What implement to pick up oak leaf clusters

[B737]

Had a bit of a windstorm here. Entire property is covered in these oak leaf clusters.
My first thought was PTO blower into a pile (then grapple or stuff into bucket by hand), clusters are connected with branches

Next thought was a landscape rake, but don't those rip up turf? Pine straw rake? I don't own a rake but am willing to get one now
360 degrees around the house looks like this.... plus the woods.

5 FT Pine Straw Needle Rake for Cat 1, 3 Point

The Titan 5 ft Pine Straw Needle Rake is perfect for use with a compact tractor for rounding up all of those pesky pine needles!

www.palletforks.com

 

[Tughill Tom]

I use a Stihl BR 450 back pack blower. it will move leaves and just about anything else in front of it.
It does a great job of blowing off the tractor and lawn mower after each outing as well.

I use it mostly on Pine needles now.

 

[Tornado]

Ive had this happen across my ~3 acre yard area around my house when we have hurricanes down here in florida. Ive had it look 3 times that bad with numerous limbs mixed in. I put my utility trailer on my atv and drive around and pick up all the big stuff by hand. Then i just use my lawn mower and mulch the rest. I don't try to get all that up. If the area is no bigger than your picture here Id just rake it up by hand. If its several acres like this though, that's when I just would mulch it. Couple passes with my zero turn mower and it mulches it down a lot, and after a 2nd mowing a week or 2 later its pretty much not visible/noticeable anymore. It helps to use some actual mulching blades on the mower to do this. I use gator blades. 2 passes on this stuff and it just shreads it up. You could also work a pattern with the mower to keep pushing it inwardly and then when u get in the middle you may have a mound of the shredded stuff in a pile u could pick up or burn. I take the easy way out on stuff like this, because when weve had big hurricanes and my yard is slam full of this, it could turn into a ton of work if you tried to actually get it all up and move it.

Sorry, I know thats not what you were looking for. But I just watned to say that mowing it up will get rid of it. Once its mulched and then dry's out/dies, it quickly disappears. 2nd mowing will turn it almost into powder whats left. Mulching it also turns it into fertilizer of sorts as it breaks into tiny pieaces and falls down under the grass then decays in tiny particles and pieces. I do this in the fall as well when trees drop their leaves. I just mow them over and turn them to powder.

 

[B737]

It's not just the picture, that's just one tiny spot, it's all over the entire property. To pick it up by hand or hand rake will take days. Maybe the PTO leaf blower into a pile and just scoop into bucket... Would a pine straw rake work?

If i put mower deck on, and "mulch" all the stick/limbs my landscaper is gonna be pissed, he hates it when i 'mulch' anything into the lawn

 

[RCW]

Like Tornado, I would probably just mow it up into pieces and leave it there.

But my lawn is out in the country; it's nice but not highly manicured.

 

[Tornado]

It's not just the picture, that's just one tiny spot, it's all over the entire property. To pick it up by hand or hand rake will take days. Maybe the PTO leaf blower into a pile and just scoop into bucket... Would a pine straw rake work?

If i put mower deck on, and "much" all the stick/limbs my landscaper is gonna be pissed, he hates it when i 'mulch' anything into the lawn

lol I hear you B737. I am my landscaper and yard upkeep. I also live way out in the woods. As you say, trying to get debris up of that scale (and like I said after a hurricane it can be so thick u cant even see the grass hardly) I just get on the mower and in a couple hours its mulched to bits. You can still walk around and see pieces, but it honestly doesn't look bad to me after its been mulched over one time good. By the 2nd mowing its essentially gone. Once the leaves and tiny twigs die and go brittle, they just turn to dust and tiny particles under the mower. It beats picking all that up. Even using a blower would be a nightmare in my opinion if its over several acres of land. The only implement I could think of that might would work, and I doubt it will be perfect, would be a landscape rake on the 3pt. I do think this would drag a lot of it up, and would be fairly efficient in terms of time given the scale. I have a stihl Blower, and in my experience its not a good solution for lots of debris like this, that is in grass. It just doesn't blow well, you always have little twigs that stick and wont blow without a little special attention, and its just tedious and inefficient given the scale. The landscape rake, and the mulching solution are what most people around here do after hurricanes - or they rake it by hand.

