leveling about 1 acre of Land (Suggestions)

[deepNdirt]

First you get about 500#'s of fertilizer, then some diesel .. Well you know the rest.

Wedge

He said he wants to level it, Not create a crator

 

[LBrown59]

Hi Guys, I have about 1 acre of my property that has a mild slope to it and I would like to level for a flat playing area for my kids. They can play there now the slope is pretty minimal but I want to flatten it. It is old cow pasture so there is a root system growing that I just keep mowed down seems to be mostly weeds and some grasses. I have a landscape rake and a box blade to work with. I would like to do myself instead of hiring a dozer job out as I want to get more seat time in I would also like to do w/o spending a bunch of money on a rototiller. Do you think it would be possible to do myself w/ the 2 attachements I have or what would you recomend?

I tried taking a couple passes through the other day from high to low point w/ the rake down but it didnt seem to bite in enough to move enough earth. Thanks!

What I landscape/grade with .

 

[SuperCobra]

well- using only the implements you have, I'd say use your scarfiers on your BB to rip up the yardas much as you can. Use the FEL to scoop up the high scooping from the low side driving into the high side and then back up to dump onto the lower side. Run your scarifiers from BB again all over the whole yard, paying attention to really do the high side. It's kinda like plowing. Once you do that, I'd switch to the landscape rake and angle it so you are always pulling debris (windrowing) from high side to the low. On last pass use the FEL to flatten the windrow on the last pass.

If I were you, I'd rent a pTO tiller for the day and then use the landscape rake using the method decribed above. It would come out to a much smoother finish.

I used this approach (minus landscape rake) to level a 1/3 acre arena (90' x 160') on a pretty good clay slope. Took forever but I spent some time trying to get a crown from the center out for drainage. Can't think of a better way to do it looking back on it though. Using toothbar and FEL was key - cut from high side - move to low side - level that with box blade, drive over it a bunch to pack. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

 

[Reg]

Depends on;
1) How steep the grade is, if SEVERE it could be well worth hiring a dozer in.
2) What you have and what you want for topsoil when its all done.
4ft deep loam on what was the low side and barren sandy sub soil on what used to be the high side could require schlepping in a lot of top soil if you want/need "grass".
3) How much TIME you want to waste, errr, INVEST in this project.
Scraping off the top soil and parking it before leveling, then spreading it would add MANY hours.

Previous posts covered how to move the dirt around, but I don't think I would want a lot of top soil just pulled down.
I'm still at "hire in a dozer for most of it" and while it is there, might as well move that top soil aside, level, then put it back.

OTOH, if it is just rough dirt and you have to add top soil anyway and the slope is small... yeah, rip it and box blade down hill.
Just DON'T try to use the FEL as a Dozer, just as a finish grader for back dragging.

Once it is done it will probably be fluffy, full of air.
You will make "post holes" when you walk on it.
I have done (roto-tilled) a couple of areas where it was necessary to pack the soil fairly tight and do it soon.
18 inch wide tires, move across in parallel strips with the landscape rake down and at 15 degrees, move across a foot on each pass away from the windrow side.
After 3 or 4 strips the tractor is rollering the ground with the other tires, it packs pretty firm from there on and the rake only takes off the very peaks and drops them to the lows, it is no longer moving dirt the ground is already rollered too hard for that.
Good enough to seed as a yard, not a putting green or formal "lawn", but a decent yard or play area for kids.

Then spread seed & fertilizer, rake it as outlined above, but at 90 degrees to the previous rakings.
This will get the seed, soil and fertilizer mixed to maybe an inch.
It will also take off a few more little lumps and ridges, still not PERFECT but good.

 

[Charlton John]

Thanks for the replies guys. Ideally when done I would want this whole area in question to be golf course materiel lawn. (I am a grass geek ) So I will most likely have to bring in some top soil after its leveled before I had it hydroseeded. I only own 3 acres but maintain about almost 5 in which 2.5 of this is wooded so my plan is to have all the open areas of my property plush lawn. I plan on ripping everything up and again having everything hydroseeded. The rest of the property really needs no leveling so this I will most likely round up everything, use my walk behind tiller and then york rake it out and spread some top soil and have hydroseeded. I have attached a few pics of the back area in question. The first pick is the area we have been discussing (behind the tree line) Actually on the right of this field and the back along the wood line is nice and flat its just the left side that has this mild slope. I also have plans on a stream and pond back here as well. Other pics are of the front that I plan on also ripping up and starting from scratch. I was origiannly just going to hire out a dozer job for the back but I was hoping I could tackle myself and get in as much seat time as I could.

 

[Reg]

Careful what you wish for....
Seat time WILL be granted, in abundance (-:

I wrote my last post in a hurry.
What I didn't make clear in the rollering part was that I rake straight, then lift the rake and nudge over a foot as I back up for the next raking run.
I nudge over another foot while doing the next raking run.
So my net side shift is 2 ft per raking run.
It goes pretty quickly and knowing my front tires to be 12 inches wide and the rears 18 inches it is easy to be very consistent.
What I avoided was criss crossing the area until I had it all rollered down.
I also avoided TURNS on areas that weren't rollered down.

A manual landscape rake would be the next tool for a lawn geek, but we didn't feel the need for that much perfection (-:

 

[scoutcub]

Charleton John;

Man, you've got a beautiful place there!

I think what everyone has said is right, that being it can be done with a box blade but might take awhile.
Have you thought about renting a dozer for a day and getting the seat time yourself? Today's machine have joystick controls, very easy to operate. A few hours and you'll have the basics down, and it will save LOTS of time over the tractor. Just a thought...

 

[Charlton John]

Charleton John;

Man, you've got a beautiful place there!

I think what everyone has said is right, that being it can be done with a box blade but might take awhile.
Have you thought about renting a dozer for a day and getting the seat time yourself? Today's machine have joystick controls, very easy to operate. A few hours and you'll have the basics down, and it will save LOTS of time over the tractor. Just a thought...

Thanks Scout Cub, We had it built about 4 yrs. ago. We love the house and the land/area too but I would love more land so not sure if this will be our permanant residence forever or not. I have thought about renting a dozer but was not sure as Ii never operated one before.

 

[deepNdirt]

why not throw a Big BBQ and invite all your new TBN friends? and of course their tractor's too you might could get this done in a day, But you would have to leave out the Beer, because the tractor work might then become
a tractor pulloff game and your lawn would surely be in a mess,
By the Way, you do have a very nice place there, and ya know! golf courses do have rolling hills as well,

 

[Charlton John]

why not throw a Big BBQ and invite all your new TBN friends? and of course their tractor's too you might could get this done in a day, But you would have to leave out the Beer, because the tractor work might then become
a tractor pulloff game and your lawn would surely be in a mess,
By the Way, you do have a very nice place there, and ya know! golf courses do have rolling hills as well,

All you have to do is mention beer and BBQ and I am game. I beleive most members though are too far away Thanks for the compliments. I am leaning towards renting a dozer for a weekend and going from there. I want to add a waterfall to a stream and then a pond so I might want to leave some pitch for this in the area.