Land is cleared... now what?

[northcaroliney]

We’ve got approximately 8 acres recently cleared and dialed. I suspect the best thing would be to run a cultipacker over it to help level and seed, but I don’t have one and can’t find one to rent. What’s my next best option? It’s still somewhat rough - some sticks, rocks, etc and some areas where a little leveling may help. Would you jus throw seed down now and deal with it in the fall (maybe run a soil pulverizer and then a roller over it?) or...? Intended for horse pasture, and now that I see how nice it can look, I love the idea of it being really well groomed. Not quite golf course but that’d be nice...

 

[Deere Dude]

What ever you do, trying to redo it next year will be very difficult after it is planted this year.

 

[oosik]

You could make yourself a "drag". Mine is made out of 4x4's and has spikes on the leading and trailing edges. It could also be - old set of bed springs, a couple logs chained together, rail road ties - etc. Drag it to level and bust up the clods. Spread your seeds - drag a final time to cover the seeds. Mine has a rope harness and I pull it with my ATV. I drag with the spikes down to level and bust the clods. Turn it over to smooth.

 

[Egon]

Drag wooden balk or piece railway track around!

 

[5030]

Are all the stumps removed?

 

[kf4uda]

Not sure what if any tractor that you have but you could buy an old bog disk fairly cheap from Craigslist or FB Marketplace to work up your ground with. Then pull a drag as described in previous posts across it to smooth.

 

[marhar]

We’ve got approximately 8 acres recently cleared and dialed. I suspect the best thing would be to run a cultipacker over it to help level and seed, but I don’t have one and can’t find one to rent. What’s my next best option? It’s still somewhat rough - some sticks, rocks, etc and some areas where a little leveling may help. Would you jus throw seed down now and deal with it in the fall (maybe run a soil pulverizer and then a roller over it?) or...? Intended for horse pasture, and now that I see how nice it can look, I love the idea of it being really well groomed. Not quite golf course but that’d be nice...

Take a look at buying a Landscape rake (root rake) for a tractor. If you are planting grass, I would wait until fall.

 

[old and tired]

Where abouts do you live? I used my soil pulverizer only a couple of times (bought from a guy that did the same). Now I mainly use it as extra weight on my disks!!

 

[northcaroliney]

Are all the stumps removed?

Should be... I suppose some risk that one or two got missed.

 

[northcaroliney]

Take a look at buying a Landscape rake (root rake) for a tractor. If you are planting grass, I would wait until fall.

Feel a root rake will just pull the dirt clumps with everything we actually need to collect. Land is mostly clay so the big clumps left by the disk are effectively brick basketballs.