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Hi Jonny
Been researching this myself. I am aware of 4 brands at the moment. Westerman and AS at about £2000 a unit and you also have Kersten and CUBB at more like £5K each. Made the decision fairly simple for me. I wasn't going to spend £5k so two were immediately out. The AS brush did look small and fiddly and I did think reading the specs that it sounded a little underpowered - something you have just confirmed for me. I also thought that the twisted wire brush looked a bit harsh and potentially damaging even to concrete. So basically its the westermann as far as I can tell that is the only horse in the race.
Suppliers I have talked to so far have told me that adjustment of the height of the westermann is key - too high or too low and it doesn't work well. The other thing they told me was that the machine can leave a gritty muddy coating on block paving if things are a bit wet - ie you probably need to wait for a dry day or wash down afterwards to remove the mud. I am hoping to see one/
or try one before I buy but can't see this being arranged before mid JAnuary. Hopefully, somebody else will be able to add some real experience and help both of us.
Thanks for the reply
Yes, I pretty much agree with you and have heard the same about the height adjustment on the Westermann. I see others have used the cylindrical brushes, such as the Stiga, and seem to do a half decent job but I feel the sweeper style brush would do a better job! I believe you can have a demonstration of a Nimos sweeper, supplied by Overton Uk- check out their website- I don't know what they retail at but could well be worth a look!
I use and sell Hyundai Weed and Moss Sweeper Brushes. They do a fantastic job on tar driveways, lockblock etc.Spraying the driveway with a moss killer (Like Sapphire) a couple of weeks before you use the brush makes things a lot easier, then once cleaned give it another spray of Moss Killer like Sapphire which prevents regrowth for a while. Excellent job.
GIve me a shout and I can do you a discount, either contact me throught the site below or on here. If you want to buy online I'll create you a discount code, or I can send you an invoice. Delivery is usually just a couple of days. I dont see the point in paying huge amounts of money on machinery you wont use very often.
Hyundai Moss Cleaner
Not got one, but seen the Nimos Mosquito being used by an actual contractor rather than a company demo film. On YouTube the contractor rates it highly and is well engineered with Honda engine and few moving parts, hope that helps.Search Scott Ellwood gardening on YouTube
We hired then bought a Stiga... it worked well but was not quick. It took Fleur about 4 hours to do this tennis court - and the moss has to be treated before hand - so another 3 to 4 hours and a lot of herbicide. Then afterwards the whole court needed blowing off - two blowers and another hour or so, if the wind let you blow it where you wanted to :)
The catch with it was that it ate its brushes quite quickly, and they are not cheap. I ended up having a premium price for its use - to cover the costof the brushes. If the court/path was susceptible to moss it had to be done very regularly - quite a high cost for the client.
I think from memory there are two widths of machine, we hired the wide one, which needed the van virtually completely empty to get it in, the narrow one (seen below) easily fitted.... but obviously took longer to cover the area.
You really need to spray at least 2 weeks before sweeping, this allows for the moss to die and become brittle. Like you said it then requires a good sweep followed by blowing the area clean. Once all nice and clean regular spraying with something like Sapphire will prevent the moss growing back again, something you need to contract with the club, if they op to forgoe ongoing surface treatment then you must advise them of the increased cost involved in spraying/brushing the surface as opposed to regular spraying.
Provided you have an effective broom, a good time to do the job is when the moss is wet, or at least damp. It blossoms and sticks up proud of the surface. That way, the bristles can get hold of it and pull it out of a grainy surface such as tarmac. To complete the job, without resorting to chemicals, pressure wash the brushed surface with a machine that uses spinning jets, rather than a pressure lance.
