5 Makita Tools To Get Your Yard Ready For Fall

The season of autumn comes with a whole new round of chores that need to be done around the house, and even though the red and orange leaves look pretty in the trees, they'll eventually fall, leaving your yard blanketed. Though dead leaves can become nutritious for your soil over time as they decompose, it's not good for your grass when it tries to grow again in the spring. That said, this chore can be a hassle, along with other necessary fall jobs around the yard like trimming branches and cutting firewood.

Makita has a full fleet of outdoor power equipment that can help with all types of jobs around the yard and home. While browsing through what Makita has to offer, it can get a bit overwhelming figuring out what you need to complete your yard maintenance to-do list. Having said that, based on the season's necessities as well as user reviews and ratings at Home Depot, here are five Makita tools to help you prep your yard for fall. Keep in mind that each tool discussed is priced for the tool-only option. A more in-depth explanation of our methodology can be found at the bottom of this article.

A strong blower can be the tool that makes the difference when you need to gather your leaves, especially if they're falling from more than one tree in your yard. With rain storms that frequent the fall season, it's important to choose a blower that can handle both dry and wet leaves and debris. Makita has a few blower options with different power levels, but at a high level is the 40V Max XGT Brushless Cordless Blower for $259 at Home Depot.

This blower delivers up to 565 CFM and 143 MPH blowing speed. It also has a turbo boost for those hard-to-lift wet leaves and debris. However, with a 4.0 Ah battery, you'll only get around 35 minutes of runtime. Of course, the cruise control and variable speed can help adjust the blower's power and potentially manage the tool's runtime a bit better for you.

The tool has an overall rating of 4.6 out of five stars at Home Depot. To get an understanding of how well the blower works against other Makita blowers, Techillusion EN did a review, testing a few of Makita's most powerful blowers: the 18V, 36V, and 40V. Each blower had its perks — however, the 40V Max listed here proved to be able to move leaves quickly while being considerably lighter than the Makita 36V counterpart. The YouTuber did state that he felt like his arm was about to fall off with the less powerful one and the 40V gave a more comfortable experience.

During the warmer months, hedges tend to grow a lot faster, so it may be a good idea to trim them down before the colder season comes in. Makita's 18V LXT 22 Inch Hedge Trimmer, priced at $189 at Home Depot, is a midsize compared to Makita's other hedge trimmers, which go from 18 inches to 30 inches. Due to its blade size, you'll be able to conveniently cut into both smaller brush and wider bushes. However, it does have the downside of having a noise rating of 87 dB, which isn't quiet.

With a 4.7 out of five star rating from nearly 400 users at Home Depot, this 22 inch blade hedge trimmer comes with an anti-vibration design due to the five cushions built within the motor housing. Less vibration running through the power tool means you have more control over your cuts. Even better, the tool weighs only 7.4 pounds, which includes the battery weight, so you won't get tired too quickly. Additionally, for safety purposes, it does require two-handed operation — the motor will only activate if the switch and the top handle are engaged. However, the hand placements are rubberized.

Just be aware that depending on what kind of climate you live in, your bushes may start growing slower due to the incoming colder weather. Due to that, you're not going to want to prune your hedges as closely as you would in the spring. Just shape them up in a way that you won't mind looking at all winter long.

A backpack sprayer is great for multiple reasons such as putting down weed control, fertilizer, and pest control. All of these help to keep unwanted nuisances out throughout the fall and winter and promote healthier gardens and yards when spring rolls back around. Makita's 18V LXT Cordless 1.3 Gallon Sprayer is the smallest option from the tool company but still packs a lot of power. For $170 at Home Depot, this little guy delivers up to 38 PSI and has variable mist to jet nozzle adjustments. It can also spray up to 90 gallons using one 5.0 Ah battery.

The spray wand has several features to it. First off, it can telescope from 20 to 27 inches. It also comes with two nozzle heads — one for targeted spraying or two for a wider coverage. That said, the nozzle heads also rotate for convenience and the sprayer handle has a lock, so it can be continuously used without forming a hand cramp. This appliance has a respectable 4.5 out of five star rating at Home Depot, although only with a small sample of 16 users scoring. 

Between dealing with the seasonal storms and collecting firewood, a chainsaw can become one of the most helpful power tools to own during the fall. One of Makita's more powerful battery-operated chainsaws with a long bar length is the 36V LXT 16 Inch Brushless Chainsaw for $354 at Home Depot. Due to the 16 inch bar length and chain size, this chainsaw can offer up to a 14 inch cut diameter. It also provides a chain speed of 44.77 mps. The handle type is a rear handle as opposed to the top handle style that some professionals like to use.

This chainsaw has a 4.5 out of five star rating at Home Depot from nearly 100 users, as well as some rave reviews on discussion forums, where users were impressed with its ability to cut through many types of wood such as cherry, maple, oak, and locust.

Though string trimmers are mainly used for spring and summer outdoor chores, they do have their uses in the fall. Even after the last cut and trim of the season, there can still be accumulated overgrowth in yards and along walkways, where weeds and other brush are usually fairly weak, so a string trimmer has just the right amount of power to cut it down no problem. The 36V LXT Brushless String Trimmer is part of Makita's 18V battery line and as a tool only, runs for $329. It also has a 4.7 out of five star rating from nearly 400 users.

With a 5.0 Ah battery, this string trimmer can get up to 1.5 hours of run time. It also comes with automatic torque drive technology which will shift the tool between 3,500 – 6,500 RPM to help extend the running time to its full potential. Keep in mind, it has a one inch cutting swath ability, so you'll need to work with it to get the most out of it, but it also comes with a reverse rotation feature to help get it unstuck if you're going to use it in a thicker brush.

The products in this article were chosen based primarily on yard maintenance needs during the fall season. Additionally, we also considered user reviews and ratings from both Home Depot and Amazon. All the tools mentioned in this article have at least a 4.5 out of five star rating at Home Depot. 

It did come to our attention, though, that Makita does not have some of the same useful seasonal outdoor tools as other brands. For example, Ryobi has a couple of choices for electric log splitters to prepare firewood for the upcoming cold months. That said, if Makita is lacking in the way of specialized tools, the company does have many tools to help with your next project, whatever that may be.