Collecting leaves?

[Bosun]

Good morning all,

 

I'm not sure if this subject is strictly arboriculture, but here goes.

 

We have a Scout Campsite of just under 8 acres, with about 5 acres of grass for camping. A fair proportion of which gets covered in leaf fall this time of year. We've struggled on for some years with the humble lawn rake, but none of us are getting any younger, and we're looking for an alternative. It's not just the raking, but also the collecting and disposal.

 

We've considered the following:

 

Hand held blower/vacs - Too small and time consuming.

Tow along (wheel driven) sweepers - Poor performance on wet grass.

Mower attachments - Expensive and awkward to store.

Push/self propelled vacs (Billy Goat, etc) - Thinking about?

 

I'd welcome suggestions/comments from any experts out there.

 

Many thanks,

 

Steve Little

Warden

Kingston Ridge Scout Campsite

[Mortimer Firewood]

We use our Izeki SXG 19 for collecting leaves it will collect wet or even if there stuck on by frost. Any direct collect mower will do it well .

[Stephen Blair]

Surely you have lots of young fit scouts who could all grab a rake and it wouldn't take long.

 

Bottom line, the art of leave collection is far from simple.

 

On a crisp autumn morning with the sun in the sky, a leaf blower will work a treat, especially a big petrol 1. If its a dry crisp autumn morning, everyone will be fighting over the ghost busters gadget,mand leaf collection is fun.

Now add moisture, rain!

They get soggy and wet, they get heavy, they don't like to leave the comfort of the grass, neither do the volunteers.

 

So,let's look at the mechanical wheeled option, in the rain or after rain, the field will be wet and unless your wheeled option was about £50k with wide grassland tyres, it's going to get chewed up.

 

Bottom bottom line with big areas of grass and leaves, many hands make light work:thumbup:

[Mortimer Firewood]

What do you use to cut the grass during the season.

[Bosun]

Hi,

 

Many thanks for the prompt reply.

 

We've considered the young fit Scouts and rakes option, but in todays protective society, it would probably be considered abuse.

 

We had been mowing with a Kubota F3560 with a 60" rear discharge out-front mower deck (less collector). I say had, because some light fingered low life have recently releived us of it, and a considerable quantity of associated groundcare equipment.

 

We are currently in the market for a replacement. If anyone out there knows of one, or something similar up for sale, let me know.

 

I've looked at the Kubota attachment with vacuum fan and tipping grass hopper, but apart from cost, it's just too big for us to store.

[Ty Korrigan]

Hi,

 

Many thanks for the prompt reply.

 

We've considered the young fit Scouts and rakes option, but in todays protective society, it would probably be considered abuse.

.

 

The abuse of young fit scouts by total rakes is not a fit subject for this forum

Please direct further enquiries to the Catholic Priests Chat Back Forum instead.

[bolthole]

I realise this probably isn't what you need to hear, but why not just leave them?

 

(Hey.... 'leave' them... geddit??)

 

You'll find that the worms will pull them underground in pretty short order and your trees (and possibly grass) will be healthier for that yearly addition of organic matter to the soil.

 

In the longer term, having healthier trees will mean less of a financial burden on the scout group as you are less likely to need to spend money on them... this is a long term thing though and depends on a lot of other factors. It does help though.

 

If you are dead set on collecting them, I usually find that running the mower over them (with the cut height fairly high) will not only hoover them up nicely but will also mince them up a treat. If you usually collect your grass clippings and pile them up somewhere, the addition of a bit of leaf material will help your pile rot down a bit better. If you leave the clippings on the grass, having the leaves minced up and mixed in will help the natural process of breaking them down.

 

Sorry to hear about you recent theft.

[hedgesparrow]

billygoats never had a good impression of them get blocked if leaves wet.

get yourself a good knapsack blower. blow them into rows and collect and take away unless you have mower with collector then better as chops them up and you dump them on a compost heap to rot down.

sorry to hear of your loss of kit at present i know how it feels to loose gear to the gutter snipes of this land

[Stubby]

You got sewn in ground sheets on the tents , yea ? just leave them . Habitat for all kinds .....Why make work ?

[treequip]

Get an industrial leaf blower

 

Mighty Mac LB8-EZ EX Leaf Blower (Special Offer)