Leaf Blower/Vacs

QTPie

What are people's experience of these? Recommendations? Things to avoid?

Have just moved to a large garden with lots of trees that shed leaves and I want to tidy it with minimum effort and time. I am a 5'3" woman - so don't want something too heavy - and am not keen on petrol powered machinery.

Thanks.

Unclefoobar

I've just returned mine after five days, bosch als25 I think it was.

Personally I found it too much effort and not enough gain. Kept blocking up, so had take off the shoulder strap and clear suction tube. Quite heavy especially as the bag starts to fill (not that I got it anywhere full). Also found myself stooping over which I think in time would have given me a bad back but I am 6' 2".

I tried using the blower but I just found that blasted the leaves up in the air.

Might be ok for a small amount of leaves when they're dry but i tend to get a lot of leaves when its wet:D

I'll stick to my plastic leaf rake.

tanith

I had one but I recently got rid of it , I am only 5'3" and also found it was just too awkward to handle and worse as it got heavier... I only have a fairly small garden so no that many leaves and found its just quicker to rake and sweep..

ChasingButterflies

Hi,

We have this one http://www.gardenlines.co.uk/leaf-blowers-and-vacs/petrol-blow-vacs/ryobi-rbv-26bv-petrol-leaf-blower-vacuum didn't buy it from this place but it looks very similar... I would avoid it at all costs... Purchased last year, within 2 weeks of autumn part of a leaf wound itself around an internal working part... found someone who could fix it so DH tried to use it this year... I managed to fill 2 1 tonne bags with leaves by the time he had finished faffing around with it :rotfl:

It is tricky with a large garden petrol tools are best however I think perhaps we need to find someone who has a backpack leaf blower and give that a try (seems to be what the landscapers use)

Tools of choice are harris leaf rake from Tesco normally around £3.50 (the only sell at start of autumn) looks like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-34875-Extra-Large-Head-Plastic/dp/B0043MCI06/ref=sr_1_7?s=outdoors&ie=UTF8&qid=1386356959&sr=1-7

Leaf grabbers something like these http://www.tesco.com/direct/spear-jackson-plastic-leaf-collectors-pair/177-9681.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=177-9681

Reusable waste bags (I aquired some liverpool council ones) http://www.weirbags.co.uk/news/post/councils-charging-20-for-a-roll-of-bin-bags-for-garden-waste-we-have-the-solution/ <- these are the same.

Box of sweets - used to bribe the kids they get a sweet of choice every 20mins :rotfl:

It took 7 runs to the tip last weekend to get rid of the leaves (and I probably filled a skip prior to that!) but it is by far the most efficient way I have found so far... I did try using the ride on lawnmower to collect however the lawn was covered in shredded bits of leaf

Watching the thread with interest, to see if anyone has any clever gadgets that actually work!

QTPie

Thanks everyone: sort of "not what I wanted to hear, but glad to hear it now and not work it out after I buy one..." If that makes sense.

Thank you ChadingButterflies for the links - they will be my fall back

Anyone else with any clever gadgets etc to make my life either (DH not a garden person and DS a contrary "almost 4 year old...)

ChasingButterflies

I have been having a think... my neighbour clears his leaves every day (literally!) Now I thought he had a leaf blower but I caught sight of him clearing leaves for the elderly couple across from us and he used a machine which after googling is like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IBEA-5-5HP-Leaf-vacuum-collector-/321264703080?pt=UK_Home_Garden_GardenPowerTools_CA&hash=item4accde5668

If you have a ride on mower (or are thinking of getting one) you can get attachments to go on the back (or front) of them too...

What are you planning to do with the leaves once collected? we have yet to build compost/leaf mould bins but tbh I think we have too many leaves for that to actually work. Burning takes too long and out 2 brown bins are only emptied once a month...

You could leave open the yell page with local garden maintinence firms for your OH to see last quote I had was a bit :eek: He might start to take an interest in the garden then... and yes my youngest who is 4 spent all of Saturday throwing leaves up in the air... she had a great time though

cheerfulcat

QTPie wrote: »

Anyone else with any clever gadgets etc to make my life either (DH not a garden person and DS a contrary "almost 4 year old...)

These leaf grabbers with handles are great - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yeoman-Handled-Angled-Garden-Grabbe/dp/B003PJ6SP4/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt

Ash_McCloud

marlot

If you do go for a leaf blower, its much better as a backpack - it is surprisingly easy to use. A handheld one always hurt my back.

The one I have is made by ryobi. Its petrol, but has an electric start so nice and easy.

lucywillow

I bought a garden broom in Aldi this week that has a curved head like a rake. It's really easy & lightweight to use.I also have a large garden but this makes the job almost enjoyable!!
It also has the advantage of not pulling at the lawn too much like a rake can. Also if you've moved to a new area it might be worth checking your local council's arrangements for collecting garden waste. I'm in London & we have a collection every week for up to 6 bags (which they supply free of charge).

cyclonebri1

Well, I've never had 1 in my life but recently as per the trend in modern gardens, we installed several areas of slate chippings.

You simply can't rake leaves off those areas.

I ended up with 2 of them, 1 unexpectedly won off ebay, perfect nick and collected locally for a £5 :money::money:

But had bought a new 1 very similar for £35 a few days earlier, so now had 2 both electric and to be honest not really heavy at all.

I was going to resell 1 but after using them both, I won't, I don't think either are going to last too long.

I'd say on grass or a hard drive they aren't worth bothering with.
On fine gravel they are a liability and apart from spraying projectiles the gravel damages the leaf cutters.

In my case the slate chippings we had were supposed to be 40 mm, now 1 batch was and the blower coped well with these. It lifted a few but by cutting the power every few seconds, they fell back out of the pick up.
The last ton we had was a poorer quality and seemed to have a lot of 20mm stuff mixed in. These again got jammed in or chopped by the cutters and the motor does smell like it likes that.

I nice gale like we had last week is my best friend, every leaf gone from our garden now:D:D:D