Repurpose Fallen Leaves with the 8 Best Leaf Mulchers

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Before you line your curb with garbage bags full of dead leaves this fall, we’d like to remind you that there’s a better, more environmentally friendly way to dispose of your fall foliage. Leaf mulchers break the fall debris down into tiny pieces, allowing you to recycle them as compost to nourish your lawn and garden. Even if you don’t use the compost, a mulcher also makes it easier to dispose of leaves, allowing you to cram as much as 18 times more leaves in a single bag.

The best leaf mulchers come in a variety of types and sizes, including handheld models that double as leaf blowers, standalone leaf mulchers that can shred through larger amounts of leaves, and extra-large tow-behind models that can chew through twigs and acorns.

Whatever your fall yard cleanup looks like, we can help you find the right machine to get the job done.

Leaf Peeping? More Like Leaf Tossing: Best Cordless Leaf Blowers ● Best Backpack Leaf Blowers ● Best Leaf Bags

Best Leaf Mulchers

• Best Overall: Echo ES-250 Shred ‘N’ Vac Gas Handheld Leaf Blower

• Best Value: Black+Decker 12 Amp Vacpack 3-in-1 Electric Leaf Blower, Leaf Vacuum, Mulcher

• Best Stationary: Worx 13 Amp Electric Leaf Mulcher

• Best Walk-Behind Mulcher: Craftsman CSV060 24-Inch Lawn Vacuum

• Best Cordless Handheld: Ryobi 40V Vac Attack Leaf Mulcher

What to Consider When Purchasing a Leaf Mulcher

Before you run out and buy the first leaf mulcher you can find, it’s important to understand what these machines are (and are not) capable of doing. Leaf mulchers use a steel impeller or flexible line, similar to what you’d find in a string trimmer, to shred dry leaves into smaller particles that will compost easily or make your lawn cleanup easy.

Keep in mind that you should try to avoid feeding anything harder or heavier than leaves into your mulcher. Large mulchers can handle light lawn debris, such as twigs and acorns, but even the biggest ones are primarily made for processing leaves, not sticks or branches. For that job, you’ll need a wood chipper.

Types of Leaf Mulchers

Leaf mulchers come in a few different forms, ranging from handheld models for small jobs to large machines that you can tow behind an ATV or lawn tractor. When selecting leaf mulcher, you’ll want to consider not just the size of your yard but also the amount of leaves you have to deal with each fall.

A large property with a few trees may only require a small handheld blower, but a smaller property in a heavily wooded area might require a larger stationary model.

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Electric vs Gas

Electric leaf mulchers are easy to start, lighter, quieter, and less harsh on the environment than their gas-powered counterparts. As with most lawn machines, that efficiency comes at the expense of power. They’re also limited by either the length of their power cords, or the runtime of their rechargeable batteries.

That said, if you have a smaller to medium-sized yard and deal with a moderate amount of leaves each fall, an electric mulcher will serve you well.

Gas-powered leaf mulchers are ideal if you need the power to chop up wet leaves or chew through larger debris. However, they are also heavier, more difficult to start, and harsher on the environment. If you need to clear thick blankets of leaves each fall, you’ll want the power that comes with a gas-powered mulcher.

Mulch Ratio

Mulch ratio is a practical measurement of your mulcher’s power, indicating how many bags of dry leaves you’ll need to make a full bag of mulch. For example, a mulcher with a 10:1 mulch ratio will grind 10 bags of dry leaves into a one similarly sized bag of mulch.

Modern mulchers can generally churn at a ratio between 8:1 and 18:1. The greater the ratio, the more leaves it takes to fill a bag of mulch. That means a finer, higher-quality compost material and fewer bags on the curb. While a mulcher with a higher mulch ratio is always preferred, there’s no sense springing for one that boasts a 16:1 ratio unless you’re planning to use the mulch for compost or have a lot of leaves to break down.

How We Evaluated The Best Leaf Mulchers

To select the best leaf mulchers, I relied on prior testing experience. I’ve used both handheld and stationary mulchers to break down leaves and twigs for fall leaf clearing and storm clean-up for the past 10 years. In addition, I carefully analyzed each mulcher’s specs, paying careful attention to motor size and mulch ratio, and read through dozens of customer reviews. Whether you’re looking for a small handheld blower for cleaning up a small yard or are tasked with clearing a thick carpet of leaves from a large yard each fall, one of our picks is sure to suit your needs.

With a powerful 25.4 cc gas engine, the Echo ES-250 Shred ‘N’ Vac is a strong leaf blower and mulcher in a single machine, giving you all the tools you need to clear a large leaf-covered yard. The Shred ‘N’ Vac can push up to 391 CFM of air at a max air speed of 165 miles per hour in leaf blower mode, which is above average power for a handheld model without a backpack motor.

After blowing leaves into a pile, you can convert it from blower to mulcher and vacuum the leaves into a large two-bushel collection bag. The Shred ‘N’ Vac boasts a 12:1 mulching ratio, making short work of your whole lawn and rewarding you with a small amount of fine mulch.

