Which attachment do I need?

[GSMC]

Hi guys, I have a rookie question here. I'm trying to keep my finished lawn clean of pine needles, sticks, leaves and normal debris. Is there an attachment I could pull behind my BX? From what I read about landscape rakes, they seem to do more than just pickup debris. I'm not going to be planting anything and, I looked at the postings on the BX bagger, and everyone seems less than impressed with these units. I thought about a billygoat. Anything but a hand rake, I'd be out there forever.
Thanks for your good advice!

 

[ronjhall]

GSMC
The best tool I use is my MMM./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif With the high lift that <font color=orange>Kubota</font color=orange> provides on their mowers. My lawn looks clean. The only problem I have is with apples and other fruits. I have been using the mower on them too. But I think I'm losing the battle. Had to go out and shovel them into the FEL bucket last weekend./w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif Sure does smell after they start to rot./w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

 

[PitbullMidwest]

Ron,

Growing up we had apple trees. My all time least favorite job as a kid was "apple duty." Had to pick up all the apples before pop could mow the yard. When my brother and I were old enough to do the mowing we thought we were so much smarter, just mow over them! Of course after being cut up and laying in the hot Iowa sun for a few days they would start to stink and pop would make us go pick them up anyway.

At that time you could put them out as yard waste for garbage pickup, I learned how to cuss from listening to those garbage men as they dumped bushel baskets of rotting, stinking apples into their truck. I always thought that maybe they had something to do with both trees dying the same year. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[TonyC]

I don't know how much lawn you have but the only thing I have found that works for that task is some sort of vacuum system...either a pull behind or a walk behind. A nice big one with its own covered trailer would do nicely. You'd have to use the draw bar to pull it.

 

[Timd]

Two best options:

http://www.trac-vac.com
http://www.billygoat.com/vacuums.html

The billy goat vac is carried by a lot of tool rental companies.
I plan on trying that in a couple weeks to see how it does on
matted wet pine needles. I have their QB small frame leaf
blower with the 5 horse Honda engine and love it. But it
doesn't handle pine needles too well. If the billy goat vac
doesn't cut it I'll start thinking trac vac.

Timd

 

[jdrotert]

In April, I bought a new (to me) house on 3.5 acres of lawn. I wanted mostly woods, but the house was meticulously maintained and was large enough for a growing family. So I bought a tractor with a 5' finish mower. I keep the front neat, but the back grows so much faster. There is always cut grass laying around in back. We have gumball (or whatever you call them) trees in front. I purchased a 42" pull-behind lawn sweeper from Sears (probably an Agri-Fab) to pick up these gumballs. One day when I was home with my sick daughter, I swept the entire lawn (all 3.5 acres) and put all the grass around the trees for mulch. WHEW! That took 3 hours! /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif Then I got to thinking... Does Agri-Fab or anyone else make a wider-than-42" lawn sweep? I'm also thinking price here. I kinda thought about buying some sweeper bars from Agri-Fab and making my own wider sweep- say 6' (or 10' with hydraulic dump arms! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif)
john