Cleaning lawn of branches

WinterDeere · Mar 13, 2023

Every spring, I spend at least a full afternoon cleaning up downed branches from my ~4 acres of lawn, mostly from the more mature walnut and maple trees. I get to repeat this exercise after each major storm, all summer long, and I'm getting awful tired of the routine. Presently, I drive the FEL to an area with a bunch of downed branches, pick up each larger one and put them into the bucket. Then I rake up all of the smaller bits, and scoop them into the bucket. Very tedious.

I'm wondering what automated options might be possible. A landscape rake with float (anti-scalp) wheels would do half the job, at least gathering them together. Although driving over them in the process is just going to make them harder to pick up, in the end. Perhaps a tooth bar on my bucket, fitted with large swivel caster mounts on either side, so that I can drive around gathering branches with the bucket floating just an inch off the lawn.

Ideas? I can't be the only one hating this chore.

2manyrocks · Mar 13, 2023

I have a tooth bar on my bucket. I'd rather use a landscape rake instead for this, but it's not going to get the bits and pieces that you need to get up in order to mow your yard.

chim · Mar 13, 2023

On 3-1/2 acres with a fair number of trees I have branches down in the Spring and after T-storms. My routine is to pick up the larger ones and mow over the rest. Anything that isn't larger in diameter than my thumb gets chopped by the 7-1/2' Caroni finish mower.

Diggin It · Mar 13, 2023

I used a landscape rake a few weeks ago. It dragged the bigger stuff and essentially chipped/shredded the smaller stuff to where it didn't matter. When I got done, I couldn't really tell where the material had been.

If you don't want to buy one, look around at rental shps. They might just have one.

ruffdog · Mar 13, 2023

There are many types of pine needle rakes on the market. The tines are real springy so they don't dig into the yard.

Pine Needle Rakes | Pine Straw Rakes | Prepare Pine Needles For Baling with the Everything Attachments Pine Needle Rake 72" Length

JethroB · Mar 13, 2023

I’m interested in possible solutions too. I surrounded by a dozen 80-100 year old pecan trees. They are notorious for self-pruning, twigs to thigh sized limbs. Note: do not park or build anything of value under them. My solution so far:

Smokeydog · Mar 13, 2023

Picking up branches is a chore for us too. Wife does most of the small stuff. EA wicked grapple can pick up a pencil or cleanly pick up a pile. Often picking multiple piles at a time. Been most helpful.

2manyrocks · Mar 13, 2023

I'd be extremely impressed to witness anyone pickup up a pencil with a grapple.

seville009 · Mar 13, 2023

chim said:
On 3-1/2 acres with a fair number of trees I have branches down in the Spring and after T-storms. My routine is to pick up the larger ones and mow over the rest. Anything that isn't larger in diameter than my thumb gets chopped by the 7-1/2' Caroni finish mower.

I do the same….

WinterDeere · Mar 13, 2023

I'm with you guys, I've started just focusing on the bigger stuff, and mowing over anything smaller. But it seems the vast majority of the branches coming out of the walnuts are 1" to 2.5" diameter, just a little on the large side for mowing.

Bummer to hear there's not a good bucket option, as it'd be ideal for capturing the branches, for dumping straight into the fire pit without further interaction. The landscape rake may gather then a bit, but in the end I still need to hop off the tractor to pick them up by other means.

What technique do you guys use with your landscape rakes, to avoid just driving over the branches and forcing them into the sod?

2manyrocks · Mar 13, 2023

If your landscape rake is reversible, you could try pushing them into a pile in reverse, but there isn't a good answer that I know of.

WinterDeere · Mar 13, 2023

2manyrocks said:
If your landscape rake is reversible, you could try pushing them into a pile in reverse, but there isn't a good answer that I know of.

I guess the top link could be adjusted to make this work, but my gut is telling me it likely has more likelihood of digging in and peeling up sod while pushing, than pulling?

bigtiller · Mar 13, 2023

I had the same problem. On my 4 acres I had 21 big mature trees and 8 of them were black walnut. I was out there picking up sticks nearly every time the wind blew.

Mother Nature helped me out. Of the original 21 trees, I have 4 left. The rest blew down in storms over the past 25 years.

I would pickup sticks and load them into a small wagon I built and dispose of them when it was convenient for me.

But it was always fun, when it turned into work, I quit. I figured it would be fun again a few days later.

2manyrocks · Mar 13, 2023

WinterDeere said:
I guess the top link could be adjusted to make this work, but my gut is telling me it likely has more likelihood of digging in and peeling up sod while pushing, than pulling?

That could easily happen. If your yard is perfectly flat, it might work to some degree. If your yard pitches and rolls, you'll probably wish you had just raked them the normal way and put up with the ones that get crushed into your turf.

If your limbs are big enough and you have enough of them to justify the cost, there comes a point where a grapple is nice to have because you can carry more limbs in a grapple than a bucket and the grapple can compact the limbs a bit for you. The bad thing about a grapple is some small pieces can fall out unlike a bucket.

kenmbz · Mar 13, 2023

I use a gripper like Jethro B, just more metal on it.
Use my gorilla 4 wheel cart to follow me around.
Big stuff I just pick up or cut up with pole saw.
Little stuff use the grabber into the cart.

I have 6 acres, about 2 acres open area.

At some point in the season, I will run the flail around to chew up anything left.

I fill up the cart a bunch of times each season, but do each section on different days.

2manyrocks · Mar 13, 2023

Unless you really have a lot of limbs or big limbs to deal with, using a rake plus a cart or wheelbarrow is a very practical option that doesn't tear up your yard.

9973720wb19 · Mar 13, 2023

I hate this task too. Spend all day picking up branches and sticks load up Kubota - dump and repeat. wait two days...20mph winds with 35mph gusts - repeat task.

MossRoad · Mar 13, 2023

WinterDeere said:
..I spend at least a full afternoon cleaning up downed branches from my ~4 acres of lawn,...

An afternoon on 4 acres? Count you blessings.

I'm with the suggestion of the gripper tool. Saves your back from bending over so often. Helps if someone else drives the machine while another picks, too.