Best Pine Needle Rake 2021
Struggling to find the best pine needle rake? Looking for the best pine needle rake on the market? We can help!
Do you want to be sure to buy the right pine needle rake to ensure a clean sweep? Here we provide a review of our top-rated pine needle rake (not for tractors). We have checked out the top the comb pine needle rakes and compared them to The Mitagator so that you can feel confident that it will deliver the result you are looking for.
Do you have a pine tree on your property? Finding the clearing up difficult? The comb pine needle rakes are difficult to shift with and pine straw needle rakes can be an absolute chore – for effective results, this calls for a tool besides a pine needle roof rake that is designed specifically to clear pine needles, cones and branches quickly and easily.
A pine needle rake is fundamentally a pine needle rake not for a tractor. The handle can be wooden or metal, and the tines will be plastic or flexible metal. The narrower ones will work fine, but extra width makes the comb pine needle rake quicker because you can rake a larger area. The best pine needle rake is designed to lift and drag the pine needles even when they are quite dense. Don’t want to the comb pine needle rake very often? Not a problem if you are using The Mitagator.
The Mitagator is not a rake. You don’t rake with The Mitagator, you mitigate ground fuels.
Pine straw needle rakes breakdown easily – which makes them great for mulch, but not so good for heavier work like moving dead branches. Using a pine needle rake you can easily collect them into piles but you can’t remove them.
We have looked at the best pine needle roof rake on the market for a pine needle rake and the best pine needle rake to help you to narrow down your choices in The Mitagator. You want the job to be as painless as possible? We looked at ease of use, design features, effectiveness at collecting the pine needles, and weight, as well as considering other uses for the rake so that you are sure to get your money’s worth.
HOW TO USE A PINE NEEDLE RAKE?
The comb pine needle rake vs. The Mitagator
The best pine needle rake is a valuable commodity – really! The pine needle rake doesn’t cut through needle matting that has dropped from your pine tree like The Mitagator does. It can drive you mad, but matted needles are perfect as a mulch, particularly for shrubs like Azalea’s who thrive on its addition. In some Southern states, it’s possible to buy it in bales (especially from the longleaf pine Pinus palustris) so that people can add it to their garden as a mulch, and here you are with your own supply.
Alternative ways to clear up with the comb pine needle rake:
If you are prepared to clear very regularly and haven’t learned how much work it is with a pine straw needle rake or pine needle roof rake vs. The Mitagator, you will be shocked. If you have a LOT of pine trees there are alternatives to pine needle rake for tractor – The Mitagator. A leaf blower will shift them if they haven’t been left long enough to really bed down, but The Mitagator clears them with ease. Add in a tarpaulin and trailer or wheelbarrow and you don’t get the same level of clarity t with a rake, and with The Mitagator then it doesn’t take as much time either. A garden vacuum will create the same effect and can be used to clear the needles, but this covers a smaller area so it can be time-consuming, but if you want a mechanized approach those choices are there for you.
Taking the Raking Approach
You are here because you have decided to use a rake to clear up with the comb pine needle rake – and you are in the right place. The Mitagator works much better and is built to last.
Clearing with the best pine needle rake by the traditional raking method does not give you the best results – and most importantly the equipment doesn’t last as long. A pine needle rake can’t lift and move needles that have been down some time and have bedded into the ground, it is not precise, you can’t clear whichever area you choose, but it is quiet so it doesn’t trouble the neighbors. It isn’t as quick as The Mitagator even if you are methodical in your approach. You can use the comb pine needle rake to create piles, but it won’t move them onto a tarpaulin (that makes relocating them easy) – if you put them into piles then you can use The Mitagator to lift and move them to a wheeled trailer or wheelbarrow. A tarpaulin is fairly easy to drag as there is little weight to them and once you have gathered them together they are fairly easy to handle.
BUYERS GUIDE
When buying a pine needle rake you need to look at several aspects of the design to make sure that you are buying the best pine needle rake for your purposes. Your choice will need to take into account the area you are looking to rake, the ground that the needles are on, and any personal fitness limitations that you have which can be compensated for by choosing the correct pine needle rake.
