Do they make a leave munching machine? on the Peoria.com Forums - Page 2

I have a 5hp chipper/shredder that I use for branches. I bought it used at a garage sale. It needed a little work, which hubs fixed and now it works like a charm. ITs a little hard to start but it works great. I've used it for leaves, but really I prefer the lawn mower.

I live on a wooded lot and over the years, using trial and error, and I have figured out the best way to process leaves is to use the lawn mower. No raking. If I use the chipper shredder, I still have to rake the leaves and either move the chipper around or the move the leaves around.

With the lawn mower, in mulching mode, I can mulch the leaves in place (no raking). AFter I made a first pass over the lawn with mower in mulch position, I then put the bag on and make a second pass with the bag. By doing this, I am using the power of the mower to move the shredded leaves to where I want to put them. Its still a bit tedious, but the trick is to mulch the leaves first with no bag. If you just put the bag on without a mulching pass, the bag fills up quickly with unshredded leaves. Mulching them first significantly reduces the volume and minimizes the amount of times that you have to empty the bag.

I have a Toro recycling mulching mower.

I've seen a machine that shreds the leaves into smaller bits so you can use it as mulch.

It doesn't vacuum up the leaves, you still need to rake and feed the leaves into the device

This one is more expensive that others I've seen from time to time

http://bit.ly/1azmLV

I LOVE that movie....! but yes...gross scene!

Didn't I quote that scene the other day? "Is that your friend in the wood chipper?"

yes...i was going to suggest to somebody they watch it!!

I was wanting one of those mulching machines, too. GF had one and sold it right off. She said it was worthless...that it was better to empty and re-empty the lawnmower bag a few times and run over the leaves with the mower....did a better job.

I was also given a leaf vacuum that sucks up leaves, muclches them. It sucked....I mean in a bad way. Takes too long to suck up the leaves, like forEVER. But it did a good job at mulching. I never use it.

Also I was reminded leaf mulch blows away off flower bed and won't stay put like pine/bark mulch.

I mulch all of my flower beds with shredded leaves, once shredded the leaves do not blow away. From a distance you can not tell the difference in appearance between shredded leaves and shredded bark.

The leaves do decompose adding organic matter to the soil. So just about the time the leaves fall next year, the flower beds need a fresh topping of shredded leaves. Its perfect timing, really.

I have a mower with all sorts of attachments. I usually wait until most of the leaves are down, then I put it in mulching mode first and grind up all the leaves real small. Then I put the bagger on there and vacuum it all up.

The remaining leaves, I just put it in mulch mode and grind it up so it feeds the lawn over the winter.

Good grief JnJ! I thought you were talking about your boss mulching your leave at work!! It's LEAF, ya dork!