Do Lawn Sweepers Really Work ???

[D_Mac 8,619]

What are your opinions on tow behind lawn sweepers? I am asking because my mothers house gets tons of leaves in her yard. She is a nut about getting every last one. Side note she also gets a lot of acorns as well. She has to pick up every last one. Her riding mower has a rear bagger attached. It does a pretty good job. I seem to always have a tractor around my house, sometimes with mowing decks sometimes with out. I thought about picking up a tow behind lawn sweeper, leaving it at her house, then just coming over with a tractor to help out. I seem to recall that I tried one some years back and wasnt impressed with them. My memory isnt all that good on it. Also would a sweeper pick up acorns as well? Let me know your thoughts.... THANKS

[Pullstart 62,905]

They work pretty good for grass, but not so much for ALL the leaves.  They even pick up walnuts on occasion, but not all of them!  Maybe if you do it daily from the beginning of “fall” but not if you wait.

[D_Mac 8,619]

3 minutes ago, pullstart said:

They work pretty good for grass, but not so much for ALL the leaves.  They even pick up walnuts on occasion, but not all of them!  Maybe if you do it daily from the beginning of “fall” but not if you wait.

Thanks , She has been at this house for 40 yrs. We have tried a lot of different things as far as picking up the leaves. My brother and I cant help like we used to and she is 80 now. She enjoys being out there but it is getting to be to much for her. Like I said before she is obsessed with getting every last one, every day. She cant wait until they all fall. What about battery powered leaf blowers? Anyone have one? Are they powerful ? Do the batteries last very long???

[Stormin 9,981]

I agree with Kevin. They are good but not perfect. Best on a nice flat lawn. I have one and sometimes go round the green when I've mowed. The ground is rather uneven in places and the brush can lift the wheels when it hits a high spot.

[Tractorhead 9,064]

I tried mine several Times behind different horses.

it works behind the 212 i have and behind the 656 i found it Works best on dry leafs to collect.

best experiences i have with about 5cm grassheight before when leaf begin falling.

 

If ground is too uneven or some higher spots or slots are in the Lawn, than i have troubles at collecting on this Spots.

fresh fallen leafes on a dry day works perfect, but fills the Sweeper very Fast.

So if she like the rides, that could be an good option.

 

I don‘t have here acorns arround, but we have hazelnuts.

They can not very effective collected with a Standart sweeper, with an added weight and adjusted brush it works.

Not perfect, but better than collect it by Hands.

 

I found it is easier to mulch before you use the Lawnsweeper to collect it directly after - on a dry Day.

When i ride crosswise over the Lawn with the sweeper, it helps me too, to collect more than just in Oneway maeandering.

The weight and the Driven speed are also important things for good results.

also a simple adjustment on the Sweeper will help to improve the result quick.

On my Horse i found best setting was second Gear and half throttle while collecting.

 

 

That Pict was made before i started collecting the Leafs.

my Sweeper is 1,20m wide and weights about 35 Kilo‘s what is definitively for a deeper brush setup too lightweighted.

about double the Weight will work fine.

 

Maybe the biggest disadvantage on mulching and directly collecting in one Job is the mulched Leafs are much heavier,

because they are more compressed in the sweeper so maybe a dump the Sweeper could be too heavy for her 

- simply collecting goes well, but it must be dumped very often.

 

 

 

[953 nut 55,271]

I am very pleased with my lawn sweeper. It is a 42" pull behind and I mulch the leaves with the 42" rear discharge deck while I am sweeping them up. If you don't mulch them the hopper on the sweeper fills up quickly. We have such a variety of trees that I have to do this several times each autom.

Cant tell you about the achorns, the squirrels get then as fast as they hit the ground. 

[8ntruck 7,011]

I've got lots of acorns.   My sweeper gets about 30% of them.  If they are in a hollow in the lawn, you are out of luck.  Mine picks up probably 99% of the leaves.  I'm very happy using it in combination with the RD deck, though, the chopped up leaves do not burn as well as non chopped leaves.  I think that a pile of whole leaves has a better air/fuel ratio than a pile of chopped leaves.

 

I also have a Black & Decker 20 volt battery powered leaf blower.  Great for small quick jobs like blowing dust & leaves off of the driveway and side walks, or blowing leaves out of a small flower bed.  For blowing leaves off of the yard - wrong job for this tool.

 

There are some higher voltage axial flow units on the market that should do better for blowing leaves off of the yard.  I've never used one yet, so this is only an opinion. 

[woodbird007 16]

I also  use a sweeper. Agree that it best to mulch and sweep when dry. Also cut grass short- good to do in late Fall anyway. It usually takes multiple passes especially where ground is uneven. 

[C-85 681]

I have a Craftsman sweeper and I'm not sure who made it.  I am very pleased with it, it picks up leaves well and at least half the acorns we have.  Our sweeper only has 2 wheels (just the drive wheels).  I've seen some sweepers that have 4 wheels with the rear wheels being caster wheels.  With our sweeper all the weight in its basket goes onto the drive wheels, which I think helps its traction.  I did modify its hitch (not in this picture) to a longer one which helps when backing it up.  We also have a riding mower that does a real good job of mulching leaves.  The sweeper works even better with mulched leaves, which saves dumping trips because it holds much more mulched leaves.

 

 

 

C-85