Kubota B3150 with weedbrush to remove weeds

More and more councils are looking for innovative solutions that reduce their reliance on glyphosate or other pesticides. Edinburgh were one of the first in the UK to begin trialling new equipment for this purpose, and Kersten were happy to help.

For Edinburgh, some of the most challenging areas required long stretches of path edging. This involves removing large volumes of heavy soil and turf that have overgrown from the verge and encroached onto a hard surface, such as a road or path. The traditional way to deal with this would be regular treatment with pesticides and perhaps some back breaking work with shovels and brooms. 

However, Edinburgh was able to replace this regime very effectively, by fitting two tractors with front mounted weed brushes and rear mounted sweepers. Allowing the soil and turf to be removed by the weed brush and cleaned up by the sweeper in one pass. The Weedbrush requires lots of hydraulic functions in order to control the brush angle and position, so we opted for a UB 6080 MH, which uses the front PTO of the tractor to drive a hydraulic system, controlling all the functions of the weedbrush. This system allows the machine to be compact and close to the tractor and easy to operate on a joystick.

A report from the council shows that since implementing the new Integrated Weed Management approach; "recorded weed service requests and complaints from the public have declined". "They totalled 483 in 2015; 565 in 2016; and 371 in 2017. This year the Council had received 123 weed-related service requests/complaints by the end of June; an indication that focussed activity on weed control is becoming increasingly effective"

The full report can be found here

The items used in this project for the weedbrush were as follows:

1. FL KUB B2650-1 - Front Linkage Kit
2. FPTO KUB B2650-1 - Front PTO Kit
3. ABR UB KD - Weed brush Connecting Bracket
4. UB 6080 MH - Hybrid PTO/Hydraulic Weed brush
5. BT 060 FL - 60cm Brush Plate
6. ST-UB-JS - Joystick Controls

For the Rear Sweeper:

1. HKM 15040 M - Rear Mounted Sweeper
2. SSB 15040 - Collector Box
3. HB-SSB-HFKM - Hydraulic Emptying

The HKM series of sweepers are Ideal for compact tractors under 40HP, requiring only a rear linkage and PTO to run.

The Sweeper can be fitted with a manual opening collection system, but in this example, the customer chose to use hydraulic emptying making most operations possible from the seat.

Kersten sweepers and weed brushes are great at maintaining hard surfaces by removing detritus and debris which reduces weed growth and is fundamental to Integrated weed management.

Other attachments suitable for the Kubota B-Series can be found on the Attachments for Kubota B Series page.

Contact Kersten to chat about your requirements.