Rake's progress is actually a vacuum

House Doctor | Gary Dymski

November 24, 2005

DR Power Equipments leaf and lawn vacuum attaches to a riding mower and takes the hard work out of a fall yard cleanup. (Newsday/Ken Spencer / November 24, 2005)

Usually, I am armed for my fall yard cleanup with only a leaf rake, a wheelbarrow and those paper bags issued by towns and villages.

Oh, yes, and my trusty sons, Matt and Adam.

Together we struggle to collect what seems like every single leaf on Long Island, countless twigs, and bundles and bundles of small branches. Then we smoosh them into those paper bags for curbside collection.

It takes us many weekend hours, raking and lifting along fence lines and curbs and in planting beds. And then we smoosh away, filling bags. And then more leaves fall.

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Not this year.

With the help of big equipment on loan, I went through my fall cleanup in a matter of hours on a recent weekend. What big equipment, you ask? How about a leaf and lawn vacuum by DR Power Equipment, a Vermont-based company that manufacturers landscape maintenance machines for homeowners. I also used DR's hydraulic log splitter and stacked more than three cords of wood.

The leaf vacuum was a treat, believe me. It attaches to a riding lawn mower and uses a high-powered vacuum to collect leaves -- the wet ones, too -- grass clippings, pine needles and cones, and twigs. My lawn looked pretty good.

And, Matt and Adam were elated. "Dad, any chance you'll get one of these?" asked Adam, who would choose being grounded for life over another minute of yard work.

I probably won't purchase a machine that sucks up leaves; from now on, I'll rent one, likely a walk-behind machine, in the spring and again in the fall. I tested DR's large unit, and it's not that I don't like these huge, vacuum-type machines. They are excellent. It's just that my half-acre yard has several planting beds and is not quite open or flat enough for a large model.

Another option for the smaller yard is to purchase a walk-behind model or a small combination blower-vacuum. The former run from about $500; the latter from about $150.

"Our lawn vacuum is primarily designed for any homeowner with a riding lawnmower," Carl Eickenberg, DR's product manager, said. "If you have a riding mower, this is the ideal attachment."

Eickenberg agrees that the machine works best on a yard that is flat and free of planting beds and other obstructions. "Anything from one-third to one-half of an acre."

My yard has undulations and fences and planting beds, so the largest, 7-hp. commercial model ($2,499) was overkill. But DR has three other models, ranging from $1,299 to $1,999. The machines all operate the same: Powered by a gas engine, a shark-tooth impeller system grinds up to 3,100 gallons of leaves, grass clippings and other yard debris. This unwanted yard stuff is mulched to a tenth of its original size and stored in a large, plastic-like trailer. It can be emptied into bags by hand, dumped for compost, raked for bed mulch or even bagged automatically with an accessory, a nine-bag attachment.

The best thing about the machine is that the job is virtually over in the time it takes to drive around the property. Or maybe the best thing is the hose attachment that lets you suck up leaves from planting beds. It's just like using the hose attachment on your house vacuum.

Other companies make lawn vacuums, including Arizona-based Wikco (www.wikco.com), Little Wonder (www.littlewonder.com) TroyBilt and even Craftsman. But few make the kind of machine that attaches to a riding mower. What's the advantage of a big attachment? With walk-behinds and combination blower-vacs, the collection bags are small. Stopping to empty them is time-consuming.

"What's popular about something that attaches to a riding mower is that you can go long, long periods without having to empty the bin," Eickenberg said.

After completing a drive around my front yard, the bin was barely a quarter full. Yet my lawn was free of clumpy wet leaves, dried twigs and even pine cones.

There was this little matter of log-splitting before my yard cleanup was finished. A tree service had delivered free about three cords of unsplit wood at the curb. (See accompanying article.) While my sons first balked at moving the wood to the side yard, they were intrigued by the hydraulic splitter.

Much of the wood was green and freshly cut, but nearly a third was dried oak, probably taken from a fallen tree, and prime for burning. DR's 4-ton unit ($399), powered by an electric motor that plugs into a household outlet, easily split virtually every log up to 20 inches long and 12 inches wide (its maximum limits). Several other companies make hydraulic units similar to DR's. Most work equally as well. However, I can confess to pushing DR's limit, splitting several logs wider than 12 inches. The machine balked only at logs that were unevenly cut.

So, that evening, with logs crackling in the fireplace, at least one Long Island homeowner was extremely thankful for maintenance equipment designed to handle the big, big yard.

So were his two sons.