Best way to clear rocks for a food plot?

   / Best way to clear rocks for a food plot? #21  
I live in Northern NY and NOBODY has any more rocks than we do!I have a quarry five miles away as the crow flies.Our farm is at least 150 years old and somebody picked a lot rocks by hand for sure.Every year I just pick what is really necessary both by hand and the really big stuff with the bucket/thumb.In my garden area that I roto-till,I just leave the discharge flap open and spits the small ones out the back.
 
   / Best way to clear rocks for a food plot? #22  
I tried raking, tilling, running cultivator (broke a lot of shear bolts) used box blade scarifier teeth (broke a couple of teeth) but nothing seemed to uproot the larger stuff. Finally I just used the backhoe to dig up the entire garden area but it was no where near the size you are talking. My larger rocks seem to be majority concentrated in spots about 10 feet in diameter then none for a ways then another buried pile. Nothing but a back hoe will dig them out.
Tiller seems to find them easily but they just keep coming. Just about any method mentioned will turn them up but not necessarily get them all except the rock picker. If you have one available for rent AND have a tractor large enough to pull it, then that might be the way to go. I plan to go back over my new garden spot with tiller and BH to bring more of them to the surface as soon as cooler weather hits this fall. I figure that if I clean them in the first 18" of soil, it may last for several years prior to them showing up again. Small ones will be missed if using rake or other tool and will continue to harass the tillers.
 
   / Best way to clear rocks for a food plot? #23  
I tried raking, tilling, running cultivator (broke a lot of shear bolts) used box blade scarifier teeth (broke a couple of teeth) but nothing seemed to uproot the larger stuff. Finally I just used the backhoe to dig up the entire garden area but it was no where near the size you are talking. My larger rocks seem to be majority concentrated in spots about 10 feet in diameter then none for a ways then another buried pile. Nothing but a back hoe will dig them out.
Tiller seems to find them easily but they just keep coming. Just about any method mentioned will turn them up but not necessarily get them all except the rock picker. If you have one available for rent AND have a tractor large enough to pull it, then that might be the way to go. I plan to go back over my new garden spot with tiller and BH to bring more of them to the surface as soon as cooler weather hits this fall. I figure that if I clean them in the first 18" of soil, it may last for several years prior to them showing up again. Small ones will be missed if using rake or other tool and will continue to harass the tillers.

That is what I did for my daughters garden.
 
   / Best way to clear rocks for a food plot? #24  
I tried raking, tilling, running cultivator (broke a lot of shear bolts) used box blade scarifier teeth (broke a couple of teeth) but nothing seemed to uproot the larger stuff. Finally I just used the backhoe to dig up the entire garden area but it was no where near the size you are talking. My larger rocks seem to be majority concentrated in spots about 10 feet in diameter then none for a ways then another buried pile. Nothing but a back hoe will dig them out.
Tiller seems to find them easily but they just keep coming. Just about any method mentioned will turn them up but not necessarily get them all except the rock picker. If you have one available for rent AND have a tractor large enough to pull it, then that might be the way to go. I plan to go back over my new garden spot with tiller and BH to bring more of them to the surface as soon as cooler weather hits this fall. I figure that if I clean them in the first 18" of soil, it may last for several years prior to them showing up again. Small ones will be missed if using rake or other tool and will continue to harass the tillers.

That is what I did for my daughters garden.
 
   / Best way to clear rocks for a food plot? #25  
My neighbor - for reasons unknown - has a seven shank scarifier. His smallest tractor is 350+ hp - so it was of no use to him. Anyhow, I borrowed it, and going very slow it worked well. But, how very discouraging. I now have a three acre plot simply full of rock from 4" to basket ball size. Now I need to find somebody with something like a rock rake. And I'm pretty sure there are more rocks in that plot every spring. Or I could find someone who wants rock, for some reason, and they could come out and take them all. Darn, a three acre plot with more rock than dirt.
 
   / Best way to clear rocks for a food plot? #27  
I hate rocks!
I say the same thing every time I'm working the ground or trying to build a trail in the woods, but then, I realize how much I actually love the rock, or at least all the rock piled neatly in the hundreds of thousands of miles of stone walls in the country.

It's because of the beauty of stone walls that I don't mind dealing with it. Stone walls will break up a boring flat field with no character and turn it into a beautiful landscape worthy of a painting.

To me, a farm isn't a farm if there are no stone walls around it!
 
   / Best way to clear rocks for a food plot? #28  
I just completed making a driveway for my retirement home site out of what looked like mountain property- meaning densely wooded with hardwoods and a huge amount of rocks, mostly granite and sized up to ~ 2000 pounds. My original intent was to use a box blade's shanks to bring the smaller rocks to the surface, then use the rock grapple bucket to sift through what the box blade turned up to filter out the rocks from the soil. But this method was far more trouble than it was worth for so many reasons, mainly due to my ground not being perfectly flat.

