Grading final grading help needed

jinman · Jul 14, 2003

( I was planing to make a drag out of a few old bed frames, and some steel )

If you are planning on doing some final smoothing using a drag of your own design, you should consider chain-link fence. you can put some weight on top of the fence, or if the ground is loose enough, you can just tow the fence behind your tractor. Use a section about 10' to 12' long. I've used it for smoothing out gravel and it works pretty well /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif.

TC18guy · Jul 14, 2003

I'm definitely not an expert on the subject, but I am determined to do this myself and thought I'd share my experiences on the subject. I've got a simillar situation with my 2 acres - new house, rough grading by contractor, etc. My base soils are generally a sandy gravel mix with mostly decent top soils on the top 6" or so.

I've pretty much convinced myself that roto-tilling is a waste of time and doesn't accomplish much except stir up the weed seeds. I spray the whole area with Roundup and use my FEL for the coarse work and my 5'KK Landscape rake (wish I had gauge wheels) with a 10' Railroad tie on top (for weight) to loosen up the soil.

I then reverse the Rake 180 degrees and pull for final smoothing. IMO The reversed rake works better for smoothing than bedsprings and I can control it with the hydraulics. I seed with my walk-behind spreader or my Dad's tow-behind TSC model and press the seed with a 1/2 full roller (don't want too much compaction). Cover with straw and water.

The toughest part is keeping large areas watered. This is my 2nd year at it, I try not to stir up more than 1 acre at a time. It's hard for me to keep up with the watering.

I realize different soil types, etc. it may not be this easy but I thought I'd share my experiences.

tdenny · Jul 14, 2003

I'm not an expert either but I've planted some seed in the last couple of months. I used my box blade to do the real grading work and then used the landscape rake to prep the dirt for seeding. Unfortunately I had to use a walk behind spreader but all in all it has worked out well. This weekend I graded out another acre for seeding since it was so much fun. I'll wait until September to actually plant the seed though as it doesn't rain much here in August. Make sure you put on regular treatments of fertilizer 10-10-10 has been recommended in this thread and that's also what I've been using.

jmattox1 · Jul 14, 2003

Lots of good opinions here.

For what it is worth I just completed almost an acre area of seeding about 2 weeks ago. Some areas I tilled, seeded by hand out of a gal bucket then tilled in with my 5' tiller at its second setting (I think 1" deep). No Straw. It is looking really good now.

Other areas I had topsoil brought in filled in all kinds of ruts, lowspots etc., Hand seeded, hand raked in, no straw same water as other areas and nothing. Go figure-- Bad soil?? Not planted deep enough??

All I know every area I used or have used the tiller to set seed in the ground has or is growing grass beautifully.

fivestring · Jul 14, 2003

Paul, just be sure you don't compact the drain field area. If you disturb that, you'll have additional problems later on. Driving over it a couple of times to level it is probably ok.

MLB · Jul 14, 2003

( Lots of good opinions here.

For what it is worth I just completed almost an acre area of seeding about 2 weeks ago. Some areas I tilled, seeded by hand out of a gal bucket then tilled in with my 5' tiller at its second setting (I think 1" deep). No Straw. It is looking really good now.

Other areas I had topsoil brought in filled in all kinds of ruts, lowspots etc., Hand seeded, hand raked in, no straw same water as other areas and nothing. Go figure-- Bad soil?? Not planted deep enough??

All I know every area I used or have used the tiller to set seed in the ground has or is growing grass beautifully. )

Germination doesn't require soil so good or bad soil makes no difference. Doesn't even need to be buried, just in contact with the soil, and that's just to keep it wet longer. Nope, gotta be something else. My guess: tilled areas soaked up more water quickly, filled areas (with different soil) didn't percolate the water through at the same rate (more ran off) and it dried out.
Drying out is the ONLY reason for grass seed to not germinate. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

MLB · Jul 14, 2003

If you have to amend the soil, it's recommeded to till it into at least the top 4". Layering of different soils is a bad idea (though hard to avoid in the real world) , as you just discovered.

LBrown59 · Dec 27, 2004

( ( I was planing to make a drag out of a few old bed frames, and some steel )

If you are planning on doing some final smoothing using a drag of your own design, you should consider chain-link fence. you can put some weight on top of the fence, or if the ground is loose enough, you can just tow the fence behind your tractor. Use a section about 10' to 12' long. I've used it for smoothing out gravel and it works pretty well /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif. )
*******I have a drag I found in the weeds when I first moved here.
After I had the place graded off ( the whole 2.33 acres ) in 1971 I used it to smooth out and break up the soil into a very fine smooth consistency.

This thing is about 5 feet square with 4 or 5 rows front to back of what looks like railroad spikes.
The spikes are 10 to 12 inches apart going side to side on each row.

I hooked one end of a chain to each front corner of it and another short chain from the center of that chain to the hitch on my 1966 Bolens so I could drag it all over the entire 2.33 acres.

Done an excellent job for seed preparation.

I may need it again when
(if its still any account after all these years)
I get the back 3 Rd. of the property cleaned up of brush and junk trees resulting from my letting it grow up for the last 25 years.

I leaned it up against the wall in the shed when I got done with it in 71; where it's been for the last 33 years.

*

stuart · Jan 10, 2005

Saw your recommendation about using chain link fence as a DRAG and was wondering how you hook it up to your tractor and where you put the weight. Any help you can provide is appreciated. A picture of your drag also might help me if possible.