Hopefully, we’ve already convinced you of the beauty and benefits of mulch. If not, don’t worry. We’ll give it another go in a bit.
Meanwhile, what’s the next best thing to a fresh carpet of rich brown mulch?
A monster of a machine that will spread it with powerful ease, in half the time of a crew working by hand.
Meet our mulch blowers. (You might want to stand back a little further.)
How does a mulch blower work? Why should you care? Level Green Landscaping operations manager Bradley Sarno fills us in.
How Does A Mulch Blower Work?
These large machines are pulled behind a truck, like a trailer. Powered by a diesel engine, a conveyor system inside feeds the loaded mulch toward a paddle that directs it to a hose. The force of high velocity air blows the mulch through the hose to wherever the operator directs it.
“It’s almost like you’re making it snow,” Sarno says, “but with mulch.
“Depending on how wet, dry, heavy or light the mulch is, you control the flow,” he says. The operator wears the controls around his waist on a belt.
Level Green Landscaping owns two mulch blowers. The larger machine is fed mulch from a loader or tractor. The smaller one is hand fed by a crew member who loads the mulch in with a pitchfork.
Crews take the smaller machine for jobs in the city that require less mulch, while the larger machine is ideal for more expansive jobs like sprawling shopping centers or universities with lots of ground to cover.
Why Use A Mulch Blowing Service?
Spreading mulch the old-fashioned way — with wheelbarrows, pitchforks and shovels — takes a lot of time and toil.
These hi-tech mulch blowers require just two crew members to man a truck that blows mulch quickly and efficiently through a hose, in a fraction of the time it takes a 10-person crew to spread it by hand.
What are the Benefits of Using a Mulch Blower?
Speed
“It’s a real labor saver,” Sarno says. “We can spread mulch in half the time it takes a crew to do it by hand.
One man can typically spread a yard of mulch by hand in one hour, he says. Using the blower, two men can spread 60 yards in a day.
That means crews spend less time on your property. We can get in and get out, leaving behind a perfectly spread layer of pretty mulch.
Accessibility
Steep slopes? Inaccessible areas? Fragile soil?
No problem. These blowers are equipped with an extensive length of hose to reach tricky areas.
“In places where there are slopes or hills, it’s not ideal to deliver mulch in wheelbarrows,” Sarno says. “Nobody wants to push full wheelbarrows up a hill.
“In the city, we sometimes need to spread mulch on a rooftop,” he says. “Instead of hauling the mulch through hallways and monopolizing the service elevator all day, the hose goes up from the outside right to the rooftop. I’ve seen hoses go up the sides of 11-story buildings.”
Cost Savings
“Labor is our biggest expense,” Sarno says. “If we can save this much time, and still deliver high quality service, we can pass that savings on in the form of more competitive bids.”
Standardized Work
“We work hard at Level Green to standardize our processes,” Sarno says. “Just like how McDonalds standardizes its quarter pounder with cheese. You know just how many pickles and how much cheese you’ll get when you order one. We can do the same thing with mulch.”
When crews spread mulch by hand, some prefer to use pitchforks. Others like to kneel in the mulch and even it out with their hands, he says. With the blower, the air flow directs an even amount, every time.
Easier On Workers
“There’s a lot less wear and tear on the operator using the blower than pushing mulch around in wheelbarrows and spreading it by hand,” Sarno says. “It’s a real back saver.”
Crew members get a four-hour training on how to safely use and maintain the machines, he says.
What’s So Great About Mulch?
Told you we’d get back to this.
Mulch helps your soil retain moisture, so you won't have to water as much. It keeps those pesky weeds at bay by blocking the sunlight they need to sprout. It prevents rain from washing away your landscape soil.
As time passes, you’ll notice your organic mulch will settle and look thin. That means it’s breaking down, enriching your soil and making it more fertile.
So even when it’s worn out, mulch is still hard at work to improve your landscape.
And you just can’t beat the neat, tidy beauty of a fresh layer of rich, dark mulch.
Level Green Landscaping: Mulch Experts
Need mulch? Of course you do. It doesn’t get any better than Level Green’s mulch blowing service.
“We want to put all the best tools in the hands of our employees,” Sarno says. Level Green takes pride in being ahead of the game in technology compared to many competitors, he says.
If you’re not already a Level Green Landscaping client, we’d love to add you to our growing list of happy customers.
Our focus is on commercial properties like offices, mixed-use sites, HOAs, municipalities and institutions in Maryland, Washington DC and parts of Virginia.
Contact us at 202-544-0968. You can also request a free consultation online to meet with us one-on-one.
We’d love to hear from you.
