Pasture to lawn conversion in FL...

[olearydj]

First time poster. What an amazing resource TBN is. I've been reading like crazy - trying to absorb all I can. Making progress but I'm pretty confused about how to tackle this project.

I don't currently own a tractor but am ready to order the Kubota GL3830. It will be my first tractor. It's overkill for what I have now but not for what I plan to own soon. That's a whole 'nother thread anyway...

Here's the thing - I have about 2 acres of rough (rutted) pasture with bahia and weeds on my 4 acre lot in central Florida (Sorrento). I want to clean it up, level it out, and reseed it to dress things up a bit and make it easier on my kidneys to mow. The ground is, of course, sand, with very little rock content. I'm less sure about roots but it should be pretty clear.

What's the best way to approach this? I've read 100 suggestions:
- use a box blade
- don't use a box blade
- use a box blade and follow with a drag harrow
- till it
- don't till it
- disc it
- don't disc it
- etc.

Seems to me that any of these approaches may work depending on the size of the job, soil conditions, and desired result. I'd like to get specific suggestions for my situation.

- Dan

 

[rickmacheske]

I decided to do the same thing to about 4 1/2 acres of mine. I'm hiring a bull dozer.

 

[EddieWalker]

Dan,

Welcome to TBN!!!

I'm not a big fan of the box blade, but realize lots of people like them. They are ok for maintaining a road and some small jobs, but for you, I might make an exceptions. Unless you have a disk, I'd lowere the teeth on the box blade and tear up the grass. Just drag through all of it and make piles of the grass. Eventually, you'll want one big pile of as much grass as you can get. Put it someplace out of the way, or where you can deal with it at a later date.

Then I'd get a drag of some kind. Logs with chain link fence around them work good. I saw a guy use six tires that were tied into a triangle. He tied a chain to the first one and dragged them around his lot until it smoothed out. The tires fill up with sand and become very heavy. Dragging them knocks down the his spots and fills in the low ones. My neighbor made a drag with some heavy channel iron. He welded it into a large rectangle. When he dragged it, the front would break off the high spots and the back would fill in the low spots. This worked really well on red clay, so I'd think sand would be even better!!!

Good Luck
Eddie

 

[firemanpat2910]

Ive helped lots of people here in Fla do the exact same thing. If you want to keeep the bahia, just get a disc harrow,set all the blades to run straight,put some weight on if nessasary. Drive "Cross grain" to the old rows. then drive at angles to the old rows. get a water filled roller and pull behind you to press the newly diced sod chunks flat. If you dont want to save the existing grass Eddie gave you great advice. Some times it takes 2 or 3 times of the first method to work, but it will get noticably smoother each time. DISCLAIMER::: I just reread your post,are the ruts from old crop rows? Or are they something worse?

 

[olearydj]

The ruts are just random ruts. Loose top sand that trucks and tractors left behind after the construction of my house and, recently, my barn. A few particularly deep areas where trucks got stuck doing the same. And more from my Rhino 4x4.

 

[olearydj]

Thanks, guys, for the feedback.

Eddie - yes, I've seen your outspoken commentary against box blades, so it did come as some surprise to see you recommending it to me. But I understand where you are coming from.

Pat - I'm not sure that simply dicing up the lawn and rolling it would be enough to smooth things out. I don't worry about loosing the grass because it's largely weed at this point.


If I'm considering the purchase of a tiller for other uses would it make sense to simply use it and a drag harrow for this project?