Leaf Shredding

I am aware that there are all sorts of (expensive and Dangerous) leaf shredders out there to buy. Do any of you use something as simple as a garbage can or large plastic container and a weed whacker to shred leaves.

I really don't want to spend $200.00+ for a leaf shredder that may suck in my arm. Could you use a weed whacker in a tin or plastic deep container to shred leaves?

I can get leaves and would love to use them for mulch.

se_eds,

I dump any bags of leaves I am given in the back yard and back over them with my riding mower a few times and then blow them into a windrow and rake........great for mulching leaves.

This message was edited Oct 30, 2007 6:34 PM

Wow, Indy - sounds great, and my DH likes any excuse to run the riding mower. There has to be a simpler ( Cheaper) way to grind them up.

Hubby puts them in a row and mows over them, always pointing the discharge back onto the pile. When they are reduced to small pieces, he uses a plastic snow shovel to put them into a black trash bag until we can use them.

I just put them in the compost whole---no shredding necessary!

It is true that no shredding is necessary, and many years we don't do it. But we do have a shredder, and when we do shred the leaves in the fall, the compost in the spring is glorious and uniform, whereas when we don't shred, there are usually big clumps of partially composted leaves in it. I'm sure there wouldn't be any clumps if we bothered to turn the piles, but we don't bother.

and if you end up with extra leaves (is this possible?), you can always stuff them in one of those huge leaf bags, throw some worms in with them, and some grass clippings. Seal the bag loosely, poke a few holes in the bottom and leave it in the garden until spring. I did this one year because I ran out of time - I was shocked to see all the work the worms had done over the winter. It made me realize how vital they are to the composting process. Beautiful worm castings!

WoW! Lots of good information here. Thanks so much.

Blower vacs don't cost that much and are safe. We pile up the leaves and vac them up, shredding them on their way into the bag.

That is a good way, too, unless you have large acorns or other nuts. They broke my blower vac. Our acorns this year are huge, at least 2x the normal size.

Oh, yeah, se_eds - we're just full of.... information!

Heh.

I use a Toro shredder/vacuum and I suck up lots of acorns from my neighbor's yard. It hasn't been a problem YET.

I fear lawnmowers and electric hedge trimmers, but not leaf vacs. I can't see how you could possibly hurt yourself with that??? Can you explain?

I just googled it- $59 on Amazon.

Karen

Wow Karen, I am going there.

Last year I piled my leaves up and ran over them with my mulching mower. It did a great job. This year I got a great deal on a 10 h.p. Troybilt chipper/shredder and used it for the first time on leaves this afternoon. It did a great job and is a lot quicker then the mower. I also did a lot of large plants from the flower beds and alternated with the leaves so I got a nice mix of browns and greens. My arms would have to hang below my knees to be able to reach far enough into the shredder to get hurt.

Photo: Plant material run through the shredder.


early_bloomer

I have an 8 hp Troybilt that the dh never fixed. =:0(
In this area, the leaves are usually wet - hard to chop with the lawnmower. Actually, it becomes an exercise in futility.
But today - my very Nice Boss Lady gave me 4 honkin' bags of DRY leaves - what a sweetheart! I asked her why she didn't chop them up for me & she started to chase me in the parking lot! well it never hurts to ask, right?
One of the Engineers said he would fill up his truck with leaves (it's a big truck bed) & another said he would give me all the manure I want. Score! Now if I could get them to deliver & spread it......

>Laugh< - you just can't make *some* people happy, now can you???

well - happy is great, but happier is even better! =:0)

I do what Kristi_L does. It's a blower/vac from Home Depot for about $50. I just spend a few minutes vacuuming up the dry leaves then upzip the cloth bag and dump the leaves into the compost. The vac will not pick up carob pods so it probably will not have enough suction for acorns either.

Also have a chipper/shredder (Thanks to PC :-))). We replaced the carburetor for $100) and if I have it warmed up for chipping I'll do some leaves at the same time but the blower/vac unit is easy and fast.....but just as noisy.

you people almost have me sold on a blower vac, but I just don't like the noise.

Yeah, I hear you ...... pardon the pun! Sometimes I sweep it all into a pile then vac, it's quicker that way.

LOL.!
The time savings is really appealing to me right now.

My leaf vac picks up tons of acorns, no problem. Cathy said that acorns broke her leaf vac, so maybe that will be the fate of my vac some day, too, but no problem yet. This is only our 2nd one in the 24 years we have lived here, so a pretty good investment anyway. It actually has a very tiny hole in the bag now; I'll put duct tape over that. (Most anything can be repaired or improved by duct tape or WD40, I'm convinced.

Karen

I'm an old critter and basically lazy! As I drive about the area I spot other homeowners who have lawn leaf equipment that grind leaves into small pieces. No one ever said no. I get my helper and we go there and load up.

My leaves get blown, raked and hauled to the end of my compost pile that just lays there until it rots or is converted by the worms. At any given time I have about three tons of stuff in the process. It gets slowly used as the areas break down completely. New finds are placed in the pile when I locate them. You name it and at one time or another I have likely found a trailer load and brought it to my piles.

wow

(Most anything can be repaired or improved by duct tape or WD40, I'm convinced.

You know something you'll never hear a redneck say? "Duck tape won't fix that."

DH recently dropped our small tv, used for workout videos and that sort of thing, and it has a big ding in one corner. Duct tape and it's good as new. Those Blue Collar Comedy guys really crack me up.