Lawn roller

   / Lawn roller #1  

425trailer

New member
Joined
Jan 6, 2004
Messages
16
Location
Southeast Pennsylvania
Tractor
PT 425
I do not have a lawn roller, so I thought I'd improvise. I used the PT power rake on the 425 and lowered it until the front of the tracter lifted off the ground. The power rake is quite heavy, plus the added weight of the tracter did seem to have affect on my soft lawn. Makes for rather interesting steering. Has anyone else tried a roller of any kind on the front of a 425 ?
 
   / Lawn roller #2  
We installed a spiked roller on a 425 with water in the roller for a ballast, your right, must lift the roller to steer.
EB
 
   / Lawn roller #3  
Sorry to say but both those things are "great" to compact the soil around the roots even more. The idea is to relief the pressure around the roots, so you need to "till" but you don't want to seed again and start a new lawn so you need to pull plugs to make space for additional root development. You have given away your age both of you. these procedures and tools went away in the forties of last century but i have witnessed it all. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
   / Lawn roller
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Thanks for the warning about soil compaction. You may have prevented my damaging the entire lawn instead of only the part that I did roll. I was aiming to achieve a smoother surface, improved mowing, etc. Just because it was a more fun use of time than payig the bills and preparing to file taxes does not nessesarily make it productive. Another monday evening idea. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
   / Lawn roller #5  
i was privileged to attend an ag school in my younger days and ideal consistency of turf, soil, subsoil were hammered into our heads.At home I was used to plow the fields with horses in fall. Let the temperature changes of the cold winter and the thawing and refreezing, in spring do some of the leveling job. Then we took the big roller out and started to compact the soil.
Then in the practical part at the ag school, we learned differently. We were "invited" and the second WW had just been over a few years, to dig foxholes in a plowed field.( For me over 6 foot tall but a little less # that was a substantial hole). Now the foreman with a small farmall tractor went past our line of foxholes and we could see how, what we by plowing and the temperature changes had done so nicely to prepare a seedbed, was being destroyed by the roller compactation.
Not all rollers are bad and about at that time a concept came out of Sweden with a roller that had 4 inch wide fixed rollers and next to it a concentrically moving with starlike 3 inch disks. The concentric movement was also observed by us in the foxhole. The result was that the cracks from plowing several inches below the surface were reduced and little or no additional compactation could be seen.
But that is initial seeding, we are maintaining a finished seedbed called turf. We ride on it with tractors, fert. spreaders, garden trailers, Children playing.

If you want to level the soil, use less fertilizer topdress your turf. Topdressing is a great way to get read of your composted leaves your wife and children's horses manure piles. I know this really does not belong here really, in this forum but your turf and grass plants are dear to me.
The starlike aerator has the similar effect on the soil in that when the spike entries the turf the soil is very little removed but creates a sideward pressure and adds to the compactation also. Contrary, the plugger does two great things: removes pressure in and around the ground next to the roots and depending on the soil strata even below the roots a tilling action without destroying the feel and look of the lawn the plugs create a seedbed for new seedlings.

Here is some equipment we use and a good write up for feeding your lawn naturally:
http://www.earthandturf.com/topdressinfo.htm
http://www.earthandturf.com/multispread.htm

sorry, you have to past the URLs yourself i ws not able to add them during my editing prosses


The Compactation Preacher
 
   / Lawn roller #6  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Sorry to say but both those things are "great" to compact the soil around the roots even more. The idea is to relief the pressure around the roots, so you need to "till" but you don't want to seed again and start a new lawn so you need to pull plugs to make space for additional root development. You have given away your age both of you. these procedures and tools went away in the forties of last century but i have witnessed it all. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif )</font>
Your right about the age thing. I told you I am an old dog learning new tricks. Until maybe 20 years ago, we had a yard, you know weeds, some grass in spots which we mowed once a month wheather it needed it or not and a spiked roller that we thought was high tech. Now that we got a lawn with grass and everthing, I bought a plugger and after its first use my neighbor came by and thought his dog had messed all over my new lawn.
An't life great!! Wonder whats in my next 70 years?
EB
 
 
Top