Observations
Having worked in the landscape industry since 2000, it finally dawned on me why we use leaf blowers so much in the field. Work avoidance! That’s my conclusion based on personal field observations, not on any scientific surveys.
Simply put, leaf blowing is much easier than other landscape tasks. For example, bed finesse work (weeding and cultivation), power shearing (pruning) and leaf pile pick-up. Plus, there are some bizarre situations. Like the dude who showed up to work hung-over, having vomited out of the window while driving to site. He was so messed up, all he could do is put on a backpack blower; incredibly, he went at it for the entire day!
Leaf piles are for bitches
As a landscape professional I know what to do in autumn. Look up at the trees and if there are still any leaves on them, don’t stress. Blow what you can, pick it up, and come back next week. If, however, the trees are bare, it’s a good time to do a final leaf clean-up.
Note that I’m describing here work done on strata (multi-family) sites. You have many options at your own private residence. We have to clean-up multi-family sites really well. Insect overwintering comes second. I confess to feeling a bit guilty when I recently discovered a small frog under a pile of ash (Fraxinus) leaves.
Incidentally, building caretakers love, yes, love, leaf blowers because residents track leaves into their buildings and then they have to vacuum them. Just last week I had one building caretaker give me a thumbs up. This is often overlooked in leaf blower ban discussions.
What I often see is workers leaf blowing without any intention of stopping to help with pile pick up. In one recent example, two workers blew the inside of a complex for three hours or six man-hours. That’s epic.
Vas and a helper picked up soggy leaf piles behind them all day. That’s where the idea for this blog was born.
How professionals do it
This is how you do it. Leaf blow like you mean it. Make the wand move side to side, move with purpose and, if you do it right, you should have rosy cheeks after. Just make sure you stop at some point to help with pile pick up.
When you see a boulevard covered in leaf piles and one girl raking it all up, you know she will need help. You can blow your site clean, and help her. Then, maybe, just maybe, the residents won’t be writing to the editor of their local paper about the never-ending leaf blower noise.
Don’t milk the blow until she picks up all of the piles. That’s sick. I will write a blog post about you and use your real name.
Not just fall
Epic leaf blowing sessions also happen in summer when there is lots of power shearing and debris clean up. I’ve been there, I’m not making it up. The foreman realizes early in the morning that the pruning will be demanding and makes an excuse to get out of it. Then he proceeds to blow the dusty complex until the pruning is completed. And the blowing will always be the easier task.
Predictably, the same foreman handles the blowing of any pile remnants at the end of the day. He pulls off an easy day and the residents are left wondering why the leaf blowers are running all day.
Now you know. Task cherry pickers blow all day.
