Stone Removal

[Matt3385]

Hi, Me and my dad need some advice on what type of attachment would be best at removing stones from a field. because my family just bought 6 arces in lower york county PA. And the builders just completed the the final grade on the propertry. and we have to plant grass on about 1-1.5 arces but there are too many rocks and roots to rake up by hand. So we need to get a attachment for a tractor but we don't know what kind to get. alot of people have been telling us to use a landscape rake. But we weren't sure that it was the best thing to use. So we were wondering if anybody here has a good suggestion on what type of attachment we should use to get the rocks up.

 

[dbrauner]

A heavy duty (quality) landscape rake if the rocks are not too big.

 

[Matt3385]

hmm... I guess ill go look around some more about landscape rakes on the internet. before i talk to my dad about them. thanks for the help

 

[KiotiJohn]

If the stones have very much size at all, the landscape rake tines may be too flexible to be that useful. Some posters have reported good results with larger stones using a boxblade with heavy duty scarifiers to dig into and grab the stones. Large ones are always going to be a problem. A loader with a toothbar is another option for digging them up or at least loosening them a good bit. John

 

[JimMorrissey]

Matt,

What you need is a Harley Rake! You can rent one. It's an attachment for your tractor. The PTO spins a steel tube with little nubs on it and it virtually eliminates all rocks down to the size of a nickel (in a couple of passes). I used one on the last lawn I installed and it work amazing. Hands down the finest grass prep attachment available. They are likely too expensive to buy for a single use, but definitely worth renting, even if you have to drive 50 miles to find one.

Other manufactures (Land Pride) make a similar product. Find one, rent it and you'll be very happy with the results. I'd say 25hp is minimum, but you should check the specs first.

Check their web site......

http://www.glenmac.com/tractortech.htm

Also do a search here on TBN for "harley rake". You'll find lots of info from folks.


Jim

 

[nomad]

If there are too many stones, rock/stone picker will do an excellent work. Rent one (similar to attached picture.)

 

[Youare]

The most effective tool depends so much on the type of soil conditions in your area and the size of the rocks you need to remove.

A ligth landscape rake may do the job or you may find it necessary to use a heavy duty model with scraficers to loosen the soil first.

If you are dealing with roots from brush once again a light duty tool may do the trick, but if these are tree roots you will need something with scraficers.

I made a device to do something similar years ago out of 6X6 square steel tubing, two pieces running parallel about 4 feet apart and two pieces perpendicular to the first forming a square. One side had 1/2 inch diameter rods sticking through about 1 1/2 inches. If it was flipped over the other side was smooth. The whole thing weighed a couple hundred pounds.

Running a chain through the tubing and back to the drawbar of the tractor with points down it would break up the ground some and pull up roots and small rocks. Also it would smooth out the humps and fill in hollows as it went along.

Randy

 

[ikline]

I just did the same thing this past season. I tried using a landscape rake and was not happy with the results. I borrowed a friends preseeder and it worked great. My recomendation would be renting a preseeder or Harley Rake. Now is the best time to plant seed. Best of luck and post some pictures of the project.

 

[rameye]

youare,

can you post a picture of your design?

thanks

 

[EquipmentJunkie]

Go to York Tractor in Dover, PA. Tell Jerry that you want to rent a Preseeder landscape rake. The Preseeder is the tool that you need to prepare the soil for seeding.