Help on what to use on rough graded ground

[Joeinindy]

We just completed a major addition onto our house and I'm going to have lots of work to do on the yard. I'm only having the contractor rough grade the surrounding yard, so I need advice on what implements I'm going to need to prepare the ground for grass seed. I have mostly heavy clay, rocky ground and at this time bringing in topsoil is beyond the budget for one acre of ground. I plan on using red fesue or a fescue mix due to the soil. I have the Kubota L3410, and plan on renting what I need to prepare it. Any suggestions ??

 

[RobS]

Joe, I hope to be doing the same around a new house next year! I expect to use my box blade and FEL for any significant dirt moving, grade changing etc. Beyond that it'll be the landscape rake and probably the good 'ole hand rake. I don't have a tiller, nor the budget for one but I can rent one and that may a useful step once the grades are all set. Don't forget the backhoe for the sprinklers and underground downspout drains (don't I wish /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif).

I seeded a berm this past spring. Just used a hand powered whirlybird seeder and ran the landscape rake over everything afterwards to give the seeds some covering. I turned the rake around backwards so it wouldn't be too aggressive. It's doing well and a lot cheaper than a tph seeder.

Looking forward to hear other comments /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[kcbarnes]

I have rented a power rake a few times and they work great to prepare the soil for seed

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Have you looked at a pulverizers. They have two rows of spikes and then a roller attachment to finish with. They are made by gill, hardee, land pride etc.... Some guy was advertising 6' for $700 on this board, wholesaler or something like that try doing a search.

 

[stevo]

Look for something called a RotaDairon. It'll till up about 5-6" at once, then drop the rocks under the soil, in one pass. Should be available with a seed-box, so you could spread fertilizer, lime, whatever, till it in and seed at once. My cost to rent is $275, with the seed-box. No, I haven't used it yet, still trying to decide how to best start MY lawn. Saw it at a Kubota dealer, apparently need about 35hp tractor to run it. Worth looking into, I think.

 

[PaulT]

I was in your shoes about 2 years ago. I asked my contractor for some advice for a low cost solution to having a mud yard. Since we moved back into the house in September (fall is pretty rainy around here) and we have white carpets, we needed to have some grass growing. Our solution was to have a guy with a landscape rake (I didn't have my tractor at the time) drag it around the yard and remove the larger rocks. It left the rocks under about 1.5 inches (the tine spacing). THen we used a hand broadcaster to spread seed (I'm not sure what it was, probably kentucky bluegrass or the like - good quality lawn seed, not fescue). After that we hadn spread a few bales of hay and water everyday for a few weeks. If you don't do this before it drops below 60-70 degree days, the grass won't grow very much until next year (if you are up north). We now have a green lawn that is probably 50% green braodleaf weeds and 50% grass. The ground is very hard and rocky. There was some topsoil around before we did our remodeling, but not very deep (inch or two). At this point, I think topdressing the yard with a peat-rich soil mixture every year and overseeding will get me where I want to be. I think the Harley power rake is really the way to go, though. Have you looked at the before and after pics on their website? click Here to see it. I can rent one for $150 per day.

PaulT

 

[Sailorcrew]

I've been doing a lot of seeding lately. I start out with the fel to move dirt, backdrag to get roughly smooth, then use the hand landscape rake for final. It goes pretty quick with a landscape rake, it covers a large area quickly and gives you the ability to move some small amounts of dirt to relevel. Then I seed, fertilize, lime, straw, in that order. The first three ingrediants go down with a broadcast spreader, the straw by hand. Right now, at least where I live in New Hampshire, is the best time to seed. The days aren't too warm, 60-75 degrees, the nights cooler, wet lawns in the morning from dew. I had grass in 8 days with only watering once each morning for 1/2 hour. Back to your original question, I did 3/4 acre by hand (life before Kubota) using only the landscape rake but the loam was already down. To do what you need, rent a tph landscape rake to get the rocks (or do by hand) spread what you can to level, then grade by fel first, hand landscape rake by hand. I spent about $300 the first time for seed, lime, fertilizer, the hand landscape rake and rotary push spreader, but the rake and spreader were permanant items and I had enough seed left over to do reseed several other large areas of lawn. I think the key is the straw to keep moisture down and the birds away and water every morning. Good luck, David