What attachment would you use ?

[BMWMIKE]

I have a sweet gum ball problem. Has anyone had any luck raking or picking up these spiny balls with your tractor?
I am trying to find something that will at least get them into piles or wind rows, with tearing up the yard to much.

I thought may be a rock rake with the gauge wheels might do the trick. But before I buy one I thought I would get a second, third, or fourth opinion.

mike

 

[Utopia Texas]

I have a sweet gum ball problem. Has anyone had any luck raking or picking up these spiny balls with your tractor?
I am trying to find something that will at least get them into piles or wind rows, with tearing up the yard to much.

I thought may be a rock rake with the gauge wheels might do the trick. But before I buy one I thought I would get a second, third, or fourth opinion.

mike

What makes them a problem?

 

[BMWMIKE]

They are a problem because if I leave them on the ground the tractor mashes them in and when you get enough of them they kill out the grass. Also because they are where I walk all the time, an in the summer I wear flip fops the spiny balls can stick right through the sole. Right now I am raking them by hand where I walk and leaving the ones where I don't walk. But if I can figure out a easier way to do it I would pick up all of them.

 

[bcp]

How about a leaf blower?

Bruce

 

[Xfaxman]

How about this: Everything Attachments | Skid Steer Attachments, Tractor Attachments, 3 Point Hitch Attachments, and Farm Tractor Implements.

 

[MossRoad]

What makes them a problem?

If you drink and fall down they are a problem.....


But in all seriousness, they really hurt if you step on them barefoot!

 

[Utopia Texas]

If you drink and fall down they are a problem.....
View attachment 417282

But in all seriousness, they really hurt if you step on them barefoot!

Maybe that is the answer! Put on a really fuzzy sweater, drink a 6 Pak of beer, then roll around on the ground until the sweater is covered in the Sweet Gum balls! Rinse and repeat.
In all seriousness a leaf blower would do just fine. In my yard where I cannot run our commercial Pecan harvester I use a Stihl blower to row up hundreds of pounds of native pecans with no troubles at all.

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah, but your pecans aren't covered with hooked spikes that grab everything, are they?

My sister had a sweet gum tree right next to their driveway basketball court. No fun to get fouled and fall down behind the backstop! OUCH!!! And they were everywhere. Honestly, sweet gum trees are very attractive, but why on earth would anyone want one in their yard? Just awful.

 

[vtsnowedin]

The proper attachment is a good sharp chainsaw. Prune your sweet gum trees about six inches up from the ground and use your tractor to haul them away.

 

[MossRoad]

I have a sweet gum ball problem. Has anyone had any luck raking or picking up these spiny balls with your tractor?
I am trying to find something that will at least get them into piles or wind rows, with tearing up the yard to much.

I thought may be a rock rake with the gauge wheels might do the trick. But before I buy one I thought I would get a second, third, or fourth opinion.

mike

I found your solution (besides the chainsaw). $50
The Nut Wizard Pick Up Nuts and Sweet Gumballs, Harvesting Pecans, Walnuts, Acorns
Watch the video. It seems to do a good job.

 

[MossRoad]

Or, from this site...
The Best Method for Removing Sweetgum Balls From the Lawn | Home Guides | SF Gate

"Removing the tree permanently by cutting it down is the most effective solution for removing the sweetgum ball problem from your lawn, then following up by replacing it with a fruitless roundleaf sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua “Rotundiloba”) or another type of tree."

 

[MossRoad]

If you have a tractor.... here's a $700 solution!
Pick Up Sweet Gum Balls with Bag-A-Nut's Tag-A-Long Picker

 

[MossRoad]

Ace Hardware $35.00 nut gatherer
Garden Weasel® Large Nut Gatherer (95306) - Specialty Tools - Ace Hardware

 

[Sprinklerman]

I use a 10 hp little wonder blower strapped in the loader bucket of a bx 24 . I would cut the **** thing down but it gives shade on the house during the hottest part of the day .

 

[Fluid]

I have a sweet gum ball problem. Has anyone had any luck raking or picking up these spiny balls with your tractor?
I am trying to find something that will at least get them into piles or wind rows, with tearing up the yard to much.

I thought may be a rock rake with the gauge wheels might do the trick. But before I buy one I thought I would get a second, third, or fourth opinion.

mike

You may want to look at something like these.
http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/400/2b/2b9ae9ac-c593-4f31-b57f-c038d4348425_400.jpg
http://www.nuts-about-pecans.com/images/pecan_picker_upper.jpg
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81hzVcPLTuL._SL256_.jpg
If you search google images (nut gathering tool) you will find others.

 

[BMWMIKE]

I found your solution (besides the chainsaw). $50
The Nut Wizard Pick Up Nuts and Sweet Gumballs, Harvesting Pecans, Walnuts, Acorns
Watch the video. It seems to do a good job.

Thanks for all the Ideas,

BCP I have tried a blower it want dislodge them from the grass.

xfaxman I have thought about the pine straw rake , but I don't think it will be stiff enough to get them out of the grass . I have thought about making one with several rows of teeth.

moss road I may try the nut wizard although it looks like it will be hard to empty and may not hold very many. Right now I am only raking about 1/5 of the total area covered and I am raking up 4 big heaping wheelbarrow loads.

The Ace hardware thng is too small.

The bag-a-nut looks like it would really work and cover the area I need to cover, but I sure don't like the price for some thing with only one use .

Anyone think my rock rake idea with the gauge wheels set so the rake rides about 1/2 inch above the ground will work? That way I will have other uses for the piece of equipment .

 

[Utopia Texas]

A rock rake will be way too stiff for what you want to do even with the wheels. Unless the ground is super level and the tines barely touches the grass they will dig it out. We have property in the Texas Hill Country where the river on our property has a rock base. When water levels are low I take a tractor with the rock rake, drive into the river, and rake out yards and yards of gravel brought in by previous floods. The tines are really stiff and can pull out many hundreds of pounds of rocks at a time. Turf grass would be destroyed in my opinion. My rock rake weighs in at about 450 pounds and I would not want to drive my tractor over the lawn around the house with one of my tractors.

 

[newbury]

The proper attachment is a good sharp chainsaw. Prune your sweet gum trees about six inches up from the ground and use your tractor to haul them away.

I like to either prune them about waist high or real close to the ground. Waist high I know to go around them, ground level I roll over them.

Or, from this site...
The Best Method for Removing Sweetgum Balls From the Lawn | Home Guides | SF Gate

"Removing the tree permanently by cutting it down is the most effective solution for removing the sweetgum ball problem from your lawn, then following up by replacing it with a fruitless roundleaf sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua 菴*otundiloba? or another type of tree."

That must be the scientific approach.

After a judicial pruning I make them into shelves.

 

[hunt4570]

What about one of those big lawn vacs? My father in law used to have one for his leaves and it would pick up most everything.

 

[vtsnowedin]

I like to either prune them about waist high or real close to the ground. Waist high I know to go around them, ground level I roll over them.

I was just thinking about safely getting the tree down. Time to fool with the stump later. You could just put a big flower pot on it to mark it or cut it off again close after the tree is down. Another option is to throw an old truck rim over it and use it as a fire pit for the summer. Roast a few marsh-mellows and down a few cold ones while swapping stories over a nice fire and your stump will fade away. :drink: