Pond Rake

[armyret]

Has anyone ever constructed a pond rake that will work off of the three point hitch and boom (pig) pole.
I have need for such a item and all comments will be appreciated.

 

[JRP]

I need one too. Consider this: I welded a receiver tube to th end on my boom pole. Also made a 5' long 2x2 tubing extension that slips in the receiver. Also made a 1.5 x 1.5 square thing with a chain hook on it. With this rig I can lift about 1/2 the boom capacity twice as high or twice as far out.

My pond is bigger than 2 x the pole length. It would be nice to have a rake I can pick up with the boom, back into position, and lower into the pond. Then drive forward. The boom extension idea could be made longer.

Let me know whatideas you have.

 

[armyret]

My idea is use angle iron and weld or attached conventional rake to it several in fact depending on length probable at least four over a six foot section with a swivel in the center and two chains from each end attached to the upright section of the boom pole with turn buckles so the rake would not flip up. Just lift it up back down to waters edge lower the boom pole in the water and then drive forward, I use a long handle rake aprox 10 foot long and it was amazing of the amount of weeds and sludge that came out. I was just not strong enough to pull it. One could pull forward with the tractor what ever distance from the pond he desired.lift the boom pole and would probable have to dismount or have some one else clean the weeds and grass off of the rake and start over again. It may not work but the expense to find out would be mininal.

 

[SPIKER]

We have one that was made about 10 yrs back, it is just as you described big rake for grass/weeds for the pond.

here is how we made it.

1" sq tube 2 lenghts, 24 feet each. cut off 4' of each one and cut those up into 6" lenghts and then welded the two hunks together using the 6" pieces to form a LADDER type affair. on the END was welded up a small 3 pt triangle for raising/lowering out of some 2x2" sq tube hunks we had as dropps. the RAKE was made using same type of thing welded on to form a T at the boom end. using 1/2" round bar as tines. which attached the bottom hunk of 1" square rake. the tines are about 6" long and there is only 1 hunk of 1" square tube as more cathces and HOLDS too much moss to get it to fall off easly.

weld up the triangle part so that when the 3pt is raise UP the boom is just slightly over LEVEL so it can drop DEEP into the pond. the hole thing wasn't even painted figuring it would RUST anyway. cost was probably 30 or so bucks total for material which we had in stock... any longer than 20' and it is so unmanuverable it is useless... eventually he cut off the 3'pt stuff and attached it so it would bolt up to the FEL which worked better... if you have FEL make it so it attaches to FEL and that way it is always in front of you...

also one thing else make it so it can SWIVEL at the mounting point a bit. not RIDGID, which it was first and while it woudl FLEX some the ridgid connection is what eventually broke on ours from over stress because of trees had to be manuvered around... the FEL only pivioded about 5 degrees inside a small captured point but it is a wonder how much that helped.


we also pulled out tons of small fish this way so if you like the fish to stay in the pond you have to go back and toss em back in..

MarkM /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[beenthere]

Seems something that would float (between two boats?) and on a pole to push it out (or on rope to pull it across the pond) and a chain to pull it ashore (or get it close to shore) would be a way to go. Likely doesn't take much to hook the weeds, but could get pretty heavy to lift it (them) out of the water.

Not sure what your pond is like, or what the 'beach' is like.

Maybe a pole (rake on the end) on the three point, and a cable winch at the top of the ROPS to lift it while getting it out into the lake would work.

 

[SPIKER]

Oh I forgot to say that back in the past the boss made a commercial paddel wheel type contraption which power raked the weeds out of a gated community lake which is some 120 acres. it used a 20'+ pontoon boat frame as under side. then paddel wheel like on a river boat would scoop up the weeds from the bottom 4' down or so. the weeds would float up and be caught in a chain link conveyor which was 6'+ wide they would then be dragged up onto the back half of the boat for hauling to shore and removal to a compost pit. they then used the compost around for landscaping needs. they did manage to SINK it one or two times by putting too much WET weeds onto it... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif As far as I know it is still in operation on the lakke every now and again... (it is called Cinnaman Lake near West Salem) sorry spelling? anyhow we had some photos of itin work back in the day I was going to post them on the company web site but things change and there is not much call for such a contraption! . /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif


Mark M

 

[KennyV]

I have made several pond/lake mechanical cleaning devices in past years…

After welding all kinds of things together… the simplest solution was a large gate or stock panel. With long skids attached to the bottom legs. At the ends attach chain or cable much like you would hook up a spike harrow. Just drag it from one end to the other. Move it over clean it off and drag it back. As you take it in one direction let it drag the tow cable behind it. This way all you need to do is disconnect… drive to the opposite side and drag it back. Keep this up until you have covered all the area you want cleared. This design is very strong and you can cover it with chain link fence. It will stand upright as you drag it, just hitch your tow chain to the ends of the skids.

Just curious… what are you trying to rake out? Depending what your’ trying to remove there may be better ways to do it… For some weeds mechanical removal will not work, It can actually make it much worse. Also how deep/Wide is your water? What is the bottom? Rock, Mud, Sand?

Good luck… Water is fun to work around. KennyV.

 

[armyret]

Kenny V.
This may not make sense and may not work, My pond is 1 1/2 acre with a mud bottom. The edges have sort of caved in and has become shallow exceptaround the dam. I have a lot of floating/submerdge type weeds that I call pond moss however they cover the shallow part of the pond. I have rough built a frame six feet long and attached 4 chisel plow points to it and will attached to boom pole and lower and drag it out. May not be able too. If not will attach chain link fence to it and try that. Your idea is great but I would have to have 600 feet of cable or chain 3 hundred each end and on one end would have to use a snatch block due to woodland.

