A mower shouldn't jam up on leaves. Make sure that your blade is sharp and the leaves are on the dry side and it should be okay.

One time I had a similar situation. I formed a 15'x15' cage out of old cyclone fencing. This cage was centrally located and I would wheelbarrow, drag and blow tons of leaves into there I would then mow the heck out of them. I wish I had that problem now!
Pete

Wonder how much shipping them to me would be?? In my neck of the woods, believe it or not, the county comes out and digs them out of peoples ditches. Wonder if your county offers any relief?

Dry leaves will not jam up a mower. Wet leaves will given the opportunity jam up just about any mower.

Leaves make a very good mulch. They decompose rather quickly when on the soil a few inches deep.

Oak leaves and pine needles and a few other evergreens are very slow to decompose anywhere.

They are all God given free and good mulch which will decompose and provide all the fertilizer your flower beds and foundation plantings will ever need.

If you Google 'leaf shredder' there are several options, but most of them boil down to a 'weedeater' type string trimmer at the bottom of a funnel.

If you have a garbage can handy, you can just toss a batch of leaves into it and user your own string trimmer to chop them up. You'll be amazed at how much less space they will take up. Toss them on your flowerbeds as mulch and they will compost quickly in place.

I think it is easier to let your leaves dry out and then run them over with a lawnmower in smaller batches. However I'd have to warn you that I've actually killed an electric lawnmower I was fond of by letting all the dust that gets kicked up gum up the engine.

Dry leaves, if thick enough, can most definately jam up a 48 inch belly mower. Been there, done that.

Lloyd

Lloyd,
I can see it now,you barreling up the side of one of your windrows full speed in your souped up 48" Super Mower...
Then getting to the top,realizing now that your blades are jammed up....Yelling to your brother from atop the pile "We are going to need a "plan B" to shred these piles" ;-)

Can I get a pic ;-)

lol

We're thinking of running the windrow material through this to get the material more shredded, mixed and moistened. We are designing a 'shield' to prevent the material from being thrown too far. It will have a mist/spray bar on it for adding moisture. I need to mix in some more grass clippings once we get them and it seemed like the cheapest/easiest way to do it.

Lloyd

P.S. Sorry to lisa for hijacking her thread...

I did try the mower, with a brand new blade, and it definately jammed it up. The leaves were dry. In some areas the leaves are 8" deep.
I like the idea of a 15x15 area, I just don't know what part of my yard I'd want to sacrafice for that, but I'm leaning that way. There are lots of oak leaves (amongst other things) and if I don't find a way to mulch them they are going to take forever to break down.
The garbage can idea is great, but even 20 cans wouldn't be enough.
I googled "leaf mulcher" and there was one that looked interesting at a reasonable price. I may look into that.

Maybe if you ran the mower before they got to 8 inches deep it wouldn't jam up. And certainly piling them up into an enclosed area is an option.

I don't wait for them to pile up to 8" before mowing. In the fall, due to the size of the job, I pay someone to remove the fallen leaves. They haul them away by the truck load. However, every spring there are TONS on leaves left, and even more have blown into my yard. As I mentioned, I'm surrounded by trees. The remaining leaves get caught around my gardens, foundation, etc and are frequently up to 8" deep. And, yes, if I attempt to mow them they clog up the mower. First I attempted a push mower, then a ride-on... same issue with both.

If you have a large pile of leaves and try to mulch mow them with the mower deck set too low and move through that pile too fast those leaves could bunch up and stall the mower. Sometimes I will remove the mulcher plug when going over a very thick pile of leaves, so they do not hang around the inside of the deck too long, but will always simple creep when there is a lot of leaves to mulch mow.
Mowing the lawn and mulching leaves is not a competitive sport that needs to be done before your brother in law gets his done.
The height of the deck and the speed you travel can be important in how good a job your mower does.

I have a leaf shredder and used it alot for 3 years when I use to grab over 500 bags of leaves off of peoples curb. I have clay soil and a back forest that I cover with 6 to 8 inches of leaves each fall. But as people learned I was a gardener--they started callimg me in the fall to get their leaves after they had mowed them to collect them. I get over 50 huge bags of shredded leaves from friends each fall. It is great. But the leave shredder I have is great. Garden supply .com is where I got mine. I also lay thick cardboard down in some areas before the leaves.. I havent planted there yet but the worms love the cardboard

Earthworms do not necessarily like cardboard, or newspapers, however the do like the conditions that paper helps establish. I find just as much earthworm activity where leaves are pile quite thickly and the soil is cool and moist as under the newspaper, or cardboard, where the soil is cool and moist.

I live on a wooded lot. I shred all the leaves with the lawn mower and use them as mulch on my landscape beds.

I have a good mulching mower. I make two or three passes mulching, then I put the bag on, pick 'em up and move them to flower beds.

The leaves are easier to mulch if they haven't been raked into a big pile.

It helps if someone can rake the large clumps out, while another person runs the mower,.

I would mow along the outside of the pile and let the shredded leaves fly out the chute, rather than plunge directly into the pile. Or if you just want to work from one side, keep going in the same direction along that side so you eat the pile (on your left) and throw the chopped leaves to the right.

I have a weedwhacker with its shroud broken up enough that it doesn't work well as a weedwhacker, maybe I should remount it on a garbage can as a leaf whacker. It would beat the overpriced Flowtron gadget I bet.

Sounds like there's a lot of experience out there with leaf mulching and gathering. We live with lots of huge southern red oaks and hickories that drop tons of leaves every year. I use them all and go seeking the neighbors too.

Our method is to start chopping leaves as soon as they fall. Around here the grass is still growing so we get the greens along with the browns. We start with a first pass without the mulching attachment and just let the stuff fly out for the first month or so of leaf drop. When the leaves start falling in earnest we make a first pass without the mulching attachment and then a second with it. The third pass we put on the bagger and we have finely chopped leaves which we either compost, pile up for garden mulching later, or use for a new sheet composted bed.

We never let the leaves get too deep, in the thick of leaf drop we can mow every third day or so to keep up. It's nice to mow after a rain so the leaves aren't so dusty but not after a heavy downpour or you do get the clogging. It is a matter of trial and error. Sometimes mowing in an overlapping style with one-half of the blade in the leaves and the other in a cleanly mowed swath helps.

The red oaks drop their leaves slowly but continuously, even right up to the next spring. They do decompose very slowly which can be good or bad depending on what you use them for. I've used them everywhere, from starting a new garden bed to mulching in the wooded area in the backyard to top dressing beds in the spring. Gold as far as I'm concerned.

I do hate all the carbon emissions I'm creating while chopping, I wish I had one of those super chopper/mulcher tow-behind thingies they sell on TV but they cost about $1,000 and I don't have that sort of cash onhand just now. That way I might avoid the three passes.