Top dresser

[mwemaxxowner]

One thing I desire to do is top dress and level my lawn. I would imagine, to get it where I want, I'll at least do a minor top dress for several years to come. And for the next year or 3 probably a more involved top dress and leveling job.

I guess with my tractor the best course of action is going to be deposit piles here and there with the loader, then drag a drag mat around and maybe use my landscaping rake and some push brooms a bit by hand where needed.

I wonder, though, is there some sort of 3 point attachment that performs the task of a top dresser? Perhaps a spreader attachment? I'll be leveling it with a sand/organic matter blend.

Once it's more level after a year or two I may start using a compost roller too and spreading a thin/even layer of compost.

 

[wirlybird]

Go to YouTube and look for videos on lawn leveling.
I remember a variety of videos and one guy made his own leveler.

 

[CoyPatton]

I would use a broadcast spreader if it was an option. Ones I have used and seen have adjustable gates for increase/decrease volume dispersed. It would also be a more even spread than piles. Then it would be useful for seeding as you wish.

 

[mwemaxxowner]

I like that idea, and it's precisely what I've had in mind. I'd just like confirmation that it will broadcast sand well!

I don't see why it wouldn't. I should throw a bag of sand in my small push behind or hand held spreader and see how they handle it.

 

[mwemaxxowner]

A few minutes on Google tells me that seed spreaders don't work very well with sand unless it is very dry bagged sand. We're talking about several tons of sand here so it won't be bagged.

Someone told me recently that they tried it with a manure spreader also and it didn't work great.

 

[CoyPatton]

I like that idea, and it's precisely what I've had in mind. I'd just like confirmation that it will broadcast sand well!

I don't see why it wouldn't. I should throw a bag of sand in my small push behind or hand held spreader and see how they handle it.

I watched a you-tuber (GP Outdoors, I think) modify his broadcast spreader for sanding his driveway. It took a bit of doing to get it working how he wanted, but he got good results in the end.
He used bulk sand and did have to build a device to put on the inside of the hopper to avoid the cavity production with his spreader. He also did something with the spinning plate. He is the reason that I encourage the broadcast spreader.

Some will always tell you it wont work, some of them will tell you it wont work while watching you do it to your own satisfied results.

 

[mwemaxxowner]

I have another idea, y'all tell me if it's the stupidest thing you've ever heard or not.

I have this 5x10 tilting trailer.

The pivot point and the axle are in the wrong spots for it to be worth much as a makeshift "dump trailer". I've considered adding a second axle near the rear so it dumps at a steeper angle and just using it as a large dumping yard cart, but I also have this idea.

I thought I might try getting one of these drag sheets and make it work on the trailer. Wire up a small winch with a remote to run the drag sheet, and with some practice I feel like I could drive along and slowly dispense material from the drag sheet as I run it with the winch. Between the drag sheet and the tilt I feel like it could possibly work.

https://m.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200682590_200682590?cm_mmc=Google-LIA&utm_source=Google_LIA&utm_medium=Automotive%20%3E%20Lift%20Gates%20%2B%20Dump%20Kits&utm_campaign=Big%20Boxer&utm_content=57351&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlMaGBhD3ARIsAPvWd6iFCafId3DkNaIXLU4zXfrcgEZ0Lo7RC4fj1PCqE0eJzDy7IbBV44gaAj2jEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

If it tilted at a steeper angle, I think I would pull it with the draw bar, and have a boom pole on the 3ph with a winch to pull up and tilt the trailer to dump stuff.

 

[CoyPatton]

I have another idea, y'all tell me if it's the stupidest thing you've ever heard or not.

I have this 5x10 tilting trailer.
View attachment 703278

The pivot point and the axle are in the wrong spots for it to be worth much as a makeshift "dump trailer". I've considered adding a second axle near the rear so it dumps at a steeper angle and just using it as a large dumping yard cart, but I also have this idea.

I thought I might try getting one of these drag sheets and make it work on the trailer. Wire up a small winch with a remote to run the drag sheet, and with some practice I feel like I could drive along and slowly dispense material from the drag sheet as I run it with the winch. Between the drag sheet and the tilt I feel like it could possibly work.


View attachment 703279

https://m.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200682590_200682590?cm_mmc=Google-LIA&utm_source=Google_LIA&utm_medium=Automotive%20%3E%20Lift%20Gates%20%2B%20Dump%20Kits&utm_campaign=Big%20Boxer&utm_content=57351&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlMaGBhD3ARIsAPvWd6iFCafId3DkNaIXLU4zXfrcgEZ0Lo7RC4fj1PCqE0eJzDy7IbBV44gaAj2jEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

If it tilted at a steeper angle, I think I would pull it with the draw bar, and have a boom pole on the 3ph with a winch to pull up and tilt the trailer to dump stuff.

Since you are wanting a thin dress coating put down, I think without lots of practice to learn to match driving speed with spreading speed, you will have a gear deal of frustration.
Point in case, an experienced dump truck driver can in 1 pass lay down gravel a perfect layer of gravel on a drive while another driver (who may be older) leaves ridges and low spots, often requiring more work than if the gravel had been left in a pile.

 

[mwemaxxowner]

It doesn't have to be perfect though. It will end with a good bit of time with a drag mat, and some time with rakes and brooms either way I think.

It's just that if it can go down already somewhat spread out that saves some time over starting with piles.

Most people on the lawn care forums I follow aren't using tractors. They dump piles with wheelbarrows, broadcast a bit with shovels, then spend time with drag mats and brooming/raking if there is much leveling to be done.

 

[/pine]

Watching greens keeping crew repair uneven lumpy areas...besides the sand with seed...the three best tools are a rake a water hose and a roller...

Good Luck...

 

[Xfaxman]

I did a fairly large area with dirt and a 4 foot wide bucket in float seven years ago:

Progress picture, not finished:

 

[mwemaxxowner]

I still want to come up with a diy top dresser idea, and I'd still like to come up with a way to make my tilting trailer a dumping trailer for yard work, but this is what I came up with.

It wasn't nearly as time consuming as I thought it would be to just ferry dirt back and forth from the back yard, even with my baby bucket. I think I'd find it easier to spread my dirt thinner with a top dresser. I'm supposed to top dress and level at a max of ½", some spots are and inch and I dare say a few more than that, but I decided not to try working it down further as I like the smoothness that I have and the contours that I'm at now. Some of the centipede will struggle to come through and no doubt I'll lose at least some of it, but that's part of the game! Centipede is painfully slow to fill itself back in and almost impossible to propagate by seed. When the seed does take it's very slow.

Not sure why the fence panel picture shows, I clicked it mistakenly but deleted it.

 

[mwemaxxowner]

I picked up this three point fertilizer spreader for $30. It's rough, but it spins freely as it should. I hope I can patch it up and see how well it works to broadcast sand and/or compost. At this price point I don't mind going hog wild on any half-brain ideas I might cook up to modify it. If it's a complete failure and I can't patch this hole well enough I'll harvest the 3 point frame for some other ideas.

If I can experiment some and find a recipe of modifications that works, I might be willing to buy a new one or more expensive and in better shape used one. If it won't top dress I don't have much use for it.