# My new lawn sweeper is awesome. I now have all of the mulch I can use.



## Terri (May 10, 2002)

I have mostly changed my garden to a series of raised beds, and I fill each raised bed with 50% organic material and 50% soil. Well my son had been helping me work around the place one day a week for the last 3 years and he has been helping me fill those beds, but my son has lost interest in working around the homestead.

That is OK: I wanted the help and he wanted spending money and we were both happy with the arrangements for a while, but now he has lost interest. I always knew that he would: he is crazy about computers and I am only surprised he worked for me as long as he did: He is simply not a farmer.

So, anyways, to help take his place I went out yesterday and I bought a small agrifab leaf sweeper to pull behind my riding mower, and it works GREAT! I tried it out on my lawn after mowing, and it picked up the grass wonderfully well. I got the deluxe model so that I could dump it without getting off of the mower, and so I dumped it next to the raised bed where I wanted the grass clippings to go. The sweeper worked perfectly

It is awesome. Just awesome. I now can now sweep up grass clippings for chicken bedding, conveniently gather organic material to fill the raised beds, and easily get enough mulch to keep the weeds down around the vegetables. I can hardly wait for the leaves to fall

It is awesome.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

Thanks Teri. I replaced my riding mower with an electric mower, so can't pull a leaf sweeper, but they do make a push model that might work for me. I have been looking for something that would force me to exercise this fall and this looks like what I need.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

I had one of those Argi-Fab sweepers but it only lasted a couple of years before it was worn out.
It did a good job but the materials were too flimsy to hold up.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

I hope that mine lasts longer than a couple of years! 

I expect that I will have to change out the brushes, but that would be OK


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## po boy (Jul 12, 2010)

I bought a large used Ohio Forge sweeper and use it to sweep up pine straw for my beds. Since I don't have a lot of pine trees i use it on the road and my neighbor's driveway. A good tool to have.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Terri said:


> I expect that I will have to change out the brushes, but that would be OK


The brushes held up but the gears and drive rod didn't.


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## geo in mi (Nov 14, 2008)

For a while, I had a Parker tow behind. It worked well except in time when the dew was heavy, or after the grass and leaves had been rained on. The bristles, sort of like broom straw, and not stiff plastic, tended to bend in moist conditions, and just slid over the wet leaves. The other drawback was that wet material didn't go back far enough in the collection box unless you were going at top speed. 

I would suggest running it when the dew is off and running the lawnmower through wet leaves first...

geo


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## po boy (Jul 12, 2010)

geo in mi said:


> For a while, I had a Parker tow behind. It worked well except in time when the dew was heavy, or after the grass and leaves had been rained on. The bristles, sort of like broom straw, and not stiff plastic, tended to bend in moist conditions, and just slid over the wet leaves. The other drawback was that wet material didn't go back far enough in the collection box unless you were going at top speed.
> 
> I would suggest running it when the dew is off and running the lawnmower through wet leaves first...
> 
> geo


The manufacturer says to use it when the material. I will stop and push the straw back toward the back of the catcher and spread it evenly in the catcher.


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## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

I have been composting fall leaves and doing raised beds for years. I am overrun with oak tree leaves in the fall.

A couple of points:

1. Be careful not to get grass seeds in your mulch unless you plan on composting it a long time. I..e., don't just dump grass clippings in your beds. Grass seeds grow great in fertile, raised beds.

2. Leaves take nitrogen to decompose. Check your raised bed soil for nitrogen. I finally got around to it and found zero (no) nitrogen in mine.

Good luck.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

I need something to pick up acorns with. I have a million from the neighbors trees in my back yard. even with my rubber boots on they kill my back.

I tried the shop vac. had to remove most of the long hose because they are so big this year they got stuck so then I had to bend more. just so loud though after a very short time I had a splitting headache. raking is hard on the back also but I guess i'll have to go back to it.

I managed to sweep 2 large bags from my deck. got to wait until it's calm because they are so hard on the head etc. my back yard is just a mess . I can't use it and it all came from the neighbors . large branches, acorns etc. I might hire some one to do it. ~Georgia


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

I got the push lawn sweeper and it is poorly engineered. You can set the brushes for a driveway and it works OK, but when you set it for the lawn the brushes are too high in some areas and too low in others. It also is extremely hard to push and puts a lot of strain on lower back. 

