 shdesignsPowered By Infinite Improbabilty DrivePremium
join:2000-12-01
Stone Mountain, GA | reply to ke4pym
Re: Why don't people pick up dead leaves with lawn mowers? said by ke4pym:What I can't understand is why people are giving up the free fertilizer by bagging and then sending that stuff to a landfill where the bag may decompose in about 200 billion years.
Here, I get near 6" of leaves (100+ foot oak, hickory trees.) Will kill lawn if you don't remove at least half of the leaves. The fescue does not like the PH of the red oak leaves.
The county will not accept leaves in plastic bags. must be paper. Most other areas are that way.
I put mine in the back yard and compost them. Then, usually add a bit of lime and broadcast the compost over the lawn.
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 DKSDamn Kidney StonesPremium,ExMod 2002
join:2001-03-22
Owen Sound, ON
kudos:2
 ·Bell Sympatico
| reply to urbanriot
said by urbanriot:said by alkizmo:Why don't people pick up dead leaves with lawn mowers? Pick up? I don't even rake them! We have a blanketing layer of leaves on our lawn and as soon as we get a dry autumn day, we mow over the lawn and then mow over it again and there's just little bits of confetti leaves all over the lawn that will either blow away or shrivel up in a week or so. Every pass we make they get smaller and smaller until we wonder why people actually rake leaves. We have a plush green lawn too, so our method works just fine. Edit: Oh, good, someone else does what I do LOL: said by DKS:I run the mower over them and leave them. Makes great mulch.
Canadians are practical... 
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 tschmidtPremium,MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
kudos:8
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| reply to ke4pym
said by ke4pym:What I can't understand is why people are giving up the free fertilizer by bagging and then sending that stuff to a landfill where the bag may decompose in about 200 billion years.
Agree - we try to compost as much as we can, both food and yard waste. Here in Southern NH about the only thing we grow is rocks. The last glacier pretty much stripped off all the top soil.
We have the advantage of living in the woods so we have plenty of space and there is no grass police in our town.
/Tom |
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ke4pymPremium
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC Reviews:
 ·VOIPo
 ·Verizon Broadban..
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| reply to shdesigns
said by shdesigns:said by ke4pym:What I can't understand is why people are giving up the free fertilizer by bagging and then sending that stuff to a landfill where the bag may decompose in about 200 billion years.
Here, I get near 6" of leaves (100+ foot oak, hickory trees.) Will kill lawn if you don't remove at least half of the leaves. The fescue does not like the PH of the red oak leaves. The county will not accept leaves in plastic bags. must be paper. Most other areas are that way. I put mine in the back yard and compost them. Then, usually add a bit of lime and broadcast the compost over the lawn. They put them in plastic bags here. And while you're removing the leaves from the yard, you're still keeping them and reusing them later. Which is great! Not the same as dumping them in the landfill. |
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 UHFAll static, all day, ForeverPremium,MVM
join:2002-05-24
·Callcentric
 ·DIRECTV
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| reply to ke4pym
said by ke4pym:What I can't understand is why people are giving up the free fertilizer by bagging and then sending that stuff to a landfill where the bag may decompose in about 200 billion years.
My dogs get lost in the leaves they pile up so high, and if they don't get picked up they smother the grass and kill it. Mine get hauled to the city compost facility, where they turn it into beautiful compost that I can have for free whenever I need it. So it's not like they're being landfilled. I don't know of anywhere that allows lawn material into the landfill. |
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 AMDUSERPremium
join:2003-05-28
Earth
kudos:1 | reply to DKS
So do I... except that I make sure to lower the front wheels- you can barely even tell that there were leaves.. the mower I use has the mulching option on it. |
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 SlyPremium
join:2004-02-20
Chuckey, TN
kudos:1
·Callcentric
| reply to alkizmo
The only time I use the leaf catcher on my mower is when I want to move some of the leaves from one part of the yard that has too many, to another part of the yard that has too few.
I mow in the leaves. Free compost and the earthworms aid in aeration. Lawn looks great in the spring. |
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garys_2kPremium
join:2004-05-07
Farmington, MI Reviews:
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| reply to alkizmo
I clear the leaves with a blower when they're so thick that the contributions of my two poop-making machines (lab-mix rescues) can't be found. I really don't want to run over all their good work with the mower, and my feet, so blowing the leaves off allows me to find and properly dispose of them.
That, plus some times the leaves are more than a foot thick in some areas, so trying to mulch those would still leave a few inches of lawn smothering bits on top of the grass.
