Comments on: Turn Your Lawn Mower Into A Leaf Vacuum and Shredder http://www.homeimprovementsdepot.com/turn-your-lawn-mower-into-a-leaf-vacuum-and-shredder/ Home Improvement Tips and Tricks for the Average Homeowner! Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:22:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Greg http://www.homeimprovementsdepot.com/turn-your-lawn-mower-into-a-leaf-vacuum-and-shredder/comment-page-1/#comment-130990 Greg Mon, 28 Nov 2011 01:44:14 +0000 http://www.homeimprovementsdepot.com/turn-your-lawn-mower-into-a-leaf-vacuum-and-shredder/#comment-130990 A lot of folks like to use a good old lawn mover to clean their yards. I guess this okay, but I think it takes more effort and is messier that a leave shredder. You can buy a compact model for under $130 which is ideal for those of us who live in the burbs. Leaf shredders are actually year round and not just in the Fall. In the winter its good for cleaning up fallen branches after a storm and in the late spring and summer they're great for shredding dead plants like old corn husks and rotting tomato plants. Cheers! A lot of folks like to use a good old lawn mover to clean their yards. I guess this okay, but I think it takes more effort and is messier that a leave shredder. You can buy a compact model for under $130 which is ideal for those of us who live in the burbs. Leaf shredders are actually year round and not just in the Fall. In the winter its good for cleaning up fallen branches after a storm and in the late spring and summer they’re great for shredding dead plants like old corn husks and rotting tomato plants. Cheers!

]]> By: Tom http://www.homeimprovementsdepot.com/turn-your-lawn-mower-into-a-leaf-vacuum-and-shredder/comment-page-1/#comment-52756 Tom Sat, 12 Sep 2009 17:15:15 +0000 http://www.homeimprovementsdepot.com/turn-your-lawn-mower-into-a-leaf-vacuum-and-shredder/#comment-52756 Bob, I totally agree with you that ideally mulching your leaves and using them to add nutrients to your lawn is a good idea. However, there are some limits to how many leaves you can mulch before you just have too much. About a year ago I actually ran a little experiment in part of my side yard (which is mostly out of view). I split my side yard in "two" with an imaginary line. On one half I purposely didn't rake or pick up any leaves from that part of the yard, I only ran them over with a mower and mulched the leaves that fell. The problem I saw was that there were A LOT of leaves. I probably had 2 to 3 solid inches of crushed/mulched leaves in some parts of my side yard. On the other half I did rake the leaves away and did use a mower with a bag to remove most of the leaves. Winter came, we had a few snow storms. Spring came and... the side of the yard with <em>no leaves</em> ended up faring much better. I simply had too many leaves in my yard to just mulch and leave them down. The side that had the 3 inches of crushed leaves just never really came back. I essentially ended up killing most of the grass in that area and by late spring I had to use my <a href="http://www.homeimprovementsdepot.com/how-to-plant-grass-quickly-and-easily/" rel="nofollow">method for planting grass seed</A> to reseed that part of the yard. So maybe a compromise would be to rake and bag the leaves, or use a mower or even a chipper vac to remove most of the leaves in the early part of the autumn and then around late November or December just run your mower over the lawn once to grind up and mulch any remaining fallen leaves. Thanks for the great detail on how to mulch leaves! Bob, I totally agree with you that ideally mulching your leaves and using them to add nutrients to your lawn is a good idea. However, there are some limits to how many leaves you can mulch before you just have too much.

About a year ago I actually ran a little experiment in part of my side yard (which is mostly out of view). I split my side yard in “two” with an imaginary line. On one half I purposely didn’t rake or pick up any leaves from that part of the yard, I only ran them over with a mower and mulched the leaves that fell. The problem I saw was that there were A LOT of leaves. I probably had 2 to 3 solid inches of crushed/mulched leaves in some parts of my side yard. On the other half I did rake the leaves away and did use a mower with a bag to remove most of the leaves.

Winter came, we had a few snow storms. Spring came and… the side of the yard with no leaves ended up faring much better. I simply had too many leaves in my yard to just mulch and leave them down. The side that had the 3 inches of crushed leaves just never really came back. I essentially ended up killing most of the grass in that area and by late spring I had to use my method for planting grass seed to reseed that part of the yard.

So maybe a compromise would be to rake and bag the leaves, or use a mower or even a chipper vac to remove most of the leaves in the early part of the autumn and then around late November or December just run your mower over the lawn once to grind up and mulch any remaining fallen leaves.

Thanks for the great detail on how to mulch leaves!

