Box Scraper Pictures of ground engagement? discs? box blade scarifiers? etc

[Bassicfun]

I was curious if anyone has pictures of their land/soil once running over it with a box blade with the scarifiers down? or a set of discs?

I am contemplating a few ways to go about what I want to do, but I want to see what the 'outcome' commonly is with each implement before deciding where to out-lay money for each.

I greatly appreciate any pic posting/video posting anyone can offer.

 

[alltoys]

What are you attempting to do?

What is your soil type?

Are you reclaiming pasture or sod?

What size is the land you are about to tame?

 

[Bassicfun]

Well at the risk of sounding redundant from another post of mine;

I have 5 acres, hilly, used to be farm land, all weeds, bushes/thorns, etc currently.
Most the land that wasn't disturbed is relatively smooth, but the septic tile bed, after it settled DEFINITELY needs work, as does the area disturbed around the new house (that finished being built in Oct 08).

I want to be able to smooth out the rough areas, as to make it a nice appearance, as well as smooth to mow at a reasonable pace without being beat to death.

There is approx 2 acres in front of the house, and THAT is the goal to work on, the back acres may just see a rotary cutter every month or so. I am picking up a BX2660 Saturday, and am considering the tiller, but originally I was hoping to get the work done with a box scraper and landscape rake (slow I know, but cost efficient since I have time on my side).

Soil is decent for the top few inches (as I said it was used farm land, though not worked for a lot of years probably 10+ anyway) and below that is mostly clay, but not an extremely hard clay as I know others have had in various parts of the country.

I will be trying to get rid of the weeds/bushes/thorns etc into a pile to torch (once I can make a big pile, and there is just dirt around it to keep it from spreading). That's a start of the FYI for you.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I doubt that your BX will pull a disk heavy enough to do much good. If it was me, I would be thinking about a rototiller, I know, more $$$$, but it will work for you.

Here are some pictures of ground that has been turned over with a disk.

 

[jenkinsph]

The cheapest way to fix your problem is to have a local farmer dress it up for you when he has the time. Then use your tractor with small implements to maintain it.


Steve

 

[Bassicfun]

That's alright... I want to do the work, I don't trust a heavy tractor over the septic as our area required the septic tiles to be shallow. I rather do the work to MY quality standards, rather than fix someone else's idea of 'good enough'.

Brian- Thanks for the pictures and input.. I think I am settling on the fact that a tiller will be needed. Thanks!

 

[Ford850]

Bassicfun,
I did a similar project several years ago. 22 acres of rolling farm field that we built on, and started with close to 2 acres of lawn. The builder put it to a rough grade after backfilling etc. and we did the rest. First I mowed the weeds and brush, and when it started to regrow I sprayed the area with Pronto from TSC (generic roundup). After a week or two I used an old Ford 850 with a disk and a rear blade (no money to buy a box blade). I disked it many times from differnet directions. After all the soil was loose and semi graded, we dragged it over and over with a peice of chain link fence and a heavy log. Then broadcasted grass seed and fertilizer and a final light drag with no log. I've done the same job adding more lawn and grass waterways to several more acres of the field since then, to stop the erosion. If I was doing it again I would use a tiller rather than the disk, with the rest of the process the same. The disk leaves a lot of root clumps that will surface while dragging and seeding. A tiller will pulverize most of them. A tiller would also come in handy if you want a garden in the future. Now is the time to justify that tiller if you can afford it.

 

[jim2210]

My property is also a little over 5 acres and also wanted went through the same questions you have about smoothing a field that used to be hayed by a local farmer. I started by putting in a small food plot but eventually started larger areas. Here's what I did and what I learned.
1. Borrowed a brush hog to originally clear the land. Be careful of the PTO length if you need to go this route.
2. Wanted a tiller, but first bought a box blade until I saved a few more greenbacks. The box blade has proven a neccessity where I live. The scarifiers broke up the existing sod and found many large rocks (and cable, metal poles, etc.) that would have wreaked havoc on the tiller.
3. I hired an excavator to bulldoze the large areas. It was a lot less than I thought it would cost and saves wear and tear on your tractor, especially if you get someone who knows what they are doing. He asked what I would like him to do with the existing sod, as he could push it into piles or haul it away. He recommended disking or tilling the top layer to break up the sod so he could level it without losing some top soil.
4. Told the wife that we now NEEDED a tiller . Bought one - love it. Still used the scarifiers on the box blade to break up the sod and get out the majority of the larger rocks. Looked into a set of disks but was concerned that my tractor could not pull a set heavy enough to be effective. No regrets with the tiller. After the box blade, the tiller busted up the chunks of sod and made it easy to level off and rake.
5. After tilling and letting the bulldozer do his thing, I finished everything with a landscape rake.

If you have decent soil (not rocky) you probably could get away with just a tiller, depending on how "rough" some of your areas are. The tiller does a nice job of preparing a seed bed. Here's some pics ...

Pictures by jim2210 - Photobucket

 

[Egon]

Go with the Tiller and make yourself a drag for leveling. You will have to till more than once though as the root clumps need time to dry out.

 

[Bassicfun]

Well fine, I picked up a Howard HR3 tiller, one owner, my brother-in-law had it on his bx22xx. can't beat family discounts eh?