My dislike for Leaf Blowers ( and leaf blower owners!)

[Archie_tect]

A neighbour who lives behind 12 of our back gardens [he has a long driveway!] uses his leaf blower all the time, usually at 7:30 in the morning at weekends and often at 8 in the evenings mid week and at weekends, all through the autumn and winter.... He blows all the fallen leaves off the tarmac, then within minutes the wind blows them all back- he never collects any. We think he just likes the noise, so, no I have no time for them, or anyone who uses one, unless the leaves are immediately collected up.

 

[User16390]

When there are a lot of leaves, say in a park with a lot of shrub beds etc its easier to blow the leaves into piles and pick them up by hand with a couple of springtine rakes used as big hands or just use one of these:

Admittedly a bit beyond the average sized garden

 

[Heltor Chasca]

When there are a lot of leaves say in a park with lots of shrub beds etc its easier to blow the leaves into piles and pick them up by hand with a couple of springtine rakes as big hands or just use one of these:

Admittedly a bit beyond the average sized garden

View attachment 428541

WANT THAT TRACTOR! One property I do takes 8 weeks every year to clear the leaves. At least 4 hours a week. Now try that without a leaf blower and see if you’ll have any lawn or driveway left intact. Use a rake and you’ll be walking like Quasimodo in no time. It isn’t a good look

 

[Drago]

Isn't it an incredible conceit that in these environmentally conscious time people still expend energy and resources on leaf blowers? People prattle on about acientific consensus all all that, but in reality virtually no one behaves as if they really do believe in climate change. So, I wholeheartedly agree with the Ops sentiment, albeit for different reasons.

 

[User16390]

If you have an average sized garden and you are able bodied then you can probably get away with picking it up by hand. If its on the lawn set the rotary mower on high and hoover them up, but if you are a contractor with a large contract area and many sites to manage a leaf blower is essential.

Many local authorities are trying to address issues such as emissions and the ever increasing costs of fuel and the maintenance of highly expensive grounds maintenance equipment by reducing the amount of cuts per year and creating "wild life areas" where the grass is cut once a year. This is happening in parks and open spaces in Birmingham.

Small cheap leafblowers/suckers I find are worse than useless.

 

[screenman]

I have about 80 yards of 5 metre wide gravel drive I also have a blower which I would only use for a few minutes on a midweek day. I must admit I tend to use the jet washer to blast most of the leaves into a pile as I find it works better than the blower.

 

[Randomnerd]

Walling last autumn round some fancy new houses, plopped in among mature trees. The gardener came along, blew leaves into a pile, tidied everything up nicely. Maybe four hours and three fills of petrol. And the next day the wind blew, and it looked just like before. It’s another world.
Anyone up for a rake versus blower challenge? I reckon I could take you on with my spring tine jobbie. I’ll also knock down the worm casts, lift a bit of moss and thatch, level some gravel where your client’s Maserati drives in, and get enough of a sweat on to warrant the tea the housekeeper will bring out. And I’ll do it without that mind-altering noise.

 

[raleighnut]

Strangely yesterday the neighbour had her gardeners come round with the leafblower and blow all the leaves under my hedge again, after they'd gone I swept them all back onto the drive.

 

[accountantpete]

I COULD use a rake or brush on the car park driveway I maintain and I COULD start at the top and patiently work my way down to the bottom.

The problem is that I would then look round back to admire my handiwork only to find that the drive is covered in fresh leaf drop.

 

[perplexed]

When there are a lot of leaves, say in a park with a lot of shrub beds etc its easier to blow the leaves into piles and pick them up by hand with a couple of springtine rakes used as big hands or just use one of these:

Admittedly a bit beyond the average sized garden

View attachment 428541

I want one.

I'd play outside all day with it and you'd never get me in by yelling from the back door that my tea is ready...

 

[sheddy]

Removing leaves on paths prevents slips and falls, but it it really a problem leaving em on the lawn?
- leaves rot down (assisted by worms) and mulch grass.

 

[Archie_tect]

Removing leaves on paths prevents slips and falls, but it it really a problem leaving em on the lawn?
- leaves rot down (assisted by worms) and mulch grass.

I tried that and it kills the grass if you leave them under trees over winter... while the grass is growing I just mow them up as I go. The wind'll blow them around on hard surfaces well enough to not bother- it's a complete waste of time moving them around if people don't collect them!

Then I rake the leaves up all up once, in mid November, after the majority have already dropped [usually willow and silver birch are the last to drop] and put them in a compost bin or blitz them with the mower and spread the chopped up bits on soil to rot down.

 

[snorri]

Perhaps for people in a 2 bed semi in suburbia they are a touch OTT, but a God-send for us country folk!

Aye, we were never done of using the leaf blower back on the croft.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

I'm off to the auction next week, looking for a leaf blower. Does that make me a bad person?

Mind you, I went last month, looking for a leaf blower and came away with a bike.

 

[Dave 123]

Removing leaves on paths prevents slips and falls, but it it really a problem leaving em on the lawn?
- leaves rot down (assisted by worms) and mulch grass.

Try that tactic with a walnut tree...... your grass will disappear!