Handle
Pine straw needle rake manufacturers use a variety of materials for handles:- hardwood, aluminum, and steel are the most common materials you will find. The height and grip comfort of the handle are the two most important things for you to consider when purchasing your pine straw rake. The Mitagator uses solid oak handles made is Cassville, Missouri.
Although it is appealing to choose a hand pine needle rake as light as possible, lightweight metal handles are susceptible to bending if they are not treated with respect. As with all things, it’s important to let the tool do the work and not try to use brute force! The Mitagator only weighs 4-3/4 pounds and works much better.
You may have concerns over rusting – but this can be overcome with a rub down with a dry cloth after use and careful storage in a weatherproof area.
Plastic and fiberglass handles are not as common, and for good reason, they are more inclined to break or shatter and do not offer the durability of the stronger materials.
The handle length really affects the comfort of the user after a very short period of time. This is why the adjustable handled models scored so well on our tests, for shorter (or indeed taller) people it was a pleasure to be able to make the handle suit the job in hand and save the back pain.
Many handles featured a grip area, rubberized or another material – in general, we found these to be a boon adding comfort as well as control using the rake.
Tines
The Mitagator is made with cold-rolled steel, then powder coated to prevent rust.
Generally speaking for all around garden use metal tines, or plastic covered metal tines, do not offer the best result. They are not strong and they don’t retain their shape. They also wear out until they don’t have enough ‘spring’ to cover uneven ground effectively. They need the same care as a metal handle – wipe them down after use and store out of the elements.
In the reviews, we have included both rubber and copolymer polypropylene heads. These offer a choice over different surfaces and again with a little thought and care over storage will give you a good return on your investment.
For a pine needle roof rake, you do not need to have the tines close enough together that the needles do not pass through. We tested many different designs and found the spacing of the tines on The Mitagator to be the most efficient at clearing pine needles, pine cones and branches.
Rake Head Size
What sort of area are you looking to work in? If you have a large open space, and the needles are being dropped onto lawn then a larger head will suit your purpose perfectly and you can buy with confidence. If your pine tree is incorporated into landscaping on your property, and the needles drop onto beds, cultivated areas, areas of land with other shrubs or smaller trees, then access becomes an issue – in this instance you would do well to consider an adjustable headed rake so that you can use it in smaller areas without damaging other plantings.
If you do choose an adjustable rake-head then take some time to make sure that you understand how the mechanism works and secures. In tests, they were not complicated, but care had to be taken to secure them properly before use.
Straight rake heads served the purposes of our tests absolutely inadequately, there are many curved heads on the market, and rakes incorporating other eye-catching designs, in use they did not seem to offer any discernable benefits.
Ease of Use
Raking is a repetitive movement and for large areas, it happens for a long period of time! Give some thought to ease of use of the tool, and make sure that you are comfortable to use it. This is why the pine needle rake came out so high for pine needle rake tractor – you can literally make them fit to protect yourself from any muscle pain or backache at the end of the day.
A lot of design thought is now put into the ergonomics of the handle and grip by companies and this translates directly into easier use, and less strain for the worker.
For anyone with back or bending issues the 3 in 1 is a great solution, it may take slightly longer to clear the needles, but it will make sure that you do it in comfort.
Pine Needle Rake FAQ’s
How to clean up with the comb pine needle rake?
The best tool is not the pine needle rake, The Mitagator is still the most effective tool in the box to clear pine needles on your property. If you have a pine tree you will know how much material it dumps onto your lawn or your beds and left alone this forms a mat underneath your grass or on your ground.
How to pick up a pine straw needle rake?
Once you have raked your needles into a pile you can pick them up using hand-grabs and transfer them into a wheeled barrow. For a larger area raking them straight onto a tarpaulin is a fabulous short-cut and then you can use that to move them directly to a better location, whether you are using them as a mulch or taking them off the property.
