94BULLITT's Home Built 3 Point Hitch Dethatcher

94BULLITT · May 26, 2014

Here it is raised completely.

About 9''

This picture shows the 3PH all the way down, so I have about 6'' before the 3PH bottoms.

I don't have a lot of thatch on my yard. Here is a picture of a poorer spot were I first tested it Friday.

Here is spot tested it on today.

After a very light raking of one width of the detatcher and 10' or 12' long.

The grass was tall and I mowed after this. I think with no more thatch than I have I can probably mow the grass low and dethatch at the same time then mow it again running 90* opposite of what I previously mowed.

Wyobuckaroo · May 27, 2014

Neat......

I built kinda/sorta the same thing.... Mine is 5' wide and attaches to one of my somewhat universal 3pt tool bars...
When I get my front 3pt lift built for my tractor, I can reverse the rake on the tool bar, and run it out in front of my MMM deck...

Good luck
===

94BULLITT · May 29, 2014

Yours is cool too. I almost made mine attach to my trailer mover. I thought about making a front mount instead of a 3PH but with the weight bracket and grill guard it would be a pain to attach. Did your tines come bent or did you bend them? I bent a few extras I had. I think it may have worked better but I don't have that much thatch to do a good test on. I think I am going to add gauge wheels next. I think the weight of the 3PH, QH, and dethatcher is too much for the tines and it bends them too far back.

628pm · May 29, 2014

All of the versions look good, I guess I need to finally make one myself, I believe I have everything except the tines, so costs won't be too bad.

Great job everyone.

94BULLITT · Aug 28, 2014

Update:

I have a set of casters I am going to use as gauge wheels. I am also going to replace the upright pieces for the toplink with box tubing. I think it will look better. I might add park stands too.

I can also hook up to the dethatcher backwards so I can push stuff into a big pile If I want.

I tried it some more on cleaning up leaves and brush. It works really good.

Before:

After:

jenkinsph · Aug 29, 2014

Looks real good Roger but it doesn't appear that you have a thatch problem.

Looking at your lawn it might help if you let it grow up and go to seed before fall. When I was cutting my grass short and frequent I found it was thinning out. Now I cut it about 5 inches down to 3 1/2", and let it grow up twice a year and reseed. The other plus is it strengthens the root system by developing larger roots, better for the grass and a side benefit is it chokes out the weeds.

Simply put, I bought the nice new mower and used it too much, I think you have the same problem.

dragoneggs · Aug 30, 2014

I am trying to find the grass you are thatching! :laughing: I see it in the background in one of your pics, but it looks like you are raking here... semantics?

94BULLITT · Aug 30, 2014

jenkinsph said:
Looks real good Roger but it doesn't appear that you have a thatch problem.

Looking at your lawn it might help if you let it grow up and go to seed before fall. When I was cutting my grass short and frequent I found it was thinning out. Now I cut it about 5 inches down to 3 1/2", and let it grow up twice a year and reseed. The other plus is it strengthens the root system by developing larger roots, better for the grass and a side benefit is it chokes out the weeds.

Simply put, I bought the nice new mower and used it too much, I think you have the same problem.

About 2 years ago I dethatched the yard. It was one heck of a mess. I don't know how many bucket fulls of thatch I did not haul off in the 4240 and the pond scoop on the BX. I don't really have much thatch now, just a little in one area.

Letting the grass and go to seed is a good idea. I may do that. I mow at 3.25.'' It is mostly around 5'' when I mow.

The soil here is very poor. I got a nice new broadcast spreader in the spring. My old spreader did not work good, it did not apply the fertilizer evenly. Since I got the aerator I have been using it every spring and fall. I think it has helped a lot. It has also smoothed things up. I have read that aerators help with thatch so maybe that is why I don't have much of a thatch problem. Every 3 weeks I change the direction I mow. The grass has improved over the past couple of years. What I really need is a weed killer put on it. I think I need to get a sprayer now. It probably needs lime too. I want to get a soil analysis done so I know how much to put on the yard. I have also been working on drainage issue so I have had to tear up parts of the yard. This year I took down several trees from the yard. I think I am finally ready to rent a stump grinder. Once they are gone I can focus on getting things graded up and getting some good grass growing.

jenkinsph · Aug 31, 2014

94BULLITT said:
About 2 years ago I dethatched the yard. It was one heck of a mess. I don't know how many bucket fulls of thatch I did not haul off in the 4240 and the pond scoop on the BX. I don't really have much thatch now, just a little in one area.

