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I don't know about anyone else, but when the leaves go where I am...they GO! I have over 100 oaks, hickory, and some kind of tree I've never identified that drop millions of leaves in about a week's time. They fall so quickly that they pile up everywhere and if you rake today, tomorrow you'd never know it. I'm really lucky that my neighbor Larry has special leaf grinding equipment and he has been here the past two days running his mower in the leaf-vacuum grinder mode over my property. His mower has a blade that grinds up the leaves so that you can pile them into piles and set them on fire and they smoulder instead of flame. Tonight we worked together into nightfall and I took a pic of the pile so far. I can't imagine how grandma and grandpa used to handle this issue as literally I have TONS (as in weight) of leaves fall, and if I don't do something about them, they stay through the winter and into the next summer. But I don't want fires burning all over the lawn either...so Larry grinds them and we pile the ground remnants, pour a bit of diesel fuel on it (because diesel is far calmer and safer than gasoline), set it on fire, and smoke out my other neighbor!!! I was curious if others are facing the "leaf" issue?
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r199/MoMark/leafburn.jpg (broken link)
That pile looks like it wants to be jumped in! I love raking leaves into a pile and jumping in. Left-over from my childhood, no doubt. Not only do I have the trees in my yard dropping both leaves and acorns, but the neighbors on all sides of me have trees dropping things in my yard. There is a HUGE magnolia tree right on the edge of my driveway that is FOREVER dropping something. I rake the stuff into piles and my husband puts it onto an old piece of sheet vinyl and drags it to the back to burn in this old brick fence column that we took down.
You can just compost them. Grinding them up probably makes it easier. I used to compost all my leaves in MA. Just a big pile does it. Plus will have some good soil for other purposes. You can make something called leaf mold which is super for higher acid loving plants.
Lucky your neighbor don't sic the Federalities on you. Burning is not a right in most places. In Ohio I just sic'd the EPA on a couple of them for burning garbage, all sorts of hazardous stuff and one particular fellow that claimed he was burning brush. Claimed he was "All Legal" and we could not shut him down. Surprise, surprise. He in legal terms was running an incinerator for hire, was in violation of an entire laundry list of laws, as the EPA lady said, not just over the line, but way over a lot of lines.
You really have to know the laws about burning. Don't assume it is all right because somebody else is doing it. In Ohio it is governed at the state level, as it will be in most states. Law says only cooking and barbeque type fires without special permits, conditions or unless you fall under certain Ag exceptions. Most people in towns or such do not. Will tend to be the same in most states. You can research in on the Web. Today most outdoor free burning in air is banned. They have developed another technology called an air curtain incinerator that is used as a substitute but it again is highly regulated in most states. Air curtain technology is classified as free burning in open air but you do not get any of the smoke or most of the pollution. Basically it is a box or trench with air blown into the materials and across the exit to form a shield that traps and burns all the materials, smoke, etc. You see just water vapor if you see anything.
The fines can be a bit steep. Plus that smoke from burning leaves is not good for your health, about like ciggies. I hate having to breathe somebody elses mess. I would really understand what the rules are if somebody gets badly PO'd. Might even be able to sue you and win.
The World has changed a lot in the past 20 - 30 years. Even the smaller sawmills or such no longer can just burn stuff as they please. Many big cities and towns now use a form of composting to despose of leaf and yard waste. It also gives them something to sell as an end product or they can use it in parks, gardens, etc.
