Lol. Good for you! If I could I'd do exactly the same thing.

I believe that compost/garden-aholics must develop a deep sense of self and not give a hot hairy darn what others think...

Composting is such an inexpensive and weirdly wonderful habit!

M

There was a fellow on this forum, years ago, also from SC, who made a giant leaf-vaccum and went around collecting enormous quantities. Can't remember his name.

Earlier today I watched a TED conference presentation by a very well dressed, intelligent guy with a British accent about a related topic: food wastage, i.e. how many millions of tons of food are wasted per year. He said that earlier that day he was "inspecting" items intended to be discarded by a grocery store. This is how he refers to 'dumpster diving.' How's that for self confidence?

I think it's the only way we're going to change the thinking of the masses.

A question or two might be in order.

If a person has no idea that folks might use leaves, its possible they also might not bother to read the directions on various chemical products they use.

I am luck, the county will not pick them up unless they are bagged. I have my collards in the new no till bed & about 6 inches of leaves & grass clippings, so a few bags from the neighbors should top that off nicely.
A few ask why I needed so many of leaves.

"my pull behind leaf shredder/vac on my trailer"

Good score! I think a picture is in order!

My neighbors already think I am looney as heck! lol I am probably THE only one that saves the leaves! While everyone else rakes and blows them to the curb, I go back out across the street from me (there is a field across the way) and suck them back up! he, he, he!

Oh well, what they don't know will someday come back around to them and haunt them! lol

My neighbors think both...that I'm a bit nuts, and very thankful that I come with my B&D leaf sucker and make haste with their poplar leaves!
About the time their leaves are done, mine are starting! But so is the rain. I have to rake the leaves out to dry for a couple of days to dry them out in order to shred them. '
Sometimes in a wet winter I have to pile them out in the " field pile" Which is stuff I don't want in the regular pile such as plants with diseases, larger branches etc.

I pay 1.50 a cuft for peat. Leaf mold or leaf compost can replace peat and is full of nutrition and has a great buffer. Is is slightly acidic, but is way better then peat. So consider it worth 1.50 a cuft. You can make a ton a money!! jk ;)

Good going OP!!

A bit off-topic but, every year when I go out and "steal" a bunch of those big paper leaf bags, there are always about 10 percent of them that already have the leaves shredded by the mower and mulched grass clippings are included in that mix.

I assume the homeowner used a bagging mower and dumped the contents into the large paper lawn refuse bags. (I can always identify them because they are so much heavier.)

Gardener's GOLD people!! Why in the world the homeowner didn't take that stuff and put it around plants, beds, etc., is beyond me.

Sorry that I haven't gotten back, but I've been sucking up leaves! The word got out and folks in the neighborhood called me wanting to know if I wanted theirs!

It was mostly the lady of the house calling, hoping that I would come get them instead of their husband doing his pyromaniac thing.

I have a huge pile of leaves on my garden from my collecting. Now I'm behind on getting my leaves up!

It's a good thing that I get Veterans day off so that I can catch up.

My camera died luckygal, so I can't post a pic right now.

I'm the guy from SC pnbrown was referring to. In 2002, my father and I built a road worthy vacuum from an old 2-horse trailer and an 8HP Agri-Fab vacuum. I attached 6 feet or so of PVC pipe to the end of the flexible hose as a nozzle that I could hold. I soon found that it was easier to lay the nozzle on the ground and rake to it instead of moving it around because it would get jammed pretty easily if it was overwhelmed. I used it for a few years and then moved to another place where they bag their leaves, so I quit using it. I still have it. It should still work with a little tinkering.

I'm in the process of upgrading, though. I have found that I have a tendency to bring home plastic bags and dump them whole and then they turn into a mess in the spring that I don't want to clean up. I do dump a lot when I get them home, but when I haul 200 at a time and head back out for more, I can't dump them all on the spot. I got over 1000 one year a few years ago. i still have plastic bag pieces all over the place when I till in certain areas.

The upgrade... Same vacuum mounted on the rear of a 16 foot flat bed trailer with 6 foot sides and a conduit top covered with a heavy tarp. That's the plan anyway. I calculated it and with 4 foot sides, capacity would only be double what I had in the horse trailer. Maximum possible, that is. Not that I ever filled it that full, but it did come close on occasion.

I have acquired the trailer frame and need service on the electic brakes and other wiring. And safety chains and a jack. And a tray welded on the rear for the vacuum to mount on. Once I get that done, I can add the bed of 2x6's and build the sides. There are stake pockets on the front and sides. I'll use metal roof pieces to make the sides solid. Then I'll cover it and give it a go.

I drive a F-450 with an 8x12 dump bed on the back. So it's not great on fuel. Having a larger trailer means more collection per trip. More efficient (yeah, right). I have a couple of sub-divisions close enough that don't bag their leaves that make it worthwhile enough for me to visit.

I live in Pendleton (Anderson county) about 2 miles from the county line (Pickens) where they vacuum all leaves in the city of Clemson. They will deliver vacuum truck loads of leaves to folks in the Clemson area if they are in Pickens county. Otherwise, I think they haul them 20 miles to the landfill site where they are composted. They will not deliver them to me even though I have offered to pay something for them. A vacuum truck load of leaves is worth paying for. So if they won't bring them to me, I'll take them.

I got the funny looks from folks when I'd pull up with the horse trailer and start sucking. But quite a few folks would come out and talk to me about it. I can't wait to unveil the new and improved version. Probably next fall.

