I have 2 acres to rip up and prepare for grass seeding. I have a 4' box blade with scarifiers to rip up the ground and grade. I want be able to work in some fertilizer to prepare the soil bed. Can this be done with a box blade or do I need a disc? I do not have a disc. Is it worth getting one, or just work a little longer with the box blade?
Grading box blade or disc it
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Anonymous Poster
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I am planning to do the same thing with my box blade for a garden spot. I'll let you know how it goes.
BB_TX
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A box blade is not really intended for that purpose, but would work I suppose if you have lots of time. Your 4 footer probably has 4 scarifiers about 10" apart. That will take lots of passes to fully rip up 2 acres. A disc would be faster (and in my opinion better) if your soil is not too hard for the disc to dig in. You might check out rental places to see if they have tillers or other turf implements available. There are special turf implements for preparing soil.
CTyler
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You may want to look into renting a power rake, Harley rake for example.
chrisjbell
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<font color="blue"> You might check out rental places to see if they have tillers or other turf implements available. </font>
I've rented implements a few times. The big rental places usually have larger tillers - the smallest one that United Rentals (one of the biggies around here) had was a 60". My little B7300 was not at all happy with that /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif. So we wound up taking it back to them and got the dealer where I bought my tractor to rent a 38" to us. Nice deal (although I need a tiller again and I'll be breaking even on the cost of buying one if I keep renting - at least, that's what I'm trying to tell my wife /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif).
I don't think I've ever seen a disk for rent. I think a tiller would be a better way to go, though. It'll do a fine job of ripping up your pasture, and if it leaves things uneven (you might get some "rows"), following up with your box blade will smooth it out beautifully...Chris
I've rented implements a few times. The big rental places usually have larger tillers - the smallest one that United Rentals (one of the biggies around here) had was a 60". My little B7300 was not at all happy with that /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif. So we wound up taking it back to them and got the dealer where I bought my tractor to rent a 38" to us. Nice deal (although I need a tiller again and I'll be breaking even on the cost of buying one if I keep renting - at least, that's what I'm trying to tell my wife /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif).
I don't think I've ever seen a disk for rent. I think a tiller would be a better way to go, though. It'll do a fine job of ripping up your pasture, and if it leaves things uneven (you might get some "rows"), following up with your box blade will smooth it out beautifully...Chris
JeepOne
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I totally agree with Chris. A tiller and box blade combo would give you an excellent finish.
Ken
Ken
chrisjbell
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Thanks, Ken. I knew that would work - that is how I put my lawn in and it turned out nice and even. Until my neighbor's bull got in there a couple of months ago and but a bunch of hoof holes in there /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif. Not sure how I'm going to fix those - maybe aerating will help...Chris
cowboydoc
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No doubt you need a disc. You can go over it with the boxblade to help tear the soil up but you need a disc to really work the fertilizer into the ground. Then go over that with a good harrow. Put out your seed, harrow again and watch her grow /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Anonymous Poster
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Well, as I said I would report my findings on using a box blade to prepare my garden plot. It seemed to work well, although it did take a few passes to account for the spacing of the rippers.
The problem a harrow would overcome is dead grasses and weeds piling up in the box itself. I could keep the rippers into the soil enough to keep dirt out of the box, but would have to lift up to get out piles of grass.
I now have watermelons up and growing, just in time for this late frost we're getting! Oh well, more planting time ahead.
The problem a harrow would overcome is dead grasses and weeds piling up in the box itself. I could keep the rippers into the soil enough to keep dirt out of the box, but would have to lift up to get out piles of grass.
I now have watermelons up and growing, just in time for this late frost we're getting! Oh well, more planting time ahead.
TC18guy
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I just finished seeding the front 1/2 of my 2 ac. last fall. I killed off the existing vegetation with Round-up and then roto-tilled (with my JD 210) and graded with my FEL and a 6' landscape rake. I seeded and watered the living #%@! out of it and had a pretty good turnout. I was told by a local landscaper not to fertilize for a while. I've got a pretty bad rock problem though. The best thing I found for that was a 5 gallon bucket and a pair of gloves.
Soundguy
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Yep.. pretty much the same with cactus.
When we bought our land.. it was pretty much rolling pasture.. with some cactus randomly located on the property. I know from experience, that brushhogging only propigated the cactus. Ag extension mentioned adding lime to change the soil PH and the cactus didn't prefer that and it would slow growth... but in the end.. Me and the wife and a couple of 30 gallon trash cans.. gloves.. and some small garden tools defrocked the pasture of cactus... took many weekends.. but it never came back.
Soundguy
When we bought our land.. it was pretty much rolling pasture.. with some cactus randomly located on the property. I know from experience, that brushhogging only propigated the cactus. Ag extension mentioned adding lime to change the soil PH and the cactus didn't prefer that and it would slow growth... but in the end.. Me and the wife and a couple of 30 gallon trash cans.. gloves.. and some small garden tools defrocked the pasture of cactus... took many weekends.. but it never came back.
Soundguy
Box with scarifiers will work, as per another post, but you'll sure spend a lot of time. A disc harrow (OK, a disc with some sort of dirt clod buster device trailing behind) would be fine, if the soil is soft, say after a few days of heavy rain (otherwise, the size disc that your tractor could pull won't penetrate the soil much - just too light). A tiller is the ticket, if you can rent one - buy one if you're going to prepare a large (1/2 acre plus) vegetable or whatever garden yearly.
Good luck (I've just come off a tractor after spending hours leveling trucked-in soil over a drainage pipe and wide, but too low, dam I created a few weeks ago - there is NO more boring task than distributing and leveling "fill" over a wide area - and then you have to distribute and level a layer of topsoil so grass will take and prevent erosion).
Good luck (I've just come off a tractor after spending hours leveling trucked-in soil over a drainage pipe and wide, but too low, dam I created a few weeks ago - there is NO more boring task than distributing and leveling "fill" over a wide area - and then you have to distribute and level a layer of topsoil so grass will take and prevent erosion).
