Fall lawn care: Fertilizers, mowers, backpack blowers, and more

Fall lawn care can bring the lawn to life next season and be a great opportunity to clean up messes. Here are some tips on buying and using a backpack blower.

Why even bother buying a backpack blower? The reason we have one: power. And it’s easy to use in a lot of fall lawn care situations.

Buying.

When buying a backpack blower don’t confuse the pro-style set-up with pro-style performance. Just because it’s a backpack, doesn’t mean it’s more powerful than a handheld blower. Compare CFM—cubic feet per minute—between units. The more air it moves, the more stuff you can move. (See below for notes on the Ryobi blower we used).

Fertilizing.

It bothers me that a lot of fertilizers are made with Mother Nature’s magic industrial juice: petroleum. But the reality is that fertilizers feed the grass—when they’re on it. Conversely, they do the least good when they’re on the sidewalk, street, driveway, etc., where they can run off into sewers and ultimately into water. So, petroleum-based or not, I blow fertilizer off hard surfaces onto the grass where it’ll feed it.

Clippings.

I’m increasingly of the opinion that super-mowers that blow mountains of grass all over create work. I run my big mower with the mulch plug and it saves me time. Watching landscapers blow an acre of grass clippings everywhere makes me crazy. And looks terrible. But all big and small, mulchers leave some grass behind. So one fall lawn care tip you can use year round: The fastest way to leave a tight cut is to blow the grass back onto the lawn.

Leaves.

If you’ve got a helper that doesn’t mind a nose full of dirt, combining a blower and a person raking in the same direction as airflow makes even the mightiest piles of leaves fall. Loosen them with the blower, move them with the rake.

Decks.

When I clean a deck, the first thing to do is get all the debris off. I could sweep it, but the idea is that I want to finish in my lifetime, so I blast it with the blower.

Ryobi Backpack Blower Review.

Ryobi’s 185 mph, 510 CFM BP42 backpack blower worked great for blowing grass clippings, fertilizer, pine needles and other yard debris. It starts easily, runs smoothly and gets work done. Fast. The trigger on the unit I used only reacted to smooth, slow pressure. If I ‘goosed’ the trigger (quick bursts of on-off) the engine bogged or stalled, which makes managing a leaf pile a bit tricky, because that’s how you manage it—quick puffs of air.

The backpack straps are adjustable for a comfortable mount. I like the fixed carry handle, which makes the unit easier to put away, take out, and store. The extension pipes were the typical, wobbly screw-lock style. Nothing a little tape couldn’t tighten up. This machine definitely put wind in my sails.

Mark

A licensed contractor, tool expert, wood and outdoor enthusiast, and elite Spartan Race competitor, he writes about home improvement and tools for national magazines and websites, and teaches hands-on clinics for other remodeling professionals. Check out his book, The Carpenter's Notebook.

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