"Installing" a lawn advice needed please

[StrangeRanger]

I'm wondering what ya'll would do... I'm not worried about soil type and over growth etc., I'm trying to figure out how the heck to clear the soil of rocks and crap.

The rocks range from pebble to watermelon size.

I've had folks suggest/try a power rake and kinda works but just gets jammed a lot.

I've got an L3400 w/ a FEL, box blade and scraper blade. It's looking like I might have to simply use the teeth on the box blade to loosen/plow the soil and loosen up the rocks and then rent/buy a landscape rake to gather up all the rocks.

I'd post a pic, but my wife dropped the digi cam and it no longer works. Any other ideas or suggestions? Thanks,
j

 

[jsborn]

This may sound like a Smart A answer but its not. I had the same problem on my front yard approx 1/2 acre. I wanted it smooth before sodding it so I went to the corner in the town I live near on Sat morning and loaded up 4 day laborers and gave the all a rake and put my trailer in the middle of the yard and said no rocks. I went back at noon and took them back to town paid them and went home to dump my trailer.

Yard was smooth and ready to sod.

As this was a one time job I could not see buying equip to do it that would never be used again

 

[bandit67]

If a bunch of day laborers aren't an option for you, a landscape rake is going to be a pretty good tool for the job.

I might be hesitant to use the box blade teeth. I put a number of lawns in years ago in Connecticut, and those New England rocks and stones seem to grow in a matter of seconds when you 'fertilize' the ground with a landscape rake. Your box blade might 'fertilize' way too many rocks to the surface. As it is, a landscape rake should keep finding new rocks for hours. But the rake will really do a nice job of smoothing out the ground, and pulling rocks, roots and other debris out. In New England, our landscape rake seemed to get a whole lot of use over the years. It's a great tool for clearing brush, clearing debris in the woods, installing lawns, grading gravel drives, etc. Just seems to be a handy tool that gets good use over the years.

 

[mudcat]

That sounds like the way to go!

 

[Egon]

You could make a screening stand and using the bucket run the topsoil through the screen.

 

[crazyal]

If you can find a place to rent one a harley rake or power rake is the way to go. Woods had a nice video of one in action but I can't find it. Unless you own a landscaping business it's not worth buying one, not cheap, but there are several local rental places around here who rent them for tractors as well as rent bobcats with them.

These things rip out roots and rocks and level a yard fast. They keep throwing the unwanted stuff in front of them so all you need to do is clean up where you stop leaving freshly tilled dirt behind. They din't use tines like a tiller so hitting rocks doesn't bother them at all.

Woods Equipment Company - Tractor-Mounted Power Rakes

 

[8226hamer]

Rent a Harley Rake you will be amazed and very happy with what it does.

 

[treekatie]

Do any of the national rental places rent the tractor-powered harley rakes? I'm not sure if I can get one around here, but it looks like just what I am needing...

 

[art]

Most dealers that sell them rent them. The best built one has been discontinued and that is the Pro 6 double roll unit.

We have some farmers that thought that their packer was the best way to deal with the stones. When the stones took over the top surface and they were losing crop area because the frost keep bring more to the top they finally started picking the stone again!

 

[StrangeRanger]

I might not have used the right name for it, but in my original post I mentioned that a power rake/harley rake has already been tried and beaten. Some of the rocks that come up are simply to big for it.

I considered a screening stand Egon, but then also considered that screening about 2 acres of rocks and dirt is not something I want to do.

And yes Bandit, I'm in New England and the rocks are like rabbits up here But the soil must be loosened before raking or the rake simply won't bite in. The ground is HARD.

Hmm.. guess I'll give the rake a shot. Good excuse to get the wife let me buy one Plus, I can use it on our 2,200' gravel driveway.
j

PS: Anyone got a used landscape rake for sale?

 

[crazyal]

SR I didn't realize it was you (fellow Vermonter) when I replied. 2 acres of rocks, that sucks. Over here in Cambridge if you think you have watermellon sized rocks you probably have VW sized ones too, more than liekly you'll find the same. I only turned about 10k sqf into lawn of my 42 acres, I hate to mow.

What I had to do was use the dozer to plow about 2 inches off the top then back drag it back down. As the blade hit the large rocks I would tilt the blade to try and lift them out. I would then use either the fel to pick them up or if they were really big I would just push them into the woods. I did that with any rock about the size of a basketball or bigger. I then pushed the slightly smaller rocks into a pile and scooped them up and removed them. After that the power rake took care of all the roots and reaming rocks (occasionally I found something too big) but the power rake just went over it, never got jammed.

 

[bandit67]

Hey StrangeRanger,

When you're pricing landscape rakes, check out the Midwest line. I picked up the LR 2272 (72") from them - had to have them drop ship it, because there were no dealers out here, but I still saved between $200 and $300 compared to the Landpride and Woods models that I priced. It's every bit as well built, and even had some features that I liked better (mostly in the way the components were connected and the bolt sizes). Seemed like it would last a good long time, and you can get it in the Kubota Grey (not sure if the orange is an option yet).

No offense to the King Kutter owners out there, but I think your rocky soil will beat one of those lower priced units into submission in short order, at least based on the ones I looked at out here.