Tiller vs my yard

[Ram4x4]

Ok, might be strange thread, but...

I hate my yard. I have a "mowable yard" area that currently takes me about 8 full hours of mowing with my beat old 18HP 42" riding mower. It's in the plans to buy a nice, big 72" cut ZT next year (wife has finally come to terms with the cost of such mower as one of her biggest complaints is that we never have time for other things in the summer...) anyway...

My yard is rough...very rough. I bang and bounce along on my rider now and I'm afraid the speed advantage of a big ZT will be nullified as I'll have to crawl along to keep from beating myself and the mower to death.

So, I got this crazy idea....get a tiller for my Mahindra, till the whole freakin thing up, smooth it out (I have a small roller) and plant new grass. I will do it in sections as doing the whole thing at once would be too much work and too costly for grass seed.

Has anyone ever tried this? Worth the effort?

 

[tman1020]

Have you ever considered reducing how much you r mowing by putting in a natural prairie or wood lot? Better for your wallet, better for your family time and better for the environment. They can be a nice way to see more wildlife also. They can be installed with very little effort or be very complex. Most times in small stages.


As far as tilling up entire yard goes. Yes it can work but I would first figure out why its bumpy. If it's moles or rocks or erosion it will come right back.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I can certainly identify with that. I have some areas in my yard that are infested with crawfish and the mounds just keep making it rougher and rougher. Even on my Ferris IS 700Z with a spring over shock suspension system, I cant run full speed on it. I am in the thought process of how I can smooth it out without completely destroying it. I tried disking up a section, then pulling a drag over it to level it out and it worked (kinda) but the grass kept gathering in clumps on the drag which had to be spread out and the grass removed. I tried using my landscape rake but it too gathered up all the grass into piles. I finally got most of the grass/dirt clumps pulled into a low spot and semi-spread out level. I sowed seed to replace the grass but it took a couple of years for it to establish a fair grass structure. The area was in a pond drainage area so it stayed pretty wet for most of the year following my work which was done during a drought period.

I even thought of renting an asphalt rolling machine to roll out the yard with which may have worked but would seem to have to be just the right time when ground was damp but not soft enough to sink the roller but still soft enough to roll out the humps. So far I have just kept bouncing over the rough ground with the mower and wishing I knew how to kill those darned crawfish.

 

[blucoondawg]

I have a somewhat rough yard, I have a varied soil here with rocks from baseball to basketball size mixed in with clay and some areas small patches of sand. I am going to try using a heavy roller in the spring when the ground is damp to push the rocks back down, if it works it won't be a big deal to do it every few years, but tearing the whole darn thing out and starting over could be much more fun!

 

[AchingBack]

Rototilling an existing lawn without killing the existing grass first is a bad idea. Here's why: The live clumps of grass get buried at random depths throughout the soil. It takes a long time for the root wads to decompose, especially those nearest the surface. Many of the clumps will continue to grow after they've been tilled in.

When you plant new seed and the rootlets try to penetrate the old grass clumps, they stop growing. Your new lawn may look okay in the beginning, but before long it will probably be worse than the old one.

I was a landscape contractor for over 25 years. I've seen more failed lawns than successful ones. Most of them were due to eliminated steps or improper procedures in the installation process. You will never have a great lawn unless you have a great root system, lots of organic materials in the top 8" of the seed bed is essential.

If I were doing the job, I'd let the entire lawn area die before going in there with a tiller. If you are in a hurry, you can spray glyphosate in order to thoroughly kill existing lawn, including the roots. Then do your tilling, amending the soil as needed.

 

[AchingBack]

Duplicate post

 

[KTurner]

till the whole freakin thing up, smooth it out (I have a small roller) and plant new grass. I will do it in sections as doing the whole thing at once would be too much work and too costly for grass seed.

This is part question, part comment. Wouldn't doing this wake up a bunch of weeds? Just casual observation, but when the dirt gets disturbed around here, the weeds seem to come back with a vengeance - especially this year for some reason.

Keith

 

[AchingBack]

This is part question, part comment. Wouldn't doing this wake up a bunch of weeds? Just casual observation, but when the dirt gets disturbed around here, the weeds seem to come back with a vengeance - especially this year for some reason.

Keith

Indeed, the weeds will awaken. However if you do the job in the fall, the weeds aren't active, and by the time they are, if the lawn is built correctly, the grass should be strong enough to choke out weeds emerging in the spring.

 

[Rocky Hoffler]

I have been considering doing the same thing to my yard about 3 acres built house 11 years ago and yard was relative smooth then but now with roots and stuff that was buried it has gotten rough I thinking of spraying with a genertic roundup let it die this winter till it up drag smooth let it lie for a while smooth it out again luckily for me the grass grows here about 9 months a year reseed and see what happens I am retiring first of year and will need something to do might change my user name to call me crazy.

 

[jeff9366]

No underground irrigation system in your yard? Utility conduits deep enough?

You can buy a 6' to 7' wide PTO powered tiller to loosen up the soil in your yard. The advantage of the tiller would be in doing a section at a time and you will not necessarily need to follow tiller with a Disc Harrow.

Is tilling down 5" going to do it?

You are going to need a Box Blade or Rear/Angle Blade or Heavy Duty York Rake to re-distribute the soil. The latter two best with gauge wheels. You can use the roller to compress new grass seed into the bed.

Pennsylvania is one state where plows are still used. What about hiring someone to plow and Disc Harrow the entire yard? Or buy a single bottom 16" Moldboard Plow, which will allow you to turn everything under from 7" - 9" deep? You probably do not want more than a single bottom plow; multiple bottom plows take time to learn to adjust. If you plow you will need to follow plow with a Disc Harrow several times, then roll.

In my opinion you will loose the grass you have now with either tiller or plow route.

I advise a soil test and amending per recommendations.