"creating" top soil

[AlanB]

As part of our landscaping business, we often get calls and have need for top soil.

Now that we have bought some land, and are doing dirt work etc, I have a fair amount of "rough" (by rough I mean with clods, roots etc) top soil available.

I have seen the threads on the "screen" type sifting devices, and seem to remember someone using a tiller to back into the pile and pulverize it.

So, I am looking for any suggestions on reccomended practices for cleaning, grading and refining, "top soil" into a better more high quality product.

Don't mind spending some money, but do not have the resources to say buy a $50K tub grinder or something like that.

Also looking at ideas on how to mix / stir in organic matter and compost to improve the qualities of the soil as well.

TIA

 

[jeffinsgf]

I don't know what it is called, but a big nursery I used to do business with had this big machine that they dumped clumpy dirt into, and it shook and sifted until nice fluffy stuff dropped out. The rocks and roots bounced out into a different hopper. It looked to me like you could add a bucket of soil and a bucket of compost and mix them at the same time you declump. It looked like a sizeable investment, but not on the level of a tub grinder (which is NOT what you want anyway).

I would check nursery supply sites and catalogs.

 

[Z-Michigan]

Now that we have bought some land, and are doing dirt work etc, I have a fair amount of "rough" (by rough I mean with clods, roots etc) top soil available.

We've had some of this material from preparing our garden plot. If you have time, I would be thinking of making large outdoor compost bins and basically piling this material up several feet high, maybe mixing in small amounts of either subsoil or organic material (leaves, grass) depending on the content of the initial material, and letting it sit for 6-12 months. It should break down decently and be more usable at that point.

 

[MikeD74T]

AlanB, Agriculture equipment, farm magazines, farm equipment, farm inventions, farm machinery, agriculture machinery has a CD with lots of ideas you'd like. Screens, composting equipment, etc some simple & small scale - some quite complex & large scale, all do it yourself by someone. Ideas like mixing in a salvaged redi-mix truck or compost turner/mixers made from combine parts.

My BIL gets leaves, cuttings, barn cleanings from several sources and windrows in 10'wide x 50' long piles. Turns them frequently with his Bobcat by moving by bucketfuls into a new windrow. Funny in cold weather as steam obscures the entire operation. Sells by the truckload or applies as a top dressing with a broadcast spreader. MikeD74T
(where'd this green text come from )

 

[Nasty135]

I do what Z-michigan said compost leaves into a large pile ,but thats still small potatoes for what your talking about.

How about plowing in your compostable materials and over time it will begin to happen ... You looking for a fine screened product out of the gate? that just sounds exspensive....

 

[RobS]

How 'bout buying it from a guy with a $50K tub grinder and mark it up to your customers. Do that for a while as you build your business case to do something different. You'll be able to offer the product instantly and may find it a good enough deal to stay with long term.

 

[450EXC]

Hud-Son Forest Equip has some less expensive screeners. Hud-Son Sawmill USA Portable Sawmills

The one on thier site is about 10k, but I think they have smaller models.

Larry

 

[AlanB]

450EXC, Too cool, that was what I was thinking along the lines of, I really like that they did it with 2 screens.

I thought I would make a place to strap my vibratory compactor on too, and use it to "shake" the screen.

I may just have to fab up something along those lines.

Mike, I will order that CD, looks cool.

Rob, I have not found the guy yet that there is any margin in there, kind of what we do to keep going, but would like to develop my own and have it make money, instead of being a pass through transaction.

Z and nasty, yes, I expect it to take time. I do have some now off my property that is of decent (as least as good as what we normally buy) but has more "clumps and roots" then what I would like.

 

[fishpick]

Was talking to a guy this weekend... he does something similar to what you are talking about... but he focuses on the high markup "compost" stuff... he will skim off the top couple inches of a plot - and pile it to "cook"... he then takes a bunch of local sawmill sawdust and adds it to the cooking pile...
He takes about half the last cooking pile and spreads it on his old plot... seeds it with something that makes bio-matter fast - oats, timothy, clover mixture... After it grows - he repeats the process... gets a lot of good rich stuff as long as he is turning the skimmed off pile... says the minimum number of active plots for this to work is 3... obviously rotating through them...
Also - of note is the fall - when he drives his dump around local towns before they get the leaves - and he "steals" them... puts tons of leaves down in the fall - and turns all of the plots under - and seeds with winter wheat... by spring - he's ready to start rolling again.
Does rather well... a couple of local greenhouses that the public swarms every weekend now sell his stuff in bulk...