I am seriously thinking about getting the snowblower off and getting the mower deck on this week. No snow in the forcast for MN.
Anyone ever use their bagger to suck up small sticks after winter?
I would like to do so BEFORE the grass starts growing, thinking of getting the deck down low and dirty to pick stuff up.
Thoughts?
It beats the heck out of your blades, deck...I bet it wouldn't do your bagger much good either.
That said, I have done it with leaves in the fall, no bagger, just blow into rows and rake up
I pick up grass and leaves also with one Gator blade and the high lift blade all summer. I am so impressed with the suction I had to throw it out there.
A pull behind lawn sweeper does a really good job for that; I used a 42" Craftsman to pick up twigs & small limbs prior to mowing this past weekend. Good luck.
My neighbor uses a pull behind sweeper too and seems to do well. I have leaves to pick up too and the Cyclone Rake does a great job picking up small sticks with the leaves, first I’ve got to get rid of the white stuff on top of it. :tango_face_grin:
I wish there was an easier way to get small twigs, sticks, pine cones, and acorns up. I always use a hand rake on the whole yard. It takes about 8 hours. Rake them in piles. Load it in recycle bins for county pickups. The tractor won't suck them up. It will bust them up into smaller pieces , just makes more work for me. I rather go ahead and use hand rake.
See if you can find a Cyclone Rake user in your area to get a demo. If you go on their website, they can get you in touch with someone. Their videos are very accurate, they are worth watching.
The smaller the deck they are attached to, the better they work. You will be amazed at what they will pick up. I don't even bother picking up much that's less than an 1" in diameter, pine cones, pine needles, leaves. My neighbor had blown leaves from in front of his house last fall. I had picked up leaves at some widows & widower on the street and saw him in his front yard so I stopped in to help him, single law enforcement dad. I raised the deck and drove over the 18" pile and sucked up everything each pass, but it filled the trailer pretty quick. He couldn't believe how easy it made it look. I'm a believer in my Cyclone Rake Commander on my X738 54" deck for sure. I found mine used, 1 year old on Craigslist. Guy had moved from home with lots of trees, to a home with nearly none. I used it on my Scotts L17.542 for several years until I got my X738, but wet/damp leaves in the trailer will pull the back of the tractor around sideways.
I ran my friend's Z10 Cyclone Rake too with his Cub Cadet 54" until he got his Kubota BX2380 54" deck and had the same results, just more leaves. Z10 Cyclone Rake is one of their largest units. You will need a decent tractor to hook one to if you have any slopes. Otherwise the weight of wet/damp leaves will pull the back of the tractor around sideways. He lives in an Oak woods, so he gets lots of leaves. Cleanup around the house and plants is pretty easy too with their long estate hose/wand. Only thing you have to find is someone to drive the tractor around while you suck things up with the wand rather than getting ON-OFF-ON-OFF.... Makes it go quick. Good thing to teach the grandkids how to drive the tractor, but they won't find it very exciting. :tango_face_grin:
I've had great luck with second hand tow behind sweepers. They work great. For someone with a machine suited for a Sweepster, those babies clean EVERYTHING up. You just need to be ready for a pickup bed size pile of thatch that it brings out of the lawn as well.
I have 11 pecan trees which are sometimes known as "dirty trees" since they constantly drop small twigs and branches year round. I use one of the spring tine dethatchers like one can get at AgriFab and other along with a lawn sweeper. The dethatcher separates the small twigs from the grass and brings them further on top where the lawn sweeper can pick them up easier. Have been contemplating purchasing one of the acreage rakes that uses spring tines on wheels to gather the lawn debris into windrows to also make the lawn sweeper perform better. The acreage rakes are a smaller version of what farmers use to make the hay windrows for the balers. I've found them at Northern Tool and other places.
I've got the turbo blower with wide body cart on my 38" Regent and have lots of large oaks on my lot. I don't concern myself with what I suck up, as long as it isn't any larger in diameter then my thumb. I had a twin bagger system prior to the wide body cart, and the record for shortest distance traveled before the bags filled up was 12'.
My 2 bagger distance was 100’ in heavy conditions; with Cyclone Rake, I only stop a couple of times per small lawn. However, I have filled the Cyclone Rake once without moving it when I helped my daughter-in-law’s parents (mainly her mother) pick up a pile she had raked from the flower beds in front of their house. Filled it two or three more times in the rest of the front yard. My grandson was going to mow the large backyard, so they didn’t want me to do that. DIL father passed away last month. I expect I’ll help DIL’s mother next year too.
I'll second the cyclone rake although I do have some issues with boot clog when picking up a lot of sticks,I'm still working on mods to correct this! I do 12 acres of property with 40 cottages scattered around! I usually pick 12-15 loads in the fall and 6-8 more in the spring. I would be buried without it! The only time I can think the cyclone wouldn't be an advantage is if your burning, chopped material is hard to keep from producing excessive smoke. Yes you can put cans with bags in it to make emptying easier but I have room in the back 40 for a large mulch pile!
I'll second the cyclone rake although I do have some issues with boot clog when picking up a lot of sticks,I'm still working on mods to correct this! I do 12 acres of property with 40 cottages scattered around! I usually pick 12-15 loads in the fall and 6-8 more in the spring. I would be buried without it! The only time I can think the cyclone wouldn't be an advantage is if your burning, chopped material is hard to keep from producing excessive smoke. Yes you can put cans with bags in it to make emptying easier but I have room in the back 40 for a large mulch pile!
Which unit are you running and on what tractor? Do you have the 8” hose and by boot, do you mean the mower deck adapter? Might have something to do with how you cut the opening in the deck adapter. As you can see below, I have mine on my X738 54” deck now with standard blades, but had it on my Scotts L17.542 42” before. The mower deck adapter was originally cut to fit a Kubota ZTR before it came to my house. It worked best on my Scotts, but have only plugged the tube once with sticks. However the mower deck adapter filled half full of mud last fall when it was always wet or raining when I had to pick up leaves. Even the grill in the top of it was closing off with mud and had to be cleaned almost every load. A friend has one too and had the same issue, but my other friend with a Z10 didn’t. Just the kind of weather I had to work in.
I went out with bagger picked up the dry stuff in the yard last night. Worked great on the small sticks I looking to pick up.
One small issue, the chute was plugging up up and the high lift blade did not sound the same.
Finally after the third stoppage,I shut it all down and checked the blades.
Oops, large high lift spun freely. Tightened that one up, all was good in the mowing world. My better half even commented on how much it picked up.
It was a nice dry yard and I had the set at 1 1/2. Gotta love Simplicity tractors.
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