Leaf blower

welshmoneylover

Does anyone have a leaf blower?
am thinking of buying one to pick up the leaves that blow in and land on the patio.

i am looking for any hints as to what to look for whether corded or cordless etc.
garden is quite large about 150 sq mt 

TELLIT01

If you want it to pick up rather than just blow leaves into a pile for you to pick up, ensure the one you buy shreds as it collects.  I, wrongly, thought they all did that - they don't.  Mine picks up leaves and the fruit off a crab apple tree very well, but the fruit just gets crushed and then drops back out of the nozzle when it's switched off. 

chrisw

I've got a Black & Decker leaf vacuum and it does what it's supposed to do.

However, once the bag's about half full, it's quite heavy and it makes my back and shoulders ache. I've not used it for a couple of years as I've found it easier to knock or brush all the leaves onto the grass and run the mower over it on a very high setting and with the grass box attached to hoover the leaves up.

Swasterix

welshmoneylover said:

Does anyone have a leaf blower?
am thinking of buying one to pick up the leaves that blow in and land on the patio.

i am looking for any hints as to what to look for whether corded or cordless etc.
garden is quite large about 150 sq mt 

I have a rather large sycamore and horse chestnut tree in my garden. I just go over the leaves with a lawn mower. Garden is around 200ft long and takes me an hour or two. 

cymruchris

I've got a cheap unbranded one that's corded - probably a similar size garden - can blow or vacuum - I don't use it on blow - only on vacuum. I usually rake up the garden leaves into piles - then use it to suck them up chopping them into tiny pieces - and then go around the borders with it. I don't aim to pick up every leaf - just enough to stop them all mulching up and getting messy. The chopped up leaves then go into the garden recycling bags. Make sure it's one that chops the leaves up as it vacuums. 

neilmcl

I've been looking to get one for years as I have a large flowering cherry as well as 8 foot hedges on all sides. I was looking at getting a second-hand Stihl petrol blower and then an electric cordless but in the end I've just got on with clearing up the leaves manually. It's only once a year.

ChasingtheWelshdream

Funnily enough, I am collecting one from Screwfix shortly.

 I’ve ordered their cheapest corded model as our garden is small (small but full of leaves). £35 and it should blow, vacuum and mulch.  I’ll Report back

Apodemus

I seem to remember a number of threads on this on the "Greenfingered" part of the MSE site, where the consensus has been that leaf blowers are fantastic...useful for all manner of things except leaf blowing!

EssexExile

I have a cheap unbranded corded blower/vac from B&Q. I've had it a few years and it works fine. It shreds too.

ChasingtheWelshdream

I promised I’d report back.

I bought the cheapest, corded blower/vac (Mac) from Screwfix and have just tried it out. 

It’s very loud but vacumns/shreds fine. I’ve got a lot of leaves over the flower beds and hoped to go over these, but it’s going to be too heavy to lift up for long. It has wheels so is easier on the lawn.

Unfortunately it appears to have stopped blowing, so I need to find out why. I’m hoping it’s user error as I’ve only used it for 20 mins. It doesn’t appear to be blocked as the suction still works.

twopenny

They're great for blowing dust off driveways in the summer too.