Removing rocks from soil.

[joea99]

In my area, forested mostly, is on a mountainside, more or less, and the soil is laden with rocks, stones and some "big rocks"

Thinking To "de rock" some areas with the idea of making a garden/farm plot. Maybe an acre or less. At my stage even that might be too much.

Might also have to clear some trees, of various types, so roots might also be an issue. My Kutoba B21 may not be up to the task of getting the root balls out, but, once out, they are easily disposed of. More or less. It's the hard bits that are more of a concern.

Some sort of "shaker" where the dirt and small stones could fall through?

 

[TractorGuy]

I built a screener last year that has some effectiveness. I looked at a lot of different designs and practically all of them had somebody raking off the remaining debris unless they just had plain ol soil and rocks. I made mine on a simple design with an angle for stuff to slide down and put two hooks on the underside so I can just pick it up with the loader to clear the leftover. When the soil is dry it's about 60% to 70% efficient.

My thread spawned some discussion on the subject as well as how mine worked out.

Soil Screener

I'm about to embark on building a soil screener. I've looked at several designs on You Tube and decided I am going with a stationery design with a fairly steep angle. Most of the models I've seen work but a couple stood out as the simplest and those worked as good as the vibratory models. I...

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[joea99]

Kinda, sorta, what I had in mind. What's left of it. There are a couple of quarries around where I can try to hunt up screens.

Thanks for the ideas.

 

[Avenger]

Photos would help. My response depends on the amount of rocks you have. Is it like an old stream or river bed, with 10's of thousands of rocks piled on top of one another with a bit of dirt between them? Or is it like one or two here and there?

Where I grew up, in the Columbia Basin, we nicknamed our farm "the Rock Farm" because it seemed like thats all we ever grew: rocks. Every year, it was the same thing, after plowing and discing, get out and pick rock. One person drives the tractor with the FEL, while the others, maybe 3 of us, pick up rocks and put them into the bucket. When the bucket is full, the tractor drives to the edge of the field, and dumps it. Made for very long days.

If your area is small enough, and your land isnt a field of rocks, then this might be the best solution. Probably the cheapest too. But it is hard work.

Back on the farm, after years of picking rock, I decided to find a better way. I bought (with my own money) an old, run down potato digger. I put it into the shop and started working on it. I converted it into a rock picker. Took me a few hundred dollars and several hours (I also had help). But when we were done, a tractor pulled the digger though the ground picking up the rocks and leaving the dirt behind. Another tractor, that pulled the dump trailer, drove along side, and the rocks went into it. Made life so much better, if the dang thing would keep running. Break downs were a daily occurrence.

If you can find a way to pick the rocks mechanically, that would be best. But "rocking picking" attachments, or buckets, or contraptions, take a ton of abuse and will break down. Rocks are hard on equipment. Which is why they need to be removed.

You can do a soil screen, but then you are bringing the dirt to and from a location. If this is ok, then might be your best bet. If I were doing this project, I would rather pull (or push) the device though the ground, leaving the soil there and taking the rocks with me. Or simply pick them out by hand, if that is practical.

 

[bcs001]

Here is how I just got through with a similar task in the North Ga mountains. The ground on our property also has a very large quantity of small to medium sized rock and stone. I started with tree cutting followed by stump grinding as much as was possible. Then I used a heavy duty single shank subsoiler to pull up all the bigger roots of the trees within the garden area we were planting (only broke one shear bolt in the process). This also brought up a lot of the larger rock buried in the soil we were then able to clean out. Next step was using the box blade tilted forward with all the ripper teeth down as deep as they go and running in all directions to get the ground broken up. This pulled up the remainder of the roots and much more rock and stone that we picked up.

Final steps were to grade the area relatively flat with the box blade and then make a few passes with the tiller. This either brought up more rock or buried them down deep. After then tilling in a couple of truck loads of compost, we have a pretty nice garden area. Had to fence it in to keep the deer out and hopefully the bears won't try to get in.

Here is a before and after of the general area. Its not as large as what you are talking about doing but the process should work the same. Good luck with the project.

