Lawn Debris Picker-Upper

[farmerhays]

Soon the green, green grass of home will be upon us again. This inspires me to pick your brain about picking up lawn debris.

I mow underneath four acres of oak trees which drop acorns, small branches with leaf-clusters and 1" limbs several feet long. And then there is a half-dozen apple trees. I now avoid driving under those trees during "season" 'cuz I don't have a hard-hat!

I have been considering and researching lawn vacuums of various designs, but none talk about their ability to process anything more than clippings and leaves.

I could just be lazy and let the mower deck chew through this larger stuff. $1000 buys a lot of blades and sharpening instead of gambling on a vac that may not pick up sticks.

Any advice out there on this situation?

P.S. No kids to pick up sticks yet -- just me, myself and I.

 

[IslandTractor]

How about using a brush mower to mulch it. No issue with blade replacement there. The other option would be to add a rake (York style) and drag or windrow the debris.

 

[sandman2234]

After mulching it up with a bushhog, blow it over to one side with a blower. I have one for my Steiner, and it works great. I have a place to blow them to, so picking them up isn't a problem.
David from jax

 

[lcisled]

I am looking at the sticks and debris on the lawn from winter as well.
I bought a Lawn Genie from Matthews Company a couple of years ago. It is basically a flail mower with a hopper that it throws the debris into. I have a 5' model that is PTO driven with a hydraulic dump hopper. This is about all that a 4400 JD wants to lift and pull. They have a 4' model that has a gas engine on it that is pull type for yard tractors.
I would probably not run 1' branches through it, I would pick them up by hand. It also dethatches while picking up the debris.