I'm already popular with the baggers in Pendleton. They see me coming and some actually help load them. One old guy was complaining about how expensive the bags are, so I brought him a bunch back one time. Nice ones like he was using. What I really want is for some of the folks that are putting out bunches of bags at a time to quit using them altogether and let me suck them up. They'll like not having to bag them and I'll like getting clean leaves. Often pre-shredded and mixed with grass clippings!

I love leaves!

Here is a link that might be useful: The horse trailer vacuum - 2002

Wow, Chris, I love the way you think. I have a Cyclone Rake, a 16 foot car trailer and a truck. I already get all the bagged leaves from a local town and I'm contemplating offering a bulk pick-up for those people with large amounts of leaves.

I'm thinking of lending out a long piece of 2 inch by 2 inch square wire fencing (I bought a roll to make wire compost bins). People can dump their leaves into this cylinder and I will come vacuum them up when they are done and take away the wire. This will save me a lot of time that I would normally spend de-bagging and I will get a cleaner product (no trash).

I'd also like to put a moving floor onto the trailer to make it easier to unload, similar to the truck box unloader but electric powered.

Now that I've seen your set up, I'm even more enthusiastic about building this unit. Thanks for posting.

Lloyd

I figure if I'm going to do it, I might as well do it. My horse trailer made it to the pages of Mother Earth News after I built it. They had an article on leaves and how to use them on the garden. So i sent them a note and a picture and they ran it.

I had a (used) skid steer loader for a while that I used mostly for turning leaves and manure. But the mix kept falling right back in my lap when I'd dump it. So a few years ago, I traded it on a (really used) back hoe and that is much better. Much larger. But now I can dig holes and I couldn't do that very well before.

I dug a pit to dump manure in when I haul it home. It has a tendency to get stuck on the lift gate anyway. But with a pit, less gets stuck. I drive into the pit with the back hoe and retrieve the manure and pile it up.

Now I'm starting to dump leaves in the pit and will mix with more new manure this week and add to the pile.

I like that setup Chris! I think I remember seeing it in M.E.N.!

Truck box unloader... Load Handler... I have one. It actually works well on loads that aren't too terribly heavy or load locked and sticky like manure that covers the wheel hub. I used it on a load of pea gravel and that was OK, not great. I could see it working on leaves. I know there's a Canadian company named AgriMetal that makes a debris collector with a floor that moves for unloading. I druel over it, so I don't look at it too often. I don't have $7500 to burn right now. :-)

My favorite way to unload anything when I still had my F-250 was to put in a small truck bed liner (like from a Ford Ranger) backwards inside my full size bed (with a toolbox) and then yank it out slowly with a chain in the top corners. Lift it with a tractor/bucket and it all dumps out. Then there was only a little left that needs to be scooped or broomed out. I eventually reinforced the little bed liner top edge with angle iron so it would be sturdier. Overall, it does decrease the amount you can haul at one time, but since it makes it so much easier to unload, it was worth it. and I'd have it loaded just as high as it would pile with manure until it was falling off both sides and the rear. Short 4 mile drive home. I once hauled 11 pickup truck loads in one day because they were overflowing and needed to get rid of it. I took the day off and went for it. They load it with a skid steer loader. Nice! I have pics somewhere, just not online right now in case that doesn't maks sense.

My busy bagged leaf weekend here is definitely Thanksgiving weekend. After that, unless we have a warm spell, none compare.

"My favorite way to unload anything when I still had my F-250 was to put in a small truck bed liner (like from a Ford Ranger) backwards inside my full size bed (with a toolbox) and then yank it out slowly with a chain in the top corners. "

I learned this lesson many years ago, back when I was young and svelte. One summer my husband and I re-shingled a shed roof. After removing the old shingles and putting them in the bed of the pickup we headed to the dump. Once there we got our shovels and in the heat of the day proceeded to slowly empty out the bed. All work at the dump pretty much came to a halt as the crew sat there watching us shovel shingles. Apparently we were the amusement of the day.

After about 20 minutes of serious labor an old broken down truck full of shingles pulled up beside us. A decrepted old man waved the tractor over and hooked up a chain dangling from the back of the truck to the FEL. The tractor backed up pulling the chain and all the shingles poured from the truck because attached at the end of the chain, on the bottom of the pile was an old spare tire.

To this day my husband says they all stopped to watch us because I was such a babe (isn't he sweet?) and I insist they all stopped to watch us because they were amazed at how stupid two yuppies in a new truck could be!

I have found that there can be too many leaves! I've lived here for 42 years and everyone in the neighborhood, and beyond, knows I garden and compost. Over the years, leaves have been offered by various donors and I've always accepted. Now, it is pretty much a given that I will gladly take bags of leaves. Unfortunately, they keep coming. On several occasions this fall, while my wife and I were away, we came back to find a dozen or so in our yard. I've probably chipped up nearly 100 bags over the last three weeks and, quite frankly, I don't want any more. Be careful what you start.

I've done the "backup fast and stop" thing to unload old rotten pallets in a small washed out area before. I had someone watching and I stopped well short. It took two tries to get them to slide off.

Too many leaves??? I've never seen such a thing! I can see getting tired of busting bags, but there will never be too many leaves. There can be enough, and more than enough. But too many? :-)

Definitely can't have too many leaves, though I have started driving around in my car so I can make a quick s-cape rather than trolling around the neighborhood at 5 am with my wheelbarrow & hoodie. I didn't want anyone calling the cops!