]]> By: Bob http://www.homeimprovementsdepot.com/turn-your-lawn-mower-into-a-leaf-vacuum-and-shredder/comment-page-1/#comment-52690 Bob Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:35:05 +0000 http://www.homeimprovementsdepot.com/turn-your-lawn-mower-into-a-leaf-vacuum-and-shredder/#comment-52690 The latest thinking is to use your grass mulching capabilities and run right over the leaves without bagging. The leaves decompose, adds nutrients and becomes soil in the long run. Contact your local agricultural extension service or any college/university turf program on line if you need to validate this info. Start with a newly sharpened blade, clean under carriage and clean air filter. The blade will be cutting more matter than usual, removing caked grass underneath gives max mulching and dry leaves may make it a little dusty. Consider different scenarios for the following subjective conditions while cutting the grass at the same time: 1.Dry/Damp Conditons and Crispy (e.g. oak)to Leathery (e.g. Norway maple) Leaves (light) A. Keep mower at one level below summer setting B. Walk/travel a little slower than usual to allow max mulching. 2. Dry Conditons and Crispy (e.g. oak) to Leathery (Norway maple) Leaves (medium to heavy) A. Keep mower at summer setting or one above B. Walk/travel slow to allow max mulching. C. Go over again to mulch down or C. If you have 3 way mower, consider open side flap half way with stick and keep shute in the same direction "pushing leaves to lawn edge or make a pile 3. Wet Conditons - only Leaves (light). - Do not cut grass. - Do not use on any slopes. Wait for dryer conditions. A. Keep mower at one setting above summer setting B. Walk/travel slow to allow max mulching. C. Go over again to mulch down or C. If you have 3 way mower, consider open side flap half way with stick and keep shute in the same direction "pushing" leaves to lawn edge or make a pile D. Hose off undercarriage after cutting 4. Wet Conditons - only Leaves (medium to heavy). - Use only if you have a 3 way mower - Do not cut grass. - Do not use on any slopes. Wait for dryer conditions. A. Keep mower at highest setting B. Open side flap half-way with stick and keep shute in the same direction "pushing leaves to lawn edge or make a pile C. Walk/travel slow to allow max pushing/blowing. D. Hose off undercarriage after cutting The latest thinking is to use your grass mulching capabilities and run right over the leaves without bagging. The leaves decompose, adds nutrients and becomes soil in the long run. Contact your local agricultural extension service or any college/university turf program on line if you need to validate this info.
Start with a newly sharpened blade, clean under carriage and clean air filter. The blade will be cutting more matter than usual, removing caked grass underneath gives max mulching and dry leaves may make it a little dusty.
Consider different scenarios for the following subjective conditions while cutting the grass at the same time:
1.Dry/Damp Conditons and Crispy (e.g. oak)to Leathery (e.g. Norway maple) Leaves (light)
A. Keep mower at one level below summer setting
B. Walk/travel a little slower than usual to allow max mulching.

2. Dry Conditons and Crispy (e.g. oak) to Leathery (Norway maple) Leaves (medium to heavy)
A. Keep mower at summer setting or one above
B. Walk/travel slow to allow max mulching.
C. Go over again to mulch down
or
C. If you have 3 way mower, consider open side flap half way with stick and keep shute in the same direction “pushing leaves to lawn edge or make a pile

3. Wet Conditons – only Leaves (light).
– Do not cut grass.
– Do not use on any slopes. Wait for dryer conditions.
A. Keep mower at one setting above summer setting
B. Walk/travel slow to allow max mulching.
C. Go over again to mulch down
or
C. If you have 3 way mower, consider open side flap half way with stick and keep shute in the same direction “pushing” leaves to lawn edge or make a pile
D. Hose off undercarriage after cutting

4. Wet Conditons – only Leaves (medium to heavy).
– Use only if you have a 3 way mower
– Do not cut grass.
– Do not use on any slopes. Wait for dryer conditions.
A. Keep mower at highest setting
B. Open side flap half-way with stick and keep shute in the same direction “pushing leaves to lawn edge or make a pile
C. Walk/travel slow to allow max pushing/blowing.
D. Hose off undercarriage after cutting

]]> By: Richard Lim http://www.homeimprovementsdepot.com/turn-your-lawn-mower-into-a-leaf-vacuum-and-shredder/comment-page-1/#comment-685 Richard Lim Tue, 13 Nov 2007 05:45:41 +0000 http://www.homeimprovementsdepot.com/turn-your-lawn-mower-into-a-leaf-vacuum-and-shredder/#comment-685 Thanks for sharing the tips of your article "Turn Your Lawn Mower Into A Leaf Vacuum and Shredder." It saves me money and time without buying another expensive leaf vacuum machine this fall. Good job. Thanks for sharing the tips of your article “Turn Your Lawn Mower Into A Leaf Vacuum and Shredder.” It saves me money and time without buying another expensive leaf vacuum machine this fall.
Good job.

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