Leaf Planning - is a sweeper enough?

[rossn]

Time for a little leaf planning.

I'm on an acre, with about 1/4 of it getting pretty heavily covered by 6-12" of leaves (3 mature maples). Most of the rest of the lot is pines/spruce and some larger honey locust. About 35 mature trees, in total. Last year was the first year here, and using the small leaf shredder yielded about 3 yards of finely mulched maple leaves (about 800 lbs)... maybe another 4 yards of pine needles (now have a 3pt pine needle rake). It was painful shredding these with the electric shredder, and want to figure out an alternate solution this year for picking up and mulching the leaves well. The maple leaves are too think to leave... though I'd be OK leaving like 1/4 of them if mulched.

Equipment wise, I have a Massey Ferguson GC 1705 with the 60" MMM.

Using a sweeper, would I be able to pick up most of these leaves, once 'mulched' with my mowing deck? Or, would that still be pretty tedious (or not work well)? Most would be going to the garden.

Alternate solutions that would cost a lot more are a Protero PTO catcher (think I probably have enough HP to mow and vac?) or a Cyclone Rake or similar. Of course, for something I use a few times a year, I'd prefer to not spend tons of money, take up significant storage space, or have to maintain additional engines, if avoidable.

Thanks for your thoughts as to what I can get away with (with out great pain)!

The pile in the pics is about 3' tall.

 

[smstonypoint]

Thanks for your thoughts as to what I can get away with (with out great pain)!

IMO, the least costly solution (in terms of money and time) would be to add a chute blocker to your mower. The red maples and oaks (red and white) on the two + acres that I mow produce prodigious amounts of leaves. I added a chute blocker to my ZTR and mulch all of the leaves. The leaves are mulched so finely that I leave them in place. Of course, my lawn isn't "estate quality."

My blocker is similar to this:

Steve

Addendum

I forgot to mention that I also use "Gator" blades.

 

[CalG]

I'm not the example for procedure, and am truly looking for a "better way" as you are.

I have two acres of former "sugar bush". I like to call it "a hundred head of maple". All over 80 feet tall!
A good portion is left to be forest and fend for it's self, But I keep "yard" on about half, so call it an acre to mow, and an acre to pick the leaves off so there will be green to mow next season ;-)

I use the "combined forces method". I've got a back pack leaf blower, a 54 inch "Mighty Vac" commercial walk behind. A 24" Snapper lawn mower with a bagger, and a dumping utility cart pulled behind the garden tractor (Bolens HT)

What I do.... (I'm gonna pay for revealing;-)

Sometimes as often as three times a week, I either BLOW the leaves into a row at the edge of the lawn, and then run the big mower over the collection only to come back with a hand rake to pick the chopped leaves up into the yard cart to be hauled to a collection spot for composting. (That's the "I can't believe I'm doing this" process ;-)
Or
I just blow the leaves off the lawn and over the bank. (I'm lucky to have that option, but it seems so wasteful in an organic material starved environment).

Or
I blow the leaves into a central pile and use the rake to load them into the cart and THEN dump them over the bank in one location. Steep bank! (every 5 or six years, I pull the rotted leaves off the bank and use them for compost in the gardens.

Or
In the front yard, I just use the mulching blade fitted, bagging lawn mower. Placing the mulched leaves into the yard cart and dumping them at the compost pile.

Like you, I want one of those tag behind lawn vacs, but I just can't bear to add such a bulky implement to my collection. And really. Only a vac with a mulcher really fits the need, because I need to reduce volume (full leaf bulk in the autumn is daunting!
Plus, shredded leaves make great garden mulch, where whole leaves matt and cause rot. Go figure.

Oh Well, I've butted my head against leaves for over thirty years. The grass grows green each summer, and I don't need a membership to the gym. All is good. ;-)

 

[smstonypoint]

I'm not the example for procedure, and am truly looking for a "better way" as you are.

