Rock Rake

[Darins]

OK What am I doing wrong??? I am putting in my new yard. (Around 1 acre) So I have tilled the yard several times and it now is nice and dry and fluffy. So I borrowed my neighbors rock rake to rake the yard, but all it did was move the dirt around and made a bigger mess. It did get some of the rocks but it just moved to much dirt. So I did get the hand rake out and started raking the yard and I did get the front yard done. Lookes great. But boy am I sore. But I have lots more to do and I was hopeing to use the rock rake. What am I doing wrong? Should I let the dirt firm up a little before I try again or just do it by hand..

 

[Von]

Darins,
Does the rake have gauge wheels? This will make all the difference in the world! With the wheels you don't dig too deep and pull so much of the dirt. If it does have wheels you may have them set so the rake is too deep. You will have to go over it more than once, but a rake with wheels will do the trick.

 

[MarkV]

Darins,

If you don't have gauge wheels and are more interested in smoothing than rock removal, can the rake be reversed? Back blading with the rake would smooth out what the tiller left. Pulling a section of cyclone fence, with some wieght on the back, does a nice job for seed prep. You might still have to deal with rock by hand, but it would be easier than using a hand rake on the whole yard.

MarkV

 

[cowboydoc]

Darin,
My experience with rock rakes, even with the adjustable wheels and all is that they just don't work very well. We had, still have, one that was all hydraulic. Picked up rocks with the tines and then you could dump the rocks into a box with the hydraulics. Nice setup but unless the rocks were right on top of the ground and not in dirt at all it was worthless. Anyway that was my experience with them.

 

[WillingtonPizza]

I use a rock rake in an area that is extremly rocky. Start by going over your area once with the rake angled like a snow plow. Then pick up the big rocks by hand and put them in your bucket. Then set your gauge wheels so you only go about 2 inches into soil. With the rake still angled go over your yard a couple of time. If you want a realy good finish get a couple of friends and use aluminium landscape rakes each time you make a pass with the tractor, that way you only rake about 5 feet at a time. This goes very quickly and is easy. Make sure your dirt is very dry when you do this.

Good luck, Rich

 

[kevincook]

Your on the right track! Just put that hand rake away and sit back and wait for the rain.

I have planted several acres of lawn at my house over the last couple years and I plan on planting another acre this month. This is what I found works best.

1- Rototill the land. If you don't do this this results will be poor.

2- use the landscape rake to generally level all the fluffy dirt. I do this with the rake straight (not angled). The dirt is too fluffy to do much else with.

3- Let it rain. After it rain the loose soil will be packed down quite a bit and your yard will look like the surface of the moon. All the rocks will be right on top and really easy to rake up.

4-Rake the rocks. I rake all the rocks with the rake slightly angled first and then go over the land again with the rake angled more to pick up the smaller rocks. The more the rake is angled the smaller the rocks it will pick up.

5- spread the seed. I put down twice as much seed as the bag says I need because the grass comes in thicker and I have many fewer problems with erosion waiting for the lawn to fill in. I have found the best results when I cover the seed with a thin layer of peat moss (cast it with a shovel) but this is relatively expensive so I only do it for high visibility areas.

Good luck!

 

[JATO_RaT]

Darins, I saw your post and wanted to see who else was using a rock rake besides me. Then as I read on I realized we are talking about 2 different rakes. I have a PTO powered "landscape rake" or rock rake that is so incredible, you would not believe how well it removes rocks and debris from the land. It has 2 turning drums or rollers 8 feet long. The bottom one is splined while the top one is smooth. The bottom splined roller turns forward kicking up the rocks and smoothing the land behind it while the top roller keeps the rocks from getting passed by and they continue to get kicked forward. Depending on the angle you set the rake, you winrow left or right. It is a incredible rake, mine is made by Glenmac/Harley. I think it can be seen at glenmac.com. where you may get a better picture of what I am talking about. Rat

 

[Billc]

Rat, I think what is being used here is a root rake. You have a rock rake, I'm going to the sight after I finish this post.

I bought a root rake thinking I could gather all the rocks into piles. I thought the dirt would flow through the tines. Wrong. All I got was large piles of dirt that had rock in them. Made it even harder to gather the rocks.

Thanks for the lead to the Glenmac sight.

Bill Cook