lhfarm
Veteran Member
It has been almost exactly a year since I reported buying a Bag-A-Nut to use to clean up around our 20 walnut trees - http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/130052-got-bag-nut-my-walnut.html . I just did this year's crop today and thought I give an update and tell you about much improved results.
I wasn't really happy with the nut sweeper last year. It worked, but jammed a lot and seem to not be sized for our big walnuts. The green fingers catch the nuts and sets of "ramps" push the nuts off the fingers and into the basket. A top bar keeps the larger nuts from escaping. The largest nuts are pushed through by the next nut. I was having jams because the nuts were too big to slip under the top bar.
The design is pretty simple and I changed out the top 1" plastic rod for a 3/4" piece of PVC. That worked better, but I thought a 1/2" would work better and it did. It still jams, but from twigs and not nuts. Works very well now.
The next problem was emptying the basket. It is design so you can just pull a rope, which is fine is you just want to dump them at the end of the yard. I wanted to haul them away. Last year, I picked the loaded basket up and dumped it in a plastic bin. Those nuts are heavy and I had to dump the bin all the time or dump it in a trailer and have another unloading task.
The bucket on the tractor is just the right height and it makes a great combo with the sweeper. No more lifting and I just use the tractor to dump the nuts at the edge of the field. Figure it is a good stockpile for the squirrels.
We had a bumper corp of walnuts, but I think I cut my clean up time in half from last year. Really glad I made the modifications and found another use for the FEL.
I wasn't really happy with the nut sweeper last year. It worked, but jammed a lot and seem to not be sized for our big walnuts. The green fingers catch the nuts and sets of "ramps" push the nuts off the fingers and into the basket. A top bar keeps the larger nuts from escaping. The largest nuts are pushed through by the next nut. I was having jams because the nuts were too big to slip under the top bar.
The design is pretty simple and I changed out the top 1" plastic rod for a 3/4" piece of PVC. That worked better, but I thought a 1/2" would work better and it did. It still jams, but from twigs and not nuts. Works very well now.
The next problem was emptying the basket. It is design so you can just pull a rope, which is fine is you just want to dump them at the end of the yard. I wanted to haul them away. Last year, I picked the loaded basket up and dumped it in a plastic bin. Those nuts are heavy and I had to dump the bin all the time or dump it in a trailer and have another unloading task.
The bucket on the tractor is just the right height and it makes a great combo with the sweeper. No more lifting and I just use the tractor to dump the nuts at the edge of the field. Figure it is a good stockpile for the squirrels.
We had a bumper corp of walnuts, but I think I cut my clean up time in half from last year. Really glad I made the modifications and found another use for the FEL.