Rock Picking

[JonBoyHunter]

I just purchased some property and will be building a house and a shop on it. I have about 6 acres that is clear (corn field) and 24 more that is wetlands/woods.

The tilled field could be turned into a gravel pit if I had more time and energy. I've dug in a couple of places, and it's nothing but gravel down to 6' at least. From sand up through 6-8" stones.

I have two desires. First is to plant about 2 acres to grass and mow it as a yard. The remaining 4-5 acres will be planted to a cover crop and cut 2-3 times a summer. So ideally in the yard, I'd want to remove as much stone as possible - and in the rest remove everything bigger than ~3" or so.

There is a Leon D43 for sale about 2 hours away for a reasonable price (though I haven't seen it to judge condition yet). First question - could I pull that with a Deere 3033R (32 hp) through soil that was tilled last year? For that matter, any chance a RTV900 would pull it since it also has rear hydraulics? I don't have to be in a hurry, but I would want to do the whole 6 acres before planting it. Second, anyone happen to have run one before, how well does it work? I know the tractor won't pull a real (rotary) picker, but wondering how well one of these would do. Would it remove enough of the larger rocks to then hit the yard with a rockhound?

Alternatively, I've been looking at rock buckets (MTL with Grapple is in my price range and I could use the grapple to clean up lots of downed trees in the woods). How well do these work on a larger area like this? Would I beat the tractor too much pushing into the soil vs dragging a picker through?

Other thoughts?

Thanks!

Jon

 

[metalbender]

Sell the gravel/sand, fill the hole with water, stock with fish. Sit back, relax drink beer and fish. Any help to you?

 

[oldnslo]

What are you going to do for tillage after picking rock to prep for seeding? My experience is rocks always grow doing any tillage.

For an acre or two hand picking just before seeding might be the better option.

I have never used a rock picker so cannot comment on power required

 

[LouNY]

Usually a rock picker like that Leon is used after a field is ready to be planted or after harvest.
After harvest the rocks on top ofthe ground are skimmed off, not the entire field.
The same thing is done after a field has been plowed and spring toothed harrowed, the rocks on top of the ground are picked up.
If you try and pull that through the ground your ground is going to have to be very dry and any and all the dirt clods broken up,
if not your basket will be filled with dirt instead of rocks.
The same will hold true with a rockbucket.
If you really want the rock all picked you need someone to come in with a rotary after the ground has been plowed and spring toothed.
About the best use for spring tooth harrows (drags) is to bring rocks to the surface.
Good Luck.

 

[JonBoyHunter]

Sell the gravel/sand, fill the hole with water, stock with fish. Sit back, relax drink beer and fish. Any help to you?

Ha! I like it - but the back acerage has a 4-6 acre beaver pond and a 0.75 acre dug stocked pond already!

 

[JonBoyHunter]

I was thinking of disking it (have an old 10' drag disk), then rake the rocks off the top. I'm not digging down, I'd never stop picking them. I know they will push up with the frost, I'm hoping I can get grass in and keep them at bay pushing them down with mowing.

 

[JonBoyHunter]

Usually a rock picker like that Leon is used after a field is ready to be planted or after harvest.
After harvest the rocks on top ofthe ground are skimmed off, not the entire field.
The same thing is done after a field has been plowed and spring toothed harrowed, the rocks on top of the ground are picked up.
If you try and pull that through the ground your ground is going to have to be very dry and any and all the dirt clods broken up,
if not your basket will be filled with dirt instead of rocks.
The same will hold true with a rockbucket.
If you really want the rock all picked you need someone to come in with a rotary after the ground has been plowed and spring toothed.
About the best use for spring tooth harrows (drags) is to bring rocks to the surface.
Good Luck.

Thanks - I was only thinking of skimming them off the top. My thought was to disk it with a light disk I have, then pulling this across the top. The soil is very loose (sandy), so I think if I set this a couple inches deep, I'd only take what's on top. But this is all guessing, I've used a Rockhound and Harley rake before, but never one of these style pickers.

I guessing before I'm done, I'm going to have to bring in topsoil. Just trying to limit it.

Thanks!

 

[oosik]

I've borrowed and used a spring tooth harrow type implement. It was slightly better than hand picking. That little job was done 30 years ago. Today I just admire my rock crop and don't worry so much about it.

I used the spring tooth harrow thingey on about two acres. Slowly but surely all the rock was dragged into rows. I still had to hand pick & throw the gathered rock into the FEL bucket.