Smoothing Out Rough Ground

[5thGenTexan]

I have researched this and researched and haven't found anything that applies to my situation exactly. I have a bit of my property that is ROUGH, so rough it rattles everythong on the tractor when I try to mow it or even drive over it. I have suggestions on discing an area, then dragging it to smooth it out. Most of those situations are a result of a bunch of dirt clods making things rough. What I have is an erosion problem. The soil has eroded around the spots where grass IS growing. The eroded areas are typically about inch and a half to two inches below the soil level where the grass grows. I talked about discing it, but I don't have one. Also thought about going over it with my box blade, just using the teeth at first to loosen it up, the smooth it back out. Both of these options will make a mess of the grass I do have growing, and every place so far that has been disturbed so far by moving dirt has resulted in a bumper crop of Johnson grass. I had rather not have to deal with that. So, I was thinking of brining in some good dirt and filling in the low spots and smoothing that out. Just not sure at all what the best action is,

I am not using this as pasture and I am not going to bale it for hay. Just need something to grow that will stop the erosion.

Jeffrey

Close up...



Under tree where there isnt so much erosion.



Another view



Yet another close up

 

[SageBrush]

Looks like very poor soils. I would loosen it up and plant centipede or some kind of strong creeping grass, St. Augustine etc.. My soils are horrible because I live on a chert hill and have to build the soil to grow anything. My yard is all warm season creeping with some clover mixed in. A disc with a drag behind it is useful for grass prepping but, you can do it with a box blade too, just much slower.

If the area gets really dry during periods of drought those barren spots will come back in time. Once the warm season grass got a good start my yard filled in and its a green carpet now. With all the rain its a chore to keep mowed. During dry weather the centipede did better than Bermuda. I cut my rough areas to about 3 1/2" and keep it mowed so the roots are shaded and the grass doesn't get a drastic chop and brown out. Just regular cutting will make grass fill in and the clippings will build the soil if you don't smother it. But, you have to loosen things up.

 

[wcampbell47]

That ground looks pretty dry. A heavy aerator would not punch down very far. Recently worked on a friends yard where we watered it good, then run an 800 lb core aerator over it. We got enough water on it that the aerator would punch down 2.5 to 3 inches. Followed that up with soil amendments and organic fertilizer. Followed that up with more water. The grass is filling in nicely now and very green. Brown spots have some green in them. In my friends case the roughness was a result of the patchy grass.

Last year we put 28 pallets of sod down on an area like that. This year it is nice and smooth. Just mowed it.

 

[5thGenTexan]

I was able to go out to the place and work today (we don't live there yet, so I go when I can). I went over with one section with my blade teeth all the way down. I was able to get down about 4", any more than that and my tractor didn't like it. Anyway, made several passes that way, then pulled the teeth up and went all over with just the blade. Its better, but I am gonna to need to drag it as well to break up some of the big stuff.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

I would suggest adding soil to fill in the eroded areas, then add seed and fertilizer and water, water, water.

Adding soil, instead of tilling, or tearing out your existing grass will help with future erosion.

And the new seed will grow much faster with enough water.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Just how big is this area you are trying to level?

 

[5thGenTexan]

I have about 1/3 of an acre at the top of my place, right at the edge of the road to where it drops down a hill to where the house is being built. I don't want to level it, so much as I just want to smooth it out some so I can mow it without losing all my fillings.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Ok, for such a small area, bring in some quality dirt, spread it, plant seed and water almost daily. It wouldn't hurt to have it disked first. I prefer drought tolerant bermuda grass.

 

[jinman]

I think July/August in N. Texas is a horrible time to be doing any project that requires growing anything but weeds. Trying to establish a ground cover from grass seed in a place where you can't water twice a day is not gonna give you good germination. Seed needs 72 hours of wet to really germinate properly. No matter how much I run my sprinklers, it just doesn't keep the ground wet enough. If you had seed in about 2 weeks ago when we were getting long daily showers of rain, I'd say you could have been very successful, but typical Jul/Aug weather is gonna just be very frustrating. At most, I'd do the leveling and fill now and then plant seed and roll it in as fall rolls around and you get some natural moisture. Essentially, I think you can get all the dirt work done, but the overseeding will not be successful for another 1-1/2 to 2 months unless you set up a matrix of spinklers and a timer to run them 3 or 4 times a day, keeping the whole area wet.