Turn a field into a yard

[jenkinsph]

The field is in really rough shape. Lots of ruts, etc. I would only keep the area around the house finish mowed. I also have 5 grandsons that love to ride the mowers, tractors, dirt bikes and 4 wheelers. I don't have a disk harrow or tiller. I'll have to get something, just want to make a good decision. I think there is only a couple hundred dollars difference. I have a 6 ft Southern rotary cutter and just got a standard duty 6 ft box blade last week.

Wish I had pics of mine before I started the work on it. Lots of crooked trees and brush, cut these down and removed all the stumps. Two erosion ditches and trash to pick up, lots of mounds to smooth out.

I built the landplane/grader 8' wide with bolt on reversible grader blades for about $800 weighs about 950 lbs. On mine for lawn work the blades are set straight. I use to use disk harrows and drags to smooth pastures but the landplane does it better and faster period. Still works well on gravel drives too.

The harrow costs me about $250 to build with paint complete and it is 8' wide with sucker rod teeth.

I used a Deere 673 tiller for this with good results and I highly recommend their use. I have had a variety of disks and these can work well too but I find they are cumbersome in lawn work. The tillers are much more compact and allow me to get in to closer spaces than any disk will handle.

 

[65fl]

Give your county extension agent a call, he might have some thoughts on how best to prep the soil in your area. We used a drag disc when I was growing up in NE Ohio, probably not the best choice but it is what we had.

 

[Ford tractor]

I think tilling would be good.

1st step would be soil test
2nd add recommended amendments (lime, fertilizer, etc)
3rd till going N/S then repeat going E/W
optional step - wait a week for weed seeds to sprout and till again. Repeat often to mechanically kill weeds.
4th add 1/3 of amendments (especially lime and if sandy add peat moss)
5th seed and roll flat, cover with straw or more peat moss.
6th spray with 2,4D weed killer as desired / needed to kill broad leaf weeds.


I know that I've stated to add 1/3 more than the recommended amount of soil amendments. When tilling, you spread it vertically and it will impact a greater amount of soil. That is not typically accounted for in the standard soil analysis. YMMV

 

[boggen]

Advice requested.
I have about 10 acres that has been no till drilled forever and would like to turn part of it into a front yard around where we are going to build. Some think it needs to be turned, some think just disking will be good. I'm leaning toward tilling. It has some deep ruts and something needs to be done. I have the time to till, it does not all need to be done right away. Turning 8" is the recommended depth when I explained all this to the Kubota salesman. A good size tiller will do that or close to it. The most I'll probably do with the 10 acres is a garden and have thought about tomatoes (if I can keep the deer out) to sell to the local market. A salesman at Southern Farm Supply in Union Grove, NC heard that an electric fence with peanut butter works pretty good for deer. Any preferences on a brand of tiller? Southern beat every one for a Southern standard duty 6' box blade. They carry Howse tillers. Thanks for any advice.
Rookie Fred

do you have a tractor? if so make and model, and folks here might be able to help ya out better, or are you looking at walk behind tiller or self propelled tiller?

with planting seaoning coming up in about 2 months. get a hold of some local nearby farmers. they might be willing to just pull through with there plow / disc / harrow and just break all the dirt up real good, and smooth everything out. in one maybe 2 passes. and then continue on down the road to what ever land they were going to next. granted you shouldn't except next day service, but more of, if i am heading down the road that way, and have time. (meaning it could be any day of week at and any time of the day between sunrise and sunset.

doing above should remove majorty if not all ruts. and take down any high spots some. leaving you with less work to do. though pending on there tractor and what they will be using. they may or may not make things as wide as you would like or end up giving you more area that what you want to deal with. but *shrugs*.

if you are cash renting out the other acrage for farm use. make deal with that given farmer. that is what has happened here in the past.

granted having the local farmer doing the plowing / discing / harrow on the area you want may not completely level things out. or make a perfect nice finishing touch to it. but it does make life easier, later on this year, if you put tiller down into the dirt, if the area is not that bad off perhaps a small walk behind tiller, shovel, metal rake, and wheel barrow and a day of work to fix things up to finish everything out.

 

[07 LMM LTZ]

When I put my lawn in about 2 years ago, about 4 acres it started out as a corn field the year before. I used a disc and went over everything a couple times to loosen the ground up pretty well. Then I rented a harley rake and smoothed the entire property with that. The nice thing about the harley rake you can windrow all the stones so that they can be picked up easily and it fills the low spot and takes off the high ones. Then I used a rotary spreader to broadcast the seed and the starter fertilizer. Then blew straw over the whole area and the lawn came up beautiful.

 

[rookiefred]

When I put my lawn in about 2 years ago, about 4 acres it started out as a corn field the year before. I used a disc and went over everything a couple times to loosen the ground up pretty well. Then I rented a harley rake and smoothed the entire property with that. The nice thing about the harley rake you can windrow all the stones so that they can be picked up easily and it fills the low spot and takes off the high ones. Then I used a rotary spreader to broadcast the seed and the starter fertilizer. Then blew straw over the whole area and the lawn came up beautiful.

What is a harley rake? A landscape rake? Sorry, I'm still learning all the slang and regional names for things.
Fred

 

[Ford tractor]

What is a harley rake? A landscape rake? Sorry, I'm still learning all the slang and regional names for things.
Fred

A power rake made my a company called Harley. No relationship to the murdercycle company.

Order Harley Rakes Online!

 

[rookiefred]

A power rake made my a company called Harley. No relationship to the murdercycle company.

Order Harley Rakes Online!

Thanks for the info. I've seen them in the catalogs. It is on the wish list, but below dish harrow and tiller. Thaks again.

 

[rookiefred]

When I put my lawn in about 2 years ago, about 4 acres it started out as a corn field the year before. I used a disc and went over everything a couple times to loosen the ground up pretty well. Then I rented a harley rake and smoothed the entire property with that. The nice thing about the harley rake you can windrow all the stones so that they can be picked up easily and it fills the low spot and takes off the high ones. Then I used a rotary spreader to broadcast the seed and the starter fertilizer. Then blew straw over the whole area and the lawn came up beautiful.

The Kubota dealer rents the straw blower and a "harley" rake. Will definitely look into that. I know straw will be a must here for the red clay. We are way below rainfall this year, so I might only get the disking, etc successfully. Like said in a previous reply, seed might not be the best thing this spring. We will try anyway.

 

[rookiefred]

Thanks for all the advice. I've decided to use a tiller. I'm thinking (and hope) it will give me the results I want. I'm sure our grandsons will like it better, too. It appears to me it might make a better mudhole for them to ride in. :thumbsup::laughing: