TBN Poll - Best Leave Removal Method

[s1120]

<font color=red> use my 448 case with hydo vaccumn</font color=red>

Me too. Those Hydrovacs work real well. I love it.

 

[rockyridgefarm]

oops - I have 28 <font color=red>thousand</font color=red> trees.... more or less.

I never get rid of all the leaves...

 

[Mosey]

I've tried a few methods:

Hand raking them into my 6'x10' tilt bed trailer to move them. This works the best for moving them longer distances, like a couple hundred yards to dump them in the woods. Also good for Boomer seat time!

Hand raking them onto a large tarp and then dragging them to the garden and dumping them. This works good for moving them shorter distances.

This year I tried something new, a 42" lawn sweeper. I use my Craftsman lawn tractor to pull it. It works great, but fills up really fast, so I spend too much time travelling back and forth to the dump area. I can't pile them very high with it using the pull rope to dump them. I wanted to make a big pile for the kids to play in, so I started taking the bin off each time to dump the leaves on top. It's held on with a pin on each side and I discovered that it stays on even if the pins are left out, so I just leave them out now and that speeds up the process of taking it off, dumping it, then putting it back on.

My neighbor has one of those tow behind Mow-N-Vac type setups. It seems to work good, but creates a lot of dust. I'm surprised no one mentioned one if these on this thread. I would like to know more about the pros and cons of them.

The MC-519 collection system or something like it looks like a nice setup. I found a couple pictures on the web, but couldn't find any detail. Does it have it's own engine? Is it a tow behind trailer or 3pt attachment? I would like to know more about the pros and cons of them.

I would also appreciate some more info on the Hydrovac a couple people mentioned.

I tried burning one year and that takes too much time, plus the smolder and create a lot of smoke. I worry about the smoke bothering the neighbors.

 

[DocHeb]

Any of the groundskeepers from golf courses care to comment? The golf courses near me use 3pt hitch blowers, but I don't know what they do with them once they've blown them to the sides.

I would really like to get comments about any flail mower/collector bin combinations, such as the <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.mathewscompany.com/turf/genie.htm>Lawn Genie</A> from Mathews Corp. This unit is advertised as being able to shred and pick up 1" branches.

 

[TedLynn]

The MC-519 is designed to use on JD's 300 and 400 series. On the 400's with link arms, the arms are removed for mounting it. It's a somewhat rigid mount and the two wheels on the cart pivot 360 degrees. Once you are used to it you can install or remove it in a couple of minutes. The blower works off a replacement pulley that goes on the outer blade of the deck. It does a real good job. Will handle damp leaves, but not wet grass. Does not do good in pine needles. Holds a fair amount and dumps easily. Ted

 

[Woody1]

why do you all want to remove this FREE food?! Mulch them in and give your yarden some food for winter/spring!

 

[mrcaptainbob]

I've been doing that for many years. The last few years, however, saw a need for a 'garden' plot. Since the 'soil' here is suitable for statuary and kiln use/w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif, I'm now dedicating the grass clippings and leaf pickups to the garden. The next spring will show a marked improivement in that soil condition. But, I do agree with the mulching of the leaves and grass clippings back to the lawn.

 

[MossRoad]

There are so many leaves that even if you mulch them, they will suffocate the grass.

 

[chim]

Local Man Uses Wrong Method

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.thewgalchannel.com/news/1787092/detail.html>http://www.thewgalchannel.com/news/1787092/detail.html</A>

 

[TerryinMD]

We use two methods.... our $13k leaf blower and a 42" lawn sweeper.

The $13k leaf blower is my JD4100/MMM. It can blow a lot of leaves quickly. The 42" lawn sweeper is effective. The problem is that it fills up quickly which causes many trips to dump the leaves in our large garden.

I have blown and sweep leaves twice this season and will be doing more in the near future. The leaf mold is great stuff for the garden and is cheap fertilizer and compost. Now... if the weather would only cooperate... complain when we don't get rain... complain when we do.... /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

Terry

 

[beenthere]

Ted
That is what I use too. I have a hydraulic ram (seems local to the area through my dealer) that operates from the tractor, so dumping is quick and easy out of the 519 cart. I wouldn't trade this setup (stores easily compared to some of the bigger vac systems) for the rake and bedsheets, or hand-held blowers that I used to use. Sometimes the wind will help me out, but it isn't reliable so now use the MC519 cart.

