Box Blade Dredges up Rocks

[swines]

"I was wondering if there are any suggestions for dealing with these 4-6" rocks. Thanks!"

Rent a Harley Rake. You can easily windrow the rocks by taking one of the end wings off and angling the rake. Then put the wing back on the rake & adjust it so it's not angled and works like a box blade. Collect the rocks into pile along the drive. Then pick them up with the bucket.

 

[radioman]

Its too late now - but next time spray weed/grass killer first and wait a couple weeks for the grown in weeds/grass to die and thin out. This will make the turf easy to pull out and you can just dress the surface.
I do the exact same thing around my pool where there is pea gravel and weeds love growing there. I might forget to spray in advance so the stuff just grows in so fast, its out of control. I would spray the weeds, wait till it dies back and wait for the next rain. once the soil is wet from rain the next day, I can easily pull up the weeds with a hand rake. leaving all the pea gravel. The same will work on a driveway.

 

[swines]

All the weeds you think you ripped up where actually re-planted and will come right back.

Depends on the type of weed. I've used a landplane on a ditch bank for a number of years that is a horse path / walkway. I put the scarifiers down on a landplane to rip up the weeds and then level the path and push the weeds to one side. I usually do it about the first week in July when the weeds are getting annoying, and they don't come back for the rest of the summer / fall.

They come back the next year in different places because the seeds are blown in by the wind and brought in by animals & birds (depending on the type of weed). For example, tumbleweeds come back because in the spring, the dead weeds from empty lots are blown across the pathway and as they tumble they're dumping seeds.

If you can turn up the weed so the roots are exposed to the sun - believe me - they don't come back. That's one of the effects on weeds when you row cultivate. You turn up the weeds roots to the sun, and disturb the weeds enough that they can't grow. When the row crops become tall enough they shade the soil between the rows slowing weed germination and stunting weed growth.

On a roadway, I would use a pre-emergent in the spring. If I didn't have animals, I'd use a liquid pre-emergent. If I had animals that would be walking on the roadway (dogs, cats, etc.) that could get the chemical on their paws & lick them - I'd use Dynaweed which is made from corn gluten.

 

[big e]

You might want to regularly drive a different "line" of the driveway so as to evenly compact the width and compact a crown... not create a pair of troughs. Perfect work for your truck each time you are in and out.

 

[Katahdin]

Thanks for the comments guys! Steve, I like your work!. My wife and I have talked about putting crushed rock over the recycled material after it firms up. I think we'll wait and see how this stuff holds up to winter and decided then. One problem around here with crushed rock is it winds up in the lawn once the snow banks from the snow plow melts.

Here's a before and after picture at Mom's house, I spread the recycled material two days ago. 18 tons of material delivered in one pile and all was spread 150 feet with the box blade--I didn't use the loader at all. I think the material is fine enough and thick enough to keep most of the weeds at bay. Cost was $190 for the 18 tons. Mom is happy, I paid for the material and did the work as an early birthday present.

One note about the material color, its very dark because its wet. We've had lousy weather this week in Maine, but the plants needed it. Oh yeah, my crazy 66-year-old Mom stacked all that firewood herself, and there's about 3 cords you don't see in the picture!

 

[jenkinsph]

Katahdin,
That looks alot better.
If this new material sticks together then I recommend you rake the edges asap. Hard to know how this will hold up to a snow plow. About the gravel left in the grass here's a tool to deal with that. Don't know if it works or not and I haven't seen or used one either but I have donsidered building something similar just for kicks.

Rotorake mechanical rake | Agrimetal

 

[crazyal]

You made the right choice by pulling those rocks up. In the north sooner or later the frost will push them to the surface.

 

[David Devuono]

Be careful riding a bike down that driveway. Wouldn't a vibratory roller be nice to have for a few hours and push those rocks back in the ground.

 

[jenkinsph]

Be careful riding a bike down that driveway. Wouldn't a vibratory roller be nice to have for a few hours and push those rocks back in the ground.

I used one when building my shop pad, great tool to have.