But those times I can feel confident I've found most of the poop and the leaves aren't too deep I'll run the mulching mower over them. It is nice to get the free lawn food into the yard. |
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robbinPremium,MVM
join:2000-09-21
Leander, TX
kudos:1 | reply to ke4pym
said by ke4pym:What I can't understand is why people are giving up the free fertilizer by bagging and then sending that stuff to a landfill where the bag may decompose in about 200 billion years.
Sounds like backward thinking on the part of the waste collection people. Around here, yard waste is taken to a composting site and composted with city sludge.
DilloDirt
Regarding using the mower, I find it too slow. I have a really good blower and just blow into big piles and bag them. |
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 JonPremium
join:2001-01-20
Lisle, IL | reply to ke4pym
said by ke4pym:What I can't understand is why people are giving up the free fertilizer by bagging and then sending that stuff to a landfill where the bag may decompose in about 200 billion years.
Or it goes to a recycling center where it's composted, bagged and sold back to them by home depot. |
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 DavidNow accepting new patientsPremium,VIP
join:2002-05-30
Granite City, IL
kudos:78 | reply to alkizmo
I mulch mine... I used to blow them up to a point but found over the years that the lawnmower can mulch them. So I just mulch them now. |
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 whizkid3Premium,MVM
join:2002-02-21
Queens, NY
kudos:9 | reply to alkizmo
Really, I think the question is who doesn't?
I use my pushmower. It works really well, like a vacuum, sucking up & chopping up the leaves. |
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 PacratOld and CrankyPremium,MVM
join:2001-03-10
Cortland, OH | reply to alkizmo
I collect all my leaves (even the ones I have mulched) and have an area of about 10x40', where I can never get grass to grow, (between two fences) where I pile them and let them compost. I use my roto-tiller a couple of times a year to turn the pile and sometimes add a little quick-lime to hasten the composting, and counteract the acidic pin oak leaves which make up about 80% of the leaves around here.
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 IowaCowboyWant to go back to IowaPremium
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA
·Comcast
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| reply to alkizmo
Me and mom do the leaves in teamwork. I use a backpack blower to pile the leaves and she vacuums them up with an electric blower with a vacuum attachment. The reason mom does the dirty part is I have horrible allergies year round that show their true colors in the spring and fall and sometimes Allegra is not enough (which I have been taking every day since 2006.
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 tobyTroy Mcclure
join:2001-11-13
Seattle, WA | reply to alkizmo
I just mow my grass, the leaves mulch, leaves the goodness in the ground. If you keep picking them up, the nutrients will be removed from that area. |
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 hitachi369Embrace Your RightsPremium
join:2001-10-03
Grand Rapids, MI
kudos:4
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| reply to alkizmo
I use the walk behind and the bag to get my leaves up. There would be far to many to just leave there and the oak leaves are too acidic from what I hear to mulch and leave on the ground.
Raked my front yard which should be the last time this year, and the back yard, 2.5 truck loads of my full size truck of mulched leaves to the leaf dept. The city doesn't pick up the leaves 
I want to get a sucker like Coma  for next year. I don't know if it will be more efficient however. Coma how did it work for you? Maybe ill try and pick one up for cheap after the first snow fall >:(
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 Coma Thanks StevePremium
join:2001-12-30
NirvanaLand | said by hitachi369:I want to get a sucker like Coma for next year. I don't know if it will be more efficient however. Coma how did it work for you? Maybe ill try and pick one up for cheap after the first snow fall >:(
My partner picked up a used one for $350 last week and we have not put through it's paces yet, but the preliminary thought is that the leaves need to be blown into a pile then vaccum mulched. The external hose is a bonus for around plants and shrubbery.
Next week when this east coast storm passes, we'll give it a good test run.
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Tig
join:2006-06-29
Carrying Place, ON Reviews:
·voip.ms
·TekSavvy DSL
| reply to hitachi369
I like the truck full of leaves. Reminds me of when I used to haul leaves away for my dad. I used to park my open trailer and he would fill it. Then I'd drive down the country roads from his place, leaving a trail to my compost pile.  |
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 Cthen
join:2004-08-01
Detroit, MI | reply to alkizmo
They do it the hard way because commercials for products told them to. |
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scross
join:2002-09-13
Cordova, TN | reply to alkizmo
For those of you complaining about soil pH and acidity and such, lawn lime is cheap enough and goes a long way towards correcting this problem. Lime and gypsum (for clay soils) also make good soil conditioners. |
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