Stephen M. Henning wrote:

(Gene C) wrote:

Does anyone have any experience with using lawn sweepers to pick up
leaves? Any suggestions on using them? Do they work when the leaves
are wet? Do the 14 cubic feet bins get filled to fast?

I have a garden tractor with a lawn sweeper. It works with leaves but
fills up very quickly. If you go too fast the leaves fly out. The
dampness of the leaves doesn't seem to be a factor unless you have small
flat leaves. My lawn is not the least bit flat and I can sweep the
leaves with no problem. The trick is to go across the curve, not with
it. At any one point a lawn only curves in one direction and is flat 90
degrees to that (unless you have mounds or pits).

Our equipment and experience are like Stephen's. We are in
Zone 8, with centipede grass and tall loblolly pines as well
as some oaks. The sweeper does a fine (though not perfect)
job. We use it mainly in the fall for leaves and after
hurricanes for pinecones, needles, and twigs. It's a pleasure
not to have to pick up the pinecones by hand after a
hurricane. Loblolly cones are plentiful (!) and have sharp
spines.

http://home.ec.rr.com/mpjr/garden/

If the weather and conditions are right we can sweep the
leaves in the part of the yard with oaks (for disposal) and
then use the sweeper to gather pine needles (for mulch) from
the area with pines. We would not be able to maintain our acre
lot without it.


Mike Prager
Beaufort, NC (on the coast in zone 8a)
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