How too fix my lawn.

[yelbike]

When I first moved here I used to cut the 3' tall lawn/weeds with a 72" farm king finish mower pulled behind a 63' Fordson Super Major with Ag tires. Well it left ruts behind. The Fordson is now gone but even 3 years later the ruts haven't.
How do I get rid of them. I first thought the ruts would go away with time as they are not that deep. Didn't happen. I was thinking either fill with top soil but I think it may take forever as the rough area is about an acre and a half.
I was also thinking of getting a large roller and drag over the lawn when its wet/soft in the spring.

Does anyone have better ideas?

Thanks ahead of time!!

 

[Diamondpilot]

I am surprised your lawn rutted. I have mowed for years with a Ford 861 and ags and now a 28HP Jinma 4x4 with Ags. Both tractors weigh 5,500# with me on them and my lawn is perfect.

Rolling will work but it takes a real roller. I made one that is 24" in diameter and 7' wide filled with concrete, about 3,000#, and it will not help much on the lawns I have worked on. Best thing to do is skim the dips with top soil or hire a large roller like used to roll asphalt. We use one of them to maintain the grass runway at the airport.

Chris

 

[Craig Clayton]

As a fellow Canadian we have the advantage of winter, and I am surprised that the frost has not evened out the the ruts.
I watched a This Old House show about the ruts left in the lawn from a truck on a house lawn. The experts said the ruts needed to be rototilled out as the soil had been compressed by the tires. If you filled with top dressing the compressed soil is still down there.
As your area is larger I do not think more compressing ie ROLLING is a good idea.
When I bought my property it had been freshly plowed and I was not able to grade it out in the fields. Many of the furrows are gone but the imprints are still there after 20 years.
Some form of disking to break up the soil should do the trick.

Craig Clayton

 

[psdx]

How deep are the ruts? Also, the roller works best when the ground is pretty damp.

 

[yelbike]

As I was finish my post I was thinking the ruts didn't come from the ag tires but probably from the front tires which were old truck tires ( p rated type). The tractor is listed a tractordata as 5500lbs plus the loader (another 1000lbs). I might tiller the ruts out someday but I'm trying to move forward my my yard right now not backwards:laughing:. Too many project on the go right now.

 

[yelbike]

How deep are the ruts? Also, the roller works best when the ground is pretty damp.

At worst 4" maybe less. Enough to make you sick trying to mow at full speed with either tractor. The worst part is spilling the beer. :drink: Its also hard to play ball with the kids.

 

[NormL]

At worst 4" maybe less. Enough to make you sick trying to mow at full speed with either tractor. The worst part is spilling the beer. :drink: Its also hard to play ball with the kids.

I have the same problem over here near Starbuck. Our yard is bowl shaped and on wet years like we've had with the exception of last year, the yard has not dried up enough to support the weight of either my Ford or Oliver. Just like your ruts, mine come from the front tires bearing the weight of the FELs. I'll be watching this thread with great interest because if you gain a solution for your problem I may have one for mine. In my case, I suspect the soil type is a major factor. We have what is known as Osbourne Clay. Don't ask me how that differs from other clay.:confused2: I just know it is challenging to deal with and when wet, sticks like iron filings to a rare earth magnet and will not let go!:laughing:

Because I have so many low areas to level, I had some 3000 cubic yards of drift soil hauled in from a neighbouring field after the municipal people had done drainage management. Come Spring and the conditions permit, I will be using some of this to spread over the ruts as well as fill low areas to encourage drainage. Disking and harrowing until the soil is even and somewhat compacted is probably how I will go about it once the drift soil is spread. Since you are on the East side of the Red River from me, you are likely dealing with a different soil type. Do you have ready access to earth to fill your ruts? What about equipment for leveling? I hope to get a drag built to even out the gravel driveway and yard. I can see that being useful as a finisher after harrowing the parts of the yard that I have worked up.

 

[Smallplot]

If you fill in the ruts with topsoil you have to overfill them so as they settle they will not sink too far.

Another option would be to use a box blade with good teeth. and finish with a heavy roller

 

[psdx]

Not the same exact thing but my last house had a lot of dirt settling over the drain tile runs. For a long time I tried to fix this without tearing things up. And I always made sure to mow in the same direction as these ruts, never perpendicular. I finally gave up and dropped topsoil in the ruts and threw out some grass seed.

 

[yelbike]

Not the same exact thing but my last house had a lot of dirt settling over the drain tile runs. For a long time I tried to fix this without tearing things up. And I always made sure to mow in the same direction as these ruts, never perpendicular. I finally gave up and dropped topsoil in the ruts and threw out some grass seed.

I tried mowing perpendicular with jd 2305 turfs to "cut" or break the ruts. Didn't work. Now its just like a wash board.