What is the best way to clear lawn?

[Phunge]

My lawn is always full of leaves, corn husks and cobs from a nearby field, dried grass clippings & thatch, etc. What is the best attachment for cleaning up?

Cheapie tow-behind sweeper:

Swisher Products : Lawn Sweeper

3-Bag Power Flow Material Collection System:

John Deere products for homeowners: Features for Attachment 3-Bag Power Flow Material Collection System

60-inch Heavy-Duty Rotary Broom

John Deere products for homeowners: Features for Attachment 60-inch Heavy-Duty Rotary Broom

3ph Blower

Agrimetal - Leader in golf and debris equipment

Something else?

I have a 2320, and already have the front quick hitch for my snowblower, so the broom is tempting, but it's pricey.

my lawn is just a little over an acre, too much to rake by hand (been there done that) but not so bit to easily justify spending big $$$ for the blower or broom.

Appreciate any and all input & ideas.

 

[beenthere]

Today I had the broom on the X485 to broom the sticks and hickory nut husks off the lawn, and followed to pick them up with the JD425 54" deck with powerflow and MC519 cart. Also picked up the few oak leaves that dropped since last fall. Worked great.

The broom is hard to set just right so it sweeps the debris yet doesn't root out the grass.

 

[Mpking]

I think they all would be good at getting the job done. If money was no object I think I would get a power flow type setup. Mow and bag everything at the same time. That way its not an extra job just to clean up your yard before or after mowing. However, I think a lawn sweeper easily wins if you base your decision on price per performance. It's cheap, works good, easy to use, and simple to maintain.

I have a brinly 42" lawn sweeper that I really like so far. It does a really good job of picking things up. Cost me about $275 on sale at home depot. It's the same one that JD paints green and sells for a hundred bucks more. Most lawn sweepers in that price range are not going to last forever. They have plastic gears and such. I imagine for your size lawn it would last you a good long while and for the price of those other attachments, you could afford to replace several of them if they did happen to break.

To give you an idea of how well these things pick up stuff take a look at this picture. I got a little lazy and decided to see if it would pick up the pine cones off my driveway and ended up with a little more than I bargained for in the hopper... the pine cones plus a few inches of gravel. Didn't know I had that much gravel left on the driveway! :laughing:

 

[AKfish]

I have a front mounted spring tooth dethatcher on my X300R. With the mower deck and rear bagger - I can clear last fall's leaves, pine needles and cones and well as dethatch all the dead brown grass.

Couple of passes and the lawn is scrubbed and aereated!

I'd look for an aftermarket (Brinley, etc.) thatcher you could mount on the front of your 2320. In conjunction with the mower deck and bagger; you should be able to clean things up real well.

AKfish

 

[jenkinsph]

A pine needle rake would do a good job too and is cheap, about $320 for 6' model.

 

[Phunge]

Some great suggestions thanks guys.

I had my doubts about the lawn sweeper, but I may be converted after seeing that picture! The dethatcher & pine needle rake are also good suggestions, maybe in combination with the powerflow bagger.

The 3ph blower is a pricey option, but arguably the coolest, check out this cool video i found:
YouTube - Agrimetal 3pt Hitch, PTO Driven Blower

 

[AKfish]

A pine needle rake would do a good job too and is cheap, about $320 for 6' model.

You could bale those needles right up! Good feed.... for Alpacas?

Better yet; roll it up for fire logs - compressed - hey, now we're cookin'!!

AKfish

 

[Mpking]

Some great suggestions thanks guys.

I had my doubts about the lawn sweeper, but I may be converted after seeing that picture! The dethatcher & pine needle rake are also good suggestions, maybe in combination with the powerflow bagger.

The 3ph blower is a pricey option, but arguably the coolest, check out this cool video i found:
YouTube - Agrimetal 3pt Hitch, PTO Driven Blower

That blower is pretty cool! I could see myself making a HUGE mess with it though.

 

[om21braz]

If you're not looking to move the debris very far or pick it up - a large backpack blower of your choice (Stihl, Echo, Shindaiwa, etc.) would do very well also.