Under Newton’s new leaf blower ordinance, gas powered leaf blowers cannot be used from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
But the legislation also includes this provision:
During times of emergency caused by a storm or other special circumstance, the Mayor or his designee may temporarily suspend application of all or a portion of this section for purposes of cleaning up from such storm or other special circumstance.
Based on what I’ve been reading about the giant tar spot virus, this seems to be one of those times when Mayor Warren should make an exception. This is not an argument against the ban itself but specifically because experts are recommending that the best way to keep the virus from reinfecting next year is by removing the leaves (and not composting them either).
This is from the website Green Living….
To avoid the spread of fungal spores it is best to rake the affected leaves this fall. Destroy the leaves or remove them from your yard by bagging them for municipal collection. If you ignore tar spot and allow the fallen leaves to remain on the ground through the winter, your maples will develop tar spot again next year. If, however, you remove the infected leaves from the area you reduce the chances of the tree being infected the following year. After three years of diligently raking the fallen leaves around my maple tree, this was the first year it did not show signs of tar spot infection.
and this from WCVB
Experts suggest rake up the leaves as you would in fall, but recommend getting rid of the diseased leaves so the spores aren’t sitting around next year.
Many Newton lawns and parks are already covered with fallen leaves from maples affected by this fungus. And, yes, allowing gas blowers to operate across the city two weeks earlier may make these final days of summer a little less pleasant. But if there’s a long term benefit to the health of our trees to removing these leaves from our properties then shouldn’t we make removing these leaves as easy as possible?
Suspending the ban seems pretty hysterical to me. From what I’ve read, this fungus isn’t anything new, it’s cosmetic, and doesn’t affect the health of the trees. The leaves can be raked now or picked up in the fall–they just shouldn’t overwinter on the ground. Here’s some helpful info from Cornell:
http://plantclinic.cornell.edu/factsheets/tarspotofmaple.pdf
@Grant: I wouldn’t characterize exercising a provision that was part of the ordinance precisely for special circumstances such as this as “hysterical.”
Gas blowers will be legally allowable two weeks anyway. Between now and then some people will rake them before that, others will just let them blow around to other properties, parks and wooden areas.
BTW, I’ve never used and doesn’t own a leaf blower but I live on a street with plenty of infected leaves on the ground. I’d rather make it as easy as possible for my neighbors to clean them up now.
O… M… G… Mr. Reibman, it would be horrible, just horrible for the poor ears of so many super-sensitive Newtonians. Their ever so precious quality of life would just degrade precipitously. I know neither how they would survive nor how you could even make such a monstrous suggestion.
Greg, you quote Green Living saying, “it is best to rake the affected leaves this fall.”
A. Raking. Not gas leaf blowers. In fact, that same website says (under its Eco-Responsible Landscaping Tips): “Avoid leaf blowers — These noisy, polluting machines stir up dust that may contain bacteria, parasites and spores. Manual leaf collection methods save energy and have a smaller impact on your health.”
B. In the fall. As Grant noted, the leaves can be picked up now or in the fall — anytime before winter.
The problem I always had with the leaf blower debate was that it always focused on our residential blocks and never took into account large parcels belonging to businesses, condo associations, non-profits and the city.
My yard is small. I’ve never even held a leaf blower in my hands, let alone used one. So I’m not suggesting this for my convenience.
I am asking to do this for our trees.
If one wants to accept the word of experts who recommend the leaves be removed so as to lessen the chance of the same fungus infecting our trees next year, why not (pardon the pun) nip this in the bud by exercising a provision in the ordinance that seems to have been created for just such circumstances? It’s two weeks.
Not for me. For the trees!
Speaking from a point of total ignorance (my favorite perch), I have a question.
The Green Newton excerpts above say:
* Get rid of the leaves so that the spores don’t spread next year.
* Leafblowers stir up dust and spores
Does that mean that using leafblowers on spore laden leaves is exactly the worse thing to do to keep the spores from spreading. …. just wondering
If indeed leaf blowing exacerbates the spreading of the spores, then I happy to change my position on this.
I love it when this blog helps me see the errors of my original thinking. Really I do.
Umm…it is 2 weeks. Chill out everyone. You can use your blower soon enough. Or you can get an electric blower. Or you can follow logic and not blow the mold everywhere for the sake of convenience.
So possible solutions to the faux problem:
1) Wait 2 weeks (the horror)
2) Use a rake
3) Buy an electric blower for $60
Leaves fall early sometimes, for mold and other reasons. No leaves are falling yet in my neighborhood. We’ll be fine.
I plan to rake. The weather is nice. I could use more exercise. And I also suspect that leaf blowing would shake off more spores into the soil than raking.
I just finished raking and filled two large barrels with the leaves from just one Norway Maple that is located across the street from my house. They weigh almost nothing and crumble at the slightest touch. And only half the leaves had fallen from that single tree as of this morning. We used to have 7 Norway maples on my berm and two other berms serving my two immediate neighbors. This is the only one left. We can’t get replacement trees because there is a very small gas leak on one of our berms. It’s a Catch 22 because the leak is too small for the Gas Company to treat it as a priority, but not small enough to get the City to plant the new trees.
Unless I’m reading this wrong, there is a State Regulation requiring the use of quieter leaf blowers:
310 Code of Massachusetts Regulations
7.00: AIR POLLUTION CONTROL
7.10: Noise
(1) No person owning, leasing, or controlling a source of sound shall willfully, negligently, or through failure to provide necessary equipment, service, or maintenance or to take necessary precautions cause, suffer, allow, or permit unnecessary emissions from said source of sound that may cause noise.
(2) 310 CMR 7.10(1) shall pertain to, but shall not be limited to, prolonged unattended sounding of burglar alarms, construction and demolition equipment which characteristically emit sound but which may be fitted and accommodated with equipment such as enclosures to suppress sound or may be operated in a manner so as to suppress sound, suppressible and preventable industrial and commercial sources of sound, and other man-made sounds that cause noise. (3) 310 CMR
310 CMR 7:10(1) excludes “(d) domestic equipment such as lawn mowers and power saws between the hours of 7:00 A.M. and 9:00 P.M.” (page 116 of http://www.mass.gov/courts/docs/lawlib/300-399cmr/310cmr7.pdf))
Hi Alix – I did see that, but isn’t the difference between domestic and commercial based on who owns the equipment? For example, my hammer – domestic equipment, construction worker’s hammer used on job site – commercial equipment.
Sorry – Alex!
Hi Lucia, I do think the restriction likely applies to the use of leaf blowers for commercial purposes (i.e., for renumeration), but it likely will take someone with applicable legal expertise to determine.
Thank you.
Instant lawsuit if he tries it.