Recommendations for leaf blower

[stealthninjamum]

I’m surrounded by trees and at the moment I’m going out daily to rake up sweet chestnuts. It’s not even peak time for leaf fall.

So I wondered if anyone could recommend a leaf blower that copes with sweet chestnuts and wet leaves. I’d want it to be battery. I’m happy to pay £200 to £400 for a powerful one although obviously the closer to £200 the better!

i don’t necessarily need a leaf sucker/ mulcher / unless someone has one that works well.

Thanks

Unless I walk to the back shed in the rain, I can't say what model we have, but its a corded, black and decker. My only advice is to the check how loud it is. Maybe they are all the same, but I was surprised how loud ours is. Buy ear defenders too! Ours also sucks and chops it all up and that is even louder. You might find that the battery ones aren't as powerful as the corded ones too.

I have a dewalt 54v battery blower. It is excellent, and can even shift the sticks and acorns that come off the oak tree. It is easily as powerful as the petrol blower I had. It doesn't vacuum or anything. It has three power settings and a battery lasts 20 to 30 minutes which is about how long my back lasts. I have several batteries.

Other things to consider would be a scarifier. I have a lawnmower that has a lawn rake attachment and a scarifier. The former will lift leaves and acorns too. I have just switched from petrol to electric for that too although it hasn't arrived, so I can't tell whether it is any good. Also, it only works on the lawn, so if you have paved / solid areas, the blower is a better option.

Thanks, I hadn’t thought of ear defenders but that’s a good idea. Luckily my house is detached so the noise won’t irritate too many people. I’ve thought about getting a corded one but I imagine my drive way is too big and I’d have to get a long extension lead.

That’s interesting, I hadn’t thought of getting a scarifier / combined with mower. I’m actually hand raking the thatch off while I rake leaves and I don’t mind doing it as there aren’t as many trees in the back garden as the front - but if it gets too tedious that might be useful. I’d really like one combined with an aerator because aerating is huge work.

Ill look up dewalt - and black and decker as I have a black and decker strimmer but that was half price in a sale so I’m assuming it doesn’t have a great battery but that could be wrong.

You’d have to have a very detached house and garden with no nearby neighbours for the noise not to irritate. Sound carries a long way and hell is the noise of leaf blowers

I mow up leaves and put them in the compost. It really is much easier than a leaf blower..

I do have a leaf sucker which mulches them but that is for the silk tree flowers in the summer which do my head in and I suck them up.

It is a detached house. I know my neighbours, none have kids who nap or work nights so I don’t imagine they’ll complain too much if I do two lots of half an hour blowing during the week.

That’s interesting, you can tell I’m a novice gardener I didn’t realise you could mow leaves. I’ve been sweeping them up before mowing - but it doesn’t take long in my back garden as there are fewer trees.

my bigger problem is sweet chestnuts they all seem to come down quickly together so shouldn’t be a problem all season.

Recommendations for a leaf blower?

Don't get one!

I really hate them and honestly would like to see them banned.

I have a Stihl one, petrol not battery but they are an excellent brand.
My main problem is beech nuts which the mower can't cope with.

Don't write off the idea of a petrol one. My Stihl is a workhorse, it's a backpack one which is a revelation but I can lift the whole thing with just 2 fingers it's so light. I'm 70 and can still start it with the pull cord doodah

The lawnmower I have is an old Qualcast, who I believe were bought out by Atco. So, it is a cylinder mower and the blade is a cassette that can be swapped out for a lawn rake, a scarifier, a verticutter, and probably a few other things besides. I am not even sure they make cylinder mowers any longer.

As an aside, DeWalt are owned by Stanley Black and Decker, so they're all the same company. Makita are also good, that is who my new battery scarifier / lawn rake is made by, and who I will get a lawnmower from too as I migrate all the petrol stuff to battery.

Leaf blowers are the devil. Terrible for insect life, allergies/asthma of anyone in the area, a massive noise nuisance.

Mine is a corded one, no idea on the brand, something standard from Screwfix or Argos. I use it on vacuum mode and spread the resulting chopped up mulch on the flower beds. Once the main leaf fall is done I just use the mower for strays.
Hopefully we get an early fall this year.

You definitely want to get a Stihl leaf blower as this is by far the best brand and ones professionals tend to use.

I'd recommend the Stihl BGA 50 cordless blower. It's light but comparatively powerful for its size.

https://www.stihl.co.uk/en/p/leaf-blowers-blowers-vacuum-shredders-bga-50-cordless-blower-ak-system-205565

Definitely get two batteries so you can have one charging and one in the machine because inevitably you run out of power when you need it even if you only use it occasionally.

Having said that, when you refer to wet leaves and sweet chestnuts, it sort of depends on exactly what you are dealing with. If you have a lot of "heavy" stuff to move (mounds on grass, piles of wet leaves stuck to concrete) then a petrol blower will be much more powerful. The petrol Stihl is much better but considerably heavier and you need to buy the special two stroke fuel. The petrol one is much more noisy so you need to use it shorter sessions to not piss off the neighbours. The battery one is a lot quieter and surprisingly powerful for its size.

You can shorten the time for blowing by blowing all the leaves on to the lawn and then mowing them up - when you are into winter and the grass doesn't need cutting you can use it on a high cut setting and it still sucks most of them up for chopping.

The Stihl BGA 50 definitely doesn't need ear defenders btw. It's obviously not silent but much quieter than a petrol blower.