Attachments for lawn restoration

[jtette]

I have a lawn of about 5 acres. 2 years ago I had a friend plow, disc, and cultipack the back 3 acres. It came out nice except the ridges the cultipacker left make mowing a little bumpy when going in an east west direction. I just bought a JD 4400 tractor, and I want to get a couple of attachments for the sole purpose of redoing the remaining 2 acres of lawn that is close to the house. I don't know whether to buy a rototiller and box blade or a 2 bottom plow, a disc and a box blade. Or should I be buying a landscape rake in combination with some combination of the above. I guess I'm not sure what attachments work best. I basically want to till up what is there, then level it off nicely and reseed. Some parts of the soil are rather gravelly. Grows great grass though. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[kennyd]

I am sure you are eager to use that new tractor...But the best way to do your lawn is to rent a SSL (Skid Steer Loader/Bobcat) and either a RockHound or Harley rake. They will remove rock and debris, level, and leave a perfect surface in one pass. The RockHound is my favorite because it collects the spoils in the bucket vs. windrowing them to the side like the Harley.

 

[Lindy]

I didn't try a harley rake, but it sounds like that's the way to go. Haven't had much luck finding the right equipment to rent around here, so I didn't even try that route. I managed to pick up some old implements cheap, so I'm able to put them to use at my leisure -- will do so over the next few years.

That being said...............

Here's what I did. I'm in the process of redoing about 5 acres myself, and I plan on taking 2-3 years to finish it off. Horses used to run in the areas I'm redoing, so it's really rough and the soil needs to be worked and smoothed off.

1. Spray with roundup and wait 2-3 weeks
2. Respray as necessary
3. Scalp with mower and rake off excess vegetation
4. Till
5. Pulverize (to break up clods, pack/firm and level)
6. Rake, if needed, to remove rocks, tilled up roots, excess vegetation, etc...
7. Flexible tine harrow, aggressive direction, as final seedbed prep
8. Seed (I used an older Landpride overseeder, but a broadcast seeder would work too).
9. Apply starter fertilizer

It seemed necessary to pulverize after tilling because the ground was too soft and spongy for seeding in most areas, and other areas had chunks and clods of dried, balled up clay that didn't till up very nicely.

There are probably unnecessary or redundant steps in there, but it seemed to work pretty good for me. It gave me a lot of seat time anyhow

Now, we're just waiting to see how it turns out. It's got to be better than that bumpy plot of nasty weeds that I've been mowing for the last 6 years.

 

[pitt_md]

I have a lawn of about 5 acres. 2 years ago I had a friend plow, disc, and cultipack the back 3 acres. It came out nice except the ridges the cultipacker left make mowing a little bumpy when going in an east west direction. I just bought a JD 4400 tractor, and I want to get a couple of attachments for the sole purpose of redoing the remaining 2 acres of lawn that is close to the house. I don't know whether to buy a rototiller and box blade or a 2 bottom plow, a disc and a box blade. Or should I be buying a landscape rake in combination with some combination of the above. I guess I'm not sure what attachments work best. I basically want to till up what is there, then level it off nicely and reseed. Some parts of the soil are rather gravelly. Grows great grass though. Any advice would be appreciated.

Get the tiller and a landscape rake. I have done this same thing and it comes out nice and smooth. After I seeded I pulled a section of chainlink fence over it to keep the seed from blowing away in the wind.

 

[AlanB]

We usually Till,

Harley Rake etc. is better but more costly and less useable for other tasks.

We seldom use the landscape rake.

 

[jtette]

Thanks for all the advice. The tractor was a bit more versatile for my needs than a skid steer, but I did consider one. I was initially thinking an ATI preseeder, then the harley rake, but both are too expensive to justify them on my lawn. Any thoughts on the advantage of a landscape rake vs. a box scraper?

 

[JMER817]

Can you rent a harley rake or other equipment somewhere near you? I used to install lawns on the side. A harley rake is the way to go..

 

[jtette]

I can't find a harley rake rental in the buffalo area at all.

 

[jtette]

We usually Till,

Harley Rake etc. is better but more costly and less useable for other tasks.

We seldom use the landscape rake.

What do you do after tilling for soil compaction and leveling?