Letting the grass and go to seed is a good idea. I may do that. I mow at 3.25.'' It is mostly around 5'' when I mow.

The soil here is very poor. I got a nice new broadcast spreader in the spring. My old spreader did not work good, it did not apply the fertilizer evenly. Since I got the aerator I have been using it every spring and fall. I think it has helped a lot. It has also smoothed things up. I have read that aerators help with thatch so maybe that is why I don't have much of a thatch problem. Every 3 weeks I change the direction I mow. The grass has improved over the past couple of years. What I really need is a weed killer put on it. I think I need to get a sprayer now. It probably needs lime too. I want to get a soil analysis done so I know how much to put on the yard. I have also been working on drainage issue so I have had to tear up parts of the yard. This year I took down several trees from the yard. I think I am finally ready to rent a stump grinder. Once they are gone I can focus on getting things graded up and getting some good grass growing.

If it were me I would skip the weed killer and put that money towards seed and a fall/winter fertilizer with root stimulator. You can get a very good soil analysis for about $35 and add the amendments needed. As long as the lawn gets enough water the grass roots will grow all winter and by spring weed season should choke out the vast majority of the weeds. I dethatch and vacuum my lawn in late Feb to early March and add this to the compost pile. I then let the grass grow up to get more blade area available to the sunlight try to keep it close to four inches tall. Keep it watered deep every three or four days and apply Halts crabgrass preventer fertilizer. I do every thing I can to get the grass growing and healthy before out weed season which starts in May. In most cases the grass wins and the weeds cant get through but if they do I use weed and feed in the summer. Most of the weeds I fight are along the fences and ditches, very few in the lawn itself.

94BULLITT · Aug 31, 2014

jenkinsph said:
If it were me I would skip the weed killer and put that money towards seed and a fall/winter fertilizer with root stimulator. You can get a very good soil analysis for about $35 and add the amendments needed. As long as the lawn gets enough water the grass roots will grow all winter and by spring weed season should choke out the vast majority of the weeds. I dethatch and vacuum my lawn in late Feb to early March and add this to the compost pile. I then let the grass grow up to get more blade area available to the sunlight try to keep it close to four inches tall. Keep it watered deep every three or four days and apply Halts crabgrass preventer fertilizer. I do every thing I can to get the grass growing and healthy before out weed season which starts in May. In most cases the grass wins and the weeds cant get through but if they do I use weed and feed in the summer. Most of the weeds I fight are along the fences and ditches, very few in the lawn itself.

I have some clover growing in the section that I pictured were I tested the dethatcher. I know clover is a sign of low nitrogen. I don't think I fertilzed at all last year, I know for sure I did not in the fall so that may be why there is clover. Maybe it will not come back next year. My very front yard is overtaken by weeds. I need to grind 2 stumps from it and do some grading. I will be almost starting from scratch. I think I need to do something in that area to get rid of the weeds so I can establish a new lawn there. I plan on putting a winterizer fertilizer on the yard this fall. It has a root stimulator in it. I can get a soil analysis through the VA cooperative extension. Department of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences - Virginia Tech Soil Testing Lab | Virginia Tech In the spring I may try mowing at 4'' so the grass can fight the weeds off better. I really need to get my butt in gear so I can overseed and sow grass in some new areas because this is the prime time of year for it. In the past when I planted grass I ran my old spreader over the area first because it was also a spike aerator. When the the grass came up it looked like it had been planted in plugs and it filled in nicely. I also feel like with the little holes from the spike aerator the grass would not get washed away by a hard rain. I'd like to build a spike aerator just for this but my core aerator without any weight on it might work good too.