How do you get rid of your oak leaves? (Atlanta: to rent, how much)

[Moonlady]

We have a large lot -1/3 acre - covered with towering oaks. As you can imagine, I can't even see my lawn right now. My husband is currently incapacitated and I'm taking care of him full time, so ME raking ALL THOSE LEAVES is not going to happen! What are my options?

- I can pray for rain and hope they decompose (not likely)
- I can call my lawn service and for $105 an hour (crew of three) they will rake and bag
- Hire someone from craigslist? A neighborhood teenager?

What else? Is there such a thing as a leaf vacuum, LOL?

Seriously, how do those of you with oak tress deal with it this time of year?

[scm53]

Originally Posted by Moonlady

What else? Is there such a thing as a leaf vacuum, LOL?

Yep. Love mine. Mulching mower for the grass areas, this for the rest, like the beds.

[10scoachrick]

There are certainly leaf vacs(Billy Goat?)...or the attachment for a riding mower. Perhaps a bit less effective on stupid little oak leaves than larger leaves; but should make a dent. Back in Atlanta, we neighbors went in on an aerator attachment for one neighbor's rider. Just a few of us...made it easy to schedule use of the attachment. Might you and your neighbors work out such a deal? Still got to get rid of them! That landscaper deal might be worth it.

Our leaves were matched 1:1 with acorns(or so it seemed)...like walking on marbles! The deer ate a few but not near enough. I was seen more than once Shop-Vac'ing the front walk area and the flower beds. A 16 gal ShopVac full of acorns is HEAVY .

[Moonlady]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

There are certainly leaf vacs(Billy Goat?)...or the attachment for a riding mower. Perhaps a bit less effective on stupid little oak leaves than larger leaves; but should make a dent. Back in Atlanta, we neighbors went in on an aerator attachment for one neighbor's rider. Just a few of us...made it easy to schedule use of the attachment. Might you and your neighbors work out such a deal? Still got to get rid of them! That landscaper deal might be worth it.

Our leaves were matched 1:1 with acorns(or so it seemed)...like walking on marbles! The deer ate a few but not near enough. I was seen more than once Shop-Vac'ing the front walk area and the flower beds. A 16 gal ShopVac full of acorns is HEAVY .

Rick, LOL on the acorns and shop vac'ing the sidewalk. We put up an above ground pool one year too close to the trees and were pelted by acorns in the fall! Thanks for the info on the Billy Goat. It seems like last year I was searching for those types of items to rent and came up with nothing. I like the idea of sharing with the neighbors. It might be a good investment, especially considering how much it cost to hire someone to do it.

[Eastcoasting]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

There are certainly leaf vacs(Billy Goat?)...or the attachment for a riding mower. Perhaps a bit less effective on stupid little oak leaves than larger leaves; but should make a dent. Back in Atlanta, we neighbors went in on an aerator attachment for one neighbor's rider. Just a few of us...made it easy to schedule use of the attachment. Might you and your neighbors work out such a deal? Still got to get rid of them! That landscaper deal might be worth it.

Our leaves were matched 1:1 with acorns(or so it seemed)...like walking on marbles! The deer ate a few but not near enough. I was seen more than once Shop-Vac'ing the front walk area and the flower beds. A 16 gal ShopVac full of acorns is HEAVY .

and here I thought I was the only lunatic to employ a shop vac for lawn cleanup.

I remember watching a landscape guy blowing leaves and debris all over hell and back and thought there has got to be a better approach than broadcasting stuff everywhere. Thus was born my neighbor scaring use of a shop vac to pick up most everything.

[G Grasshopper]

i use a Toro blower that converts to a vacuum. I use some mulched up leaves on the beds, put some into my composter (I keep a bag in the garage so that I can add some "brown" compost material through the year,) but always end up putting some bags out at the curb. The vac gets pretty heavy to carry, though. It's about time to hire a teenager.

[FalconheadWest]

My husband runs them over with the mower, I assume on a mulching setting, and they decompose quicker that way. If your lawn mower has a bagging capability, you could do that too.

[cBach]

I bag them and use them for mulch. They decompose very slowly, which makes it great for flower beds, as it blocks the sunlight for weeds for a long time.

It isn't "time" to do the bagging yet. Usually mid March the leaves fall off the oak trees and the new leaves are on by late March. That's the perfect time.

[G Grasshopper]

The leaves on my live oak started falling about 2 weeks ago, but they still have a way to go. If you are going to put store-bought mulch on beds, it is best to wait until the oaks are done shedding so that the mulch will not be poka-dotted with leaves. The spanish and burr oak are fall deciduous. I didn't mention that I also mulch some of the leaves into the grass while mowing. Its sort of a combo thing. If you were to rake up ALL the leaves and put them in bags at the curb, you would be letting go a great source of nutrients for your yard; the natural cycle of things is that the fallen leaves nourish the forest floor. But there is a point when you have too many leaves, and some may have to go out to the curb. It depends on how many trees you have in a given area, how many beds you have, etc. Oak leaves, even when chopped up in the mulcher, do decompose very slowly when they are on the surface of the soil. For that reason, they are not like putting compost on your beds, but more like mulch, which blocks weeds, etc. They will eventually become compost, but I imagine you are talking about two or three years, depending on how wet they stay. When I put some of the mulched up leaves in my compost bin, it is to balance the kitchen waste, which would otherwise become too wet and stinky. But in that setting, the chopped oak leaves will decompose more quickly.

At any rate, the answer to the question about what to do with oak leaves has many answers, depending on your situation.