Going to disassemble and send back. I really hoped it would work.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

Just ordered an 80v leaf blower as I already have 3 batteries that will fit it.

That gives me an 80v lawn mower, leaf blower, and chain saw.


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

LOL: I got a lawn sweeper with the cabin I bought. It sat out by the carport and I used it a time opr three---pulled it behind the mower or the ATV. Lent it to a neighbor and the old synthetic bag broke and fell apart. The neighbor fashioned a sheet metal basket for it---I told him it is now as much his as it is mine. Probably outlast us both now.


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## AnthoNolog (Jan 5, 2021)

My lawn sweeper broke down and I'm looking for a new one to replace it, please advise which is the best. By the way, do you use a cordless string trimmer to remove weeds from hard-to-reach places? I recently saw it in an ad and I want to get your feedback about it so as not to waste money. If it's as good as they say it is, then it will be a bargain for me. In fact, I found a review of string trimmers on https://homendgarden.com/best-cordless-string-trimmer/, learned all the pros and cons, and think it's a great device for garden/lawn care. Anyway, I'm waiting for your feedback.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

I cannot.

My choices were between a 4 foot wide sweeper and a 6 foot wide sweeper, take it or leave it. Because of this I did not even try to do a google search on brands, etc.

Sorry about that


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## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

Yeah, I want to get one of those.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

JurJar said:


> I always wanted aritificial grass, is it a good choice?


LOL.

I know people who have artificial grass, because they are allergic to the real thing. They have a lovely yard and the only upkeep is to prune the trees and bushes.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

I've seen the lawn sweepers but never used one, figured they were more for really smooth golf course type lawns.

Now last spring I really wanted to save grass clippings for garden. Cant put a grass catcher on my ancient Yazoo and the Murray hasnt that kind power, smaller engine. So repowered old Bearcat mower with Honda 160cc engine. Bearcat was heavy aluminum and made in 1960s but used one of those vertical shaft Briggs engines with small side shaft for self propel. Meaning unless you have one of those engines, you push it. Nobody else made one like that. It had an unusual grass catcher that used steel window screen on steel frame. I priced around and fine mesh hardware cloth about as close, its hard to even find aluminum screen anymore. But still going to be heavy.

So looked and nobody has sold universal bag catcher for push mower since the 80s I guess. All plastic anymore and made for rear attachment to a particular model push mower. I finally found a just the bag, nothing else for an old Jacobson mower on ebay cheap. Apparently the Jacobson it was made for had really weird chute configuration. But I finally figured way to make an adapter and put it on the Bearcat mower. Seemed like I was emptying it every little bit, its not huge bag, more like the kind manufacturers included with high end mowers in 60s and 70s. More a selling gimmic than meant for serious use. But they did work. The aftermarket universal ones worked better IMHO.

Oh also found out if you want to bag with the Bearcat you need a high lift blade. Couldnt find a 19inch one with the correct center. So made one, welded on couple little wings onto back of cutting edges of the blade. Hey it worked, I had figured it would be unbalanced with lot vibration. but got it right the first try. Actually just with the mower parked and engine running, you sit in front of chute without bag on and you get real nice breeze. It really pushes some air.


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## frogmammy (Dec 8, 2004)

For acorns.... https://baganut.com/products/18-push-small-acorn-picker

a little on the pricey side.

Or this, cheaper 




Mon


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Posted 11/10/21 11:29 P.M. CST

I used a broom sweeper here for 2 seasons but small blow away twigs from the trees jammed the rotating broom and pierced the catcher trailer walls. That was when I switched to a mulching mower with grass catcher on the rider for 11 years before it was too uncomfortable for me to use a rider mower.

using the self propelled walk behind on small plots in rotation during fall leaf clean up , I have a wider catcher bag I custom built that holds the mulched leave,twigs and grass of my fall and winter rotation mowing without being pierced and the current mower and bag is on it's fifth season.


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