Regardless of what mode you use, its easy-to-start electric ignition and cruise control makes it easy to operate. The Echo ES-250 combines two lawn machines and excels at both tasks, making it a strong choice for most homeowners.

With a price tag well under $100, Black+Decker’s handheld combination leaf blower-mulcher is an affordable and appealing one-stop shop. It’s powerful enough in blower mode to handle medium-sized yards, with enough power to move clumps of wet grass or even stray pieces of mulch. In mulch mode, it boasts a respectable 10:1 mulching ratio with a 1.5 bushel bag.

Last, but not least, it only weighs 8.1 pounds, so it is easier to handle than most gas-powered models. Like our top pick, Black+Decker combines two essential lawn tools, but offers them at a price that should appeal to folks who only plan to clear their lawn once or twice a year. Just keep in mind that you need an extension cord to run it, which limits its range to the length of your cord. For any plug-in yard tool, we recommend a sturdy 12-gauge extension cord rated for outdoor use.

A simple and affordable design makes this stationary leaf mulcher a valuable sidekick for the fall. The Worx corded electric stationary mulcher runs off a 13 amp, 2 horsepower motor that’s capable of chewing through up to 53 gallons of leaves per minute with an impressive 11:1 mulching ratio. However, it uses a flexible line instead of a metal impeller to shred leaves, which you will occasionally need to replace.

The Worx weighs 20 pounds, which isn’t all that heavy for a stationary mulcher, and it can be assembled without tools, making for easy setup. You can attach disposable garbage bags to pick up your mulch, cutting down on cleanup.

The Worx mulcher keeps things simple, and is an excellent choice for households with light-to-moderate leaf clearing demands.

With a large collection bag and versatile design, the Craftsman CSV060 walk-behind leaf mulcher lets you skip the blowing and raking and just clear the leaves as you roll it around. The 24-inch vacuum opening clears a broad swath of your leaf-covered yard with each pass. While the 8:1 mulch ratio is merely passable, the large 2-bushel bag ensures you can cover a lot of ground before pausing to empty it out.

A powerful 163-cc engine allows it to chop up acorns and even small branches with your leaves, so there’s little need to worry about clearing your property before you mulch. It also has a 3-foot vacuum tube attachment that extends from the mulcher to let you clear them out hard-to-reach spots, like under bushes and inside landscaping beds.

One thing to keep in mind: Unlike some walk-behind leaf vacuums, the CSV060 is not self-propelled, so you’ll need to push it to keep it going. That may make using it a chore if you have any hills on your property. Still, so long as you keep it on even ground, it’s a solid performer for larger yards.

If you want to cut the cord, Ryobi’s Vac Attack mulcher is a great companion to either your rake or leaf blower. While it has a very short runtime–just 12 minutes–it boasts a sky high 16:1 mulch ratio so you should be able to gather up and shred a huge pile of leaves in that time. And your clipping will either make for ultra-fine compost or an easy trash pickup.

I also love that the mulcher comes equipped with wheels at the end of the intake tube, which allows you to roll it along the ground, which is much easier on your back than other handheld models. As part of Ryobi’s “Whisper Series,” it features an internal foam lining to minimize how much noise it makes. While most mulchers run at around 65 decibels, Ryobi’s mulcher operates at 57 decibels. This is a small option for cleaning up lighter loads, and works best if you pair it with a blower, but it’s a fine choice if you care about the quality of your compost.

If this is your choice, you may also want consider having an extra battery on hand to slide in when the first battery runs out of juice.

If you routinely find your lawn carpeted with a thick layer of yellow, red, and orange each fall, then you may need something more powerful than a conventional mulcher can offer. This chipper/mulcher from DK2 has a powerful 7-horsepower engine that produces a sky-high 20:1 mulch ratio, breaking down leaves to fine particles.

As a wood chipper, it chews through brush and branches up to 3 inches in diameter, so it’s also a good all-around machine for breaking down yard waste. You can switch between mulching and chipping in seconds by simply pulling out or inserting a metal gate. Though it looks more like an industrial wood chipper than something the average homeowner might own, it stands out for mulching because it features a vacuum attachment, so you can suck up nearby piles of leaves, rather than stuffing them down the chipper chute.

Despite its large size and heavy weight, the DK2 is surprisingly mobile thanks to a reversible hitch that allows you to wheel the chipper around from behind or attach it to the back of an ATV or lawn tractor for towing.

The Troy-Bilt TB272V puts as much power behind its leaf blowing and mulching as possible in a handheld format. The standout feature is its 27cc gas motor. When used as a leaf blower, it produces a max air volume of 450 cfm at up to 205 miles per hour, making it one of the most powerful handheld leaf blowers out there.

After piling it all up, the TB272V converts to a mulcher by detaching the blower end and connecting the vacuum attachment to a 1.5 bushel collection bag. With its impressive 16:1 mulch ratio, you can grind up a lot of leaves, and the mulch will make for excellent compost.

It also has plenty of quality of life features, including an easy-start recoil mechanism, a handle, and cruise control to make things easier on the hands.

Q+A with Lawncare Expert Tony Carrick

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