Recommended attachment for roots

[jeff9366]

Why did not you mention rocks in Post #1?
How large are the rocks?
Do you have gravel or >3" rocks with inertia?

Three Point Hitch mounted Disc Harrows are banks of wheels. They do not penetrate very deep and roll over most obstructions. Three Point Hitch mounted Disc Harrows are secondary tillage implements.

An (primary tillage) Offset Disc Harrow, as mentioned in Post #5, might work, but you are considering a 1,200+ pound implement, with a lot of draft force resistance, requiring a 80+ horsepower, heavy tractor to pull. Deep furrows will remain after the Offset passes. You would want to hire the tractor and implement, not buy. Do you wish to chop roots, or do you wish to remove?

VIDEO ~ notice moist soil: ROME TRCW24 In Sod/Rock/Roots - YouTube
Rome Plow is located in Cedartown, Georgia.

All Disc Harrows are soil mixers.

You need to determine your top soil depth before inviting an Offset. You do not want to mix poor quality sub-soil into fertile top soil.

If conditions are exceptionally tough, have the bulldozer return with a rake.

A Landscape Rake is not good for piling debris from land clearing. It is for grading and collecting small debris as part of grading. A Ratchet Rake bucket attachment is much better for piling debris than a Landscape Rake. I have both. Neither will transport debris, which is a function the Field Cultivator provides. Ratchet Rake also recommended in Post #9.

I still recommend a ~~$900, spring-protected Field Cultivator, from experience, but that might change after you describe your rocks. You might want a $400/ETA - $1,000/Monroe Tufline Subsoiler to first loosen the soil/rocks up, then comb. Moist soil essential.

VIDEO: How to Use a Ripper / Field Cultivator - Gardening Series - YouTube

For lawn, 10" deep, friable, top soil is ample.

 

[poolecw]

Sorry... I guess I did a poor job at describing my soil conditions. Let me start over. I live on 18 acres in north west Ga. My house is in the middle of traditional appalachian hardwood forest. I recently had about 1.5 acres behind my house cleared. Larger trees remain while trees and brush less than 5" in diameter were pushed up by the dozer. The dozer guy did not use a root rack. The soil has a lot of what I call chirt...sand/clay rock. Most rocks are smaller than your fist. Rocks are both on the surface and below the surface. As for roots, most roots are smaller than 2 or 3 inches in diameter. Most are buried with one end sticking out of the dirt.

I want to get as much of the roots and rocks out as I can. I know that smaller roots will rot and can be mowed over. Once I get as much trash cleared as possible, I intend to use a box blade to smooth everything out.

 

[1quik70]

I just did a similar job clearing a food plot in the woods. I used my FEL to push the small trees and brush out of the way, and began to rip up the roots and vines with the scarifiers on my grader scraper and followed up with several passes with the disc. I figure everything left will begin to rot and provide OM to my soil.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

For just one acre, I would probably used my box blade's scarifiers to dig up and expose as many of them as possible. And then I'd go buy a battery powered reciprocating saw and just saw them off as low as I could.

 

[franklinute]

I would use a chisel plow and set it at 12-14" deep. It will definitely pull one
end of the roots out of the ground. Make several passes over the field in different
directions. With my chisel plow I can drag up large piles of roots, drive to the
edge of the field, raise the plow and backup to unload the debri. If you have
existing trees you don't want damaged stay 10-15' away from the good trees.

 

[Egon]

If you have a box blade with scarifiers use the scarifiers. Make passes from different directions.

Then resort to whatever implement is at hand for the cultivation.

A very large disk behind a 200 hp tractor would be ideal but they would require renting rather than owning.

 

[PILOON]

Shucks. my little Mitsu has teeth on the FEL.
I simply tilt the bucket to about 90 deg and back drag and collect just about all the roots you want, OK maybe I need a second pass but sure does the job. A bit of valve feathering from time to time and I only collect roots!
I then scoop the roots and dump where they don't matter. Works for me!

A toothed bucket is a whole new world! Try it. (most valuable add on for me!)
Ratchet rake is good but tooth bar is best, (imho)