Prep land for grass seed

KubotaSteve · Jan 16, 2004

My brother just had his house built and they loosened the soil with a box blade (tiller would be fine) then used a landscape rake to smooth it and take out the rocks.
The guys that built my house rented some kind of machine that went through and leveled the soil, then spread the seed and a blew straw on it. They only did this to the 1 acre surround the house but you can tell a big difference in that and the rest of my yard.

JASTN70D · Jan 16, 2004

A box blade and Tiller would work great for leveling this is what I used on my new lawn. In your neck of the woods by the way.

I do have to agree that fall planting is better but if you use straw spring is fine if you get lucky enough to have no rain in the spring long enough to work the soil. don't work it wet if at all possible.

A York rake is nice but that depends on your soil and rock situation. Yes use starter fertilizer it will save your seed purchase. I like to roll the seed after laying it down or somehow work it in a little with something like a drag.

The biggest factor for success assuming your soil is ok is weather. Anything you can do about water the better off you will be. If you do not need to grade everything you could do an overseed using a rented over seeder or a pluger to open the ground enough for seed. Last year everything that was graded washed away because of the heavy rain we got.

Last choice is to grow the grass you have in places that do not need leveled just use weed and feed and the bluegrass will take over after a few years.

Good luck and have fun. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Alan0043 · Jan 16, 2004

All of the advice that I am getting is going to be a big help. The piece of land that I want to work borders the east side of my lane and will be part of my lawn. The land measures 60' x 700' .

To summarize; Get soil samples and find out the Ph of the soil. Use lime to adjust the Ph. Use the tiller to till the dirt to be about 2" to 3" deep of tilled dirt. Drag a chain link fence behind the tractor after tilling the dirt. If the soil needs to have the Ph adjusted, this would be the time to put down the lime. Prep the soil this spring and plant the grass seed in the late summer to early fall. Is there anything that I am missing ? What is the best size of chain link fence that you need to drag ? Is there any weight on the fence when you are dragging it ? Thank you for all the help.

keeney · Jan 16, 2004

Are you talking golf-course fairway quality turf, front yard quality, or highway right-of way quality turf?

For a high quality lawn, it is very important to get rid of all rocks larger than baseball size in the top six inches of soil. Even rocks buried an inch or two down will make a dry spot where the grass will always be dryer because that patch has a rock, not soil underneath it (unless you water every day).

Several overlapping passes with a landscape rake in a couple of directions will help a lot with the rocks and other debris. You may want to make a couple of alternating passes with the tiller followed by the rake to get as many of the rocks out as you can. Some people call tillers the ultimate rock-finding tool - every tiime you till, you will tend to stir more rocks up to the surface.

After spreading the seed, you will want to roll or otherwise compact the dirt somewhat to get good seed to soil contact. Most purpose-designed seeding machines have rollers to push the dirt back tight against the seeds. You could use a rolling drum or just drive over the area repeatedly with the tractor (turf tires recommended) several times under the right moisture conditions.

Straw spread over the area will help hold surface moisture, control erosion slightly, and at least make you think you are keeping the birds from getting too much of the seed, but it can also blow around and make a mess.

- Rick

thcri · Jan 17, 2004

Alan,

What I do and has worked great two times is to use a box blade to get it level and then till it up good with your tiller. I put fertilizer down and then tilled it one last time. Then I took my fertilizer spreader and broadcasted seed in the area I wanted seeded. Then take a drag or a chain link fence and go over the top again with the goal of working the seed a bit into the ground. If you can get it worked in a bit then you will protect it from the sun or being too dry. In the two areas I have done I pretty much have allowed nature to water these areas, but if it is dry watering will go a lot further due to the seed being buried some. Both places the grass has come up so thick. Fall is the best time because your ground is still warm with cooler days. Spring the ground is usually colder so it is just a bit slower. Another thing is to broadcast a final shot of nitrogen over the new grass once it gets started. Young new grass just loves nitrogen. If you tilled though your tractor will end up leaving some good ruts. I had a hand broadcaster I just walked over it and spread the nitrogen.

murph

txdon · Jan 18, 2004

Alan0043, I planted 10 acres of native grasses last spring (April). The advice given so far is good. I planted native grasses because #1 I like the way it looks, #2 the wildlife love it, #3 it is drought tolerant, #4 requires no fertilizer, #5 I only mow it once a year, and flash graze it the rest of the year.
After dozer root plowing and limp & root raking and large disking the land (all of which you can skip) my dad disked the land and drug a 10’ railroad rail behind the disk with his tractor. See attached photo. To get the land more level I should have drug cattle panels around the field like I did in the back 5 acres but there were too many mesquites in the field and I was getting tired of flats. I like dragging the cattle panels in the back 5 because they were more rigid than chain link fencing and really knocked down little hills and mounds and made the ground smooth and level. I had extra cattle panels around so for extra weight I stack three on top of each other.
After planting the seed (by hand) I rolled the land with my Farmall A and a homemade roller made of a heavy steel pipe surrounding by used golf cart tires. I’ll attach a few photos of the front 10 acre native grass field, during planting and the fall after planting. Good luck with your grass field!
TXDon