 

[KennyV]

Hi armyret…
I was having a terrible time with Hydrilla… /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif That is a particularly nasty aquatic vine weed that you CAN NOT control using chemical… The cabled system removed tons of the stuff… I was using around 1400 yards of cable, actually ¾” wire rope. I had another use for the cable… I also had to use snatch blocks on one side.
After one season of harvesting this weed, high protein by the way… I found out that mechanical removal was tried in Florida… Then they discovered, as I did, that at each point you brake/cut the stuff, it will sprout two new sprigs… thus doubling your problem… I did ultimately find a solution but for this weed, mechanical is not it…


If you have moss. mechanical will work sort of… but moss is so easy to control using a very mild chemical application. DuPont makes a herbicide called Karmex. It is used to keep irrigation ditches free of most aquatic weeds. Karmex is available as a wetable powder or granular. I used the powder… You will never have moss if you use this in late spring… I mixed 3 pound with 10 gallons water and applied this with a hand sprayer on the surface using a small boat, applying about 1 pound per surface acre, My water averaged around 14 foot deep over 10 acres. Youl' use around 1 pound total. Do Not Treat More Than 1/4 of your pond at a time. Treating each remaining quarter at least 1 week apart. Decaying vegetation will deplete oxygen and kill/harm any fish in your water. Follow the directions on the package, you can greatly reduce the recommended application rate, and you will have no moss. KennyV.

 

[Glenn9643]

I've not seen any reference to a FEL, so apparently you don't have one. If so, that will be your safest approach. If you get too close to the edge of the pond and the tractor wheels start to slip in brakes do absolutely no good. Been there and done that! I'm changing my setup to attach a landscape rake to the FEL so I can better see where I am and what I'm doing. Be careful around the pond.

 

[dummy]

What did resolve your hydrilla problem?

 

[pekabu]

I saw something rather interesting today. It was a two long pontoons, about 20' long, with a backhoe on one end. It had to round paddles about 4' in diameter 1' wide for propulsion. It also looked like that had some type of york rake attachment, but traffic was going pretty fast, and with the rainy weather I wasn't able to check it out more.

 

[MicroPilot]

Here is another thread in the Power Trac forum discussing Pond Rakes. Lots of pictures and ideas that could be applied to a conventional tractor.

 

[fishman]

KennyV,

Sounds like you're a veteran of the weed wars. They sure can be a pain in the rear, can't they?

I feel I need to point out that Karmex (active ingredient is diuron) is not labled for use in aquatic systems. On the specimen label here under "environmental hazards" on the first page it states "do not apply to water". It is a violation of federal law to spray Karmex on a lake, even if it's your own.

Yes, it does work, but it comes at a cost. Most of the fish kill calls I get at my office (I'm a state fisheries biologist in Texas) are from people putting out Karmex. Studies have also shown that Karmex in the quantity needed to kill aquatic weeds, also kills the bug life in the bottom of your pond. None of this is good.

A better, safer product would be something like Cutrine Plus, which is a chelated copper herbicide designed to kill floating moss/algae. A new product out just this year is called GreenClean and it is similar in composition to Oxyclean. It oxydizes the algae on contact and kills it.

If anyone has any further questions about aquatic herbicides, feel free to PM me.

 

[KennyV]

Hello Fishman
I was very interested in the MSDS… this is nothing like the label on that product at the time I used it. 1970 thru 1985. At that time there was extensive use of Karmex on and in irrigation ditches. Thank you for this important update.

I was introduced to this use by one of the local co-ops. With more inquiries to the county and state, my rate of application was stated to be “not a problem for my intended use.” A very light surface application to control algae… I steered away from products containing copper, as I had many trees around this water. Aquatic weed control is a problem and if you are not careful you definitely can cause a lot of harm/damage. I regularly stocked this body of water with fish. I never had any fish problems using the quantities at the rate I described. BUT it would appear the usage has been excluded.

If I were doing it today I am not sure I would be very enthusiastic about copper. Although I know it is used in swimming pools for algae control. It is tough on trees. Copper was one of the chemicals recommended for the control of Hydrilla. I did not even consider that. With a lot of research (this was before WWW), I found best was to use a fish. I believe it was ‘African Mohr’, NOT grass carp. I knew some folks that tried grass carp didn’t dent the Hydrilla.

With your work with fish you would have been a great resource back then. GreenClean sounds very interesting… I have always preferred the least intrusive approach to the control of any pest. KennyV.

 

[KennyV]

A FISH /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif... and they grow to be huge. They are very shy /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif around people. You will almost never see them, but will grow to be well over 40 lbs. I put 100 of them in...First year greatly reduced /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif, Second season... No more Hydrilla /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gifKennyV.

 

[fishman]

KennyV,

I haven't had any problems with tree damage from using any of the chelated copper products. Like you, I tend to steer away from copper sulfate (e.g. Bluestone) as it has a LOT more copper as the active ingredient.

I am not familiar with the African mohr, and a search on Yahoo failed to turn up any hits. Must not have been successful at some level, maybe too expensive to produce commercially?

In Texas, at least, hydrilla is a favored food of grass carp. They are quite picky, however, and some submerged vegetation is avoided. They don't particularly like coontail, for example.

I'm going to try some of that Green Clean next year. Initial reports from the field are promising, but cost could be a real factor.