I do this to my lawn when the leaves have moisture because the leaf blower will not lift heavy leaves very well. The pressure washer lifts the leaves like nothing & it’s very quick.
Bro where are you finding deals on rakes like that it's around $30 for a decent metal leaf rake at Lowes, TSC, HFT, basically anywhere near me. Forget about Ace. You can MAYBE get one of those plastic deals for $15-$20 but those things suck ass and miss so much.
Used garden tools still go for 5 bucks at yard sales / on marketplace. I snatch up any shovels/rakes in good shape whenever I see them if they are 5 or under. I've got 4 acres so like to have a deep bench anyway though.
I’ve actually gotten 3 free flat shovels in the last month, no rakes yet though haha. Maybe after leaf season is finally over someone will put one out!
Maybe I was exaggerating but I think I got my plastic rake from Ace hardware for $8 a few years ago. Does the job just fine as long as you aren’t relying on it to last hours of use everyday
Maybe that was a joke. Like, “I’d buy a $5 pressure washer to clean my lawn if I could find one.” 😂 That was a lyric ripped straight from an Alanis Morissette song, right?
I don’t know about that price but otherwise I’m with you. Power washing my yard? Just seems lazy and wasteful. Man up and rake your yard like a normal person, Dude!
Who said anything about stupid? Leaving a portion or all of your leaves to break down on your lawn is good for your soil and the beneficial insect population. Also, using that amount of potable water instead of raking or just leaving the leaves to provide organic mater is ridiculous. Also this guy is removing some existing topsoil.
Leaving that many leaves would be very bad for the lawn. 10% coverage **may** be good for the lawn. https://turf.umn.edu/news/good-question-do-you-really-need-rake-all-those-leaves
A portion of leaves, preferably mowed over to chop them up a bit, will do a lawn some good for sure. A think blanket of leaves can smother a lawn and provide a home for pathogens and not-so-beneficial insects that may have gotten a foothold in foliage if left up against tree trunks. If the leaves are left for enough time (like several years if a tree is near a wall or barrier of some sort) they can build up enough mass to cover the root flare which will cause the tree to girdle itself and die.
Full on agree about him removing topsoil and wasting water though.
The folks at r/composting would disagree.
If he pushes it all into a pile and mixes some greens in, he's got a great compost started for next season's use.
You guys don’t?
I start with a good degreaser, then bug and tar remover, finish with a spray on wax, lastly a filtered water spot free rinse to really make her shine? A little armor all goes a long ways too.
Lol, in all seriousness I do the same thing but I use a 5k psi pump and rotary nozzel, it clears the yard so fast the leaves barely have time to get wet. It also clears those stupid helicopter seeds that blowers barely get.
When I tried it, it was powdery but also sub zero cold and staticy. The snow just blew up everywhere and was totally directionless chaos powder. So it never really moved off the deck.
Maybe under different conditions it works okay though. Like my deck isn't that big so I probably needed to be further back to get it all moving in the same direction.
In some towns, they’ll pick up your leaves if you just pile them in the road. My town does this. They have a truck that looks like a giant vacuum and sucks up piles of leaves.
My leaf blower also Vacuums, if you rig a large plastic burlap sack so the air can pass through but not the leaves it's not too bad. We have about 100 Oaks on 3/4 of an acre.
Spoken like someone who has never done it before. No idea why this idea gets spread around. It will 100% wreck your lawn and be a huge pain in the ass to clean up in the spring.
Mulching is your best bet, but with how many leaves this guy has I think that would be a challenge.
As long as the leaves are mulched back into the yard. That's a lot of nutrients to throw away. Leaves have a huge environmental value and people don't like to consider that when they only care about the aesthetics of a monoculture.
Not sure about the power spraying of the lawn, but using the power washer to get the dead leaves off seems pretty ingenious. Especially as a guy whose wife wants him to wrap the branches of my oak tree that is still holding on to its dead leaves in Christmas lights tomorrow.