I have two acres of former "sugar bush". I like o call it "a hundred head of maple.
A good portion is left to be forest and fend for it's self, But I keep "yard" on about half, so call it an acre to mow, and an acre to pick the leaves off so there will be green to mow next season ;-)

I use the "combined forces method". I've got a back pack leaf blower, a 54 inch "Mighty Vac" commercial walk behind. A 24" Snapper lawn mower with a bagger, and a utility cart pulled behind the garden tractor (Bolens HT)

What I do.... (I'm gonna pay for revealing;-)

Sometimes as often as three times a week, I either BLOW the leaves into a row at the edge of the lawn, and then run the big mower over the collection only to come back with a hand rake an pick the chopped leaves up into the yard cart to be hauled to a collection spot for composting. (That's the "I can't believe I'm doing this" process ;-)
Or
I just blow the leaves off the lawn and over the bank.

Or I blow the leaves into a central pile and use the rake to load them into the cart and THEN dump them over the bank. (every 5 or six years, I pull the rotted leaves off the bank and use them for compost in the gardens.
OR
In the front yard, I just use the mulching blade fitted, bagging lawn mower. Placing the mulched leaves into the yard cart and dumping them at the compost pile.

Like you, I want one of those tag behind lawn vacs, but I just can't bear to add such a bulky implement to my collection.

Oh Well, I've butted my head against leaves for over thirty years. The grass grows green each summer, and I don't need a membership to the gym. All is good. ;-)

Just reading this has made my back ache.

Steve

 

[rossn]

Ahaha... that does sound painful, CalG! My biggest issue is that I need quick, and ideally not a ton of storage. Getting the leaves mulched to some degree for the garden or composting is important, too.

Part of my issue is that the actual grass area on the half of my property where the trees are doesn't have a ton of grass... there is a mixture of rock and grassy areas (and some just dirt, due to the chickens).

smstonypoint - My lawn is pretty crap shape, too thought I don't want to entirely block the light. I was actually thinking about just blowing the leaves to the grass, then running them over with the mower a number of times, then using a smaller sweeper... I don't know how well that would work. I had thought about mulching blades or a chute blocker, but hadn't checked into it much because I knew I would need more than just the mulching. That said, I posted up over in the Massey forum to see if anyone has located any blades or a chute blocker that fits the Massey 2325 MMM.

 

[2458n]

One of the little tow behind trailer vacs work well for me running mulching blades. Sweepers fill up to quickly

 

[rossn]

Thanks. One other thing I should mention is that I generally have a lot of tight spaces to fit. Very few places where I'd mow consecutive rows. That doesn't do well with a) the large deck or b) trailers such as the vacs or sweepers because I often have to back up. Unfortunate, but the reality of it.

 

[leonz]

The cyclone rakes engine frame and bagger bolt right to the rear of the tractor and the cyclone rake when operating is just an extension of the tractor and the bagger stays directly behind the tractor as it cannot swing. The caster wheels let it swing easily behind the tractor.

You can back up without jack knifing the bagger as it stays in a direct line as its bolted to the tractor and you can use the vacuumm tubing to suck the leaves and clippings out of the bagger and discharge them a long way away with more tubing.

The cyclone rake baggers fold up and you can hang them on a wall and the engine and blower frame is simply wheeled away to a storage place out of the way.


I would call them and ask for an information package and the CD and then make a decision.

 

[CalG]

"The cyclone rake baggers fold up and you can hang them on a wall and the engine and blower frame is simply wheeled away to a storage place out of the way."

I love this line... No room in the work shop was used to achieve these goals....

(sic No animals were used......)

 

[fishheadbob]

Lots of leaves here. Mulching hard often handles them. Sometimes the prevailing winds and a leaf blower encourage them to migrate to the 200 acre forest across the street, and sometimes I'll drag out the leaf sweeper and pick up the finely chopped stuff and use it in the compost pile. The leaf sweeper is the most labor intensive, but sometimes is the only recourse.