Prepping for grass seed

[RayCo]

Hi group. I have an area of land that I'm trying to get ready for grass seed soon. So far, I've taken down the trees, dug up the stumps that didn't uproot, filled the holes, and did a rough grading using a loader. For the final grading, I need to smooth things out a bit more, loosen up the soil, and try to make the land as free of rocks as possible prior to hand-checking it all. What is the best implement? Is it a landscape rake or a box blade? I believe I have more uses in the future for a box blade, but I don't want to get that now if it's not the right implement for this task.

Kubota BX24 is my tractor, fwiw.

Thank you

 

[chrpmaster]

since you need to get rocks out as well as smooth this out I'd go with the rake. You may try dragging some old chain link fence to help smooth it out and to "cover" the grass seed after you plant it.

Andy

 

[Highbeam]

I'm a box blade guy myself but this question is frequently asked and you will find that the answers are often biased towards whichever piece is owned. Rake or box.

This was done with a BB.

 

[Onthesauk]

I've got a box blade and a rock rake. I use the box blade to get it close to the grade I want and the rock rake to smooth everything, get the rocks and rubble out and to get a bit of rough soil on the surface. I spread grass seed on that and roll it or walk it in with the tires. I'm not doing any finished lawn type areas this way but for something smooth enough for the riding mower it seems to work just fine.

 

[RayCo]

Sounds like I just need to get both. Thanks y'all.

 

[Coyote]

In the long run you will get much more use out of a BB!

 

[RayCo]

A box blade does seem as though it'll be more useful in the longrun, indeed, especially when I read about so many people using them to maintain gravel driveways. My driveway's about 900 feet long, all gravel. I struggled to maintain it with an old Wheel Horse and a grader blade (spun around 180ｰ) prior to getting my Kubota. Using the loader's much better, but it still doesn't seem ideal.

Ultimately, I want both things if they perform different functions. The order in which I attain them depends on which implement I decide is better for my immediate task. I hope to decide to put up a fence somewhere on my property so I have an excuse to get a PHD, but I don't really envision any fences anywhere.

 

[asylum575]

I'm currently on the hunt for both for my BX24. Leaning towards TSC 5ft landscape rake and 4ft boxblade. I would imagine for my property the landscape rake would be more useful. However, for my upcoming lawn project a boxblade would get some good use.

 

[Sniggle]

I just prepped and planted 3 acres for a pasture (scenic pasture...I left more nice old trees than I probably should have).

After the contractor cleared all trees and underbrush, I first made multiple passess with my landscape rake to clean up all the remaining debris and level it some. Then I used the boxblade as a poor mans plow, scarifiers down, and ripped up roots and loosened up the top 2 inches of soil. I then used the landscape rake to clean up the root debris and final level (as much as is needed ofr pasture).

I then broadcast the pasture seed, and the turned my landscape rake backwards to work the seeds into the soil.

The grass is coming up quite nicely so far...just need mother nature to keep providiing periodic rain for the next month.

 

[RayCo]

I was looking at the 48" King Kutter. I figured I'd check King Kutter's site for "where to buy" info. This is what I got:

Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers error '80040e4d'
[Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server]Login failed for user 'Web_User'.
/MenuFunctions.Sup, line 12


That's great. I don't know that I want to buy an implement from a company that is still using ODBC in 2008.