I hear ya Cosmic. Actually, here leaf burning is permitted except on no-burn days. If the temperature is too high, the wind above a certain velocity, and the humidity too low, then it's against the law for us to burn and that is posted on the television reports as well as radio and local weather channels. But where I live, most people burn even their garbage. I don't, I pay for pickup and have a big portable container on wheels that I drag to the end of the driveway every Monday night. They will allow no plant materials. Where I live we are in the county outside any city limits. Burning, like I said is legal here. It's just not legal on high-fire danger days, which I totally agree with. The only thing they do here that I don't like and think is gross is many people have sewage lagoons instead of septic. So all your pooh and other stuff gets deposited into a pond that must be surrounded by a child-proof fence. I think that's gross, and like earth-berm homes, I wouldn't buy a house with that feature. I just thought it was dirty. Anyway, I understand about the burning laws. We're lucky here we aren't restricted unless weather conditions temporarily halt it. Cosmic...in Lawrence County, to the west of the county I live in, they don't even have building codes outside city limits. You can build your house anyway you like and add on an addition, whatever and there's no legal permit requirement! I looked at a house in Lawrence Cty last year in late November, it was snowing, freezing wind, and a turkey greeted us outside on the porch. It wanted into the house. As we stood there to open the realtor box, the owner's teenage son arrived home from school and he let us in and showed us around. Then he took us into the redone basement...and PROUDLY told us how he himself had wired everything himself and so far nothing sparked!! Well... I didn't buy in Lawrence Cty...that was even a bit too hick for unsophisticated moi
you're right about my neighbor though... poor folks tonight. The breeze is light, but it's blowing to the northwest and the smoke from my burnpile is shrouding their property (they're about two acres over). Usually I get theirs and then mine blows to the north where it's all open country. My other neighbor Larry burns his near my property line and sometimes I get his smoke too. We all put up with it. One guy down the road shoots a shotgun whenever he feels like it. My neighbor Larry comes out in his underwear and shoots at something...I think crows or something. I'm not sure. None of us shoot the deer, we let them do whatever they want. I had two does and three fawns living on my property on the back 2 acres of forest this year and I left the gate open so the fawns could go through with their moms for a drink at Larry's pond. It's just life in the country
Evey, that pile isn't whole leaves anymore, they've been ground up, so you'd be itching and full of leaf dust if you jumped in there! That pile would probably be around six times bigger in volume if it were whole leaves. Grinding them down really compacts them and makes them safer to burn. I keep a hose handy and wet down the ground around the burn area, as well as clear all combustible materials away in a thirty foot circle. I checked it awhile ago. It looks like a glowing beehive in the dark! And yep Grammy...it's a LOT....LOT... of work!
Composting leaves is the way to go! Builds up your soil, enriches it, (think of all the nutrients asborbed by the tree roots-like wheat) and gives your garden soil a humus-like texture.
I am not sure about composting walnut tree leaves...believe it's too waxy to compost. May be wrong.
I burn my garbage but keep the plastics,glass and of course steel cans out. Take them to the recycling center after a nice build-up. Feed the scraps to the animals-cats-chickens (chickens are a feathery composter) and dogs.
I accumulate a few bags of garbage over the coure of time that cannot be burned (cat litter-ect) and take it down to the trash site for a dollar a bag.
Funny thing is we'd just had a proposal on garbage waste collection and it didn't pass, thank goodness! Keep our taxes low!
I also live "out in the county", and our burn restrictions are decided by weather conditions. I also pay for garbage pick up that will not accept any type of yard waste. I do have a small compost pile made of grass, leaves, etc., but I could not imagine composting all of it in my yard-just not enough space.
The worst ever!!!! I moved from one home to another, only to adopt 10 times more work. What was I thinking Pine needles are disgusting, they will rot your roof, they never stop falling. I have about 30 trees front and back. On a good day, we normally have like 32 green bags in the front, double in the back. Watch out for Copperheads, they love pine needles. Everyone gets quite a kick out of me, I have my rubber boots on at all times when I do yard work. I feel for ya with all those trees WHAT WERE WE THINKING!!!!!!!
The worst ever!!!! I moved from one home to another, only to adopt 10 times more work. What was I thinking Pine needles are disgusting, they will rot your roof, they never stop falling. I have about 30 trees front and back. On a good day, we normally have like 32 green bags in the front, double in the back. Watch out for Copperheads, they love pine needles. Everyone gets quite a kick out of me, I have my rubber boots on at all times when I do yard work. I feel for ya with all those trees WHAT WERE WE THINKING!!!!!!!
OH my....pine needles...those are really tough cookies to have to deal with. For me they finally all fell and then the next step was cleaing the rain gutters on the house which took me two days. Thank goodness I did that too because last Wednesday we got 3" of rain and it would have been a problem if I hadn't cleared those leaves out! Then Thursday came the ice storm, then the snowstorm and things are frozen solid still. I just watched my neighbors across the road have to dig a car out that got stuck in the snow in their driveway. My leaves are gone, but the ice storm caused a lot of heavy big branches to come down and I'll have to saw them up when the ice is gone. As for you, have you thought about having the pines closest to the house removed? It might be a good idea in case you ever get a bad windstorm too as pines have notoriously shallow roots?
Yes we have gotten bids to take all the trees out. $2500 a tree. if we do it all at one time. One tree at a time the cost goes up. I have been saying for 3 years now, I''m gonna save money to get trees taken out. Hasn't happened yet, so I guess I will pay the higher price and have them taken out one at a time. No matter how you look at it, it will be money well spent
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I was curious if others are facing the "leaf" issue?
Just compost them
WHAT WERE WE THINKING!!!!!!!
if we do it all at one time. One tree at a time the cost goes up. I have been saying for 3 years now, I''m gonna save money to get trees taken out. Hasn't happened yet, so I guess I will pay the higher price and have them taken out one at a time. No matter how you look at it, it will be money well spent
