Land Tilling Question

[AMR]

Looking for some advise. I have about an acre that I want to plant in the spring. It is old field that has grown up with grass, briars, and other things to about waist height. In the spring it is generally flat from the snow.

How do I prepare the land?

There is a lot of rich topsoil, up to 2' in many spots, but it is littered with bowling ball sized rocks that are either visible, barely visible or hidden by a skim of topsoil. Removing them all would be next to impossible.

My first thought was to try to plow it and then rake it. I think I will end up with a big mess this way and I really don't want a huge pile of weeds and stuff that I have to deal with. Also, I don't want to have to buy a middle buster, and a rake because I won't need them for anything else. A harrow would be nice, but again, I don't want a bunch of implements to clutter the garage and to spend the cash on.

Lately I have been thinking more about buying a tiller, however, I have to believe that I will destroy it when it finds these rocks.

I have attached a photo, in the foreground of the house, to the right is the area that I want to work.

Ideas?

 

[Egon]

You could apply a Roundup type product in the spring to kill all the existing growth. Then perhaps consider one of the toothed rock picker attachements for the bucket to clear rocks.

It will be a tedious process but it may work.

 

[ovrszd]

My first plan would be to burn it off to get rid of the foliage. If that's not possible then it will be difficult to deal with regardless how you till it.

Secondly, you didn't say what you want to plant it to??? If you are after a crop of some sort you will need to till it and remove all rocks that prohibit that.

If you just want grass, start cutting it with a rotary cutter and after a couple years, you will have a grass pasture.

Regardless of what you do, be prepared to spend considerable money on this project. Enough money that buying a couple used pieces of equipment will be of no consequence.

 

[kwolfe]

I would have to think that rocks that size would do some considerable damage to a 500lb+ tiller that does ont want to move. I am in the process of doing what you are. I bought a BB about 3 months ago. I used it to rip out a lot of field grass, sapplings, weeds, briars and yes lots of rocks. Yes, these things then need to be burned or stacked somewhere esle to rot. I took the rippers out and am in the process of working on the finishing grade.

I think that turning the soil might be the only way you will get the results you want. 1 acre is a lot to regrade, so I think the money spent on a BB would be well worth it. Your only other choice is to brush hog it low, and have A LOT of topsoil dumped on top to burry everything (including and rocks that are slightly above ground). That option could run you around $2000-$3000.

 

[therebarely]

It is amazing that you are half the country away and have the same soil conditions as I do. I have tackled this problem, and it is very time consuming. I did it in 40-50 foot wide strips, with a backhoe and operator to remove the boulders. Some were very large (the size of a small car), and required a rock hammer to get them to a managable size. I lined the perimeter of the pasture with them. The rest were picked up with a loader and moved to the edge of the field. If you could find a landscape company, they may want the rocks, and may assist in removing them. You would destroy a tiller with the rocks, they aren't rock crushers. Good luck, it takes alot of time and effort.

 

[pashworth]

I own 5 acres in northern New Jersey with the same soil type. 3 1/2 acres are grass and 1 1/4 is a wildflower field. The house and a 40'x120' garden fills the rest.

First I killed everything with total vegetation killer - Roundup Pro, now it is called QuickPro (expensive stuff but is 1000 times superior to the Roundup you buy at Lowes or THD). I was able to buy it from a commercial landscape supply house.

To get the large rocks up I rented a L3130 with a 6'-0" C-tine cultivator. It did a fantastic job of pulling the rocks to the surface. Due to the shape of the tines it really does pull them to the surface. Once I felt that all the large rocks were up, I picked them up by hand or used the FEl bucket and then used my landscape rake to smooth it all out. I did end up renting a 5'-0" Woods power rake for my B7800 to redo half the grass area last year because I was unhappy with how the landscape rake left too many rocks.

I'll post pictures of the before and after when I get home tonight.

 

[KeithInSpace]

Actually, I've been wondering the same question on my yard. I live on a sea of slippery red clay with no hope of growing grass. To this point, I had planned on TILLING and amending with proper soil.

My question: In situations like mine (and AMR's for that matter), would some other implement like a DISC HARROWS do better to tear up the top 4" of clay so it can be properly amended? Or do you have to go with a full fledged (and time consuming) TILL job? I have limited rocks and limited residual root matter near the surface.

And I already borrowed a tiller from someone and bent the *&^% out of it on one of my few found rocks. That was a bummer. I no borrow no more.

