Grass Seeding Preparation

[Soundguy]

A spring tooth harrow is gonna do a good job at getting those seed too deep IMHO.. that's why i didn't make any reccomendations about post seeding.

At most I'd drag a 4x4 behind the seeder or before the roller.

In many areas.. I've had great luck with simple broadcast and roll.. or water in.

I think his dealer has an extra spring tootheed harrow he needs to move! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Soundguy

 

[MidGALandscaper]

The harley rake also does and outstanding job. Don't know if you can rent one or not. Try it out. You will be amazed. One of the best investments I have made.

 

[thcri]

What has worked for me the three times I have done this was to prepare the soil, then spread the seed over the top. Then I took a drag and ran over it once or twice which pretty much buried the majority of the seed. Now it was not deep maybe a 1/4" at most. Waited and it was not long and the grass was growing. Then I spread some more fertilizer over the top and the new grass really took off. It was about two weeks before I saw the grass coming up and after the fertilizer it was a week later I had to mow it. Ground was way too soft yet so I had to use a push mower. Lucky frost hit and then I did not have to mow until the next spring.


murph

 

[jeffinsgf]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( The harley rake also does and outstanding job. Don't know if you can rent one or not. Try it out. You will be amazed. One of the best investments I have made. )</font>

Finding one to rent is the problem. I rented the Bobcat version for my Bobcat, but it went out of level when you angled it right or left. If you don't angle it, it doesn't windrow the rocks, it just throws them ahead and eventually walks over the pile when it gets too big. I assumed something was wrong with it and took it back to Bobcat. I couldn't find a true Harley rake for rental in my area. I did use something called a "Preparator", which had a big drum with spikes -- like a Harley only much larger diameter drum. It threw the rocks into a hopper, which you could then dump. It did a good job of separating out the big rocks, but it did not leave as nice a surface as a Harley rake and did not help in contouring like a Harley. After I used the Preparator, I bought my landscape rake. After using it for a while, I should have just started with that in the beginning. If you can find a rental Harley rake for your tractor, that would be a good move. Otherwise, I would spend 350 - 400 on a good landscape rake and get 'er done.

 

[BubbaJr]

I did the same thing to 6 acres of ground. After tilling, I used an old 8' x 2' piece of plywood weighted down with a couple of 5 gallon buckets of rocks. I hooked this rinktum to the drawbar with chains and dragged it all around several times. It did a great job of smoothing out the bumps and filling in the valleys. When I got done smoothing the dirt, I went to my local tractor dealer and rented a Brillion seeder. It had a large hopper in the back and used a large drum that looked a little like a row of small discs that would distribute the seed. I sowed the seed in one direction, then sowed again 90 degrees to the first rows. The grass came up just before the first frost, and then next spring I had a great looking lawn.

If you look around your place I bet you can find something to drag behind the tractor to smooth things out and it won't cost you a dime to make. The seeder that I rented cost me about $100 for a day's work. I would highly recommend using one as it puts the seeds at the proper depth and you don't have to worry about the birds getting what comes to the surface if you were to smooth out the seed after broadcasting it.

Good Luck /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif