Disc harrow vs power tiller

[finnercy]

New house build and after it I have a 1.5 Acre site to sort out. I need to break up compacted ground for planting grass etc. Some of the compacted ground is bare earth I leveled recently with an excavator and some has rough grass on it I want to reseed. There are plenty rocks in the soil round here. I have a small tractor B2230 - 22HP and a box blade currently which I have used to do some of the final leveling of the soil I have moved around from big piles left over after the building work.

What is the best implement to break up the soild and leave a good tilled bed for planting? A power tiller (rototiller/rotavator/cultivator) looks good but I am concerned about it getting destroyed by rocks. I also considered a disk harrow - the tow behind type and also maybe a land rake. I can break up the ground using the box blade rippers, not ideal though. Ideally I'd also like to be able to get surface rocks collected easily after the soil is broken up.

Looking for economical options

Cheers
Rob

 

[bmaverick]

Got rocks or had the land cleared from trees then its a disc harrow with the front gangs as being notched.

I too wanted a PTO tiller, but the logger said, not for 5 to 7 years work of a disc harrow first and the roots to rot out and die off with keeping the pasture cut.

Also after a few years on your property with a disk harrow, you'll be able to mitigate the rocks out of any future garden plotting areas before buying a PTO tiller.

Nice you have the 1720 3-cly vs. the 1700 2-cly. Thus a PTO tiller is in your future.

Here's the KK model listed in my sig. This is the first year after the major clearing.

Here is the 2nd year.

In the 3rd year things are looking GREAT!

 

[jeff9366]

Rent a Harley Rake:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tractor+harley+rake

 

[Doughknob]

Economical? Sew grass on existing land; cover lightly with straw; pray for rain. Grass will grow without any tillage if you get rain enough. If weeds are a problem later - weed and feed.

 

[jeff9366]

T-B-N ARCHIVE: Tiller or Disc? site:tractorbynet.com

 

[dirttoys]

Rent a Harley Rake:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tractor+harley+rake

This^^^^

Won't go deep, but will move the rock and leave a great bed to seed

Best,

ed

 

[bmaverick]

This^^^^

Won't go deep, but will move the rock and leave a great bed to seed

Best,

ed

Yep, that's why I had to disc harrow because the depth reached 8-inches. Amazing how old roots are still stubborn and all the snapping under the ground level. Good size rocks are kicked out and are now easy to pick up. With a FEL, with forward fingers, rocks are EZ to remove.

 

[WM75Guy]

One day with a skid steer and a Harley rake would be my choice. That is what the landscaper used on our place after construction. The Harley rake will push debris ahead of it leaving a smooth path that you can seed. Use the tractor to clean up the piles of debris created.

 

[TMGT]

Power(harley) rake all the way for lawn prep., they rent PTO versions around here which work fine for the area you need to do as long as you have a tractor heavy enough to run it. Otherwise a couple hrs with a skid steer mounted one will knock it out.

 

[finnercy]

Cheers for the advice so far. Given me something to think about.

 

[Fallon]

I used a subsoiler & 5' King Kutter tiller behind my old L3200 to redo my pasture/field. It was a bit slow, but good results. Some lumps parallel to where I tilled or ran a drag after seeding. Would be smarter about finishing it now, but would use the same implements.

A disc requires speed to properly mix & distribute dirt. A tiller doesn't. You can use the tiller later for small garden plots & other stuff a disc won't do.

 

[nyone]

If you want to own a piece of a equipment rather than rent buy a landscape rake. You can break up the ground with the box blade then smooth things out with the landscape rake. Sometimes removing every other landscape rake time helps on compacted ground. I still suggest you use some type of leveling drag or hand rake for the final grade on a lawn.

On my landscape rake I removed every other time and put a 100lb suit case weight right over the pivot. It made a big difference and now dosnt act as much like a rear blade.

For grass tou really dont need more than a few Inches of loose seed bed. Theres no reason to disc or completely till the area.

 

[CoyPatton]

New house build and after it I have a 1.5 Acre site to sort out. I need to break up compacted ground for planting grass etc. Some of the compacted ground is bare earth I leveled recently with an excavator and some has rough grass on it I want to reseed. There are plenty rocks in the soil round here. I have a small tractor B2230 - 22HP and a box blade currently which I have used to do some of the final leveling of the soil I have moved around from big piles left over after the building work.

What is the best implement to break up the soild and leave a good tilled bed for planting? A power tiller (rototiller/rotavator/cultivator) looks good but I am concerned about it getting destroyed by rocks. I also considered a disk harrow - the tow behind type and also maybe a land rake. I can break up the ground using the box blade rippers, not ideal though. Ideally I'd also like to be able to get surface rocks collected easily after the soil is broken up.

Looking for economical options

Cheers
Rob

What type of soil was in your piles that you spread out? You said it was from excavating from the build site. In my area that means clay. Very hard pack clay after spring rains and dry summer. Terrible for grass to grow and takes years to break down into acceptable soil—still not good, it will just allow grass roots to penetrated.