, where they will not rob the soil of nitrogen, to break on down. It has definitely made a difference in the structure of the soil, in the part that had a lot of yellow clay. Last year was the 5th year I had been doing this, and the soil is much more friable, and has a darker color to it, from all of the organic matter added.

Just some food for thought...

 

[MossRoad]

Why not?

I've been fall mulching for 30 years, living in a forest of 150' sycamores. There is no other tree anywhere with leaves as big & tough as sycamores.

I mulch my leaves with the mower in my front yard where there aren't many trees. It works well. However, in the back yard, where the large oaks are, I mulch and, quite honestly, the turf looks much worse compared to the front yard. The leaves on our oaks don't fall until late November, they get rained on, snowed on, etc... the mower does a good job of chopping them up, but there's still streaks of leaf chips and compressed tire marks. It takes me about 4 passes to get them all mulched up, so that contributes to soil compaction VS 1 pass vacuuming/sweeping. It also consumes about 4X the fuel, and puts 4X the hours on the engine VS vacuuming/sweeping.

And, while oak leaves are acidic, they break down quickly, but they tend to turn the soil alkaline. As they decay, the nitrogen in the soil declines, so you have to fertilize.

Leaves are not a good fertilizer.

However, they are good at making the soil more fluffy, and grass likes that.

I prefer to pick up my leaves and dump them in the woods. If it's dry, I'll chop them up with the mower and sweep them up and if it's wet, I just sweep them up. A couple times a year I use my pallet forks to turn the leaf pile over, and if I need mulch or soil amendments, I go to the backside of the leaf pile where it's the oldest and dig out the black gold with my FEL and use it where I need it.

 

[windcatcher]

Guys, I'm all for the mulching of the leaves and putting them in the old garden. The last owners of the property I now own, re-excavated the old pond, and that bottom sludge/slime dirt (if you can call that stinking clay mess dirt) on top of the good garden soil where the old garden used to be. It ruined that garden soil. It bakes into a brick that a good tractor and good plow can't bust. So, I'm definitely on the wagon for composting and mulching the leaves to try and turn that old garden back into something I can grow some food on.

I'm glad to hear from the different owners of both the agrifab and CR models. For the agrifab owners: I've seen a number of new replacement parts on Amazon, so don't let that tidbit go away from you in case you need to make repairs.

I do have a question about the engines on these things: I have experience with pressure lubrication on the larger air cooled engines. It appears CR, Agrifab, and DR use engines that have splash lubrication. I doubt any of you have experience any problems, but if you have, please let us know. I know the old Cub Cadets had Kohler engines, and they were known to be splash lubrication. Some were driven to a slow death because the owners used them on property with slopes.

 

[dalola]

I mulch my leaves with the mower in my front yard where there aren't many trees. It works well. However, in the back yard, where the large oaks are, I mulch and, quite honestly, the turf looks much worse compared to the front yard. The leaves on our oaks don't fall until late November, they get rained on, snowed on, etc... the mower does a good job of chopping them up, but there's still streaks of leaf chips and compressed tire marks. It takes me about 4 passes to get them all mulched up, so that contributes to soil compaction VS 1 pass vacuuming/sweeping. It also consumes about 4X the fuel, and puts 4X the hours on the engine VS vacuuming/sweeping.

And, while oak leaves are acidic, they break down quickly, but they tend to turn the soil alkaline. As they decay, the nitrogen in the soil declines, so you have to fertilize.

Leaves are not a good fertilizer.

However, they are good at making the soil more fluffy, and grass likes that.

I prefer to pick up my leaves and dump them in the woods. If it's dry, I'll chop them up with the mower and sweep them up and if it's wet, I just sweep them up. A couple times a year I use my pallet forks to turn the leaf pile over, and if I need mulch or soil amendments, I go to the backside of the leaf pile where it's the oldest and dig out the black gold with my FEL and use it where I need it.

Trees & grass have never played well together. I would certainly hope the grass quality is higher in your less tree dense areas of yard.