The 3 in 1 rake offers a great pick up solution – it means that it takes longer to rake but collecting and picking pine needles up with this rake is easy and effective.
How to use a pine needle rake?
Always rake towards yourself. Start at the furthest point that you wish to clear and work backward across a level front drawing the material back towards yourself along a clear edge. This way you don’t ever have to rake the same ground twice. For some areas that may mean starting at the base of the trunk and working out from the tree in ‘slices’ – or you may have a boundary that you can start at as a marker.
Make sure that you don’t work too large an area, once you have a line of material that is reaching a hard to manage size then draw it into a pile and start again.
Never use too much force through the rake, allow the tines to do the work and don’t put too much pressure on the head or you will cause damage.
Where can I buy a rake?
OUR VERDICT
We have taken an objective look at the range of manual pine needle rake on the market and have arrived at our best pine needle rake 2019 across a range of models. Each offers you something a little different to enable you to buy the best pine needle rake for your property and requirement.
The Mitagator Fire Mitigation Tool
The needles make excellent fire starters, flavoring for teas and vinegars, grill smoke to season meats, air fresheners, and, of course, mulch. They have many medicinal properties as well. Collecting pine needles and processing them correctly can help you harness any of these natural properties.
Read more at Gardening Know How: Harvesting Pine Needles : Why Should You Harvest Pine Needles https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/pine/harvesting-pine-needles.htm
Use pine needles as a cover for your paths instead of rock or mulch. They don’t decompose quickly, so they don’t need to be replaced as often as mulch would. https://www.diynatural.com/pine-needles/
MAKE A DISINFECTANT
If you like the scent of Pine-Sol, you'll love this cleaning mixture. Combine 1/2 cup needles with white vinegar in a jar and let sit for a few weeks. Remove needles and use the solution on countertops and other surfaces.
https://www.womansday.com/life/a56988/uses-for-pine-needles/
The Mitagator™ Fire Mitigation Tool is unlike any other property maintenance tool on the market. It’s more powerful than a rake, hoe, pitchfork or McLeod. It clears ground fuels down to the dirt for fire mitigation colorado and fire mitigation california. It removes 80% 90% of needles, leaves, twigs and other fine ground debris. But it’s strong enough to quickly pile and move large branches for mitigation measures for forest fires too. It is the best thatching/dethatching tool, pine needle rake and pond rake you can buy for mitigation steps for wildfires.
<h2>Are there other fire mitigation tools for homeowners that work better than a pine needle rake?</h2>
No other tool works as well to take mitigation measures for forest fires or mitigation steps for wildfires. If you are doing fire mitigation in california or fire mitigation in colorado this is the only tool you need. The Mitagator is better than a rake, a rake misses 50%-80% of needles, cones and other small litter on the first pass – you have to rake the same area over and over to really clear the ground. Large areas can be cleaned better than a pine needle rake in minutes instead of hours. Clearing years of pine needles from the ground for wildfire mitigation allows more moisture into the soil and encourages new, green grass growth. With The Mitagator, you’re not only lowering the risk of wildfire spread through ground fuels, you’re bringing new life to the land.
<h2>What else does fire mitigation tool do?</h2>
The Mitagator does more than clear fire fuels – it’s also the most versatile lawn and garden tool on the market. The Mitagator will save you hours of work prepping your garden beds and adding soil amendments – and you’ll aerate the ground without wildfire dangers at the same time.
The Mitagator fire mitigation tool makes quick work of difficult tasks better than a pine needle or dethatching/thatching rake like removing rocks, weeds and dead plants. With The Mitagator, you can quickly clean up pine needles, pine cones, weed cuttings and remove matted debris under grass and ground covers and aerate the soil at the same time.
The Mitagator is perfect for cleaning along waterways better than a pond rake, too. You can clean garbage, weed and other debris in minutes – clean waterways promote a healthy ecosystem and happy wildlife.
The Mitagator removes dead leaves and other hard to reach build up under and behind shrubs, bushes and other plants – the dead stuff comes out without harming your live vegetation. It works better than a lawn rake.