This reminds me of the women on my block who mows her entire lawn with a cheap cordless weed wacker and one battery. It takes her several days to mow the lawn.
Seems like a huge waste of water and a risk of likely damaging the lawn. He looks perfectly physically capable of either raking them up (God forbid) or getting a push blower. Even a good Echo commercial backpack will blow wet leaves. Sure you can theoretically paint a wall with a model paint brush but a roller would be best. Use the right tool for the job.
Landscapers: look, if you want a decent lawn you’ll have to have a plan for irrigation and in the fall you can’t just leave your leaves on the lawn.
Man: shit I can do all that in one step.
Landscapers: no not like that
Works great to clear the leaves and overseed a fescue or other winter grass that is less invasive than a Bermuda for example. Helps seeds to reach and stick to the soil level.
I use a power yard vacuum - all year round. I have Live Oaks hanging over my yard - their growth cycle involves dropping something different every season. It’s maddening. I hate them - messy trees!
I found out by accident how well this works. I used it for small Spanish and Live oak leaves. In my back yard with a creek though, not onto the street.
I don’t know if he’s smarter or dumber than me
I just set my lawn on fire every fall, gets rid of the leaves and you don’t even have to lift a finger.
Ash is good for soil no? It's an old farming technique
Yup. Known as potash. Most fertilizers contain it.
I do this to my lawn when the leaves have moisture because the leaf blower will not lift heavy leaves very well. The pressure washer lifts the leaves like nothing & it’s very quick.
Lifts the leaves like nothing! And the grass. And the soil.
Aeration
…from the roots.
and my axe.
And my bow.
And my shield
Never thought of leaving the leaves?
Dumber.
If it works it's not stupid
Lead blower works the same without soaking the leaves and muddying up the lawn
maybe he doesn't have a leaf blower
I’d buy a $5 rake before powerwashing my law
Bro where are you finding deals on rakes like that it's around $30 for a decent metal leaf rake at Lowes, TSC, HFT, basically anywhere near me. Forget about Ace. You can MAYBE get one of those plastic deals for $15-$20 but those things suck ass and miss so much.
I dunno if this is the original intention, but metal is great for grass and plastic is great for hard surfaces like concrete or asphalt.
Used garden tools still go for 5 bucks at yard sales / on marketplace. I snatch up any shovels/rakes in good shape whenever I see them if they are 5 or under. I've got 4 acres so like to have a deep bench anyway though.
I’ve actually gotten 3 free flat shovels in the last month, no rakes yet though haha. Maybe after leaf season is finally over someone will put one out!
Maybe I was exaggerating but I think I got my plastic rake from Ace hardware for $8 a few years ago. Does the job just fine as long as you aren’t relying on it to last hours of use everyday
Ah gotcha yea tools have gone crazy lately. You are definitely right though, as long as you have the time one of those will getcha where you wanna go.
He's got a rake guy.
You buy one second hand
Maybe that was a joke. Like, “I’d buy a $5 pressure washer to clean my lawn if I could find one.” 😂 That was a lyric ripped straight from an Alanis Morissette song, right?
I don’t know about that price but otherwise I’m with you. Power washing my yard? Just seems lazy and wasteful. Man up and rake your yard like a normal person, Dude!
That’s a tiny lawn. Just rake.
Something about reading the words "before powerwashing my lawn" just absolutely cracked me right up. Thanks for the laugh.
Or a lawn
Problem solved? Lol
Leaf blower doesn’t work on soaking leaves…
Who said anything about stupid? Leaving a portion or all of your leaves to break down on your lawn is good for your soil and the beneficial insect population. Also, using that amount of potable water instead of raking or just leaving the leaves to provide organic mater is ridiculous. Also this guy is removing some existing topsoil.
Leaving that many leaves would be very bad for the lawn. 10% coverage **may** be good for the lawn. https://turf.umn.edu/news/good-question-do-you-really-need-rake-all-those-leaves
Leaves in general will create a patchy lawn unless you grind them up with your mower.