Bonus: Discs are cheaper and harder to mess up.

Thoughts?

 

[Toolguy]

I vote for plowing with a moldboard plow. It will do the best job of turning under the vegetation, and it will pull the rocks up that you will inevitably have to pick up. After plowing you will want to pick up any large rocks that are obvious. The next step I would do is till it with a spring tooth drag. It will smooth out the surface and expose more rocks. Unless the ground is hard clay a spring tooth drag is a very versatile tool. It will break up the plowed soil very well and rocks will not damage it. It will do the best job of leveling the surface before planting crops. If you are going to seed it to grass you will need to smooth it further with a landscape rake or old bedspring. By the time you drive your tractor around several times dragging the soil and picking up the rocks the ground will have settled and should be ready to plant. I have planted a lot of grass using this method with good success.

 

[kwolfe]

Actually, I've been wondering the same question on my yard. I live on a sea of slippery red clay with no hope of growing grass. To this point, I had planned on TILLING and amending with proper soil.

My question: In situations like mine (and AMR's for that matter), would some other implement like a DISC HARROWS do better to tear up the top 4" of clay so it can be properly amended? Or do you have to go with a full fledged (and time consuming) TILL job? I have limited rocks and limited residual root matter near the surface.

And I already borrowed a tiller from someone and bent the *&^% out of it on one of my few found rocks. That was a bummer. I no borrow no more.

Bonus: Discs are cheaper and harder to mess up.

Thoughts?

I bought my tractor after I had someone put in 1 acre of yard around my house. He use a L series, box scraper and 10 tandems of top soil. in order to get a good mix, he spread the top soil and let the rippers turn it into the ground. If you have discs, that could be a good way to go, however the BB works great for turning the top few inches and then leveling it out after the fact.

 

[N80]

I have been able to reclaim land like that by ripping and shaping with the box blade and just keeping it mowed. Planting grass will help. I've removed a lot of rocks, mostly by hand. I have no giant rocks that are above the surface. A few just below the surface and I'm just leaving them. Box blade just scrapes over the top of them. It will never be a golf course, but it looks fine from the porch.

 

[AMR]

Thank you all for your input. First off, my goal is to create a plot for deer habitat and to plant stuff, maybe watermelons, pumkins, corn, etc. I have tried some different things and find that the following is working well:

1. Take bucket to skim off vegetation, surprisingly this does a really good job.

2. Doing this makes the bigger rocks evident, I then go around and pick them up.

3. Rake. I am doing this with a landscape rake now but will have a york rake by the spring.

Thanks everyone,

Any tips on planting watermelons?

 

[pashworth]

AMR,

Below are the pictures that I promised to upload. I dont have pictures of when I used the C tine cultivator in the back, but it worked wonders pulling up the bolling ball sized rocks.

As for your questions about the pumkins and watermellons.. I always start my seeds inside under grow lights. Just follow the directions on the seed packet and you should be fine.

Paul

 

[Buster57]

That looks great!

I have found the best way to take care of deer is to provide them with a salt lick, you can actually purchase one with special vitamins for deer, and then plant roses. The more expensive roses the better.

Deer seem to go after the expensive roses first. They can sense an expensive rose faster then an old truck knows when you have received a bonus...

 

[Mike120]

Having lived in NJ for a number of years, I have enjoyed reading this thread and the memories it brought back. I had never seen place where rocks grew in my garden every spring. I solved it by getting the local boy scouts and neighbor kids over every spring and paying them to fill my dump trailer with rocks. It never cost me more than $30-$40, all the kids were happy, I got my crop of rocks harvested, and I could go in with my tiller and not worry about it getting busted up.

 

[thcri]

I will second N80's advice to use a box blade first. Putting the sacrificers down will pull the larger rocks out first. Go over it a couple of times and then maybe get a disc or chisel plow to find smaller rocks.


murph

 

[KeithInSpace]

in order to get a good mix, he spread the top soil and let the rippers turn it into the ground. If you have discs, that could be a good way to go, however the BB works great for turning the top few inches and then leveling it out after the fact.

Have the box. Can be slow work. Was looking for a more 'vigorous' mix without having to invest in a whole tiller. And of course it is indispensible in leveling, but I'm wondering about the turning and mixing.