The method I finally settled on and which was the most effective and by far the easiest, was to go over the area with the 710#, 6' wide, ROBB's shanks to kick up the rocks. Then manually pick up the rocks football sized and larger. Then go back over with the HD ETA (395 #) landscape rake to gather up the remaining smaller rocks.

I also tried using the ROBB's blade to gather rocks, which worked with varying degrees of success as it would also remove the dirt, which I did not want.

If your ground is hard in any manner, you will not want to use lightweight equipment, such as that sold in most farm stores. My 710# ROBB was minimal and the shanks seldom penetrated the ground more than a few inches; I would have been better served by a 1000# - 1200# ROBB in my hard clay soil.
 
   / Best way to clear rocks for a food plot? #29  
I say the same thing every time I'm working the ground or trying to build a trail in the woods, but then, I realize how much I actually love the rock, or at least all the rock piled neatly in the hundreds of thousands of miles of stone walls in the country.

It's because of the beauty of stone walls that I don't mind dealing with it. Stone walls will break up a boring flat field with no character and turn it into a beautiful landscape worthy of a painting.

To me, a farm isn't a farm if there are no stone walls around it!

Can you imagine how tough and determined the old timers were who dug up all those rocks by hand & them moved them by hand or by horse/ox drawn sledge?

We fuss, pontificate & worry about which diesel powered implement to use, but they did it with sweat & grit.
 
   / Best way to clear rocks for a food plot? #30  
Be careful what you hook on to there, Gary. I was out "rock harvesting" this spring with the tines on the ROBB. Hooked on to a really big one and as luck would have it, bounced off. Got off to check it out and after a little digging and some fruitless levering - I found it was an attached chunk of my bedrock. It was anchored to the core of the earth. All the land around here was originally homesteaded in the mid-1890's. There are "stone walls" running all over the country. The neighbor to the north says his land was homesteaded by a family with four sons and one daughter. The sons spent from dawn til dusk digging, loading, transporting and stacking rock to clear three 80 acre fields - took them three years. They had two horses and a wagon. All that work and never a spade full of dirt was ever turned. Its still open range land. I have large areas that are fully exposed bed rock. Fortunate thing is - no work necessary to create a trail there. Always got to look on the bright side.
 
   / Best way to clear rocks for a food plot? #31  
New Hampshire is full of stone walls from end to end! At one point there were hardly any trees here, but now it's around 90 percent forested.
 
   / Best way to clear rocks for a food plot?
  • Thread Starter
#32  
Like these...
property02.jpgproperty01.jpg

I've probably got a mile or more of them spread over 40 acres.
 
   / Best way to clear rocks for a food plot? #33  
This may sound crazy but in our sandy loam soil I am going to try a backpack blower in combination with a rock bucket next time I need to clear rocks. You would think you could blow the soil out of the rocks to help separate them. One man in the tractor and one on the ground with the blower should work. Already have the tools so no cost to try this.
 
   / Best way to clear rocks for a food plot? #34  
Hey, the only "crazy" thing is giving up and living with all the rock. Rock will only spawn more rock. bhh, those rocks in your right picture look a lot like mine. Have you been sneaking in and taking my rocks, at night?? Lord, I hope so, ha, ha. I tried using what I thought was a rock rake - but after running into rock the size of volley balls I had to give up or total the implement. I think what I need is an implement with the strength of a scarifier and 6" or less spacing between the shanks. I do take my farm wagon and hand pick them and dump them in a small draw on the property. It will take a while (years) to clear that field but I am making progress.
 
   / Best way to clear rocks for a food plot? #35  
oosik,
I use a rock bucket with 3 inch spacing during dry weather it works great for the larger rocks. My problem is with the small rock (2 to 4 inch) falling through the rock bucket in lawn applications. For field work I pick up the larger rocks as these surface by hand or with the rock bucket, the smaller rocks get pressed back down below the surface, can't get them all.
 
   / Best way to clear rocks for a food plot?
  • Thread Starter
#36  
Hey, the only "crazy" thing is giving up and living with all the rock. Rock will only spawn more rock. bhh, those rocks in your right picture look a lot like mine. Have you been sneaking in and taking my rocks, at night?? Lord, I hope so, ha, ha. I tried using what I thought was a rock rake - but after running into rock the size of volley balls I had to give up or total the implement. I think what I need is an implement with the strength of a scarifier and 6" or less spacing between the shanks. I do take my farm wagon and hand pick them and dump them in a small draw on the property. It will take a while (years) to clear that field but I am making progress.

You busted me! By looking at your avatar, it appears you have a grapple very similar to mine. I've used mine to move a lot of individual rocks and small boulders but haven't tried using it on a whole field yet. Seems like you could get it at the right angle and then just make a pass with the FEL in float to scoop 'em up no?