 

[Lindy]

I can't find a harley rake rental in the buffalo area at all.

I'm a little east of you, and I had the same problem. Very little in the way of rentals around here. An overseeder? Maybe a walk-behind unit, but certainly not a unit for 3pt use behind a tractor for larger projects.

That's why I wound up buying older used implements. I'll just sell them when I'm through.

 

[pitt_md]

What do you do after tilling for soil compaction and leveling?

I only tilled dwon 3-4 inches to remove what use to pass as a lawn.
I did not find it neccessary to pack the soil down. My lawn was pretty flat and after I was finished with the rake getting clumps of grass and rocks rounded up it was ready for the starter fertilizer and seeding. I was asking a friend of mine who installs lawns as a side business and he does not recomend rolling prior to seeding. So for so good. The new grass has been coming in very strong. I do have a problem with a lot of weeds trying to take over that I will address next year. Maybe round up before tilling would have helped but I don't like to use the stuff.

 

[AlanB]

What do you do after tilling for soil compaction and leveling?

Hopefully it is fairly level, If not we would then level and till again I imagine, but the tilling (not too deep) tends to level everything fairly well.

We then either seed, sod, fertilize or whatever the routine is on that particular lawn.

As to compaction, are you saying compaction as in recompacting the soil after you have tilled it to prevent erosion? The answer would be that we would use different methods such as sod, seed / mulch blankets, or quick sprouting grass (hydroseeded Rye maybe)

If you are saying compaction under the layer that we tilled, we don't worry that far (and to the best of my knowledge neither does anyone in the industry)

Or are you saying compaction to press the seeds into the tilled soil to help them germinate? This usually gets done through hand raking, straw blowing or watering. We have also used a "krimper" kind of a straight / wavy disc to push the straw into the ground which also helps with erosion.

Not sure if I am answering the question you are asking, but then again, not too sure I understand what you are asking either.

 

[JMER817]

What kind of soil do you have? Do you plan to have a garden? Is your JD a hydro or gear? How long is your driveway? Is it paved or gravel? Can you post a pic of the area that you are planning to reowrk? What area of the country do you live in? Answer these questions and I believe that I can help point you in the direction that makes the most sense

 

[wedge40]

What kind of soil do you have? Do you plan to have a garden? Is your JD a hydro or gear? How long is your driveway? Is it paved or gravel? Can you post a pic of the area that you are planning to reowrk? What area of the country do you live in? Answer these questions and I believe that I can help point you in the direction that makes the most sense

You forgot to ask boxers or briefs.

Wedge

 

[jtette]

What kind of soil do you have? Do you plan to have a garden? Is your JD a hydro or gear? How long is your driveway? Is it paved or gravel? Can you post a pic of the area that you are planning to reowrk? What area of the country do you live in? Answer these questions and I believe that I can help point you in the direction that makes the most sense

1. I have a gravely loam in parts mostly toward the road and a sandy loam further back. I live on a road that was at one time the shore of lake ontario many years ago before it receded (now the shore is about 5 miles away).

2. We will have a small garden.

3. The tractor is a sycroshift with sync-reverser.

4. Driveway is concrete ~ 60 feet long

5. I live in Western New York. I think I attached a picture. Behind the barn is where the sandy loam is and its a very rich soil. It's more gravelly close to the road and considerably drier.

 

[jeffinsgf]

I did most of my lawn (3/4 of an acre) three years ago. At the time, I had both a skid steer and a tractor. I have since sold the skid steer. I did not do one section of the yard (over the lateral field) then, as I thought I had other plans for it. This year I decided to plant that remaining area in grass, too.

First time around I rented a Rockhound for the skid steer, I spent hours and hours with a box blade, followed by hours and hours with a landscape rake. It was a pretty poor excuse for a lawn when I started, but it looks great now.

With a few more years' experience and some other landscaping projects coming up, this time I decided to buy a tiller. What a difference! I set it deep and chewed up all the existing weed cover. I let that set for about a week, while the chopped up vegetation dried up. I dumped on some sand and topsoil, spread it around just a little with the FEL, then went back over the whole area with the tiller, incorporating the amendments with the base soil.

