Best attachment for removing pine needles?

[Mustard Tiger]

Last two years at the new place I've raked all the pine needles by hand. It takes forever. I had several burn piles of needles along with filling a 30 yard dumpster each year., with each dumpster holding 3+ tons of pine needles! It gets old real quick, let me tell you.

Wondering what the best attachment would be for cleaning up pine needles from the yard and gravel driveway? I've seen pine straw rakes from both Titan and Everything Attachments. The Everything Attachments version is twice the price of the Titan, and for such a simple implement, not sure it's worth the premium price.

Wondering if anyone has used either of these for my intended purpose and what your experience has been. Also open for other suggestions if you know of something differnt that is great for gathering pine needles. I really don't want to do this by hand anymore!

Thanks!

EA and Titan versions below:

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

You can get them in 60" or 72"

Amazon.com : 72 Inch 3 Point Tractor Rake, Pine Straw Needle Rakes, Durable Powder Coated Steel Spring Landscape Rake Fit for Cat0, Cat1, Orange : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Amazon.com : 72 Inch 3 Point Tractor Rake, Pine Straw Needle Rakes, Durable Powder Coated Steel Spring Landscape Rake Fit for Cat0, Cat1, Orange : Patio, Lawn & Garden

www.amazon.com

 

[old and tired]

I would be looking at a PTO blower instead!!!

 

[Bearcatrp]

Those tines are too wide for pine needles. I have the top one. I added the wheels and mesh. Check this link for pictures of mine. Haven’t used it yet.

3 point rakes

Anyone have one like this. If so, how well does it rake? Rake small stuff...

www.orangetractortalks.com

 

[biketopia]

I have the Amazon version and it works great, just as intended and was under $200.

 

[Mustard Tiger]

Those tines are too wide for pine needles. I have the top one. I added the wheels and mesh. Check this link for pictures of mine. Haven’t used it yet.

3 point rakes

Anyone have one like this. If so, how well does it rake? Rake small stuff...

www.orangetractortalks.com

I dont think the tines are too far apart. Pine needles are kind of like velcro. The nice thing about raking them is they kind of cling to each other and ball up and the more of them that are on the ground, the more they adhere to each other. And I'm not talking about a few pine needles. I raked up 3 tons of them into a 30-yard dumpster and burned I dont know how much just this spring, and that was after doing the same thing last spring.

 

[torch]

Wondering if anyone has used either of these for my intended purpose and what your experience has been. Also open for other suggestions if you know of something differnt that is great for gathering pine needles. I really don't want to do this by hand anymore!

I bought the Titan a few years ago for the same intended purpose. Works OK on leaves*, so-so on pine needles. Yes, if the mat of needles is thick enough they will jam together and the rake will drag most of the mat into a pile. But the rake mostly just combs a thin layer into straight rows.

*up to a point. Once the leaf pile gets up to a certain weight/density the tines fold back too much and start losing leaves off the bottom. At that point it's time to turn the tractor around and load the pile into the bucket for disposal. Backpack leaf blower (Stihl BR600) works as well or better on dry leaves, although the rake may have the advantage on wet leaves.

Also, care must be taken with getting the angle just right on lawns or it can tear up clumps of grass. Less of an issue on the gravel drive.

 

[Old Machinist]

Around here they bale and sell them for mulch. If you have that many you might try contacting someone in that business to see if they would take them off your hands for free.

As far as picking stuff up without damaging the lawn a sweeper is hard to beat. A large area would be best done with the vac wagon type.

 

[Mustard Tiger]

I bought the Titan a few years ago for the same intended purpose. Works OK on leaves*, so-so on pine needles. Yes, if the mat of needles is thick enough they will jam together and the rake will drag most of the mat into a pile. But the rake mostly just combs a thin layer into straight rows.

*up to a point. Once the leaf pile gets up to a certain weight/density the tines fold back too much and start losing leaves off the bottom. At that point it's time to turn the tractor around and load the pile into the bucket for disposal. Backpack leaf blower (Stihl BR600) works as well or better on dry leaves, although the rake may have the advantage on wet leaves.

Also, care must be taken with getting the angle just right on lawns or it can tear up clumps of grass. Less of an issue on the gravel drive.

All great points, and thank you.

Good think for me is I don't have a lawn, so no fear of tines tearing it up!

On one side of the property I started raking the needles into piles and just burning them there, and would have multiple smaller piles burning, so dragging them with the tractor and attachment until they start bending the tines seems like it would work and I wouldn't have do do so much of it by hand.

I also have a Stihl Kombi Tool with the blower attachment and that did surprisingly well with the needles on the gravel driveway.

 

[Sidekick]

I bought one of those needle rakes and sold it after the first use. My Cyclone rake will pick stuff like that with lift blades on my BX.