How to smooth a field with trees

[HUCKthe1]

I have a half acre field that I just planted trees on this spring. I know I should have smoothed the field before i started but had the chance to get the trees this spring and the field was too wet to work.

The field is just rough as **** to try to mow and beats you to death almost no matter how slow you go. The field has not been worked besides a few bush hogging in the past 20 years. It is not too bad to mow North to South as that seems to be the way most of the ruts are running. It is going East to West that is unbearable. It is very rough either way in the foreground side of my picture attached. In that photo in the foreground is a swell that is a wetland area in the spring and fall. I have been getting extra fill from this area to open it up and hope to aid in draining the area where the trees are.



I have disced between the rows going N-S, E-W, and diagonally. It has broke things up but still have spots that are very rough. I hate to take up all the grass that is there but need this field smoother than it is so i can mow it. I will have to maintain this for the next few years till the trees become established.

I have a box blade but hate to clear off everything as I did my trail to the area as you can see in the photo.

What can I do to smooth this out without too much damage to the grass that is there? Can I just disc it ever so often as it drys to try to get it broke up? Is the box blade my only option?

 

[Joe Blackeby]

Huck, get a drag behind ur disce harrow. I've seen them as a piece of chain-link fence with a heavy log or two fow weight. HTH, JoeB

 

[jenkinsph]

A small landplane grader blade with the blades set flush would be ideal for this job. Here's pictures of a 4' that I built for this that would be a good size for your NH.

 

[Larro Darro]

A cross tie behind the disc makes a good drag. The flat side does a better job than round posts. But be careful turning around. The extended length will make the drag swing further out to the side. I've broke a fence post or two with drags over the years.

 

[jenkinsph]

Another thing to consider is putting some skids on the sides of your boxblade to guage with similar to the landplane. Leave the rippers up and adjust to barely skim the surface. For such a small area you could use two hardwood 2x8x 5' for skids with a piece of flat strap fastened around the bottom. should be able to retrofit this $40 bucks.

The landplane or boxblade with skids will allow a lot more precision in removing the bumps and filling the voids than a disc and drag. The disc and drag method will help but is sloppy and will remove grass in places that could be left alone. I do alot of this very work to make a living and know what I am talking about.:laughing:

 

[Stonehaller]

If you do not want to rip up the existing grass you could try rolling along with filling of low spots that do not roll out. Otherwise, your only choice would be use some of the suggested ground engaging equipment which will require you to till up the existing grass.

 

[Larro Darro]

When I worked at the golf coarse, we used an aerator. It is like a disc, but the blades don't have any curve. Some are more solid, while others have longer spikes, or are star shaped. It would soften it up enough to smooth it out without tearing up all your grass. I have seen used ones on E-Bay for under $100. They rent for about $50, so if you could find a good used one, it would pay to buy. If you have hard, compacted soil in your yard, it would do wonders for it.

 

[HUCKthe1]

Thanks for the replies so far.

I played a little today taking my box blade and setting it to flatten the best I could and not dig or cut. It moved the dirt to some of the lower spots but would clump up the grass in spots. This helped a lot and did not tear up much of the field, just moved some of the loose stuff.

I think I will look for a piece of chain link fence to drag behind the disc and run over it more. I think this will flatten more area and help spread the loose material.

It does seem a little better where it was not that rough. The rough areas are more bearable but need a ton of work. I see many more hours coming up to get this right. I think another thing I need to do is disc and then let it set and dry for a few days. This way any dirt will break up easier, spread, and not clump as bad.

One more question I have is: Is it better to go across the rough area to smooth or go with it? it is pretty smooth North-South. East-West is the bone breaker. I have been going E-W, N-S and diagonally NE-SW. Have not run NW-SE yet.

 

[HUCKthe1]

To all,
I spoke with a local farmer trying to get suggestions from him on how else to smooth my field. He kind of chuckled and told me to drop a load of loose dirt at the end of each row. He said to then use my BB and drag back and forth. He said this will give something to fill in the low spots and not tear up the grass. He also said I may have to do this several times for a season or two, letting the soil settle into these low areas. He said it was probably caused by the field being real wet when it was harvested or bush hogged. I told him I thought the field had been plowed and never leveled

I did as he said and things are much better on my back. I am sure my equipment will like the smoother field also.

 

[stuckmotor]

Before youtube came along to show how to set up a turn plow, I got the same results you have every time I used one. I used the log behind a disc trick to smooth it out. Later on, I found that a field cultivator did a very good job of smoothing out rough ground. It sounds like what you have done was the best solution since you didn't want to tear up the grass.