 

[JackIL]

I just upgraded my vacuum system to a 2700 cubic foot per minute Trac Vac turbine powered by a 13 hp Vanguard engine. The turbine and housing and 8 inch hoses are standard Trac-Vac components used on their truck loader and another system for Dixie Chopper style mowers with 72 inch decks. They send them out the door with 11 hp engines, but I decided to upgrade to 13 since the external dimensions were the same and the cost was only $50 more.

This system is an excellent match for the 31 hp Ventrac 4200 and 72 inch deck. Previously I had an 8 hp unit with 7 inch hoses and the vacuum capacity often limited my travel speed. Now I can operate at significantly faster ground speeds. I works great.

The hydraulic dump trailer holds 42 bushels. I dump into a large compost pile on my property.

Jack

 

[TimSullivan]

I have five foot racks on a 6 X 10 trailer. Then I throw a tarp in the trailer and that keeps the leafs from falling between the slats. Load it up and once at the compost area just pull the tarp out of the trialer with the tractor and dump the leaves. Pile them with the FEL and on to the next load.

 

[mrcaptainbob]

Hmm.....sounds like what the neighbor did last spring.....trying to toast fresh cut grass!!!!!!! Used about two gallons of gas/oil mix.....There was a VERY loud explosion!

 

[pennwalk]

At the farm we use a JD 525 front mower with the powerflow vacume that goes to a Jrco dump cart(pretty much the same as the MC 519). The system works pretty well but the cart swings wide so I keep bumping stuff. I wish the blower chiped the leaves up so I wouldn't have to take as many trips to the compost heap. At the house I use a Troybuilt chipper vac. It has a snout that you rake the leaves into. It will reduce a good sized pile to a bag I can lug to the compost pile. It's suposed to reduce leaves 10 to 1 but I have my doubts. Much easier to move and they take up much less space and rot down much faster.The Troybuilt doesn't like really wet leaves but I got the job done after cleaning mud out of the fan housing 3 times.Good thing I got it done cause it's raining again and they are calling for wet snow. One year I didn't get them up and it killed the grass in a couple of places. I have a buddy who rakes them into a pile and loads them into a refrigerator box and hauls the box up to the street. The town vacumes them up and takes them to a multi-million dollar composting site paid for by a government grant (thank you all very much).

Chris

 

[Rockyroad]

Interesting question that I have been pondering. I am getting ready to build a light-weight replacement bucket for my JD750. The Kelley bucket comes off the front with 3 pins, so I am building a light-weight leaf budket 5x4x4, with the sides sloped down from 4' at the rear to nothing at the front edge. The frame is steel tubing, with heavy angle iron along the bottom rails. The rest is expanded. By my calculations, I should be able to get 40 cu. ft. of leaves in the thing. Then I will just dump them in my garden and till them in with my rear end Kuhn tiller. Supposed to be real good for the soil. I am just starting work on my contraption, so it probably won't be ready until Spring.

 

[TedLynn]

Very nice setup. I have never seen the hyd dump. I can reach the dump handle from the seat with a good stretch. I'm sure there are better systems out there, but in my 63 years I've not found it yet. I'm past the stage of dragging them off in bed sheets also.

For Woody1, when you are knee deep in Maple leaves there's just too much mulch. Our problem is getting them removed before they're weathered into the grass, rather than feeding the grass. Ted

 

[bubenberg]

Mr. Moss Road has definitely a good idea, we went in another direction and are quite successful too.
we are knocking off the socks of our competition this year with this combination: a power trac 425, for more information see:
http://www.power-trac.com

and an old, slightly reinforced leaf plow from jerco:
http://www.jrcoinc.com/images/pdfs/480leafblade.pdf

you neither need a pt nor a jerco plow, but nice to have. just build yourself the plow and go to town with any of your small tractors. one recommendation i would make is: 4x4 traction is better otherwise with heavy loads you start to tear up the lawns.

Happy Leafing & Many More

hrl

 

[Solo]

The wind.
Solo

 

[theboman]

A chainsaw works wonders.

I mow and mow and mow and them mow some more until they disappear and/or hit the creek bank. Some do make it around the old garden area that is now purty and green!

If you have a hole or anyplace to pile them up over the next few months you'll have some nice mulch as mentioned and if you fish you'll have lots of earthworns too!