Flattening ground

[jeff9366]

A Harley Rake mounted on the Three Point Hitch of a Utility Tractor would be the optimum tool. In suburban U.S. markets Harley Rakes are usually available for rental, along with tractors.

I am a "get the right tool" guy. Explore availability near you.

LINK: Harley Rake, Tractor PTO, T-6 Series 6' Power Box Rake

 

[DT86]

I wonder if Sunbelt delivers to Australia?

 

[Fourth]

Still looking in to this. The bigger holes\bumps will be filled off the back of a box trailer. That will help fill in all the holes from removing field stone, and the old cow trails. For the rest I get the feeling I need something akin to a giant cheese grater. when I found out that many Australia farms don't bother buying chain harrows I was curious as to what they did. It seems that they often just chain together some old tyres and put in on a section of chainlink fence. Clearly that wont work for me as it'll not penetrate the ground. But it got me thinking. What I need is something heavy enough to press in to the ground, but light enough to be dragged.

What about a few railway sleepers with bolts or short sections of rebar hammered in? Then chain a few together, and drag that around. The rebar will cut up the ground, and the following sleepers will act like a grader on the soil... or this is a terrible idea

Oregon State have published some recommendations.
http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/43812/em9079.pdf

They say:

Preparing the Ground for Mechanical*Harvesting

Try to get the orchard floor as smooth as possible at least 1 year before the first commercial harvest.
Dragging and floating the orchard floor lowers the high spots, but the loose soil that is pushed into the
dips needs time to settle and become firm.

But I don't know what dragging or floating actually is, though it sounds similar to harrowing.

BTW, I've learnt my lesson. The next 1000 trees will have the ground prepared prior to planting

 

[DT86]

Dragging probably means using a drag harrow.

 

[jeff9366]

ATVs do not have a Three Point Hitch, therefore traction is limited and about all they can pull is a chain/drag harrow, which skims the surface.

You need a tractor with a Three Point Hitch. The design of the Three Point Hitch transfers mounted implement weight to the tractor tires dramatically increasing tractor traction so ground penetrating implements are practical. Power Take Off (PTO) is a standard part of every factory Three Point Hitch.