Confessions first.  I waited too long to start cleaning up the leaves this year.  Usually, it’s smart to get the bulk of the leaves cleaned up in late fall or early December.  However, due to the bag on the leaf vacuum needed new clasps I didn’t get to it until just this past weekend.  Also, ignore the random pieces of cardboard; we will cover that later. 😉 Now that the self-flagellation portion of the blog is over it’s time for a Pop Quiz!!  What loves to hide in a nice big pile of leaves nestled up to your cozy warm house all winter?   Any guesses???   If you guessed my arch nemesis; snakes, then you guessed correctly.  I bought this Troy-Bilt Leaf Vacuum for a few reasons:

1. We have a million leaves/acorns that fall from the oak trees throughout our front and back yard.
2. Raking not only can damage delicate plants but is murder on my hands and back.
3. Finally, and most importantly, snakes seem to disappear when this loud machine shows up.  Perhaps the vibrations are enough to wake them from their hibernating slumber or perhaps I’ve just been lucky but for 2 years running now I’ve had no “snakescidents”.

If you know anything about me, you know that I’m unrealistically afraid of snakes.  I can identify most of the snakes indigenous to the Eastern US and am aware if it’s poisons or not virtually right away even if I can’t.  Pro tip – oval head not poisonous a head shaped like a spade and get the *bleep* out of there.  However, none of this knowledge is relevant to my brain in the moment of seeing one of these nasty beasts.  I lose all my wits and scream like I’m being murdered.  As this point it’s become so banal that my husband barely flinches from the initial scream.  He just casually saunters over to see the guilty party causing me to behave in such a ridiculous fashion. It doesn’t matter if it’s a teeny-weeny baby corn snake or a 5ft long black rat.  The reaction is the same and inevitably every year, without fail, I’d unearth multiple of these heinous creatures while raking the leaves out of my flower beds.  Eventually, we will be thinning the amount of tree we have and there will be less to rake but that’s a whole different blog all together. 

So, for now, I’ve solved the issue by getting this leaf vacuum.  As I mentioned previously, it’s loud, so please wear headphones while operating it.  Your ears will thank me later.  It’s relatively easy to use, and I’m able to start it myself, I struggle with some of the other pieces of equipment we have. It’s also best to use premium gas in any of your equipment.  It helps things run more efficiently and the engine is less likely to get gunked up.  Technical term, I know.  Once you get the vacuum running you have two options, use the hose or the actual vacuum.  I’m limited where I can use the vacuum at this time of year since plants are already coming up.  In the fall it would have been much simpler as things are already dying back and you can’t hurt them too much but with fresh shoots emerging gingerly I’m not willing to risk it and had to do the bulk of the work with the hose.  I’m not going to lie, it does clog more than I like but it’s still faster, and less “snakey”, than a rake so it’s worth it to me.  However, if you see sticks pull them as you go and just throw them in the chipper that is also part of the machine. 

To demonstrate how simple, it is to use this I’ve provided some footage of my almost 4-year-old (his cheeks with those headphones, right?) using this, with proper form I might add. 

I know, I know, proper form with a leaf vacuum?  It’s not instruction manual material but I have found that this vacuum works best if you have the hose draped over your shoulder.  The clogs happen less frequently this way.   It took me about an hour and a half to complete the front section, with SEVERAL interruptions, and I had to empty the bag 5 times.  Like I said earlier, we have a lot of leaves.  To me one of the best things is that this machine also picks up the copious amounts of acorns as well all while being gentle enough to not disturb my beautiful bulbs that are already flowering.

Using the vacuum hose allows me to reach places that are hard to reach, but I will say the hose that came with this was garbage, as well as the clasps on the leaf bag.  I had to replace the hose with a far superior one from Amazon and get replacement twist locks, which I had a tailor put on for $40 bucks, from Trail Pals. I’d have been fairly salty about this if had spent the $550 on this machine but instead I got it brand new off of Craig’s List for $150, so the extra investments weren’t too painful and the machine works much better this way. Troy-Bilt could benefit from upgrading the materials it’s using, especially the twist locks on the bag.  We lost the first one after the second use as they basically unscrew from the toggle. 

Let me know if you’d like to see footage of the vacuum being started or need more tips on using it.  All and all if you can find a good deal on this machine and you have a ton of leaves to deal with this will save you precious time that could be better spent buying more plants. 

Until next time! 

Angela