How do you fix ruts with a tractor?

[strantor]

I rutted up over an acre of carpet grass lawn spraying for mosquitoes before it was dry enough. We were held hostage in our own house by insects. It was a dire situation. I don't feel stupid (yet) for doing it, but now I need to fix it. Most of the ruts are 1" - 3" but some are 4" - 6" deep.

I tried dragging bucket backwards over the ruts and the result was less than ideal. The ruts didn't fill completely in, and the giant poo stain left by the bucket looks worse than the ruts did. I have a piece of steel pipe about 16" dia x 6ft long. I am thinking of turning it into a roller that attaches to the exge of my bucket. Then I put the roller down instead of the bucket edge, with the weight of the front end of the tractor on the roller, and drag the roller back.

I feel that would be a gentler levelling than the bucket edge. But I just googled "how to fix ruts" and one page suggested that any remedy which further compacts the soil is bad, because grass dies in compacted soil. I don't want my grass to die. I don't know if they're right or not.

Do I need to till the yard or what? I don't have a tiller or any implements except FEL w/ bucket and fork attachment, and a concrete counterbalance. I'm open to buying something if needed.

 

[strantor]

Sample spot (bad ruts)
Before dragging the bucket:




After:

 

[atsah]

I would smooth that over with the flat of my bucket backing up and reseed it.. When it's drier of course.

 

[Oldoak]

You definitely caused yourself more work by not waiting for better conditions to remedy those initial ruts.
True, those ruts will never completely fill in completely due to compaction without adding additional soil.

I would wait until it drys out when the soil is more workable without creating a bigger mess. Then I would drag it with something like spike tooth chain harrows, reseed, and roll it.

 

[Diggin It]

Tiller set shallow?

 

[ZTMAN]

A neighbor hired a skid steer to do some work. The operator went through a common area that was wet and made some big ruts. I walked down to look at the ruts. The ground was still wet and I had my muck boots on. I pushed on the outside of the high part of the rut and it just squished back in place. Had nothing better to do that afternoon so I squished my way along about 100 foot of ruts and you could hardly tell they were there when I was done.
Will only work if the ground is still wet and if you don"t have any thing better to do.
Not as fun using equipment to fix, but it was effective.

 

[Jstpssng]

I would rake the ruts out as well as you can, finish filling them in with new loam, run a roller across it, plant new seed and hay it.

 

[Bigpuddie]

You can wait until it dries a little more where soil firms up and is only damp, then take tractor and run parallel to the ruts, right on edge, and let tires push soil back into the ruts

 

[LouNY]

You can wait until it dries a little more where soil forms up and is only damp, then take tractor and run parallel to the ruts, right on edge, and let tires push soil back into the ruts

Bingo, works for 90% of your ruts

 

[/pine]

I would fill them with sand and grass seed

 

[CADplans]

I have good luck taking out about 80% of the rut with a lawn roller,,
Soil conditions have to be P E R F E C T !!

Many times, different areas have to be done on different days,,, to get ideal conditions,,,

The roller does the nicest job at the fastest speed your tractor can pull the roller.

After 80% is gone, many times simply waiting will allow the soil to self flatten for the remainder ,,

If you are trying to achieve instant perfection, this is not the answer,, pull out the checkbook if you want perfection.

I use my DIY lawn roller a L O T !!

 

[DieselBound]

As Crocodile Dundee would say: "That's not a rut, This is a rut!" (some of these would almost trap my B7800 if I got perpendicular to them and had no weight on the back)

I'd vote for filling in and reseeding, that or shallow tilling (and then reseeding).

 

[4570Man]

Your back filling job doesn’t look bad except for being a little wet. I’d probably add a little dirt and re seed. Re working it enough robot need dirt will really destroy the grass. As it is now most of it will probably come back. And I’d probably look into ways to get water off the yard.

 

[JDAOWNER]

Your back filling job doesn稚 look bad except for being a little wet. I壇 probably add a little dirt and re seed. Re working it enough robot need dirt will really destroy the grass. As it is now most of it will probably come back. And I壇 probably look into ways to get water off the yard.

I HAVE A SIMILAR PROBLEM---LOGGING CO. LEFT SOME HUGE RUTS IN MY YARD AND WOODS. I PLAN ON USING MY KIOTI AND A BOX BLADE TO LEVEL THEM OFF. THE GRASS WILL PROBABLY CLOG THINGS UP, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO. I DON'T CARE IF THE GRASS DIES, IT'S A FIELD AND WILL COME BACK EVENTUALLY.

 

[WranglerX]

New tools I have rediscovered, shovel and rake....

Dale

 

[/pine]

New tools I have rediscovered, shovel and rake....

Dale

You in the middle of a second childhood?... having a tractor and attachments along with a FEL...means the days of shovels, rakes, pick mattocks etc. and wheelbarrows are over..."Once you tried that...you never go back"....!

FWIW...Having hydraulic T&T will give even the average operator an added advantage that often equates to being able to make a job look like it was manicured by hand without ever leaving the seat...and when you get done you can HOFBOL (huff on fingernails..buff on lapel)

 

[WranglerX]

You in the middle of a second childhood?... having a tractor and attachments along with a FEL...means the days of shovels, rakes, pick mattocks etc. and wheelbarrows are over..."Once you tried that...you never go back"....!

FWIW...Having hydraulic T&T will give even the average operator an added advantage that often equates to being able to make a job look like it was manicured by hand without ever leaving the seat...and when you get done you can HOFBOL (huff on fingernails..buff on lapel)

The more I work on ruts with tractor the worse it gets....

Dale

 

[Stancoll]

The more I work on ruts with tractor the worse it gets....

Dale

Are you working on leveling the ruts with the material there or are you getting fill dirt from somewhere else to fill the ruts?

 

[Ford850]

For minor ruts like the OP had in a lawn, I use a potato fork and pry up the 'dents' one fork width at a time. Sometimes I work down both side of each rut. Works like a charm and no seeding necessary. Major ruts I till, drag, seed, roll.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

For minor ruts like the OP had in a lawn, I use a potato fork and pry up the 'dents' one fork width at a time. Sometimes I work down both side of each rut. Works like a charm and no seeding necessary. Major ruts I till, drag, seed, roll.

Interesting, kind of like fixing a golf ball mark but on a large scale.