What is the right type of rake for oak leaves, twigs, acorns on a Zoysia lawn?

Question

I haven't had a lawn to speak of in my current home, but am having it sodded with Empire Zoysia in the next couple of weeks. I'll need to clean up oak leaves, twigs and acorns in the front yard on an ongoing basis.

Paul Tukey's Organic Lawn Care manual suggests a bamboo rake for dethatching, but I'm not sure that is appropriate for this. I'm wondering what a bamboo rake offers that is different than, say, a plastic fanned rake, or a metal one for that matter (I already have a metal one).

What type of rake is appropriate?

I'll have to go out of my way a bit to get a bamboo rake, but I'll happily do so if that is the right tool; I just want to know why.

Answer 1

The plastic rakes I've used behave very similarly to bamboo rakes, ignoring durability, sustainability, etc. Since your reference is an organic lawn care manual, I suspect sustainability was considered.

A plastic rake is usually a little gentler, because the right-angle bend in the tines is more flexible. A bamboo rake digs in a little more. So for dethatching, a bamboo rake might be better, as the book noted. But that's not what you're doing.