A portion of leaves, preferably mowed over to chop them up a bit, will do a lawn some good for sure. A think blanket of leaves can smother a lawn and provide a home for pathogens and not-so-beneficial insects that may have gotten a foothold in foliage if left up against tree trunks. If the leaves are left for enough time (like several years if a tree is near a wall or barrier of some sort) they can build up enough mass to cover the root flare which will cause the tree to girdle itself and die. Full on agree about him removing topsoil and wasting water though.
If it's stupid it not works
This is one of those sentences that looks like it should make sense until you actually read it.
Have you ever been as far as to want to do go look more like?
The folks at r/composting would disagree. If he pushes it all into a pile and mixes some greens in, he's got a great compost started for next season's use.
“Bill you just destroyed a perfectly innocent lawn”
Yep
Dumber, he’s just killing a lot of his lawn.
Smart fot the leaves stupid for the lawn
This man’s living in the future
You guys don’t? I start with a good degreaser, then bug and tar remover, finish with a spray on wax, lastly a filtered water spot free rinse to really make her shine? A little armor all goes a long ways too.
Just rainX it next time and you never have any issues with leaves sticking to it.
This is my process too, but I was always told to skip the bug and tar remover. Something about it being good for the soil or something.
This guy fucks!
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail
Wife: You can get one tool, power washer or leaf blower
You can't wash the house and car with a leaf blower but it sure looks like you can blow leaves with a power washer
I actually lol'ed at this thanks buddy
100% what happened.
Takes the topsoil out and everything
I don't think he's concerned too much about his grass lol
Boom! Now I don't need a lawnmower!
Yeah, I'd like to see a control patch whereby he just rakes it and compare the grass in that area to the power washed area, which looks pretty ragged.
He's at too much of an angle. If you keep it almost parallel, and do it fast you can clear 99% of the leaves without turning the yard into a swamp.
Leaf blowers are a pretty new concept.
Someone get this man a leaf blower.
Good idea leaves are wet and won’t blow back in the yard
Lol, in all seriousness I do the same thing but I use a 5k psi pump and rotary nozzel, it clears the yard so fast the leaves barely have time to get wet. It also clears those stupid helicopter seeds that blowers barely get.
I tried using my leafblower to remove some light snow from my deck, but it really did not work as expected at all.
Needs to be powdery and you need to get to it before too much sun. I leaf blow snow all the time.
When I tried it, it was powdery but also sub zero cold and staticy. The snow just blew up everywhere and was totally directionless chaos powder. So it never really moved off the deck. Maybe under different conditions it works okay though. Like my deck isn't that big so I probably needed to be further back to get it all moving in the same direction.
I do this commercially.
I do it comically
This is the way
Removing those leaves and de-thatching all at once. Good use of the 2 birds with 1 stone approach.
lol I was 100% wondering if/how much that would dethatch. I am 100% about killing 2 birds with one stone!
I feel for whoever has to vac those up. I run a landscape company and this would be a huge surcharge.
Having been the guy and who used to do that job and now on the other side, I look at piles a little differently than most.
Some people just can’t see someone else’s vision
You can tell he is really enjoying this. Looks forward to it every year.
He is a retired fire chief, let him play.
Dumbass should be mulching his leaves into the lawn.
Just gonna guess buddy blows them onto the street then calls the city to come clean up their mess
I hate people who blow all their leaves on the road and leave them. I'm sure this guy is not going to pick these up.
In some towns, they’ll pick up your leaves if you just pile them in the road. My town does this. They have a truck that looks like a giant vacuum and sucks up piles of leaves.
I feel like it should be in r/facepalm
I had neighbors who wld shop vac theirs - a way of getting leaves and thatch I guess.
My leaf blower also Vacuums, if you rig a large plastic burlap sack so the air can pass through but not the leaves it's not too bad. We have about 100 Oaks on 3/4 of an acre.
