rock removal ideas?

[cowboydoc]

Hi Kerry,
My daughters are 5 and 3 and we have quarter horses. Your daughter can see mine at our website for the ranch at http://www.geocities.com/cowboydoc99/quick.html. If she wants she can email my daughter. Her name is Mesa and her email address is mesasage@machlink.com.

[kevincook]

Maybe this only works for me but I am really happy with the results I get. I posted this in another thread a couple weeks ago. Does anyone else have good results with this technique.

1. Rototill the area very thoroughly. The dirt should be pretty "fluffy"

2. let the rain settle the dirt down.

3. All the rocks are now sitting right on top of the dirt and are easy to rake off with a York rake.

It is important that the area be rototilled THOROUGHLY or the rocks won't separate out very well.

I am currently rototilling 1.5 acres to plant more lawn and when I finish I will take some pictures to post.

[DONOTDELETE]

Gerard, I have had the same question concerning rock removal. From everything I have heard and seen, it appears the BEST method is to use a "Harley Power Rake" made by Glenmac. I have looked at their site and literature and pictures, and they appear to do a Fantistic job of rock removal.

They are very expensive to buy, but you can rent one from many rental center. You will have a hard time renting a 3PH unit, you will probobaly have to rent a skid loader as most rental places have this type for rent.

Hope this helps. Tim

[Foozle]

I thought I'd resurrect this thread as I'm new to the forums and have a similar issue to the original poster. Thought maybe there would be some new thinking on the subject.

Has anyone tried a "rock bucket" similar to what is made by Markham Welding (link here Markham Welding The fixed nature of the gaps between the screen doesn't give much flexibility on rock size, but perhaps you can add a finer screen for smaller rocks? Not having tried this, the issue I can see would be that if you didn't have fairly loose soil, the clumping woudn't allow the dirt to pass through.

Other ideas on how to remove rocks?

Thanks,

Dave

[wvtechs]

I have had some success by making multiple passes "dragging" a chain harrow across a freshly tilled surface. It works best if the soil is more on the dry side and slightly compacted.

Like this:



A quick and dirty DIY one can be made by using a bar attached to some old chain link fence that is weighted on the ends. Not as effective but works in a pinch.

[mtg65]

Originally Posted by gerard

Anyone have any tried true methods for picking up the millions of small (golf ball size) and med (orange/grapefruit size) rocks left after leveling a dirt area?

Try a harley rake. It will move smaller, golf sized rocks, into piles which can be picked up with your FEL. I used this implement with good success when I leveled a large portion of my lawn, which had many similar sized rocks.

[dirtworksequip]

Rent a Skidsteer with a RockHound attachment. It will work for most of the rock sizes you mentioned. It will also leave the area looking well graded as it breaks up any dirt clumps.

Sincerely, Dirt

[bigballer]

growing up we always had rocks to pick between cultivating and planting grain, imo it was the worst part of farming but it had to be done or you'd beat the crap out of the planter, we used a hydraulic rock picker similar to the one here: Rock Picker. since buying my own "farm" i don't have a need for an agricultural picker but i have tried using my landscape rake to make piles but imo the most effective way to do it is by hand, picking and throwing into the bucket. i use the rocks for lining ditches or building up berms or foundations for pathways.. seems i can always find uses for them..


this looks interesting, you can even get a tractor in the package. :-)
Turf Rake Contractor Package

[Treemonkey1000]

Probably a dumb idea but how does a Golf ball scooper work? I don't golf but I seem to remember them picking up golf balls pretty good.. I know the rocks aren't the same weight and shape but it might help scoop up some that about the same weight and size. Seems like that would work on another guy that complained about acorns in his yard awhile back.

[Luremaker]

Originally Posted by wvtechs

I have had some success by making multiple passes "dragging" a chain harrow across a freshly tilled surface. It works best if the soil is more on the dry side and slightly compacted.

Like this:



A quick and dirty DIY one can be made by using a bar attached to some old chain link fence that is weighted on the ends. Not as effective but works in a pinch.

I agree with wvtechs and the chain harrow. I drag my chain harrow back and forth through my pastures in the spring and it will pull loose most of the rocks on or near the surface. Then its a matter of getting the kids and a few buckets and pick up the stones. My 17 acre pasture used to take us 2 days to pick up the loose stones but now we are are done after 2 or 3 hours of picking.

We still spend a full weekend picking stones on my other 25 acre pasture. It will be a few years before we start running low on stones.