Especially gas powered ones. If you are going to blow refuse in the street, can’t you at least do it quietly?
The world will be better when people will stop following the medieval trend of having a lawn. Water consumption, leaf blowers, habitat invasion would be finally gone.
As a scandinavian I never got what the deal is. Just let it decompose? Or use a rake, it’s not that hard.
Then I visited Texas, and leafblowers were everywhere to the point where I had to ask a coworker “why do you guys hate leaves so much?”
Idk I find using a rake is actually pretty hard
My property has dozens and dozens of trees, many of which are big leaf maples, it’s sweaty physical work that lasts months and months to keep up, the rainy months too, and if I don’t keep up my house gets overtaken by the forest
It goes against the perfect manicured lawn narrative.
And perfect lawns are horrible for the environment!
And boring to look at, I would rather see a mix of flowers and bees.
Won’t someone please think of the property values‽
I will not, I own this property now and will do what I like with it! The front garden has taken care of its self for the past 2 years now. Loads of foxgloves growing right now and a mix of some other things. I do remove a few thorns though when they start getting big.
Mainly focusing effort on the back garden, got some shrubs growing but want them to get bigger to properly take up the area they are growing in and cover some of the bare soil a bit more. Its getting better over time. I think a cat keeps trying to dig in some of them too and having bigger established shrubs in the way should prevent that but it takes time. Overall focus is on low maintenance things.
It sounds like a very American problem. I just let the leaves rot away on their own really, maybe sweep the path by my house and they can sit on a garden bed around some plants and rot down there.
I live in South America, it’s not, every groundskeeper in my medium-income condo neighborhood has one, and makes working from home really difficult, specially in the summer when you want to open a window
Somewhat. Mostly because you have a lot of suburban people in America who like manicured lawns and expect you to do the same. Even without an HOA, you still have people calling the city if your lawn gets too out of sorts.
In the documentary “The Power Of Nightmares”, it’s mentioned that Sayyid Qutb (an Egyptian political theorist who’s ideas directly influenced Osama Bin Laden) saw Americans being overly concerned with lawncare as a decadent and repulsive thing. I can’t say he’s wrong. He wasn’t even around to see what TruGreen does to things. It should be noted, too, that his criticism wasn’t from afar. He spent two years as a student in the US after WWII, and he didn’t come away liking the place.
I live in the UK and as long as my lawn isn’t blocking out the sun or causing an actual health risk to people I can pretty much do what ever I like with it. I am thinking of aim for wildflower meadow.
Gas ones are banned in my town starting June 1st. Going to be reporting so many people.
Luckily I own a battery powered one owned by a giant multinational gas company (Ego/Chevron)!
Or you could just use a leaf rake.
I tend to for leaf removal. The mounds of leaves get too large for a blower to handle.
The blower is more for gutter-cleaning, blowing random woods-generated debris off the porch and deck, and blowing lawn clippings off the sidewalk/street/driveway/walkway back into my lawn.
Dang. Quite a multitool.
And uses the same battery as my pressure washer, lawn mower, weed eater, edger (giggity), misting fan, and chainsaw. It really is a great line of products.
I love the idea behind this. Overall I’ve been burned about 3 times in my home ownership time by committing to a brand like this. The brands seem to change batteries (voltage or connectors or both) on a 5 to 10 year cycle, meaning I either have to rebuild packs (fun with newer BMS etc) or deal with China sourced minimum lifetime packs. Even bigger things do this - but I did recently bought a Ryobi ride on mower that originally had lead acid that I covered myself to a single 48v lifepo4. Their newer ride ons have large 80v “packs” that I’m sure cost an arm and a leg for a proper “official” pack.
Luckily Ego has stuck with the same 56 volt batteries, just offering them in different capacities but all interchangeable. When they need more, they just take more of them; my pressure washer takes two batteries, and their riding lawn mowers take four. They’re made to scale to plan against needing a new architecture in the future.
The limit of that, however, is that they can’t make small devices since their only battery size is huge, so I have to use a different ecosystem for things like drills, drivers, and sanders. But Ego is so much better than the alternatives for lawn care that it’s worth the extra chargers.
Echoing a handful of comments in this thread, I’m from Argentina and I’ve seen maybe one leaf blower in my entire lifetime. However, I’ve been to the US , so I believe you (my condolences)
If my understanding is correct, leaf blowers contribute a lot to the current massive bug die-off that’s been happening lately all over, because many bug species reproduce in leaf litter. In that regard, they’re not only terrible noise-wise, but ecologically-wise as well.
So, terrible all around.
I get a lot of leaves. I have a battery powered 60v leaf blower. I blow them away from my foundation so I don’t get a rotting mound around my house. Then I have to blow those away or they won’t biodegrade without leaving giant dirt patches. What I’ve found works well is blowing them into the forest bed at the edge of my property. The deer and other animals seem to help break them down. I don’t have to worry about them until fall but there are just too many to leave lie where they land. I go through three batteries a day over the course of weeks to keep them from building up really bad. I’m not a mow every week manicured lawn kind of person either. Right now most of my back yard is over a foot tall with a mowed area for my small dog.
I also like the leaf blower for cleaning off my gutter guards, drive, lawn mower, garage floor, deck, and even when it’s just a light snow I’ll go out a few times to blow everything off so I don’t have to shovel.
Is that really so much easier than raking?
Yes.
It’s also a billion times more annoying. Just use a rake, dude. And while were at it, install a lawnbot. Fucking lawnmowers are just as loud and annoying.
I have a reel mower, and my leaf blower is pretty quiet, but thanks.
I had a neighbor who was rather compulsive about her yard. She would mow her yard/have it mowed 2-3 times a week and would use a leaf blower to push the grass clippings onto her neighbors yard every time. She would also leaf blow her roof with surprising frequency.
I gotta say, I was a little relieved when I saw the for sale sign in the yard earlier this year.
I agree that overuse of them is an issue, but damn they come in handy more than I thought it would… Mine is at least electric, and cleaning out dusty stuff (fans, cars, rugs, etc) is so quick and easy… I almost never use mine for grass or leaves.
Yeah! Clean the coils onthe fridge fast and easy. (Open windows first. Close cupboard doors.)
Oof, I’d go shop vac there. You’re just spreading it around, no?
If on the scale of annoyance gas leaf blowers are 10/10, electric are 3/10.
Ditto. Primarily mine is used to “sweep” the shop and dry off motorcycles after washing.
Have you ever used one to stoke a fire?
Or bring a woman to orgasm?
The female orgasm is a myth.
Counterpoint: your mom
We’re not talking about cheap whores here though.
Or clean your gutters?
Honestly this is a reason I would kinda like to have one. But I do have a 500w electric blower for cleaning dust from my PC. Have thought of using that to help get the BBQ going real hot sometime if I get an extension lead for it.
How would you like your steak? I can apply it directly to the coals anywhere from orange to white hot.
I’ve been doing my steak over 600 degree Fahrenheit charcoal lately and it turns out killer.
That is only 315°c, that can’t even be glowing surely?
Yeah I guess it’s not the coal temperature but the actual bbq temperature.
The answer to the world’s problems … remove leaf blowers
you jest, but children around the world are no longer starving thanks to this post.
you jest, but various pollinators depend on leaf coverage for winter protection. Fewer pollinators does result in less food…
You know, I was just— bbbrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Your comment blows, dude…
Theyre banning them where I live. Good riddance.
My town banned landscaping companies from using them, but enforcement is non-existent. More often than not, the person operating it doesn’t speak English, so I can’t even explain why I would like them to stop.
Even battery powered ones? I’d only heard of bans on gas ones.
Wouldn’t a goat be a cheaper and less polluting solution which would also automatically mow the lawn and produce milk…?
(Of course it wouldn’t solve the noise problem, but it’d probably be less offensive than a leaf blower…)
You think that right up until you see and smell how much poop comes from one cow/goat/sheep. If your neighbor had one, you would have complaints.
Relevant podcast episode. https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-los-angeles-leaf-blower-wars/
Good episode for sure. Well… most 99% Invisible episodes are good!
I always think about something along these lines about cars.
They were invented in the 1950s.
So the Depression and the World Wars were quieter…
I was also invented in the 1950s, and you did not start to see them until the 70s or 80s.
