Which is most similar to a garden rake

[Bendboater]

Hi,
Trying to restore an area back to natural (Central Oregon High Desert terrain) with as little damage to the ground and nearby vegetation as possible after cutting up a bunch of logs.
There are lots of small pieces of bark and small branches that I would like to collect and burn (or haul away).
A hand landscaping or garden rake works just fine but it is sooooo slowwwww.
Figured maybe there was a way to use my tractor instead of fussing with a hand rake.
So I was wondering which would be most similar to the hand rake, a three point Landscaping rake or a three point Pine Straw rake?
Thanks

 

[groundcover]

BMG Grapple Rake Accessory | Branch Manager

The BMG Grapple Rake Accessory attaches onto Branch Managers grapples and is great for sweeping up stump chips, raking, pine needles, rocks or any other material.

www.skidsteersolutions.com

Not cheap but the guys that have them love them !

 

[BlueKnife]

Hi,
Trying to restore an area back to natural (Central Oregon High Desert terrain) with as little damage to the ground and nearby vegetation as possible after cutting up a bunch of logs.
There are lots of small pieces of bark and small branches that I would like to collect and burn (or haul away).
A hand landscaping or garden rake works just fine but it is sooooo slowwwww.
Figured maybe there was a way to use my tractor instead of fussing with a hand rake.
So I was wondering which would be most similar to the hand rake, a three point Landscaping rake or a three point Pine Straw rake?
Thanks

In a "natural" setting, the bark and branches don't get hauled away, they rot or burn in place. How big of an area are we talking about?

 

[rScotty]

Hi,
Trying to restore an area back to natural (Central Oregon High Desert terrain) with as little damage to the ground and nearby vegetation as possible after cutting up a bunch of logs.
There are lots of small pieces of bark and small branches that I would like to collect and burn (or haul away).
A hand landscaping or garden rake works just fine but it is sooooo slowwwww.
Figured maybe there was a way to use my tractor instead of fussing with a hand rake.
So I was wondering which would be most similar to the hand rake, a three point Landscaping rake or a three point Pine Straw rake?
Thanks

You're probably curious how they work, right? I have a Woods 3pt landscaping rake - also called a spring tooth rake - with end caps, gauge wheels, and a stand. It works, but not as well as I thought it would. I may have expected too much from it. For one thing, unless the ground is entirely smooth and level those gauge wheels are a necessity. They pivot and set the height as the implement floats. But they are an expensive extra. Ours was used and came with them, but it's easy to see that without them the implement would just make a mess of things.

The flip down end caps that are so useful on a back blade are useless on the landscaping rake. That is because when moving dirt with a back blade, you can angle the blade so that the dirt slides off the end.....but that doesn't work with a spring tooth rake. Bark, small branches, and weeds all get struck in the spring teeth and stay there until you are pulling a huge ball of debris. Some does roll off the ends...but not much. Look at a hayfield winrower implement to see how it needs to work.

What we find is we end up at the end of the run lifting the landscape rake with the 3pt and then using a pitch fork by hand to clean the tines. It is now a tight mass and not light work like a hand-raked pile would be.

We need a long time pitch fork to load the FEL bucket anyway, be sure to get a good one. It's as important as the implement. Ours has 5 slightly curved long forged tines that are springy, smooth, and sharp.
All in all, doing the raking by hand and pitching with the pitch fork into the FEL works way better than the landscape rake. But trying to get the rake to work that well is more fun.
rScotty

 

[Bendboater]

Groundcover - Uh, wouldn't I need a grapple (and a third remote) to use that fancy tool?

BlueKnife - In our country (picture S. Idaho), thick layers of bark really isn't so "natural". Probably take about 10 years to break down too. It isn't a very large area....maybe 50' x 70'.

rScotty - I have no idea what end caps are, but I see your point that since everything gets stuck in the tines, it might be about as much work to simply rake by hand and load into the bucket. Like you say though, that doesn't get me an extra "toy".

I am still trying to learn which implement is closest to a hand garden rake in terms of how it works, a 3 point landscape rake or a 3 point pine straw rake. Frankly, a garden hand rake is just about perfect for the job. But, of course, I can easily vary the amount of pressure where something hanging on the 3 point hitch doesn't have the kinda feedback.

 

[rScotty]

rScotty - I have no idea what end caps are, but I see your point that since everything gets stuck in the tines, it might be about as much work to simply rake by hand and load into the bucket. Like you say though, that doesn't get me an extra "toy".

I am still trying to learn which implement is closest to a hand garden rake in terms of how it works, a 3 point landscape rake or a 3 point pine straw rake. Frankly, a garden hand rake is just about perfect for the job. But, of course, I can easily vary the amount of pressure where something hanging on the 3 point hitch doesn't have the kinda feedback.

End caps are also called spill guards. They keep the dirt or snow from spilling off of one end of a back blade. Very useful on blades when cleaning ditches. Maybe that is why Woods offers them on their 3pt rakes, but in my experience not much trash never gets to the end.
I'll attach a picture. Woods sells them for all their rakes and blades but doesn't seem to advertise the fact.

The implement closest to what you are looking for is called a windrower. It makes nice rows, but you still have to pick up the windrow. Luckily there are SSQA FEL long-tine buckets for that task, so you can get two toys! I just found a picture of a nice simple windrower that a small tractor can handle. Used wndrowers that will work on your property can be bought at farm auctions for ridiculous low prices & all they need is some easy fixing - bearings, some PTO shaft work, tires, and straighten the fingers.

 

[RayIN]

Unless the area is vegetation-free, a hand rake is best. Mechanical's will destroy the vegetation.
50'x70'=3500 sq/ft. Might have enough room to turn your tractor and implement around.
Look at the upside to raking, your DW will smile at your trim muscular body.

