Cleaning lawn of branches

[bstillw]

I have 2 acres with a lot of trees. If I only have a few branches down, I use my loader. If there are a lot after a big storm, I pull my King Kutter XB Dump trailer behind the tractor with loader and and dump them by the firepile and then use the loader to put them on the firepile (without unhooking the dump trailer). Usually have to burn the firepile every 2-3 weeks. For smaller branches I rake areas that I want to look nicer and load raked piles into the dump trailer.

 

[bvanek]

First of all I can imagine a grapple but that's as far as I have gotten with that expense..I'm with the guy that says a little hand labor is good exercise for an old guy like me, so I use a pitchfork on the smaller stuff and debris. (fork into the bucket). Didn't see it mentioned here, but this is my go to hand tool for many chores. Of course I have had stock animals in the past and is probably why I have three of them with different fork styles. Sometimes you just have to do stuff by hand to get the best outcomes....... I do use a landscape rake and bucket on larger limbs and branches that I have piled around over the winter. I don't set either on the ground as most of the time the cluster of branches will grab on to each other and you can move the clump together. A little bucket finesse (you can roll the bucket and get some limbs under it (keep from digging ground).....and sometimes the rake on float in reverse again to keep the ground where it's suppose to be. So I guess a combination of things and a little old style ingenuity works for me. Most of my winter tree debris is from cedar and fir branches, some alder and maple but since there is less area to hold snow and blow in the wind, it's the firs and cedars that pile up the most.....

 

[MF243RedTop]

I pickup branches slightly bigger than the base of my thumb.. if larger and slightly rotten (pine) I'll let them lay.... The rest gets mulched up with my Z-turn Dixie chopper ..
I absolutely do not focus on all the small stuff ... After spending 10 yrs in lawn care and mulching up stuff..

When I cut the shrubbery around the house it gets raked out into grass... Mulched with Z-turn and blown back into the beds around shrubbery for mulch .. all of it

 

[furnone]

I use this pooper scooper and a wheeled trash can to pick up sticks. I also use a front mounted dethacher that works pretty well.

 

[Maknwine]

@WinterDeere the post by @GeneV has your answer IMO. I've lived in the same house the last 23 years with at one time over 50 pine trees. Bought a Craftsman sweeper that I've used for 22 years and it does more work than any kid you're ever gonna know and will pick up sticks, cones, twigs, leaves, toys, turds, frogs, trash....assuming your yard is not potmarked or uneven. I've replaced the sweepers once and the chains a couple of times. The bin fabric is hanging on for dear life but I still use it. I need to go ahead and replace it with a new one as it's earned its retirement. Its been one of those best $250 items I've ever spent money on. They do work better if you keep the grass cut and the sticks/twigs etc are not matted into the lawn...in other words when a storm hits get after it pretty soon. Dont wait till grass grows around it and another storm hits.....
Also, have a farm with 3 acres of Pecans and it works well for their prunings. Pick up the big limbs by hand and ride the rest of it.
Not every pass will have every stick picked up. If a stick is laying in the same direction your heading, it most likely wont pick it up. So you will be essentially making passes across the yard in different directions or going in a circle sometimes etc. The next time you pass that stick that is now laying a lttle bit different it will most likely sling it in. I would love to know exactly how much debris mine has picked up over the years. After N'orEasters or Hurricanes....it's always gotten the job done. Over the years I built up several large piles of debris and hauled it off or composted and put in the garden. One pile was so big the kids and I slid down it after it snowed on trash can lids. I have one pile left to get hauled out this summer I'll post a pic shortly.
Tom

 

[WinterDeere]

Those of you mention running a brush hog or rotary mower on your lawn, have a very different definition of lawn, than me.

 

[GeneV]

@WinterDeere the post by @GeneV has your answer IMO. I've lived in the same house the last 23 years with at one time over 50 pine trees. Bought a Craftsman sweeper that I've used for 22 years and it does more work than any kid you're ever gonna know and will pick up sticks, cones, twigs, leaves, toys, turds, frogs, trash....assuming your yard is not potmarked or uneven. I've replaced the sweepers once and the chains a couple of times. The bin fabric is hanging on for dear life but I still use it. I need to go ahead and replace it with a new one as it's earned its retirement. Its been one of those best $250 items I've ever spent money on. They do work better if you keep the grass cut and the sticks/twigs etc are not matted into the lawn...in other words when a storm hits get after it pretty soon. Dont wait till grass grows around it and another storm hits.....
Also, have a farm with 3 acres of Pecans and it works well for their prunings. Pick up the big limbs by hand and ride the rest of it.
Not every pass will have every stick picked up. If a stick is laying in the same direction your heading, it most likely wont pick it up. So you will be essentially making passes across the yard in different directions or going in a circle sometimes etc. The next time you pass that stick that is now laying a lttle bit different it will most likely sling it in. I would love to know exactly how much debris mine has picked up over the years. After N'orEasters or Hurricanes....it's always gotten the job done. Over the years I built up several large piles of debris and hauled it off or composted and put in the garden. One pile was so big the kids and I slid down it after it snowed on trash can lids. I have one pile left to get hauled out this summer I'll post a pic shortly.
Tom

They do suck in longer grass, agreed. I mainly use it early spring, before the grass starts growing, but just after the turf loses some sogginess from thawing out.

 

[Eagle1]

Those of you mention running a brush hog or rotary mower on your lawn, have a very different definition of lawn, than me.

Bush hog, belly mower than Z turn instant lawn.......

 

[WinterDeere]

Bush hog, belly mower than Z turn instant lawn.......

I use a zero turn (Deere 757 ZTrak) on the lawn. My brush hog is only for trails and fields. I sold my last belly mower (Deere 72 inch 7-Iron) almost ten years ago, never going back to one of those!

 

[Eagle1]

Was kidding but I use my belly mower on slopes I would not take the Z turns or brush hog and on places that got over grown due to wet conditions. Still a handy tool in the barn.