Bruce.

 

[LeoC4]

Depending on the size of the rocks and area, a rock grapple might work. In my area of Virginia, I unearthed thousands of softball sized (and larger) rocks in my 4,000 sqft garden area using a combination of mid-soiler and disc harrow. I still get an occasional one to show up when I use my rototiller after close to 10 years of working the soil.

I only use a soil screen to separate small rocks from topsoil I use to topdress low spots in the yard and for planting trees / shrubs.

 

[5030]

They sell (and rent) rock pickers but your tractor is way too small to use one. I borrow my neighbor's picker when I need it but I have large Kubota's and you need at least 2 remotes to run one.

Basically a drag pan that is screened. Soil falls through, rocks stay in the pan. Guess you could do them one at a time with your unit but plan on it taking a LONG time. Same with stumps.

Have fun. I prefer mechanized myself.

 

[ruffdog]

Here is a simple screen to separate the rocks:

 

[ruffdog]

If you have a skid steer, this looks like a good attachment for rock filtering:

 

[5030]

I like the pull behind pans better because they require less tractor use as the screen and distribute the spoil in one operation.

Like I said though, the OP's unit is way too small to use one. You need a substantial tractor with some weight and tractive effort.

 

[5030]

If you have a skid steer, this looks like a good attachment for rock filtering:

For that he needs to upgrade units. No way could his BX handle that.

 

[joea99]

You guys are why I ask question here from time to time. Great ideas and experiences.

The area looks a bit like bcs001 plot, treed, dirt and lots of rocks. The video ruffdog posted is pretty close too. Like Avenger mentioned, we "grow rocks" here.

I should look into who might have the equipment some of you mentioned that might be interested in selling, renting or doing. Might be best, or at least fastest, in the end. Failing that, the rock separator screen would be workable with my current unit and (limited) fabrication skills. And the most work for my aging bod.

 

[joea99]

For that he needs to upgrade units. No way could his BX handle that.

Just to note, not a BX. No offense to BX owners, but the B21 more of a "commercial" machine.

It is on the small side, why I got it, but I sometime wish I had gotten the L35 I could have had for not much more.

 

[joea99]

If you have a skid steer, this looks like a good attachment for rock filtering:

Interesting. That replaces the bucket and is hydraulic driven?

 

[ruffdog]

Interesting. That replaces the bucket and is hydraulic driven?

Yes, it would attach via SSQA (quick attach) and would spin hydraulically with a flick of a button.

 

[i7win7]

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might work on compact tractor

 

[5030]

Just to note, not a BX. No offense to BX owners, but the B21 more of a "commercial" machine.

It is on the small side, why I got it, but I sometime wish I had gotten the L35 I could have had for not much more.

Still no where big enough. You need an ag tractor with mass and power.

 

[5030]

Having owned over 10 Kubota's to date and starting small (B7100) and working up to a pair of M9000's, I learned that 'big' enough is never big enough. Even the M9's sometimes aren't quite big enough and I have to go borrow a bigger JD from down the road.

With tractors , size always matters.

 

[rScotty]

I use a rock bucket. It's by far the easiest & most economical way for de-rocking small areas. It does have some downsides, but they use the standard front SSQA bucket mount common to most tractors today. Takes maybe two minutes to swap buckets and be de-rocking.

Here's some pictures of a generic version - about half the price of the Bradco rock bucket....which BTW is worth the extra money. I have both.
On some models you can choose the spacing for the tines. If they were adjustable it would be even better.

 

[spruce Deere]

I have the bradco rock bucket, Its built like a tank. Works very good if soil is worked and loose sifting out rocks and sticks if lined up right.

We use it like a big salad fork for cleaning up culled-out trees, stabbing two, three at a time to carry them out of the field

Most of my ground has had years of hand picking rocks but still there is spots that rocks just appear out from the dirt. Round ones, jagged ones, small ones, large ones.

Dug one up with the 1150 dozer after finding it sub-soiling with the 790.... it was LARGE. That rock is now a landscape feature by our fire ring.