Rake landscape rake

[jand38]

I have 100 plus trees on 5 acres would a landscape rake help me keep the limbs pick up,doing this chore by hand is a lot of work. Would a T/S rake work or do I need a high $ item? I know some recomend gauge wheels and tines with 2 bolts but for rakeing limbs do I need this additional hardware? Back is hurting, wife getting grumpy and limbs continue to fall.

 

[IslandTractor]

A landscape rake with gauge wheels would help but is not a miracle tool for a job like that. The trouble is that while you can collect the fallen limbs with the rake, you will still need to get off the tractor to deal with the piles. You'll rip up the turf if you try to drag the limbs in big batches for any distance. Also, fallen limbs come in all sorts of sizes and shapes and if you set the rake to get all the limbs you'll inevitably also tear up the turf periodically. If you set it so it doesn't bother the turf you'll leave a lot of mostly smaller limbs behind.

Depending on the size of the fallen limbs you could also bush hog them to bits. That is my current favorite strategy. I also find picking up the larger limbs with a grapple to be back saving though still pretty tedious.

 

[ArkCivEngr]

I have one of the 6' KK rakes from TSC. Works like a charm on rocks, roots, etc. It's very heavy and solid. You didn't mention what kind of ground you have underneath the trees, but if it's good solid turf, you can still use the rake by keeping the tines as close to the ground as possible without touching. Even a little contact here and there isn't going to rip it too bad. But as Island mentioned, you'll still have piles to deal with. Hopefully you have a loader to finish that part.

And if the ground under your trees isn't all that grassy, then you can rake even more agressively without fear of damaging anything. Just make sure that you shorten your top link so the rake teeth are vertical. This less-agressive position will grab less dirt (thereby causing less damage). It will also allow a few more things to escape, which means another pass or two. But that means more seat time.