So far I've heard:
--Box Blade, which is OK, but mine only has only three scarifiers that penetrate maybe 3 inches. In my yard, all the root matter gets caught up in the box and makes it just slide along the dirt inconsistently unless I get out and repeatedly 'clear' the junk.
--Moldboard Plow sounds slow with just the 2 or 3 blades. Don't need to get THAT deep anyway. Not many rocks, either.
--Disc Plow sounds neat, but am a little concerned about how much penetration I'd get without throwing 500 lbs of ballast on the thing. Any experience with these out there?

And now I see about a C-Tine Plow which looks nice and has more scarifiers than my box blade and there is no question that it would penetrate as deep as you set it. I'm wondering if the spring-steel blades would not handle my clay.

Pashworth: When you did that wonderfully spectacular work on your yard, was the ground "tough"? Do those tines hold up to a fair amount of abuse? If so, that looks like a neat way to go.

 

[john_bud]

Have the box. Can be slow work. Was looking for a more 'vigorous' mix without having to invest in a whole tiller. And of course it is indispensible in leveling, but I'm wondering about the turning and mixing.

So far I've heard:
--Box Blade, which is OK, but mine only has only three scarifiers that penetrate maybe 3 inches. In my yard, all the root matter gets caught up in the box and makes it just slide along the dirt inconsistently unless I get out and repeatedly 'clear' the junk.
--Moldboard Plow sounds slow with just the 2 or 3 blades. Don't need to get THAT deep anyway. Not many rocks, either.
--Disc Plow sounds neat, but am a little concerned about how much penetration I'd get without throwing 500 lbs of ballast on the thing. Any experience with these out there?

And now I see about a C-Tine Plow which looks nice and has more scarifiers than my box blade and there is no question that it would penetrate as deep as you set it. I'm wondering if the spring-steel blades would not handle my clay.

Pashworth: When you did that wonderfully spectacular work on your yard, was the ground "tough"? Do those tines hold up to a fair amount of abuse? If so, that looks like a neat way to go.

Kieth,

Given you don't have many rocks, get a 4' wide tiller. King Kutter gear drive is very good and priced well. It will take longer to do one pass, but will leave a fully prepared path behind it. All the other options take multiple passes and equipment changes. I have hit, bounced over, flung out and rattled around many rocks with my KK 60" tiller. The slip clutch (properly set up) will keep you from damaging it. Been there, Done that. Only use the tiller now.

You will also be an instant buddy to all the neighbors that want a garden....

jb

 

[KeithInSpace]

What I wanted, but didn't want to pay for. I actually agree and appreciate your resolute endorsement of a tiller. 100% must have a clutch, though. Was looking at one without a clutch and that probably isn't the right thing to do.

Thank you for your opinion, JB.

Now comes the hard/fun part..spending the money and actually doing the work.

 

[pashworth]

Keith,
Any decent C-tine cultivator (also called a spring cultivator) will do fine in hard packed clay. The one I rented was a 6'-0" unit by Landpride and I thought I was going to break the tines pulling up some of the 5 gallon bucket sized rocks, but it didn't. The only thing that happend was the backlash from the tine letting go threw dirt and smaller rocks at me.

I attached a few more picts. The first is to show how much the tines worn down after about 35-50 hours of tilling the front and the vegetable garden (not much!). 'Hardpacked' is when I started to till before realizing that it was going to damage my tiller and that is when I rented the C-tine. The last two are of my pride and joys until my human pride and joy is born.... 6 months to go....

 

[KeithInSpace]

Those are some GREAT looking companions (Della and Nyah). Have some rusted out Beagles, myself. Sure are loud.

I borrowed a tiller and promptly bent it, as previously mentioned. Before I bent it, I spend some 8 hours replacing all the tines (VERY rusty bolts) and the drive chain (OK, I broke that too...but it had to have been in bad shape before...broke really easy).

Honestly, I'm on the fence. Tiller would work great because then I'd get that wonderful foam worked up and amended and I know it would be 100% perfect all the time and all at once. C-Tine Cultivator sounds easy and with a bunch of passes would probably start to mimic the results of a tiller. And there's stuff less to break.

When I'm on the fence between a $2,000 thing and a $500 thing, I usually opt for the less expensive. The fact that you OWN a tiller and after using it went out and RENTED a C-Tine to do EXACTLY the work I'm trying to accomplish speaks volumes. Dunno.

Thank you so much for the thoughts. This forum rocks.