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Walnuts

#1

Burris33

Burris33

I am relatively new to the mowing business, and I haven't done much mowing for people in the fall until this year. There are several yards I'm doing that are covered in walnuts. The owners don't seem to care much about them. Is it okay to just mow over them or is it worth the time to pick them up? And if I do mow them, can that damage the blades quickly?


#2

exotion

exotion

They can dull your blade fast. It really is worth the time, I tell my customers its an extra fee usually $5 a tree to rake them up if they don't want to pay I don't mow I spend enough time a week sharpening my blades


#3

reynoldston

reynoldston

I have walnuts in my yard along with apples. I just mow right over the tops of all them. I really don't see where the walnuts hit the mower blades, but the apples do. When I mow over the apples it smells like apple sauce. The deer will eat the apples and the squirrels take the walnuts away. Then by spring everything is gone.


#4

Carscw

Carscw

I just mow them. If you are cutting so low that you hit a lot of them then you are cutting to low anyways.

I find they don't hurt the blades to much

Apples just make a mess but I like the smell of them.


#5

exotion

exotion

Carscw said:
I just mow them. If you are cutting so low that you hit a lot of them then you are cutting to low anyways.

I find they don't hurt the blades to much

Apples just make a mess but I like the smell of them.
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Guess that's true I'm thinking in the fall I usually cut real low anyway and don't like hitting all those walnuts. And I have seen my blades beat to hell after one tree.

I love mowing apples makes everything smell good and my machine usually cuts an Apple into about 5 pieces and they are usually gone in a couple days


#6

Mike88se

Mike88se

Agree you might be cutting too low if you hit them but maybe your mower has really good vacuum action. Disagree respectfully that they won't cause blade problems. Walnut shells are used in abrasion blasting so obviously they are pretty hard. Pick em up. Great in cookies and healthy too ;)
Time is money so you may or may not want to charge for picking them up. I had a customer who had a lot of pear trees. The fruit definitely cause minor complications because there were a lot of them on the ground. Cause uneven mowing at times. I suggested to the owner that he run an ad on CL for free pears. Worked out pretty well.
Do whats best for you.


#7

reynoldston

reynoldston

Mike88se said:
Agree you might be cutting too low if you hit them but maybe your mower has really good vacuum action. Disagree respectfully that they won't cause blade problems. Walnut shells are used in abrasion blasting so obviously they are pretty hard. Pick em up. Great in cookies and healthy too ;)
Time is money so you may or may not want to charge for picking them up. I had a customer who had a lot of pear trees. The fruit definitely cause minor complications because there were a lot of them on the ground. Cause uneven mowing at times. I suggested to the owner that he run an ad on CL for free pears. Worked out pretty well.
Do whats best for you.
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I find its a very hard to shell walnuts. First you have husk them then the shells are very hard to get the fruit out. Not worth it to me but the squirrels love them and they do a good job of harvesting them. I buy the English walnuts all pre bagged from the store for our cookies. Now the apples bring the deer to my back yard which my wife enjoy watching.


#8

Mike88se

Mike88se

reynoldston said:
I find its a very hard to shell walnuts. First you have husk them then the shells are very hard to get the fruit out. Not worth it to me but the squirrels love them and they do a good job of harvesting them. I buy the English walnuts all pre bagged from the store for our cookies. Now the apples bring the deer to my back yard which my wife enjoy watching.
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When I was a kid my dad would buy nuts as treats for us at Christmas. All unshelled so we got pretty good at picking them out. I remember the Walnut shells were pretty tough on little fingers and would draw blood occasionally ;) Pecans we were experts at because that's what we have here. The little acorn looking nuts... Filberts? Didn't even bother with those. Too much trouble. Brazil nuts were tough too.


#9

P

possum

If your blades have the high suction you will hit most all of them . They can get real deep sometimes in piles and get up on your deck and throw belts and bend pulleys. Five bucks is cheap enough to rake up a few every time a mowing but after they really drop it is not near enough as they are much to numerous for several weeks. My own two walnut trees take several hours each year to keep cleaned up and at least three trips to the dump with trash cans filled with walnuts. There is always some leaves and other trash along with the walnuts if raking them. I cannot eat nuts. I do not like rats that live in trees. I do not like walnut trees either.


#10

reynoldston

reynoldston

possum said:
If your blades have the high suction you will hit most all of them . They can get real deep sometimes in piles and get up on your deck and throw belts and bend pulleys. Five bucks is cheap enough to rake up a few every time a mowing but after they really drop it is not near enough as they are much to numerous for several weeks. My own two walnut trees take several hours each year to keep cleaned up and at least three trips to the dump with trash cans filled with walnuts. There is always some leaves and other trash along with the walnuts if raking them. I cannot eat nuts. I do not like rats that live in trees. I do not like walnut trees either.
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If I got any trees around my house I don't like they heat my house in the winter time. Black walnut makes fair fire wood. As far as tree rats go (squirrels) we don't brother each other and besides that just how would you get rit of them if you don't like them? Some things in life we have to live with.


#11

exotion

exotion

possum said:
If your blades have the high suction you will hit most all of them . They can get real deep sometimes in piles and get up on your deck and throw belts and bend pulleys. Five bucks is cheap enough to rake up a few every time a mowing but after they really drop it is not near enough as they are much to numerous for several weeks. My own two walnut trees take several hours each year to keep cleaned up and at least three trips to the dump with trash cans filled with walnuts. There is always some leaves and other trash along with the walnuts if raking them. I cannot eat nuts. I do not like rats that live in trees. I do not like walnut trees either.
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5 bucks covers the lawn below the tree and only a quick go through I can't get to detailed that's not what I'm there to do. I only have a few people with walnut trees


#12

Carscw

Carscw

exotion said:
5 bucks covers the lawn below the tree and only a quick go through I can't get to detailed that's not what I'm there to do. I only have a few people with walnut trees
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Can you use your blower to put them all up next to the tree?


#13

exotion

exotion

Ya that's usually what I do after I mow anything left gets put against the tree and I grab them next time. Most are planted in or close to shrub beds so the amount of grass I have to worry about is minimal. And the shrub beds are a seperate bid to be taken care of after the mow season


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