Landscape Rake the Best Option?

[shibaura_4043]

I have a riding arena that I decided to restore to its original purpose,( previously used as part of my rotational grazing program ) I disc'ed and drug the arena and much to my surprise the base is rocky dirt. When we get a good rain it really exposes the amount of rock in the soil. Other areas of my property are not this rocky, maybe the previous owner was planning on making a solid base and bringing in sand to spread over the semi-rock base. Unfortunately I cant purchase that much sand right now and I need to get the majority of the rocks removed from the arena. When I drag the arena it makes the arena somewhat useable but Im nervous to really work my horse hard when all this rock is present. Is adding rock a standard practice to help with erosion control? As the title says is a landscape rake the best option for rock removal? Most of the rocks are the round smooth style. Here's a pic to give you guys an idea of what Im dealing with. Before people start posting.....Yes Im aware of the low spots throughout the arena, I know I need to work on my dragging skills.

[art]

When you said rocks I thought you meant ROCKS. For the stones you have a york rake would bring some along to gather and be easier to pick. Around here frost will bring them to the top if not this year but next so it can be frustrating because you can pick nearly every year. They would still surface even to put sand across the top of the field. To rent a powered rock rake once a year might be your best choice.

[jenkinsph]

I would use a harley rake to windrow and pick up the piles. I deal with this sized stones all the time with a hand rake too, raking circles into piles to pick up.

[shibaura_4043]

I guess "stones"would have been a better description, my bad. I'm not familiar with a power rock rake. You have any pics of one?

[shibaura_4043]

I would use a harley rake to windrow and pick up the piles. I deal with this sized stones all the time with a hand rake too, raking circles into piles to pick up.

Thanks for the advice, as for hand raking I tried that and after a few hrs of raking and feeling like I didn't make any progress I quickly gave up and decided there had to be a better way. Which led me to TBN to start this thread.

[284 International]

I have been around a couple people who built fancy arenas. They scraped out the arena then trucked in gravel to fill in as the base. Then the upper arena surface (sand, decomposed granite, etc) was trucked in and poured on top. The gravel was to provide an area for drainage to keep standing water from developing on the arena surface.

Depending on how deep your sand surface is, you could, for relatively small amounts of money, build, or have fabricated, a sifter that uses expanded metal and a cutting blade up front, kind of like a landplane, to sift the sand and collect the rocks.

[shibaura_4043]

I have been around a couple people who built fancy arenas. They scraped out the arena then trucked in gravel to fill in as the base. Then the upper arena surface (sand, decomposed granite, etc) was trucked in and poured on top. The gravel was to provide an area for drainage to keep standing water from developing on the arena surface.

Depending on how deep your sand surface is, you could, for relatively small amounts of money, build, or have fabricated, a sifter that uses expanded metal and a cutting blade up front, kind of like a landplane, to sift the sand and collect the rocks.

Thanks, I was really hoping a landscape rake would do the trick...it was just the excuse I needed to go ahead and buy a LSR. The sifter is an interesting idea I may try to come up with something similar.

[RDrancher]

I would use a harley rake to windrow and pick up the piles. I deal with this sized stones all the time with a hand rake too, raking circles into piles to pick up.

I'll second that idea. Here's a power (Harley) rake mounted on a CTL, but you should be able to find a pto powered unit for your tractor for rent.

[284 International]

Landscape rakes are nice, don't get me wrong, and I like mine, but they aren't going to move rocks of that size. They DO leave a nice, smooth, soft surface behind, so you may be able to justify the purchase anyway.... I've never used a harley rake, but enough other people recommend them that may be an option. You would still be stuck with them in a windrow, but that's at least out of the way.

[shibaura_4043]

thanks for the pic rdrancher...I may see what it cost to rent one. Does it remove rock or embed it into the soil? Reason I ask is b/c I see a little rock content in the pic. Obviously I have never used one but I dont want to rent one and be disappointed with the results.