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I’ve just spent half the afternoon raking up fallen cobnuts, thus the questions:
1. What’s the easiest way of collecting them (off grass)? Raking is very laborious and rather hit or miss as they get embedded, you can’t mow them up, I don’t think you can vacuum them up as the shells are too tough to be mulched, a “lawn leaf sweeper” is one gadget I don’t own but maybe that would work? I can’t pick them up individually, there’s thousands of them, I filled 2 dustbins and there’s still a lot on the grass and many still on the tree so I'll need to repeat this exercise… Suggestions welcome!
2. I know from experience that many of the nutshells are empty, no nut!
The main nut in this endeavour is me collecting the debris! The squirrels get the ones with nuts in, they’re more patient than me at sorting them out and start much earlier. I’ve watched them, they’re super-efficient: having found the shells with nuts in they hide/plant them with the same sequence every time – scoop a hollow, plant the nut, firmly tap it down with the nose, fill in the hollow. Everywhere! In the flower beds, in the hedges, in the raised beds, even in containers and plant pots. I don’t know if they ever retrieve any but I end up with dozens of cobnut seedlings. I grow a few on for a year or two and give them to the local gardener’s Annual Plant Fair marked “Product of Squirrel Enterprises Inc” but I don’t think there's many takers… 
The question is How can I improve the fertility rate so that more of the nutshells contain a nut?
1. What’s the easiest way of collecting them (off grass)? Raking is very laborious and rather hit or miss as they get embedded, you can’t mow them up, I don’t think you can vacuum them up as the shells are too tough to be mulched, a “lawn leaf sweeper” is one gadget I don’t own but maybe that would work? I can’t pick them up individually, there’s thousands of them, I filled 2 dustbins and there’s still a lot on the grass and many still on the tree so I'll need to repeat this exercise… Suggestions welcome!
2. I know from experience that many of the nutshells are empty, no nut!
The main nut in this endeavour is me collecting the debris! The squirrels get the ones with nuts in, they’re more patient than me at sorting them out and start much earlier. I’ve watched them, they’re super-efficient: having found the shells with nuts in they hide/plant them with the same sequence every time – scoop a hollow, plant the nut, firmly tap it down with the nose, fill in the hollow. Everywhere! In the flower beds, in the hedges, in the raised beds, even in containers and plant pots. I don’t know if they ever retrieve any but I end up with dozens of cobnut seedlings. I grow a few on for a year or two and give them to the local gardener’s Annual Plant Fair marked “Product of Squirrel Enterprises Inc” but I don’t think there's many takers… The question is How can I improve the fertility rate so that more of the nutshells contain a nut?
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