Leaf/Apple Pickup

[willysmb]

My parents live in an old orchard so every year they have a huge task of picking up tons of smaller golf ball sized apples and tons of leaves. Its generally an "all hands on deck" job for a couple weekends. I have been trying to find a good large scale option for picking up all this debris but not really finding much. There is a wealth of small "pull behind lawn mower" types but those things jam constantly and can't handle the apples.

Does anyone know of any vacuums or blowers more on the commercial side that would be sized for a 50 HP tractor? Ideally I'd like to run it off the PTO.

Thanks

 

[holeycow]

No direct experience, but walnut orchards have equipment for picking walnuts off of the ground.

 

[willysmb]

I am thinking the best solution might just be a huge 3 point blower. I can blow everything into the woods.

 

[Code54]

May want to look at the big cyclone rakes. Mine picks up acorns, gravel and about everything else under the sun. Soon as the mower blows it, it is gone and in the shoot. If the apples are only golf ball size I would think it would do fine, it is WAY more powerful and effective than the normal bagger systems. No PTO option however

 

[George2615]

I think you have to get the apples off the ground first then you can use a leaf blower or leaf vacuum.
I think loose ground apples would get stuck in the blower of a leaf vacuum.
You could get something like this for the apples.
In-Line Golf Ball Picker •Hollrock Engineering

 

[willysmb]

By the time we pick most of the apples have become soft and mush. I am sure something industrial would just eat right through them. I think a really high quality blower would work well. Generally what we do is blow and pick up by hand. We have run some of the simple lawn tractor style vacuums but they get jammed easy with regular leaves and don't really hold that much.

 

[CalG]

THIS!

NEW IDEA LEAF / GRASS HOG / HYDRAULIC DUMP! PTO DRIVIN

From up page .... ;-)

 

[willysmb]

THIS!

NEW IDEA LEAF / GRASS HOG / HYDRAULIC DUMP! PTO DRIVIN

From up page .... ;-)

I posted that up in the attachments thread. Trying to hear if anyone has ever used one and how they work.

 

[California]

Why pick up the apples at all?

 

[willysmb]

They don't want them laying in the yard.

 

[DuckSlayer1017]

I say let them lay. Our old house had the same issue and they were always gone by spring.

 

[Tig]

This question has come up before, so search the archives to see what others have done.

 

[California]

Its better to return the nutrients into the orchard.

We wait until after pruning then make a pass with the flail mower to shred the pruning debris. Downed limbs are hollow, punky, rotten, so they get shredded along with leaves and overlooked apples. Any wood too solid to shred is collected with brush forks and burned.

In the case originally cited it seems to me hired hand labor would make more sense than buying a multi-$1,000 specialty tool to use once a year.

View attachment 485731

 

[4570Man]

I only have a few apple trees, but I just leave the apples on the ground. I leaf bagger would be useless. If you had a longer hose on the impeller instead of hooking it to deck you could vacuum the ground with it. It would still take a long time. Not to mention how bad it's going to suck emptying shredded rotten apples out of the hopper. I'd use a lawn roller to crush them and speed up the decaying process.

 

[Code54]

Check this thing out...
Apple picker - YouTube

 

[iptman]

I'll second the Cyclone Rake. Get the largest HP model then stick behind the smallest deck riding mower. I bought hoses for both my 61 inch Scag and 42 inch Craftsman and the smaller deck on the Craftsman works significantly better than the Scag. It's amazing how well it works.