Lawn sweeper , picking up walnuts ?

Ok I,ll try this, . I have walnut trees all around the house, & I,m getting really tired of picking the walnuts up by hand , raking & sharpening the blades on the small mower & finish mower on the tractor .

Just wondering if a sweeper would be beneficial to pick them up as well as small twigs & leaves . If so what type / Model , the wider the better .

I,ve done some searches & only thing I can find is for the ones that are for grass clippings & maybe leaves if they are not wet . I,m not concerned about price if it will work , If the wife can pull it behind the riding lawnmower or golf cart even better . But if theres someting bigger I have no problem pulling it behind the tractor. Any Ideas or recomendations would be apreciated . Thanks Bob

Bob, I know I've heard some people rake them up with a landscape rake

OhioTC18 said:

Bob, I know I've heard some people rake them up with a landscape rake

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Thanks OhioTC18 , I thought of that , just looking for something simpler the wife can use . So far the Brinly 42 inch sweeper looks to be the best . 279 at home depot I,ll post a link. If anyone has any experience with this type, I,d like to here it . Thanks. Bob

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...473&N=369+90401&marketID=401&locStoreNum=8125

I don't have one but know someone who does. He loves that thing. Does a good job for him, but he is not picking up walnuts with his.

I bought one of these last year and love it.
http://www.nutwizard.com/
I hook the spreader bracket on the front lip up my FEL. I've got one black walnut tree and got three full loader buckets full. Thankfully it only produces every other year. I was going to check into a pull behind, but my area is so tight with other stuff, this was really the way to go. And it pulls them up through thick fall grass, too.

I also have the TSC version of the sweeper linked. It looks identical. I used it on both dry and wet leaves and you need to empty it often on the wet ones due to tipping it up. I can only imagine how quickly it would load up on walnuts, but in all honesty, I've tried it on branches and dirt thrown in my yard from the plows and it doesn't work very well on that stuff. Strictly a leaf pickerupper. I don't think it would work on walnuts, especially if they have settled into the grass like they do.

If you want to pay a little more...
http://www.baganut.com/

Neat Nut Bagger CH. I couldn't find the price anywhere though.
Why folks make the price hard to find beats me. Kinda makes me think it's very expensive.

Are you sitting?
http://www.baganut.com/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=73

chowhound said:

Are you sitting?
http://www.baganut.com/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=73

Click to expand...

Wow, that is even more than my wildest guess. 1500 dollars for a nut bagger ....back to the landscape rake idea. It would not be perfect but it is a implement that you can use for dressing your gravel and dirt and maybe gathering some walnuts. All for under 400 bucks.

And that's why I wound up with the nut wizard

I'm happy with my landscape rake in fairly flat areas. I used to use it to gather rotting pears, but I'd still have to shovel/push them into my bucket. It never did work very well in my walnut area. Too uneven and pine tree roots jutting up.

Thanks Guys , & thanks for the links CH . I,d seen the one You first linked to before , but then I couldn,t find it again . I didn,t see anything that was 1500 bucks but I might have missed something .

The one that was 675 looks very interesting , if I was trying to save them it Might be worth it . But I just throw them on the burnpile with everything else . The landscape rake really wouldnt work for Us either because of the roots sticking out of the ground . But I have been wanting one though for other uses . So I may get one of those first

I,ll problly go with the hand held one you posted & checked with tsc on the sweeper you mentioned & its 250 bucks a little less then the one I was looking at . I heard they are a Real pain in the butt to put together because of useless instructions , So I might see if the wife can get their display model, lol .

I,ve never really payed much attention , but it seems like Ours produce the nuts every year , Our house is surrounded by the huge walnut trees Just seems theres lots more nuts this year . Their not very good for the roof & gutters either .

Anyway thanks again & I,ll let yall know what I decide on for sure. Bob

Your welcome.
My tree seems half dead, so I think that's why I only get them every two years. It was the same way with three pear trees I used to have.

I got my sweeper in November and got 30 bucks (or so) off because it's a seasonal item here. It worked a lot better than the mulcher/bagger my neighbor borrowed for his riding mower. And yes, some head scratching was involved when assembling it...
Typically the leaves blow away, but we had an early snow that settled them into the grass. I really wish my neighbor had cut that poplar tree down this year. He always talks about it. Even when the leaves blow out back, the thing is always dropping branches that need picked up. It would be a lot of work to cut it up and haul it away, it's huge.

Cowboy, try a pine straw rake. They are like a landscape rake, but much lighter. They have lightweight tines that are very flexible so they do not dig into the ground, and they easily go over tree roots.

I got mine from Lienbach in Winston Salem. I think it cost around $150.

In addition to raking pine straw with it, I also use it to rake leaves and to get the thatch up prior to re-seeding. Again, it does not damage the ground like a landscape rake does.

Bob

Thanks again for the info as well as the pic CH .

Thanks Bob , I,ll look into the pine straw rake as well . That might work better for my gravel drive as its also covered with nuts & leaves . the sweeper might rake up the gravel . I,ll post some pics when I get something. . Bob