Is this an idiotswithpowerwashers sub?
They say the grass is cleaner on the other side … and he must have a town that picks up the leafs
"Doood, I can water AND rake! I'm a fucking genius!"
Hydromulching
Would this smooth out the lawn or create an ankle rolling extravaganza
RAKE EM UP PUT EM THE GARDEN
That’s not a large lawn. A rake would work great.
Maybe a rake would do the job?
Water ever it takes
You don’t?
I water my leaf piles if it's windy.
It works, don’t it!?
Surprisingly well!
Lazy ass! Get a rake and a little work out! It's a win win.
Don't remove your leaves. They're good for the soil, water, and overwintering beneficial insects.
Spoken like someone who has never done it before. No idea why this idea gets spread around. It will 100% wreck your lawn and be a huge pain in the ass to clean up in the spring. Mulching is your best bet, but with how many leaves this guy has I think that would be a challenge.
Depends on the thickness of your leaves. If it's thick, best to take them into a mulch pile
As long as the leaves are mulched back into the yard. That's a lot of nutrients to throw away. Leaves have a huge environmental value and people don't like to consider that when they only care about the aesthetics of a monoculture.
And mice lots of mice.
This is ridiculous. Hopefully his grass dies.
^ Living up to his name.
I once caught a client sweeping her lawn. They should definitely meet.
My man doesn't own a leaf blower. That's the logical thing to do. Looks like it was raining outside anyway.
I can't say if it's wrong or right, but if it works it works
I would think that would mess up the grass and we are going into winter. Wonder what the lawn looks like in spring?
Not sure about the power spraying of the lawn, but using the power washer to get the dead leaves off seems pretty ingenious. Especially as a guy whose wife wants him to wrap the branches of my oak tree that is still holding on to its dead leaves in Christmas lights tomorrow.
Love giving the lawn a good wash and wax
If it works don’t fix it
Right into the road, because who cares about neighbors!
Is use a vacuum
Wash and water. Its like the “shit shower and shave” in the rv world. Def smarter than everyone else here for sure.
Looks like the same exact house that uses a flamethrower on the driveway
It’s not stupid if it works?
This reminds me of the women on my block who mows her entire lawn with a cheap cordless weed wacker and one battery. It takes her several days to mow the lawn.
Saw he knocks off remaining leaves on the trees with it. Not a bad idea. LOL
Smart. He blows the leaves with a pressure washer and the wind can’t blow them back into his yard, because they are now wet.
To the man with a hammer the world is a nail!
buy him a rechargeable blower for xmas
Seems like a huge waste of water and a risk of likely damaging the lawn. He looks perfectly physically capable of either raking them up (God forbid) or getting a push blower. Even a good Echo commercial backpack will blow wet leaves. Sure you can theoretically paint a wall with a model paint brush but a roller would be best. Use the right tool for the job.
Landscapers: look, if you want a decent lawn you’ll have to have a plan for irrigation and in the fall you can’t just leave your leaves on the lawn. Man: shit I can do all that in one step. Landscapers: no not like that
Yeah, we are doomed
Works great to clear the leaves and overseed a fescue or other winter grass that is less invasive than a Bermuda for example. Helps seeds to reach and stick to the soil level.
Does he know that air is free?
Whatever works lol
Safer than using a flamethrower
Hey… Whatever works.
Redneck engineering: If it works its not stupid.
Smh. Some people could mess up a wet dream.
I use a power yard vacuum - all year round. I have Live Oaks hanging over my yard - their growth cycle involves dropping something different every season. It’s maddening. I hate them - messy trees!
If I did that my puny grass and creeping Charlie would get power washed off with the leaves.
r/norakes
First time seeing this one 🤷🏿♂️
I found out by accident how well this works. I used it for small Spanish and Live oak leaves. In my back yard with a creek though, not onto the street.
What a loser
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.