Funny story. Earlier this summer, my parents were up visiting and my mom was helping my wife plant some decent sized shrubs in a new landscape island she was installing, 3-5 gallon bucket sized roots. They were having a hard time digging the holes for the shrubs with all the rocks so while they were taking a break, I dug the holes, tossed all the rocks in the bucket of my tractor while my father went and dumped them at my creek crossing. I left the nice little piles of dirt next to each hole and go about my business spreading mulch or whatever. About an hour later, my father and I see my wife and mother standing around the half planted shrubs with the most confused look on their faces. Basically, by the time I removed the larger rocks from the dirt piles, there was not enough dirt left to fill in the rest of the holes despite the 3-5 gallons of dirt that came with each plant. They were standing there trying to figure out how the heck it was possible to dig a hole, add a 3-5 gallon root ball, and then not have enough dirt to fill the hole back up!
 
   / Best way to clear rocks for a food plot? #37  
As you are in New York, keep on lookout for a York (brand) Landscape Rake. The parent corporation is York-Modern and they produce heavy Landscape Rakes as much for road construction work as for ag work.

Gauge wheels will not help at rock removal stage.
If you have rear remotes gauge wheels are less necessary.

Without rear remotes gauge wheels will help achieve a smooth seedbed before seeding.

Writers on T-B-N have found used York Rakes at good price points.


LINK:

Model RI - 7' Rake [007117] - $2,224.00 : York Modern

Read the informative York TAB: "Articles".

RI.JPG (image)



These tines are too week to sweep up rocks. They give way and teh rocks shoot out the back. Either rent a skid steer or convert to use a a rock bucket

Skid Steer Rock Bucket Attachment 60" Wide With Smooth Edge - Spartan Equipment
 
   / Best way to clear rocks for a food plot? #38  
You busted me! By looking at your avatar, it appears you have a grapple very similar to mine. I've used mine to move a lot of individual rocks and small boulders but haven't tried using it on a whole field yet. Seems like you could get it at the right angle and then just make a pass with the FEL in float to scoop 'em up no?

Funny story. Earlier this summer, my parents were up visiting and my mom was helping my wife plant some decent sized shrubs in a new landscape island she was installing, 3-5 gallon bucket sized roots. They were having a hard time digging the holes for the shrubs with all the rocks so while they were taking a break, I dug the holes, tossed all the rocks in the bucket of my tractor while my father went and dumped them at my creek crossing. I left the nice little piles of dirt next to each hole and go about my business spreading mulch or whatever. About an hour later, my father and I see my wife and mother standing around the half planted shrubs with the most confused look on their faces. Basically, by the time I removed the larger rocks from the dirt piles, there was not enough dirt left to fill in the rest of the holes despite the 3-5 gallons of dirt that came with each plant. They were standing there trying to figure out how the heck it was possible to dig a hole, add a 3-5 gallon root ball, and then not have enough dirt to fill the hole back up!
The last corner post I put in, I dug the hole with hand post hole digger just about 3" bigger than the post. I put in a 4x4 post and loosely filled in the hole and tamped it with the PHD handle. I put all the dirt back in the hole and didn't fill the hole to the top even after putting in a 4x4 post. My Dad always said the phase of the moon governed how much the soil would compact. It seems to be true. Growing of the moon you cant put all the dirt back in a hole without any object placed in it, decrease of the moon and you can put in a post and not have enough dirt to fill it but the post will never get loose like the other will. Ever notice graveyards, sometimes they have a big mound of dirt left over and sometimes none at all. The ones with the big mound will have to add dirt in about a month due to soil sinking down and self compacting.
 
   / Best way to clear rocks for a food plot? #39  
Around here its not the putting of the soil back in the hole that's the problem. Its finding a spot with enough depth to the soil to pound in a fence post and still have it line up with the rest of the fence. At least 25-30% of my fence post holes were "dug" with my neighbors commercial air compressor and a jack hammer. Knock off the flute, stick it in the hole, and follow with a sand/cement mixture. After the next rain the post is locked in forever.
 
   / Best way to clear rocks for a food plot? #40  
Around here its not the putting of the soil back in the hole that's the problem. Its finding a spot with enough depth to the soil to pound in a fence post and still have it line up with the rest of the fence.

Yep. Same here. After the house and shop are built, I have no idea how I will build a fence. My best guess is to drill a hole with a 1/2" bit, 24" long to search out a doable spot and then drive a HD, metal t-post using a driver from bucketdriver.com.

DSC00506.JPGDSC00550.JPG
 
 

Tractor & Equipment Auctions

16ft x 8ft Flat Bed (A57454)
16ft x 8ft Flat...
TANK MANIFOLD (A55745)
TANK MANIFOLD (A55745)
2018 Ford Explorer AWD SUV (A59231)
2018 Ford Explorer...
SET OF PALADIN JRB 60" PALLET FORKS (A52707)
SET OF PALADIN JRB...
Freighliner Tender Truck (A56438)
Freighliner Tender...
159119 (A60430)
159119 (A60430)
 
Top