Rake Pond Rake

[McCaskey]

Latest project was an "Extendo-Rake" built to clean up the debris & vegetation along the banks of a pond. 20 feet long, fabricated with 2x4 steel tubing. Hinged at bottom to prevent excessive downward pressure from the skidsteer arms. Weight of steel is sufficient to rake up debris without digging into the pond banks. I needed raking action rather than digging. Lifting cables are 5/8 and crossed to prevent sideways swinging. Quick adapter is a 3 point adapter plate using the lower pins as hinge point. Skidsteer stays up on safe, hard ground.

Works better than I anticipated. Where the vegetation was heavy, a few weeks in the sun to dry out before burning. Grass seed over other areas of ballast, muck & mud germinated quickly. Water was cloudy for a few days but cleared quickly. Pond was being overtaken by cattails, the rake pulls them out by their roots. Stone ballast originally around the banks was pulled back up.

Video is displayed 2X times actual rate. Three pulls in the same spot brought up most vegetation and muck. Also works good from a tractor, but skidsteer is easier without braking & shifting a tractor transmission.

YouTube Video: http://youtu.be/mV0id9CKJCo

 

[HarryN]

That looks like a useful tool. There has been tons of "how do I clean up around my pond" questions.
You sir have a good solution. Now to figure out how to mow around it without slipping in?

 

[Thomas]

Good idea,what did you do where less area to operate?

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

Ingenious. Thanks for posting.

 

[Dr Dave]

You could make an attachment, for use as a roof rake, for heavy snow removal.

 

[Baby Grand]

Good idea,what did you do where less area to operate?

Telescoping boom on the next version?

 

[rekees4300]

An excellent engineering project. :thumbsup: Last year I decided to try a "bio-solution" sterile Grass Carp (aka White Amur). Jury still out since it takes 2-3 years for them to grow large enough to have an impact. I put 12 into my 1 acre pond.

View attachment 405892

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass_carp

 

[McCaskey]

I have Grass Carp also. About 9 have survived from original 12, about 3 feet long after 4 years. They seem to only eat tops of vegetation that has not broken the surface. Once cattails are above water, they won't touch them or go into shallow water. They are susceptible to Blue Heron strikes when sunning themselves. They die shortly after the Heron stabs them.

 

[rekees4300]

Thanks for the Blue Heron info. That's news to me and we do have them occasionally. Didn't expect the Grass Carp to control cattails, I do that manually and it's a PITA. Got the Carp for American Pondweed which hopefully the Carp will like?

 

[Thomabear]

I have Grass Carp also. About 9 have survived from original 12, about 3 feet long after 4 years. They seem to only eat tops of vegetation that has not broken the surface. Once cattails are above water, they won't touch them or go into shallow water. They are susceptible to Blue Heron strikes when sunning themselves. They die shortly after the Heron stabs them. <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/files/attachments/405993-pond-rake-0513082005a-jpg"/>

Just curious but how can you tell how many you have? I started with 7 in a 1-1/2 acre pond about two years ago and haven't spotted any to date. However, my pond seems to be in good shape.

 

[McCaskey]

The Grass Carp like to collect in a shallow end sunning themselves in the late afternoon. From a distance, their backs look like floating turtles. Submerging with a violent splash when I get close. Otherwise, they stay deep.

I was able to catch the Blue Heron fishing for bass on video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICyUbGPPDJE

 

[Baby Grand]

My father in law had 2 good sized ponds that he built.
He stocked some carp the first year and the pickerel, brook trout showed up a little later from the stream.
He had so many dragonflies that you couldn't find a mosquito if you tried.
The carp did a good job keeping the vegetation under control.
One winter an otter appeared and almost cleaned the carp out.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Awesome build! I want to build one too but I have a slightly different idea.

I want to start with an old galvanized 2 wheel boat trailer. Preferably an 18 footer or more. I think I'll have to fill the tires with liquid to keep the weight out on the end, but also to keep it from digging too deep. I want to put a hinged 3 point system on the back end of the trailer, using hydraulics to swivel it down into "dig" position. I figured I'd just use the drawbar on the tractor with a trailer ball to operate it. I would weld a long piece of square stock, cut into sections and welded into a "C" (for ground clearance as needed) to the front of the trailer to extend it further into the pond. I don't have cattails, but plenty of other shoreline vegetation. I was also thinking of using it with my 6' box blade to pull out silt. This would be a slow process, needing to let the dredged silt dry for a week or more in order to scoop it up with the FEL and haul it to low areas needing fill.

It would be nice to have a skid steer to operate it with so not so much neck craning. I haven't thought about hooking in place of the FEL bucket and using that to raise and lower the angle of attack. Hummmm.

 

[rekees4300]

I was able to catch the Blue Heron fishing for bass on video

Great video thanks for sharing. It was surprising to that big Bass swallowed in one gulp!

 

[Paul Thornton]

Two great videos, thanks for sharing.

 

[EddieWalker]

You are the reason I love TBN!!! This is just brilliant. What I like the best is that I have a home made rake that is just sitting there that I rarely use. Last year I bought the Weedrazer Home for a hundred bucks that did OK at cutting the weeds. It was very physical work and it took multiple attempts to get an area cleared. Slow going at best. Then the plants just grow back because all it does is cut them off. The roots are still there.

I like your method a lot more. You get the roots and it looks like all it takes is one pass to clear it out. I even have a couple of 20 foot steel 2x4's laying in my shipping container!!!

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[Thomabear]

Ingenious idea McCasky! I can definitely see one of those in my future.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

I like it but the Minnesota DNR would jump down my throat if I tried to use it.

 

[Xfaxman]

Awesome build! I want to build one too but I have a slightly different idea.

I want to start with an old galvanized 2 wheel boat trailer. Preferably an 18 footer or more. I think I'll have to fill the tires with liquid to keep the weight out on the end, but also to keep it from digging too deep. I want to put a hinged 3 point system on the back end of the trailer, using hydraulics to swivel it down into "dig" position. I figured I'd just use the drawbar on the tractor with a trailer ball to operate it. I would weld a long piece of square stock, cut into sections and welded into a "C" (for ground clearance as needed) to the front of the trailer to extend it further into the pond. I don't have cattails, but plenty of other shoreline vegetation. I was also thinking of using it with my 6' box blade to pull out silt. This would be a slow process, needing to let the dredged silt dry for a week or more in order to scoop it up with the FEL and haul it to low areas needing fill.

It would be nice to have a skid steer to operate it with so not so much neck craning. I haven't thought about hooking in place of the FEL bucket and using that to raise and lower the angle of attack. Hummmm.

Sounds like a good time to put a receiver hitch on the bucket! :thumbsup:

 

[jdeshong]

Awesome! Did you have to sacrifice a regular landscape rake to get the tines or did you buy all of them individually and bolt/weld them on? I really need one of these for my pond, been using my loader bucket to drag out some floating grass that is near the bank but would be really nice to have about 10ft more reach.