Landscape Rake or What???? to Rake Grass on 6 acres

[rwinter]

My son and I mow about 6 acres using a Kubota diesel zero turn, and sometimes we let it grow long and then mow to 3.5 inches....we get a lot of cut grass piles all over the lawn, and I was wondering if a landscape rake on my Deere tractor would allow me to pull it over into a pile. If not a landscape rake, what would work? I hate to buy something expensive only to have it not work.

I own a chain farrow which is good to pull out thatch now and then, but it too leaves grass debris on the lawn, so I am pretty sure that it will not pull the grass off the lawn.

I am also thinking of seeing if I can get a mulching kit for my Kubota, so if anyone has experience with this, that would be helpful information as well.

 

[Rocky Hoffler]

A landscape rake doesn't work well for raking grass works well for leveling if you have some pinestraw a pinestraw rake works well will rake grass also as long as you have some pinestraw to hold grass in better to spend money on mulcher

 

[JCByrd24]

Try setting your cut height to the max (4-5") when mowing less frequently the normal. Taller grass is healthier anyway especially if mowing when kind of long and I find the tall grass hides clippings better. It will also leave great striping and be greener after cut. You may find that you need to mow a little more frequently than you are, but can eliminate all raking. The other thing that I found helps is to eliminate or change the shape of the discharge chute (cut it in half). Some just cannot handle the volume when mowing long and will clump up.

 

[boggen]

if you are un able to make extra rounds, to blow all the clippings into rows.... then you are looking at wanting a "vacuum trailer" that connects to the discharge of the mower deck.

nearest type of rakes that deal with clippings, would be a hay rake / hay wind row-er. but those rakes may not work to well on short clippings. the hay rakes are much like the flimsy plastic rake, or flimsy metal tine rake. for manual raking leaves to grass clippings but pulled / powered via a tractor. but all these rakes are more likely suited for long clippings. and in that more likely have less tines on them. that would more likely be needed for smaller length clippings such as folks lawns/yards.

a landscape rake / york rake, is more like a metal garden rake with short strong teeth that do not bend easily.

with above said... by the time you spent money on something, you would more likely be money ahead and less manual labor with a vacuum trailer / grass catcher. for a given mower.

 

[breadtrk]

I use a leaf sweeper. behind an old riding mower. I have to empty it often, that is a drawback.

For 6 acres and a tractor, gang 3 of them together, 2 side by side and one following in the middle. Maybe think of a way to build something much larger to catch the clippings.

The leaf sweepers can very often be found on craigslist for less than $100. I pile the clippings on my burn pile that I have never burned because it has turned into a wildlife haven, I've even built an improved brush pile on another corner of the property because of all the life in and around the first one. There are many example in Google land.