I also think the acidity level of dead dried leaves is negligible. The benefit of the organic material outweighs any ph concerns, IMO.

Sycamores will typically hold many leaves through December, so weather permitting, I'm usually mulching right up to Christmas. A couple passes with the Gator blades, all that's left is confetti.

 

[MossRoad]

Trees & grass have never played well together. I would certainly hope the grass quality is higher in your less tree dense areas of yard.

I also think the acidity level of dead dried leaves is negligible. The benefit of the organic material outweighs any ph concerns, IMO.

Sycamores will typically hold many leaves through December, so weather permitting, I'm usually mulching right up to Christmas. A couple passes with the Gator blades, all that's left is confetti.

As long as I pick up the leaves, the grass quality under the trees is great. It's mostly a fescue mix. Nice and thick. It's a great place to put out a blanket and take a nap. Mulching the leaves and leaving them on my lawn causes some issues. Some of the issues are beneficial, but for the most part, it makes the lawn less "showy" and that's what I like.

Way back in the kids' play area, where we had a pitching mound, home plate, back stop and golf net, the lawn is "lived on" so doesn't look like a golf course. More like a well-used park. Back there, I mulch on occasion. But under the oaks, I pick em up for garden and landscape use.

Wish I had a picture of all of the areas. I only some of the front yard.

Here's a couple of a hole I had to dig when a mystery washing machine drain pit collapsed...

And a couple before and after mowing pics....

Before:

After:

These were about 16 years ago. There's about 5 acres of oaks in the back. I'll try and get dig up some pictures. I know I had some of leaf clearing in here somewhere.

 

[dalola]

As long as I pick up the leaves, the grass quality under the trees is great. It's mostly a fescue mix. Nice and thick. It's a great place to put out a blanket and take a nap. Mulching the leaves and leaving them on my lawn causes some issues. Some of the issues are beneficial, but for the most part, it makes the lawn less "showy" and that's what I like.

Way back in the kids' play area, where we had a pitching mound, home plate, back stop and golf net, the lawn is "lived on" so doesn't look like a golf course. More like a well-used park. Back there, I mulch on occasion. But under the oaks, I pick em up for garden and landscape use.

Wish I had a picture of all of the areas. I only some of the front yard.

Here's a couple of a hole I had to dig when a mystery washing machine drain pit collapsed...

And a couple before and after mowing pics....

These were about 16 years ago. There's about 5 acres of oaks in the back. I'll try and get dig up some pictures. I know I had some of leaf clearing in here somewhere.

lol...well, it's very clear to me based on your pix, your soil & grass is far superior to any soil or grass anywhere on my property!

Living on a river bank, it's mostly clay & rocks. Mix in two big dogs, and kids playing soccer all the time.....well, you get the picture. Plus, I really have no escape from the giant trees (which I like..). The trees are just spaced enough to allow grass to grow, but too concentrated to have any clear areas. No mans land.

When I retire down to the camp, there will be no yard, just forest, and the trees will do as they please, and I won't care.

 

[joecoin]

I'd urge you to take a closer look at the Steiner I mentioned earlier. It's ground driven (no motor to mess with) and tightly compacts whatever it picks up. It can be used with any tractor/rider mower. Has adjustable towing position with respect to the back of the tractor. Floats over uneven ground. As soon as I get rich I'm getting one:

 

[MossRoad]

OUCH! $4500 OUCH!

218 Steiner Lawn Sweeper (LS34) for sale in Rochester, NY | Brodner Equipment, Inc. (585) 247-5218

Messick's had a used one...
$2500 OUCH!

Used Steiner LS34

Here's one that sold at auction for $650.... that's better. :laughing:

Steiner Commercial sweeper model LS34 - govdeals.com

The rest are all call for price.

 

[windcatcher]

OUCH! $4500 OUCH!