Good luck

 

[Matt Ellerbee]

Mow and blow into the woods. The landscaper will get over it.

 

[B737]

my grass sucks anyways, I will throw the mower deck back on, I do have gator blades on it.
But I used this as an excuse to order pine straw rake from Titan Attachments for next time

 

[bird dogger]

Had a bit of a windstorm here. Entire property is covered in these oak leaf clusters.
My first thought was PTO blower into a pile (then grapple or stuff into bucket by hand), clusters are connected with branches

Next thought was a landscape rake, but don't those rip up turf? Pine straw rake? I don't own a rake but am willing to get one now
360 degrees around the house looks like this.... plus the woods.

5 FT Pine Straw Needle Rake for Cat 1, 3 Point

The Titan 5 ft Pine Straw Needle Rake is perfect for use with a compact tractor for rounding up all of those pesky pine needles!

www.palletforks.com

B737, I bought that exact pine needle rake for the exact same reason and use it behind my B2650. It works great!! There's a lot of cottonwood and poplar trees here and with a pretty good windstorm the acreage is littered just like your pic. the pine needle rake will gather most of it in one pass. When the rake fills up you have to dump it. I try to locate all my dumps or as much as I can in as few spots as possible and then get the grapple to scoop them up. For the price.....the titan rake is well worth the money....for my needs anyway!

I found the hookup points on it too wide for an easy hookup and would expect it would be the same for your tractor. I modified it by adding another mounting tab to the inside so the three point spread isn't so wide. that works really well. It also allows the outside tab to be used for some "stand brackets" that will leave it at the ready when not in use. I'll take some pics for you.

My big cottonwood leaves don't decay very fast so it's nice to quickly clean them up and dispose of them. It is another implement to store but I don't think you'd regret having one at all. I value it just about as much as our AgriMetal PTO leaf Blowers!!
david

edit: You can set the angle of attack with the top link and the rake won't damage the turf at all. Adjust it to be more aggressive and it'll act like a de-thatcher.

 

[B737]

Thanks @bird dogger , just the info I was looking for! Please post up some pictures of the mods you made to your rake when you get the chance. You extend the top link to de-thatch and shorten it for debris clean up?

 

[RCW]

my grass sucks anyways, I will throw the mower deck back on, I do have gator blades on it.
But I used this as an excuse to order pine straw rake from Titan Attachments for next time

B737 - it was pretty obvious you were looking for an excuse to get something...funny because I’ve been there done that!

With the storm we’ve had today, at least that dead oak was gone!

We had virtually no heavy winds, but quite a bit of rain. For the most part, it was a welcomed rain and so far haven’t heard of much flooding.

 

[B737]

you are not kidding, I was so thankful that was out in the nick of time. The winds here were nuts for a few hours.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

re: he hates it when i 'mulch' anything into the lawn

solution... let HIM take care of if !!!

Really, lawns need near constant 'top dressing', 'amendments', etc. to be healthy....

 

[B737]

I wish, a "clean up" is not included in regular cutting. I know for sure he wouldnt run his zero turns over that mess esp running baggers. But I will get it sorted before he gets here. The amount of scatter is nuts, lots of little bits, thrown everywhere.

It is not uncommon around here for people to see $1000-$2000 clean up bills regularly for Fall and Spring on semi-rural lots like mine. Storm comes through, you incur the same bill. Between that nonsense and the tree company, is really what prompted me to buy the tractor. I just couldn't stand paying those rates, if I was physically able to do the work with the assistance of a machine. A guy was telling me the daily rate for tree company on Long Island is nearing $10,000. Too many people around here. 25 more years to go. Paying my guy to cut the grass though, totally worth it!

 

[Fordtech86]

Little late here but this is what I use and it works well.

