[Lawn Ranger]

I have some really stupid questions.

I moved from Miami to northern Florida. I have never had to deal with fallen leaves or moles. Now I have both.

Will fallen leaves kill my lawn? I sort of assumed they would blow away. I have a big rural yard, so I thought it was unrealistic to get out there and move them.

I don't know how to get rid of them. I don't want to rake several acres. I have a 60" mower. Wondering if there is some way to make the mower do it. The leaf blower, in spite of its name, does not seem up to it.

I hate live oaks. My new mission in life is to kill every one I see.

As for moles, I noticed the yard was very mushy in areas, and there were little poo-looking piles of dirt here and there. I finally realized what the problem was. I figured I would go to Tractor Supply and get kill traps, but a friend of mine is trying to get me to show the moles mercy. Apparently scissor traps sometimes mess moles up pretty badly and leave them to suffer. Is there any better way? I read that the noisemaker stakes they sell on the Internet don't actually work.

 

[J_nick]

I would just take your 60" and mulch the leaves up in little pieces.

I've found the scissor traps be rather effective. I've pulled up a couple moles within a minute of the trap going off and they are dead.

 

[Movingshrub]

I have some really stupid questions.

I moved from Miami to northern Florida. I have never had to deal with fallen leaves or moles. Now I have both.

Will fallen leaves kill my lawn? I sort of assumed they would blow away. I have a big rural yard, so I thought it was unrealistic to get out there and move them.

I don't know how to get rid of them. I don't want to rake several acres. I have a 60" mower. Wondering if there is some way to make the mower do it. The leaf blower, in spite of its name, does not seem up to it.

I hate live oaks. My new mission in life is to kill every one I see.

As for moles, I noticed the yard was very mushy in areas, and there were little poo-looking piles of dirt here and there. I finally realized what the problem was. I figured I would go to Tractor Supply and get kill traps, but a friend of mine is trying to get me to show the moles mercy. Apparently scissor traps sometimes mess moles up pretty badly and leave them to suffer. Is there any better way? I read that the noisemaker stakes they sell on the Internet don't actually work.

Concur with J_nick.

Mulch the leaves. Set the deck height to mulch the leaves but high enough so that you're not really cutting the grass. To make it easy for yourself, I'd suggest using your leaf blower to get the leaves out of any where you can't get the mower, then mulch. Also, if you're going to blow the leaves out of your gutters, I'd do that before mulching.

I don't have any experience with moles. With that being said, ignore your friend or trap them and relocate them into his yard; see if his/her tune changes.

 

[Lawn Ranger]

I ran the mower around today. It did blow the leaves around, but I would not say it mulched them. Some were shredded, but most look about the same. Live oak leaves are nearly indestructible.

The leaf blower moves the top layer of leaves. The rest seem determined to stay where they are. I tried raking the leaves. It works, but if I do it by hand, raking will take days.

I am thinking of hiring a crew to suck these leaves up for me, but I don't want to hire them again next month. Does anyone here know when the leaves are done falling in northern Florida?

 

[Bunnysarefat]

You just have to suck it up and kill the moles with death. They're cute but they will only get worse. It sucks, but it has to be done.

 

[Tellycoleman]

Are your leaves wet? TAke a picture. How many leaves are we talking about? If you have layers deep of leaves that has been rained on a couple times then they won't chop up easy. Do you have a mulching blade on your lawn mower? When is the last time your blades were sharpened? A lot of trees + wet Florida weather = a headache

 

[Lawn Ranger]

I do not know whether my blades are mulching blades. It's whatever comes on a John Deere 60" deck. I sharpened them recently.

I am wondering if I should use some kind of tractor-drawn rake to get the crap up off the ground and then go back over it with the mower to mulch it.

I saw an interesting tool called the Cyclone Rake. Big wheeled bag with a motor. Sucks up leaves. Seems like it would be a great thing to have, but it's not cheap, and if I can mulch, I don't see why I should bother with bagging and dumping.

 

[Lawn Ranger]

Now I'm looking at mulching options. I found out I am not set up for mulching. The kit for my deck runs about $270. Thinking this might be the best way to go. Also read up on Gator blades. I read that they can gunk up the underside of a deck, but my grass doesn't accumulate under there at all, so I doubt I would have problems. It's dry and tough.

 

[gatormac2112]

Sounds like you're on the right track with the leaves, as for the moles, I laugh at your friends advice. Kill them. Kill them all or you will be sorry.

 

[Lawn Ranger]

I am sorry already. Sorry I can't go back in time and kill their grandparents.

 

[gatormac2112]

I am sorry already. Sorry I can't go back in time and kill their grandparents.

Thats more like it! :lol:

 

[Lawn Ranger]

I also need to get excited about murdering squirrels. Any creature that plants live oak trees deserves annihilation.

 

[kds]

The dogs solved my mole problem pretty damn quick after I moved in!

 

[Lawn Ranger]

I found a neat gadget on Amazon. It connects exhaust pipes to garden hoses. You run the hose into a mole run and let your car run for a few minutes. An acquaintance had told me to use CO, but I didn't know how to connect hot pipes to hoses.

The scissor trap has not panned out. It's too hard to figure out where to set it. In my yard, it's hard to tell the mole runs from the surrounding dirt.