Komander Z125S belt

[bertsmobile1]

not meaning to sound critical but just about every mower owners manual tells you to remove sticks & other debris from your grass before mowing.
An instruction that is ignored by around 99.99 % of the population.
If you have a lot of them and they are causing you problems then get a yard vacuum and remove them.
Make a well around plants that suffer attack from things like slugs & snails then use them to mulch the plants.
The poo pickers made for collecting horse droppings work really well and are much easier than a strait vacuum.
As sweet gum balls only drop in winter it is a once or twice a season job.
Lots of small units that you tow behind your mower.
Don't try it with a hand held blower - vac as they will jamb the impeller.
We have a lot of trees that drop similar nasties down here.
Put a layer down before you lay your spring mulch will allow the mulch to work so much better.

 

[Paschalini]

Hadn't considered a lawn vacuum, although that would be much easier than manually raking under each of our sweetgum trees (and perhaps the pine trees as well). We have 5 acres with many trees of differing varieties and do pick up the major debris such as limbs and large branches prior to each mowing. Only about 1.5 of the 5 acres can be considered lawn style grass, with the remainder being old horse pasture and some woods. Appreciate the suggestion, now I need to go look at the cost of a lawn vacuum. Will also need to investigate how well a lawn vacuum will stand up to an environment with sandy soil. Note that every year I count on replacing the mower blades due to the sand essentially blasting the blades.

 

[bertsmobile1]

I have done about a dozen "Greystoke" poo pickers.
Bsically they are leaf blowers.
The inlet is connected to a large drum via a tube that has a linnen filter on it.
Then there is a pick up tube on the other end of the drum to suck up the crud.
This is exactly the same method as the cleaners that local authorities use to clear blocked street drains.
You could just about make one yourself.
They work a lot better than the vacuum cleaner on steroids like a Billy Goat which tend to clog or the brush type that pick up leaves on the broom spikes or get hung up on hills & ditches the reduce the suckion .