Which is most similar to a garden rake

[Bendboater]

Hi,
Trying to restore an area back to natural (Central Oregon High Desert terrain) with as little damage to the ground and nearby vegetation as possible after cutting up a bunch of logs.
There are lots of small pieces of bark and small branches that I would like to collect and burn (or haul away).
A hand landscaping or garden rake works just fine but it is sooooo slowwwww.
Figured maybe there was a way to use my tractor instead of fussing with a hand rake.
So I was wondering which would be most similar to the hand rake, a three point Landscaping rake or a three point Pine Straw rake?
Thanks

 

[groundcover]

BMG Grapple Rake Accessory | Branch Manager

The BMG Grapple Rake Accessory attaches onto Branch Managers grapples and is great for sweeping up stump chips, raking, pine needles, rocks or any other material.

www.skidsteersolutions.com

Not cheap but the guys that have them love them !

 

[BlueKnife]

Hi,
Trying to restore an area back to natural (Central Oregon High Desert terrain) with as little damage to the ground and nearby vegetation as possible after cutting up a bunch of logs.
There are lots of small pieces of bark and small branches that I would like to collect and burn (or haul away).
A hand landscaping or garden rake works just fine but it is sooooo slowwwww.
Figured maybe there was a way to use my tractor instead of fussing with a hand rake.
So I was wondering which would be most similar to the hand rake, a three point Landscaping rake or a three point Pine Straw rake?
Thanks

In a "natural" setting, the bark and branches don't get hauled away, they rot or burn in place. How big of an area are we talking about?

 

[rScotty]

Hi,
Trying to restore an area back to natural (Central Oregon High Desert terrain) with as little damage to the ground and nearby vegetation as possible after cutting up a bunch of logs.
There are lots of small pieces of bark and small branches that I would like to collect and burn (or haul away).
A hand landscaping or garden rake works just fine but it is sooooo slowwwww.
Figured maybe there was a way to use my tractor instead of fussing with a hand rake.
So I was wondering which would be most similar to the hand rake, a three point Landscaping rake or a three point Pine Straw rake?
Thanks

You're probably curious how they work, right? I have a Woods 3pt landscaping rake - also called a spring tooth rake - with end caps, gauge wheels, and a stand. It works, but not as well as I thought it would. I may have expected too much from it. For one thing, unless the ground is entirely smooth and level those gauge wheels are a necessity. They pivot and set the height as the implement floats. But they are an expensive extra. Ours was used and came with them, but it's easy to see that without them the implement would just make a mess of things.

The flip down end caps that are so useful on a back blade are useless on the landscaping rake. That is because when moving dirt with a back blade, you can angle the blade so that the dirt slides off the end.....but that doesn't work with a spring tooth rake. Bark, small branches, and weeds all get struck in the spring teeth and stay there until you are pulling a huge ball of debris. Some does roll off the ends...but not much. Look at a hayfield winrower implement to see how it needs to work.

What we find is we end up at the end of the run lifting the landscape rake with the 3pt and then using a pitch fork by hand to clean the tines. It is now a tight mass and not light work like a hand-raked pile would be.

We need a long time pitch fork to load the FEL bucket anyway, be sure to get a good one. It's as important as the implement. Ours has 5 slightly curved long forged tines that are springy, smooth, and sharp.
All in all, doing the raking by hand and pitching with the pitch fork into the FEL works way better than the landscape rake. But trying to get the rake to work that well is more fun.
rScotty

 

[Bendboater]

Groundcover - Uh, wouldn't I need a grapple (and a third remote) to use that fancy tool?

BlueKnife - In our country (picture S. Idaho), thick layers of bark really isn't so "natural". Probably take about 10 years to break down too. It isn't a very large area....maybe 50' x 70'.

rScotty - I have no idea what end caps are, but I see your point that since everything gets stuck in the tines, it might be about as much work to simply rake by hand and load into the bucket. Like you say though, that doesn't get me an extra "toy".

I am still trying to learn which implement is closest to a hand garden rake in terms of how it works, a 3 point landscape rake or a 3 point pine straw rake. Frankly, a garden hand rake is just about perfect for the job. But, of course, I can easily vary the amount of pressure where something hanging on the 3 point hitch doesn't have the kinda feedback.

 

[rScotty]

rScotty - I have no idea what end caps are, but I see your point that since everything gets stuck in the tines, it might be about as much work to simply rake by hand and load into the bucket. Like you say though, that doesn't get me an extra "toy".

I am still trying to learn which implement is closest to a hand garden rake in terms of how it works, a 3 point landscape rake or a 3 point pine straw rake. Frankly, a garden hand rake is just about perfect for the job. But, of course, I can easily vary the amount of pressure where something hanging on the 3 point hitch doesn't have the kinda feedback.

End caps are also called spill guards. They keep the dirt or snow from spilling off of one end of a back blade. Very useful on blades when cleaning ditches. Maybe that is why Woods offers them on their 3pt rakes, but in my experience not much trash never gets to the end.
I'll attach a picture. Woods sells them for all their rakes and blades but doesn't seem to advertise the fact.

The implement closest to what you are looking for is called a windrower. It makes nice rows, but you still have to pick up the windrow. Luckily there are SSQA FEL long-tine buckets for that task, so you can get two toys! I just found a picture of a nice simple windrower that a small tractor can handle. Used wndrowers that will work on your property can be bought at farm auctions for ridiculous low prices & all they need is some easy fixing - bearings, some PTO shaft work, tires, and straighten the fingers.

 

[RayIN]

Unless the area is vegetation-free, a hand rake is best. Mechanical's will destroy the vegetation.
50'x70'=3500 sq/ft. Might have enough room to turn your tractor and implement around.
Look at the upside to raking, your DW will smile at your trim muscular body.

 

[CalG]

A pine needle rake is about the upper limit if the desire is to preserve the present flora.

 

[Bendboater]

Thank you all.
It sounds like neither a landscape rake or a pine straw rake is the right tool for that job.
So I will probably just hand rake it.

 

[oosik]

I have 80 acres of Ponderosa pines. More than half are considered ancient. Meaning older than 100 years. The depth of needles under these old trees is considerable.

So..... with a 3-point pine straw rake - I attempted to clean up most all the needles under one tree. It just made one gigantic Holy mess. Took me more than three hours to push everything back the way it initially was.

Learned a valuable lesson - Leave what Mother Nature makes well enough alone.