Have you tried one of those chipper / mulching machines like they sell at Harbor Freight? They're only like $40 (Portland brand I think) but I don't know how well they work! Thanks
I consider myself an "expert" in terms of leaf-shredding. Over the years I believe I've tried every possible method of shredding leaves (with the exception of gas-powered chipper-shredders). I've had two different dedicated electric shredders (one was a Sun Joe and I have forgotten the other brand since I gave it away several years ago). Neither worked well. One method I use works fairly well: similar to your method, I use a weed-eater to break down leaves contained in a large, heavy duty plastic container (similar but not as tall as a garbage can). I find garbage cans awkward as they are too tall. Also, I've found that your load of leaves to shred cannot be too deep as that slows down the shredding process significantly. I see that you are using an electric weed-eater. These are not very powerful and I'm betting it took you considerable time to shred that load of leaves with that device. Much better is a gas-powered version. Several years ago I tried spreading the leaves on the lawn then running over them with my lawn mower. I found this wasn't very effective at breaking down the leaves. But then, I had a "doh" moment. I removed the bagging attachment from my mower then ran over the leaves. Success! Once the leaves were mulched, I re-attached the bagger and picked up the shredded leaves. I'd like to say that this was the perfect system, but it's not quite: if the leaves are wet, after they are mulched they are very difficult to suck up into the bagger. So it's best to do this with dry leaves - not an easy thing to do in the fall. Cheers and thanks for posting. I'm hoping my comment helps some of your viewers.
I have been shredding my leaves for many years using this method. However, I use a gas-powered weed-eater. I use a shorter, heavy-duty plastic bucket as I've found it rather tiring to hold and manipulate the weed-eater at garbage can height. Also, I've found that it's quicker and more efficient to shred smaller amounts of leaves at a time. This method works well enough and does a great job of finely shredding the leaves. It does take time though: I can't imagine how long it would take to shred leaves using an electric weed-eater as they are grossly under-powered compared to the gas-powered ones. I noticed that you did an edit at 1:59 where you transitioned from showing the coarse leaves to the finished product. I'm wondering how long it actually took. Thanks for posting.
I was wondering this as well how long did it take you to mulch that one garbage can full. Where as I am not a gardener I do want to mulch leaves to add with fine sawdust and paper to make biobricks to burn
did you know most if not all weed wackers auto dispense and cut small pieces of line every time you turn them on so your mulch ends up with tiny pieces of plastic? Just do it with lawn mover - it has metal blades.
I have two massive cherry trees that drop a ton of leaves. I've struggled to find a good way to mulch the leaves and usually throw most of them away. I'm going to try this method and then fill up a bunch of worm bins to break it down over the winter. I'd like to be able to get it fine enough that I can top dress my lawn.
I like to add the leaves to my planting beds too tilting them into the soil works far better than just putting them on top IMO. For years I did like you and just put them on the top but several years ago I had a huge amount of leaves so I tilted them in and in the spring I was happily surprised with the results and have done it ever since if you add a bit of compost into it that will really speed up the breaking down of the leaves over the winter. enjoyed your video that trimmer in the can idea is gold I'll be trying it next fall.