218 Steiner Lawn Sweeper (LS34) for sale in Rochester, NY | Brodner Equipment, Inc. (585) 247-5218

Messick's had a used one...
$2500 OUCH!

Used Steiner LS34

Here's one that sold at auction for $650.... that's better. :laughing:

Steiner Commercial sweeper model LS34 - govdeals.com

The rest are all call for price.

That's far too steep for my blood except of course the $650 one. Thanks for the heads up though.

 

[Alien]

I have the Paddock brand Sweeper. Works well but lawn needs to be pretty flat. We are inundated with bamboo leaves at times and it has been a godsend.

 

[RalphVa]

Our church in NJ years ago had 5 acres with lots of trees. They originally had 2 Sears riding tractors with underbelly mowers and a cart with a suction gas blower on it with a tent on the top to hold the leaves. A really horrid nightmare machine setup guaranteed to leave to deaf if dumb enough to use it.

I'd used the Sears tractors and knew how bad they were to maintain and how long it took (7 hours) just to mow the grass. When my schedule eased so that I could be home more, I volunteered to do the grass and the leaves but told them that I needed a ZTR to do it. Bought a Scag. Never looked back. The Scag did the lawn in 3 hours and would chop up the leaves by just circling, discharging inward until it was about to konk out. Then turned it around and discharged outwards. Did the leaves fine. No big piles of them in the back of the property. The Scag was just so easy to work on, too.

Ralph

 

[nikdfish]

We've used the Agri-Fab for a couple of years now. So far, it is the best of the various strategies we've tried despite some of the headaches.

Things to note if you go Agri-Fab:

1) Although the unit has a "tilt" function, you can't count on that for emptying it when packed full of leaves unless you are backed up to the edge of a cliff - just not enough slope to do much. Expect to use a rake (a lot) to remove the packed leaves from the box.
2) Expect the hose to tear at some point. In retrospect, I would have been well served to pull the hose straight & wrap about 2-3 foot on either end with duct tape before first use. Initial tears occurred at either end.
3) Buy some extra clamps. I ended up needing to replace clamps on both ends after multiple re-tightening. Expect to need to remove the hose from the boot occasionally to clear clogs if you don't clear your area of sticks/twigs before starting.
4) Tie some para-cord to the hairpin clips that hold the rear panel in place. Grabbing cord to remove them when emptying is much easier than getting a finger hold on the clips.
5) Come up with a way to attach a rake to the unit so it is available when unloading. I put a set of spring clamps on the side of the box to carry one.

 

[windcatcher]

nikdfish, thank you for taking the time to review your Agrifab. Those tips help me a lot. BTW, you're just up the road from me. About 30 minutes as the crow flies. I'm just off hwy 49 North (South of you).

 

[windcatcher]

We've used the Agri-Fab for a couple of years now. So far, it is the best of the various strategies we've tried despite some of the headaches.

Things to note if you go Agri-Fab:

1) Although the unit has a "tilt" function, you can't count on that for emptying it when packed full of leaves unless you are backed up to the edge of a cliff - just not enough slope to do much. Expect to use a rake (a lot) to remove the packed leaves from the box.
2) Expect the hose to tear at some point. In retrospect, I would have been well served to pull the hose straight & wrap about 2-3 foot on either end with duct tape before first use. Initial tears occurred at either end.
3) Buy some extra clamps. I ended up needing to replace clamps on both ends after multiple re-tightening. Expect to need to remove the hose from the boot occasionally to clear clogs if you don't clear your area of sticks/twigs before starting.
4) Tie some para-cord to the hairpin clips that hold the rear panel in place. Grabbing cord to remove them when emptying is much easier than getting a finger hold on the clips.
5) Come up with a way to attach a rake to the unit so it is available when unloading. I put a set of spring clamps on the side of the box to carry one.

Nikdfish, I found this tidbit on youtube. It shows how to fasten an el cheapo tarp inside the trailer to allow for easier dumping of the collected leaves. I like the way it's done myself as I like to have cost efficient, functional way of doing things.