Need advice on which attachment to even out my hilly rocky lawn

Egon · Sep 10, 2020

First ripping/scarifying the area from different directions to break up sod and pull up rocks. Then gather the rocks and cultivate the area. Follow up with timber baulk as a drag for levelling and then seed.

The equipment required may vary as to the size of the tractor, implements available and the budget.

Eg. (A cultivator with chisels would work well for the first stage. Switch to shovels for the cultivation portion.)

LouNY · Sep 10, 2020

OK,I'm going to disagree with the previous posters.
Just looking at the visible rock that you have as soon as you start using anything with rippers you are going to have a ton of rocks visible to have to pick up and dispose of.
Have topsoil fill brought in and level it do not till, rip, subsoil, plow or anything else.
You can level with a box blade or back blade or your loader bucket,
cover up the rocks and try and ignore them if you start doing tillage and removing them it will never end.
:2cents: :drink:

Tinhack · Sep 10, 2020

LouNY said:
OK,I'm going to disagree with the previous posters.
Just looking at the visible rock that you have as soon as you start using anything with rippers you are going to have a ton of rocks visible to have to pick up and dispose of.
Have topsoil fill brought in and level it do not till, rip, subsoil, plow or anything else.
You can level with a box blade or back blade or your loader bucket,
cover up the rocks and try and ignore them if you start doing tillage and removing them it will never end.
:2cents: :drink:

So, what happens to the driveway then? You going to bury it too? It appears to me like it's the low point. Bad planning but you gotta live with it. Pick up the rocks and add them to your wall out front.

LouNY · Sep 10, 2020

Tinhack said:
So, what happens to the driveway then? You going to bury it too? It appears to me like it's the low point. Bad planning but you gotta live with it. Pick up the rocks and add them to your wall out front.

So it's the low point, it also seems to have a good slope to which should shed rain water well,
frozen water has to be pushed or blown.
Ground up here in the northeast is quite a bit different then down in south central Texas.

Deepdrop · Sep 10, 2020

LouNY is correct that the rocks may never end. And Tinhack is also correct that I can just add them to the stone wall. Maybe I'll end up with a fortress<g>
I need something for ballast, which I almost learned the hard way when I was lifting some big rocks with my grapple and a rear wheel came off the ground. So, I was thinking I'd go with a box blade. I can start out using the boxblade to try leveling the high spots. If the rocks truly prove to be a dealbreaker, then I'll have to come up with a plan B. That would be Lou's suggestion.

So I can just lay the topsoil right on top of the grass? Then pat it down with the loader?

airbiscuit · Sep 10, 2020

airbiscuit said:
I'm not sure I'd use a tiller with all that embedded rock. The thing about working rocky soil, is that you turn up even more rocks. That said, I think I would use a box blade with scarifiers to churn things up, and the box blade to smooth and move the dirt around.

So do you have rocks, or do you have ROCKS? Is your grapple able to lift and move them all? The scarifiers on the box blade will help pull them to the surface and loosen the soil. I agree that it is a good idea to get some topsoil to smooth everything out.

Deepdrop · Sep 10, 2020

Lucky me, I have both types of rocks! I think that the really large ones are obviously visible above ground and I've been tackling them with my grapple, but that's how I learned about the need for rear ballast (this is my first tractor). Luckily I didn't roll the tractor.
The rocks under the earth are mostly flat and smaller, but I really can't be sure what I'll find. I think the boxblade sounds like a useful tool to have anyway. If the rocks turn out to be a problem, I'll just order a bunch of topsoil. Either way I will be ordering a lot of topsoil. There are several areas out back that I'm going to fill also.

shooterdon · Sep 10, 2020

If you have deeply buried large rocks and you hit them with the BB it could be a jarring experience, so go slow. A light duty BB can get damaged.

Unless you have a long term need for a BB, you might be better off hiring the work out. Let someone else bang up their equipment pulling up rock and ROCKS. You can handle the spreading of top soil afterwards with some cheap stuff. Loader for rough level and drag ab old gate, chunk of fence or box spring to level things out.

You will find rocks get pushed up every year from the frost cycle....at least that happens to me.

Deepdrop · Sep 10, 2020

I get what you're saying, but I just have a hard time renting a piece of equipment for $200 or so, when I can buy it for $700. And if I don't need it down the road, I can sell it for $350.
On the other hand, I'm fine renting a backhoe rather than buying one for $7000.
Maybe it doesn't make sense, I don't know, but it's how my brain works.
I will take your advice and make sure I get a solid and heavy boxblade and not a flimsy one.