Recommendations please on attachments to dress up 10 acres of bermuda, tall fescue

[BlueBerryFarmer]

On the farm I have ten acres of grass, lawns to maintain and normally cut these with my 3pt 84" groomer and zero turn 60" mowers (the latter with a "vac" pickup) , but haven't quite gotten control of

(a) dressing high / low spots
(b) raking up stones, limbs, branches, etc.

I've tried my 7' box blade w/scarifiers to dress high / low spots for (a) but it's overkill and (with the AG tires on the big Green tractors) not the easiest on the turf. I've tried std 6' rakes, chain link fences, etc for (b) with the small Kubota tractors (L and BX series both with turf tires) but they're not the best either.

I also have a power rake, but it tears everything up and does a very good job at it to boot !

Recommendations for attachments??

 

[boggen]

the old tried and true "manual labor" of picking up branches, and either a handle metal garden rake and/or a handle grass rake.

"flimsy tines" kinda acts like a grass rake.
Tractor 3 Point Hitch Pine Straw Rakes | Pine Needle Rakes

stronger beefer tines, acts more like a "metal garden rake"
Landscape Rake | Rock Rake | Root Rake | York Rake For Tractors

pull behind vacuums.
Yard Vacuum - Commercial Gas Powered - PTO Powered Leaf Vacuums - Lawn Vacuum - Lawn Sweeper

chain drag harrows, drags out clumps and breaks up clumps of dirt and smooths things out. think "chain link fence" but heavier duty and over all weight is heavier. one side has teeth, if ya flip it over it acts like a chain link fence
Tractor Chain or Drag Harrows
googleing drag harrow and came across this setup with a 3pt "forgets name" to deal with chain link fence or drag harrow
Horse Sense: Drag Field Manure With A Harrow Rake

harrow, i have one of these, its nice being able to adjust angle of the tines/teeth at different angles. and being able to add extra weight on top. (concrete blocks, logs, etc.. to get it to actually grip down further into compacted dirt and bust stuff up. and then angling the tines/teeth almost flat. so it skims the surface more and levels things out.
http://www.ranchdogu.com/DeerPage/food_plots/small_harrow_med.JPG

TNT (top and tilt) for 3 point hitch.
replacing top turn buckle of 3pt hitch with hydraulic cylinder. allows much better control of how box blades, rakes, rear blades work.
a 3pt hitch generally just raises and lowers implement. but with hyd top link cylinder, you can get better finer control of if 3pt hitch (implement) sets better on the go. to adjust front or rear of implement in how much angle it has. (encourage you to get one)

the TILT is replacing one of the lift arms (left or right) turn buckles with a hyd cylinder. allows much more finer control if left side or right side of implement lowers or raises on the go. helps with crowning rock/dirt drive ways and trails in woods and like.

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again encourage you to look at bare min a TNT more so the top link of 3pt hitch and putting in a hyd cylinder in its place. allows so much more control, it is a pain in rear to constonally get on/off of tractor to adjust manually, and even then may take you a few tries to get it just right. and by the time you get what you want. the next path you might want a different setting. this is were the TNT (the top link) comes in extremely handy.

being able to adjust the top link means, tines on rakes either dig in more to the dirt, or have more of a angle to them (forward vs backward) to kinda slide across the dirt vs trying to rip down and poke down into the ground. or feathering out the dirt that is in a box blade.

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operator experience can be a big thing with most implements. driving to fast, being able to adjust 3pt hitch like wanted (TNT) on the go, how wet things are / how compacted everything is.

 

[oosik]

Man!! There's a person who has picked stuff off the ground. The very few time I "gather" stuff and pick it off the ground, I use a good old manual garden rake. Otherwise, I let it just lay there and pretty soon its just part of the soil. Rocks, I walk around with my wheelbarrow and a good pair of gloves - but that was all done 30 years ago and fortunately new ones have not appeared.

 

[BlueBerryFarmer]

Ryan --- Holy cow and thank you. You could write a book on this subject !!

 

[s219]

I'm up the road from you in Toano. For high/low spots, if the turf is already established it gets harder. A box blade with angle set right (so cutting edge is at slight angle of attack) can knock off the high spots. But with turf, the box won't do a good job redistributing material to the low spots, like it would if it was pure soil. The turf gets tangled up and drags on the cutting edge, making grooves. So you will probably need some rake work for sure.

For low spots, you can add about 1/2-1" of soil per year over the turf and it will slowly raise the grade without killing the turf. If it's real deep and you don't have time to wait years, just dump more soil in the low spot, level, and re-seed (at appropriate time of year for the species).

I battled bermuda and nurtured fescue at my old house down on Ironbound Rd, and it was a real chore (but the fescue looked awesome). At our new place in Toano, I have more acreage but less grass, and am letting whatever wants to grow take hold. I have a mix of bermuda, crab grass, rye, and fescue going (plus many bare spots). I suspect the bermuda will eventually take over. I will throw down more fescue/rye mix in the fall.

Good luck!

 

[MoKelly]

Wait a minute. Did the OP say he has 10 acres of lawn to maintain???? Like finish mower lawn? No way anyone can manually pick up anything on 10 acres.

MoKelly