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With 1 acre you're better off with a BillyGoat type wheeled blower. I have a Redmax EBZ 7001, best blower I bought. Commercial landscape grade. Had it with the gas and electric "consumer" handhelds. CFM is all that counts with a blower. With 205 mph and close to 600 CFM, I can "scarify" the ground, pine needles etc. nothing stands a chance. Even blows those annoying apples that fall from some trees.
I'm moving from 1/3 acre w/trees to a full acre. Unfortunately I'm responsible for both in November. I'm thinking of getting a leaf blower--it's been rake up to now. Is that overkill for a single homeowner? If not are there recommendations on the kind I should get?
It is a bit expensive for me as a rake works really well but...
Thanks for all the advice. I was probably too late in the year to get the right thing. All they had was a Hitachi handheld blower. It did move the leaves but it's kinda heavy. It was a little easier to collect the pile up but a lot easier to blow out the shrubs and other books.
Bagging was still a pain. Mowing was a good idea but even though I cleared last week there were too many leaves to mulch directly and the bag filled up really quick. Locke summer I may want to consider a bigger mower--probably more questions then.
The blower was plenty powerful but a backpack might have been more comfortable. Not sure if it's too late to exchange and order something bigger from the store website.
The acre lot is not heavily wooded but there are some trees. It's actually got a lot of grass and is fairly flat. It seems out of place for this town--more like the Midwest. That's probably why my wife likes the neighborhood. I think I'm going to try composting there near the back fence. Hopefully that won't cause problems with the neighbors and the lower density of leaves should make mulching easier.
I fully agree that if the area, where all the leaves are on the ground, is rather large, then a sucker or blower is a pain in the you know what. 5 acres is a huge area to clean !!
Do you have 5 acres to clean up or is your total lot 5 acres ?
The question here is how big is the area where the leaves are.
If one has a 1 acre lot, heavily wooded or not, I doubt if the whole 1 acre is in need of removing the leaves. If yes, then even any blower, huge or not, WILL take a dang long time, not counting the bagging yet ...
I have almost an acre, and I have only leaves on the edges, about 5 feet wide at three sides.
One side does not have any trees !
Did not take that long to suck it all up, really.
Maybe twice as long as fertilizing the whole area.
The bagging attachment I have does need a special mulching kit which is required if you suck up leaves.
The bag is used for the leaves, the mulched grass stays on the lawn.
Anyway, the OP has to decide what will be the best *tool* to get rid of his leaf problem.
My whole property has trees. If I would simply bag them, without mulching, I have one pile about 20 feet in diameter and ten feet high. Strong winter cold front winds do sweep our property - as long as I mulch some piles starting to accumulate. I use the blowers to keep the leaves out where I can get to them with the mowers. I have one old Gravely four wheel tractor that I just use to mulch. I have one newer tractor, with bagger, that I use to pick up what has been mulched (it does mulch some; but my quantity of leaves ahs to be reduced first).
I have leaf blowers with the bagging attachment - my volume is just too great.
I know that many people like the backpack blowers. I just find the handheld more useful. I am not using them to rake leaves - just to get the ones out of areas to where I can get them with my lawn tractors. I haven't even used my backpack this year; it sits in my shed.
I have an electric blower, haven't noticed it being very loud. I also have an electric lawn mower, edger and hedge clipper.
I don't have any gas powered tools, the power cord doesn't bother me at all. Its much more convenient for me, plug the tool in, push the button and thats it rather than spend hours maintaining the gas engines (plus no trips to the station to buy more gas).
That makes perfect sense until you realize what you're doing. Blowing dirt and all kinds of stuff into the air where all it does is cover everything with dust and debris.
The whole idea of a leaf blower is pollution. I once lived somewhere near guy who from two lots away ran his leaf blower and covered the entire downwind neighborhood with dust and dirt and whatever else got thrown into the air.
For anyone that has a leaf blower, ask your downwind neighbors what they think of it unless they too don't consider anything past their own fencelines.
Where exactly do you live that it is so windy and dry everything is getting blown up into the air? Phoenix? Albuquerque?
If you use a leaf blower correctly, the air coming from the blower is directed along the ground, not up into the air. And it's not blowing dirt or small particles into the air unless you've got a very poorly maintained lawn with lots of exposed, dry soil or you're blowing leaves that have been run over by a mower and cut into very small pieces.
Back when we used to run a leaf blower at my parents' house, none of our neighbors had fences, and no one was blowing anything "downwind" and covering the neighborhood with dust and debris. With all of the professional lawn services taking care of yards in my neighborhood, there were plenty of leaf blowers being used in the area.
Your statement that the whole idea of a leaf blower is pollution is one of the most ridiculous things I've read on this site. The idea of a leaf blower is to make it easier for people to keep their yards clean. Any pollution produced by the leaf blower is a byproduct of using a gasoline-powered engine, just like pollution that comes from gasoline engines in cars, trucks, buses, etc.
I couldn't live without my leaf blower when I had an acre of old growth oak trees in Minnesota. I was always racing the snow to get all the leaves picked up. The blower was much easier than raking, especially around the shrubs/flower beds/stairs, and the driveway. Luckily I had some forest on both sides of my property so I didn't have to bag the leaves, I just blew them into the forest.
Mine was electric and I just used long extension cords. Much better for me than having another gas engine to maintain.
I have been using an Echo blower for years and an very happy with it. I bought it because it has good usability ratings and a low noise rating. One of my neighbors has an electric and it is the loudest in the area with a irritating shrill noise.
I just bought a new Echo after my Ryobi died. It is SO much better!
I also won't buy a blower that doesn't include a vacuum option.
I have been using an Echo blower for years and an very happy with it. I bought it because it has good usability ratings and a low noise rating. One of my neighbors has an electric and it is the loudest in the area with a irritating shrill noise.
Another nod for Echo anything. The weed-eaters are superior quality as well. Replacement parts are always available should you need them. Can't say the same for Menard's, Lowe's, Home Depot and Sears cheap ones. Echos are made to last and also be serviced or repaired. Many of the others have less than a 100 hour duty rating. Once it's toast it's done, you throw it away.
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