Leaf blowing

[sparksals]

My husband loves his leaf blower. We have a huge yard and to rake would be painful.  The LB works great to get them out of nooks and crannies and on places raking doesn't work, like under our steps, benches and the front stoop.

I would equate having an LB to a snow blower. It makes an arduous task much easier. 

[JoW]

I don't understand leaf blowers, either.  Sure, they move leaves well.  But you still have to pick up the leaves and move them somewhere to dispose of them.

I have a large lot with lots of large maples.  The leaves have to be picked up, so I put the bagger on my lawnmower and vacuum them up.  The mower shreds them into mulch, which I dump under the trees and shrubs.  That makes more sense to me. 

(I don't know if mowers with baggers are use in other countries.  Mine looks a lot like this picture.
http://static.auctionservices.com/images/544663/JD_GX95_Mower_large.jpg )

[sparksals]

Dh uses the bag for mowing up the leaves in fall too.  He gets great use from the leaf blower getting them out of rocky areas, under places that cannot be raked or mowed and to quickly clean up the patio or front steps. He also uses it around the rose bushes because they have thorns and raking is fruitless. 

[Spoder]

I live in Western Australia, and most of our trees are non-deciduous. We never get snow or sleet and rarely get torrentially heavy rain, so blocked storm drains are not much of an issue.

So except for professional gardeners or councils servicing large gardens/parks, I think leaf blowers are unnecessary, loud annoyances. Lke when the dude over the road spends half an hour with his leaf-blower, blowing the leaves on his handkerchief of lawn into a neat pile, then goes inside and leaves them to blow everywhere in the wind. 

[sparksals]

A leaf blower is not even half as loud as a mower. 

Out Tucson house had a retaining wall in the back with trees above and a big slope between. Those trees shed leaves and flowers at times of the year that were impossible to rake because of the slope.  It got very sloppy looking at times and that is why dh bought the LB. It is a quick, inexpensive way to keep our yard and property looking neat.  Once he blew the leaves from the slope, he bagged them.  I agree it makes no sense t blow only to leave the pile to get blown away again.

[Spoder]

A leaf blower is not even half as loud as a mower. 

Actually, I guess that's true. I suppose leaf blowers just irk me more because they seem so unnecessary compared to lawnmowers (in most situations here, anyway - different to what you're talking about). Like the guy over the road (I know I'm harping on about this), but truly, he's about 20 and able-bodied, and the patch of grass is TINY. I don't get why he doesn't pick up a rake and save us all the aggravation.

[sparksals]

I'm surprised that so many view it as unnecessary. Lol. I agree, it sounds odd for him to use it, but guys like to have gadgets, I guess. Lol

[Ereine]

Leaf blowers have become more common in Finland recently, though they're not very common and many people find them very annoying. Even if the sound isn't louder than a mowers, it sounds more unpleasant. The advice here is that it's actually better for the lawn to leave the leaves, as long as there aren't too much of them and just mow over them. I like the way autumn leaves look on grass so I can't really see how it can look ugly, even when they turn brown. At that time the lawn is pretty dead here anyway or covered with snow. Fallen leaves on pavement can be dangerous though, I managed to fall on my bike a few weeks ago because there were so many leaves that I couldn't see in the dark where the road ended and a strip of grass started and when I started skidding the leaves were so slippery that I went down, fortunately with no harm to me or the bike.

[Spoder]

I'm surprised that so many view it as unnecessary. Lol. I agree, it sounds odd for him to use it, but guys like to have gadgets, I guess. Lol

Sorry, I don't mean it's unnecessary to pick up the leaves, necessarily. Just that there is no feasible way to keep large lawns tidy besides a lawnmower, whereas the small amount of leaf litter most of us have here can easily be raked up.

[MariaE]

Larrabee, sounds like Denmark is the same as the UK in this regard. I don't know of anybody who owns a leaf-blower. Some people may rake them, but most just leave them be.

[Melle]

A leaf blower is not even half as loud as a mower. 

I have to disagree. I work next to a park and the city's maintenance staff has leaf-blowers that are ungodly loud and often used every day, _all_ of spring and fall. Even with closed windows the sound is extremely grating and they really take their time.

I think leaf-blowers are a huge waste of energy. Trouble is, they are used around here above all so the staff using them can work faster and not claim exeedingly strenuous work - so the city can pay them minimum wage.

Not sure which I dislike more: leaf-blowers or the whole city employment system.

[Irishkitty]

A leaf blower is not even half as loud as a mower. 

Actually, I guess that's true. I suppose leaf blowers just irk me more because they seem so unnecessary compared to lawnmowers (in most situations here, anyway - different to what you're talking about).

I think they can be louder than lawnmowers, or perhaps it's just that I find the sound more irritating.
I've rarely seen a person wearing ear protectors when using a lawnmover, but they almost always do when using a leafblower.

I've seen a few around Ireland, so I was quite surprised that a UK ehellion has not. However, they're usually used around large parks/houses and actually, I've seen one being used at the American Embassy in Dublin

When I was visiting the US a few years ago, my hosts next door neighbour used his at 7 every.single.morning. And then at 7:30 his daughter would practice her piano, which wasn't quite as irritating, but when you only got to bed at 1am... ugh.

I suppose they're handier than a rake for gathering them together, but as PP pointed out, you usually still have to pick them up at the end.

[camlan]

My town regulates the decibel level of leaf blowers--you have to be able to prove that it's below a certain level.

The lawns here are small, tiny even. Yet it can take someone an hour to mow the lawn, followed by half an hour of a weed wacker to trim the edges, followed by 20-30 minutes of a leaf blower to blow all the grass cuttings into a pile. That's over an hour of really loud noise for a lawn that is at best 30 feet by 40 feet. You could probably mow the entire thing in 45 minutes with a human-powered reel mower (like this: http://www.reelmowers.org/), and if you added the bag to catch the clippings, you'd be done much faster.

The thing about leaf blowers is that there's a time and a place for them. Huge yard, tons of trees? A leaf blower makes sense. Small yard that can be completely raked in 15 minutes? Not so much. Using it daily to blow a few leaves or twigs off your driveway? Not really necessary. And I know a lot of people who use theirs daily just to move a few leaves from their drive or walkway to the grass.

[Ezeesee]

I'm in the UK, and was going to post that I agreed that Larrabee that I'd never seen a leaf-blower here (never heard of them before E-hell in fact), but what do I see not even 2 hours ago?

A man leaf-blowing his front garden! Actually, it had a bag attached, so it was kind of a leaf-sucker (like a hoover). This seems to make more sense that just the blowing kind, are they not common in the US?

[sparksals]

A leaf blower is not even half as loud as a mower. 

I have to disagree. I work next to a park and the city's maintenance staff has leaf-blowers that are ungodly loud and often used every day, _all_ of spring and fall. Even with closed windows the sound is extremely grating and they really take their time.

I think leaf-blowers are a huge waste of energy. Trouble is, they are used around here above all so the staff using them can work faster and not claim exeedingly strenuous work - so the city can pay them minimum wage.

Not sure which I dislike more: leaf-blowers or the whole city employment system.

Oh, I guess I can see an institutional size LB being loud, but a household size?  Nowhere close to a lawn mower or even a weed whacker.