 

[CalG]

A pine needle rake is about the upper limit if the desire is to preserve the present flora.

 

[Bendboater]

Thank you all.
It sounds like neither a landscape rake or a pine straw rake is the right tool for that job.
So I will probably just hand rake it.

 

[oosik]

I have 80 acres of Ponderosa pines. More than half are considered ancient. Meaning older than 100 years. The depth of needles under these old trees is considerable.

So..... with a 3-point pine straw rake - I attempted to clean up most all the needles under one tree. It just made one gigantic Holy mess. Took me more than three hours to push everything back the way it initially was.

Learned a valuable lesson - Leave what Mother Nature makes well enough alone.

 

[nyone]

I have a landscape rake that I removed every other tooth in. It leaves well rooted plants. When you remove every other tooth they act alot less like a back blade and more like an actual rake. I did this years ago and will never put the teeth back in. It also gave me a **** load of spare teeth.

 

[BlueKnife]

BlueKnife - In our country (picture S. Idaho), thick layers of bark really isn't so "natural". Probably take about 10 years to break down too. It isn't a very large area....maybe 50' x 70'.

True. Generally if the bark is that thick, the vegetation under it is already smothered out. What about just using a back blade? Scrape the bark off, burn it and let the vegetation come back, or plant some.

 

[gstrom99]

I have a landscape rake that I removed every other tooth in. It leaves well rooted plants. When you remove every other tooth they act alot less like a back blade and more like an actual rake. I did this years ago and will never put the teeth back in. It also gave me a **** load of spare teeth.

Yep, should work just fine that way. A bit of ground disturbance is a good thing, anyway.

 

[oosik]

So....... you are restoring a plot "back to nature". I just wonder - which branch of nature uses mechanical devices in its restoration program.

On my 80 acres - I just leave things alone and let Mother Nature handle restoration.

Lets be honest here. It's not a simple "back to nature" restoration. It's being groomed in a manner consistent with the way the OP wants it to look.

 

[BlueKnife]

So....... you are restoring a plot "back to nature". I just wonder - which branch of nature uses mechanical devices in its restoration program.

On my 80 acres - I just leave things alone and let Mother Nature handle restoration.

Lets be honest here. It's not a simple "back to nature" restoration. It's being groomed in a manner consistent with the way the OP wants it to look.

He pointed out, correctly, that a thick layer of bark, left over, presumably, from a deck of logs, isn't "natural", per se. It smothers everything out underneath it and, especially in a dry, high desert environment, takes a very long time to decompose and allow the plants to come back. In a wetter environment, like where you and I live, (I'm a couple hours from you) the bark decomposes and allows thing to grow again much quicker.

 

[oosik]

Sorry - I DID get a little off topic. Have a neighbor down the road that converted his 20 acres - "back to nature". Everything was raked up and lawn grass planted on all 20 acres. He patrols the property daily and removes any/all weeds/sticks/limbs - etc. His 20 acres is so sterile - you could perform a successful major operation right on the ground. He calls this - back to nature. We all chuckle.

 

[tacticalturnip]

A pine straw rake is going to be the easiest on the land, it's the lightest in both weight and impact on the ground.

I think if you pick one up and practice a bit you'll be happy with the results.

 

[Bendboater]

Thank you for all the comments and suggestions.

Oosok is actually correct.
I am using "Nature" to mean somewhat groomed with dead materiel removed (juniper trees don't self prune like pines so they have dead branches all the way to the ground) and partially raked (yup, I have hand raked most of the 10 acres multiple times over the past 30 years) to "reduce" fire potential (this place would still go up like a torch). And folks from most places in the country would still think it looks pretty wild and unkempt.

From the sounds of it, neither tool will really do what I want without tearing out the remaining grasses, sage, and bitterbrush and/or being a pain in the rear to clean out the tines. So I think I will just hand rake the area and be patient while God brings the vegetation back (not likely in my lifetime). Besides, having just ordered a SSQA snowplow (from BXpanded), my wife probably wouldn't understand my getting yet another attachment in the same month

 

[RayIN]

Thank you for all the comments and suggestions.

Oosok is actually correct.
I am using "Nature" to mean somewhat groomed with dead materiel removed (juniper trees don't self prune like pines so they have dead branches all the way to the ground) and partially raked (yup, I have hand raked most of the 10 acres multiple times over the past 30 years) to "reduce" fire potential (this place would still go up like a torch). And folks from most places in the country would still think it looks pretty wild and unkempt.

From the sounds of it, neither tool will really do what I want without tearing out the remaining grasses, sage, and bitterbrush and/or being a pain in the rear to clean out the tines. So I think I will just hand rake the area and be patient while God brings the vegetation back (not likely in my lifetime). Besides, having just ordered a SSQA snowplow (from BXpanded), my wife probably wouldn't understand my getting yet another attachment in the same month

I now understand your goal. Almost all of the California fires rage out of control because of the thick ground covering, some even burn underground.

 

[ruffdog]

Thank you all.
It sounds like neither a landscape rake or a pine straw rake is the right tool for that job.
So I will probably just hand rake it.

Being that you are mostly raking debris and not just leaves or dirt, the Groundskeeper 2 rake is a handy tool. The neighbor had a big old tree cut down and the crew was using these rakes. The rakes do good getting twigs and chunks of bark out of the grass. After helping the crew do some clean-up, I found that the rake was much better than a dirt rake or leaf rake and had to buy one. They are light AND durable. Check around on a good price too as there are sales.

THE GROUNDSKEEPER II