It does fill up fast when the leaves really start falling but I run them over with the zero turn a couple times and make rows for my son to pick up.

For what you got right now it wouldn’t be bad.

 

[bird dogger]

Here's some pics of my Titan Pine Needle Rake. It originally was the normal yellow but I had some Kubota orange paint.....that's a whole 'nuther story.....maybe later.

The original mounting tabs were the two outside tabs on each end but were quite wide for the B2650 hitch. So another tab to the inside on each end was added with the same spacing to allow use of the same supplied pins. Rather than cut off the outer tab, I made some stand brackets that slipped into those unused tabs and can be pinned in place. the short angle piece welded to the stand keeps it from rotating once in place and is set to give it a little wider footprint to keep from tipping forward. It's nothing fancy but they work great. Without it standing at the ready, its a pain to hold it up manually and try to get the hitch pins lined up and in place!

It might also work to just add some bolt on hitch pins (pointed to the inside) to the inside tabs and you wouldn't have to fab up some extra tabs to weld on. And that would still leave the outside tabs for some stand brackets. I'll also post a few pics of the storage pins for the stand brackets.

david

 

[bird dogger]

Here's pics of how I store the stands on the rake while in use or if I plan to take the rake to another location. Two pins were added on each end that matched two holes in each stand piece. the stand placed over those pins and clipped in place. Pretty simple.

the last pic gives you an idea of the width of the original hitch spread. Originally at 29 inches on center, adding the two inside tabs reduced it to 23 inches on center which is much more manageable.

I might even try adding the bolt on hitch pins to the inside to reduce the width even more, but more so because they'd make for a little bit easier hookup than the way it is.

And to remove it from the tractor: raise it up off the ground just a bit, put the stands in place and set it down. Uncouple the hitch and its ready for the next time.

B737, you're right. Adjusting the top link "in" or "out" will change the rake from gentle to aggressive raking. But even set to be aggressive there just isn't much weight on the rake to do much if any damage to the lawn.

Regards,
david

 

[bird dogger]

Pine needle rake painting…..condensed version: New pine needle rake pre assembly. Needed Kubota orange paint for a few projects so bought a gallon of the Rustoleum. Rake parts hanging from paint rod in shop after prepping. Simple paint job shouldn’t require precautions….will paint right from new gallon can and no drop cloth on floor. Didn’t know cat had snuck into shop behind me. Mid paint job, stepped on cat’s tail or foot and chaos ensued. New gallon paint can now on the floor. 1st instant: My! That’s a pretty color! 2nd Instant: OMG, that’s spreading fast and now looking like the Rising Sun of the Japanese Imperial Army! 3rd Instant: Better contain, scoop up and save the paint. 4th Instant: Spied the broom pan and began using it to scoop up the paint and floor dry around the perimeter back into the paint can.

After it was all scooped up and back into the can, I strained it through a paint filter and saved all but maybe a half pint. But it took a good hour to get that “Rising Sun” paint job off the concrete floor with some paint thinner and stiff bristle brush. At least no one else was around to see the commotion! Paint now in some quart canning jars. Custom paint job on my boots. If it wasn’t so funny, I might have shot the cat! Instead, it's minus another of its nine lives!

 

[B737]

LOL omg that is classic, you cant make this stuff up!!

that is a first class job Dogger! I think I will try the bracket and stand idea, need to find some scrap metal, that stuff looks pretty thick for my little Handler 210 but I think i will take a shot at it.

 

[bird dogger]

LOL omg that is classic, you cant make this stuff up!!

that is a first class job Dogger! I think I will try the bracket and stand idea, need to find some scrap metal, that stuff looks pretty thick for my little Handler 210 but I think i will take a shot at it.

You're right and sometimes you just have to laugh at your own stupid mistakes!!


B737, thanks for the compliments! Your Handler 210 will easily handle the job! That's a nice outfit! It's essentially the same size as my old Lincoln welder that does everything its asked to do. On small projects around here, very seldom do I have to pay attention to the duty cycle at full output.
david