Another poster in this thread mentioned bed compaction, which seems like what you "don't" want, but as a matter of fact, grass wants a firm bed -- not compacted like a brick, but firm. The tiller leaves the ground very fluffy, and not quite as uniformly level as I wanted. So, after the incorporation tilling, I used a section of chain link fence with a log on it. It smoothed everything out beautifully, popped out the biggest of the rocks, and firmed up the bed just right. After that I spread the seed and rolled it with a 250 pound roller.

Sure wish I had bought the tiller 3 years ago.

 

[jtette]

Hopefully it is fairly level, If not we would then level and till again I imagine, but the tilling (not too deep) tends to level everything fairly well.

We then either seed, sod, fertilize or whatever the routine is on that particular lawn.

As to compaction, are you saying compaction as in recompacting the soil after you have tilled it to prevent erosion? The answer would be that we would use different methods such as sod, seed / mulch blankets, or quick sprouting grass (hydroseeded Rye maybe)

If you are saying compaction under the layer that we tilled, we don't worry that far (and to the best of my knowledge neither does anyone in the industry)

Or are you saying compaction to press the seeds into the tilled soil to help them germinate? This usually gets done through hand raking, straw blowing or watering. We have also used a "krimper" kind of a straight / wavy disc to push the straw into the ground which also helps with erosion.

Not sure if I am answering the question you are asking, but then again, not too sure I understand what you are asking either.

I was thinking more in terms of what jeffinsgf indicated with the fluffy topping the tiller leaves. If you don't compact it, I would think that as soon as you drive over it with something fairly heavy, you'll have a rut. Also, with a tiller, I'm wondering how difficult it would be to separate the remaining sod to leave a nicely graded topsoil without clumps of grass and dirt.

 

[Lindy]

I was thinking more in terms of what jeffinsgf indicated with the fluffy topping the tiller leaves. If you don't compact it, I would think that as soon as you drive over it with something fairly heavy, you'll have a rut. Also, with a tiller, I'm wondering how difficult it would be to separate the remaining sod to leave a nicely graded topsoil without clumps of grass and dirt.

This is exactly why I bought an old pulverizer. After tilling, I would've made a real mess of the seeding if I hadn't packed/firmed and leveled the soil somehow. The pulverizer worked great for this.

 

[jeffinsgf]

I was thinking more in terms of what jeffinsgf indicated with the fluffy topping the tiller leaves. If you don't compact it, I would think that as soon as you drive over it with something fairly heavy, you'll have a rut. Also, with a tiller, I'm wondering how difficult it would be to separate the remaining sod to leave a nicely graded topsoil without clumps of grass and dirt.

The patch I fixed (about 5,000 sq ft) was chock full of field fescue clumps, foxtail and crabgrass. When I started, I hadn't even knocked the tops off the weeds for almost 2 months. It was standing at least knee high. After two passes with the tiller, you couldn't find a complete "weed" anywhere. After a week, you couldn't even tell it had ever had anything growing on it -- the vegetation all dried up and turned brown. When I used the chain link drag I pulled a half dozen dried up root balls to the surface, which I just kicked out.

Don't be concerned about "clumps", you won't have any. I am amazed at how completely the tiller works the soil.

That pulverizer looks like just the ticket to follow the tiller. However, my chain link drag cost me all of $30.

 

[justin caise]

I just now came in from frusterating myself beyond belief.
As planned I rented a MF with FEL, bush-hog and york rake (landscape rake?)
The bushhogging went great -my wife says that alone was worth the rental price, I don't think so. Previous land clearer left lots of holes and ruts making it impossible to mow therefore the woods keep trying to come back.
I've tried for many hours to clear the rest of the remaining junk and level/smooth the ground to some semblance of sanity with just the bucket and the rake... It may be because the rented machine hasn't got a float setting but every time the front wheels rise on a lump it digs the rear riding york rake in which creates a new rut, then the front wheel dives into a hole and the rake leaves its load as a lump for me to have to go back for. Rear wheel dives into hole and the rake digs another new rut.
Same situation on the driveway (crushed 3/4" stone) - rut creates rut and the seesaw effect makes it impossible to level it out.
Maybe I'm doing it all wrong. (Any suggestions?)
The tilling and then clearing old veg must be the way to go.