Which Implement for final grading of new home.

[EverythingAttachments]

For the final grade, our EA Pulverizer, as linked by teg, is a great tool for the job unless you want to fork out $6k plus on a Harley Rake!
Travis

 

[Stonehaller]

Rent a Harley rake. It'll do everything you want except set the grade lines

:thumbsup: I agree. A Harley Rake is a pretty amazing tool for prepping a seed bed.

 

[darmstrong2319]

The pulverizer is a great tool to have,it will do the job well

 

[RippySkippy]

Given that we are now into November, I would suggest a that you have a lot of time to work on your yard. I would NOT seed it in the spring, rather the fall. Spring seeding is asking for a disaster to strike over the summer IF you don't plan on irrigation.

Seed the dirt inn the spring with an annual grass so you don't have to look at weeds all summer, roundup it in early August, lightly till then seed. You don't want deeply tilled fluffy soil. Loosen the soil to about 1/2 - 3/4", then try to cover most of the seed with 1/4" of dirt.

A box blade, tiller and the pulverizer are all you need.

 

[blb078]

Given that we are now into November, I would suggest a that you have a lot of time to work on your yard. I would NOT seed it in the spring, rather the fall. Spring seeding is asking for a disaster to strike over the summer IF you don't plan on irrigation.

Seed the dirt inn the spring with an annual grass so you don't have to look at weeds all summer, roundup it in early August, lightly till then seed. You don't want deeply tilled fluffy soil. Loosen the soil to about 1/2 - 3/4", then try to cover most of the seed with 1/4" of dirt.

A box blade, tiller and the pulverizer are all you need.

Pulverize, box blade, and tiller seems like a lot of overlap in implements.

 

[skyhook]

I agree that seeding in the fall is best, even planting cedar hedges. it's been suggested to use your front bucket,, have you tried this? I personally would give that a shot ( in reverse of course ), you could slightly tilt your bucket forward and use a little down pressure to get the grade your looking for, then straighten your bucket flat and use "float" to get that smoother grade. look at all the fun you'll have I would try a section and see how it goes. Either way, good luck.

 

[RippySkippy]

Pulverize, box blade, and tiller seems like a lot of overlap in implements.

Please share your opinion, here's mine.

tiller = loosen dirt, break up grass clumps
box blade = move soil to establish grade
pulverizer = firm up and prep seed bed.​

If one has a drag harrow or another method to level the soil surface the pulverizer could be eliminated or replaced with another implement.

 

[Cord]

This job was done using a skidsteer bucket and harley rake. I use the skidsteer to set the rough subgrade which is very close to what the final lines would be. Then I spread the topsoil and use the bucket to set the final grades. The first pass with the harley rake was pretty slow because the dirt had been rough graded a month before and was compacted from being driven on. It's not necessary to work the soil any deeper. The topsoil that I spread was rocky enough that the job would have been faster with a rock hound. This would have required a second rental and the harley was able to clean things up, just not as quickly. The atv in the picture was to backdrag the seed. This is in Wisconsin and we seeded last weekend. It's pushing the limits, but November has been warm and I've had exceptionally good results seeding late in the year. The last time I did this, in spring I was already mowing the new lawn before the farmers were tilling their fields.

 

[2ndhalf]

BLB, your initial questions was what is the best thing for breaking up clods....? but I bet, as others have mentioned, by spring you may also want something to do one more grade to get dirt in low spots etc. (boxblade). Rent or buy a box blade to grade, then rent or buy a tiller or harley rake to break up everything. The one tool I would consider buying if I were you is the tiller since you mentioned gardening.

I also agree with who ever mentioned checking CL while waiting for spring. Though it looks as though you could plant grass a lot sooner than we can in Ohio. If you buy the tiller, you should also buy the drag harrow I mentioned for the final seed prep. If you rent a harley rake you probably wouldn't need a drag harrow. There are guys on here who actually do this for a living so those are the ones I would really listen to. I have done a fair amount of yards for myself and others but I'm not an expert.

I rented a tiller last year for $100 a day which I thought was reasonable.

 

[DieselBound]

Because I never rule out anything...

[assuming you don't have a bunch of rocks to deal with] Do you have a rotary cutter? If not, do you figure on getting one? Set one of these up just a bit (make sure you've got some good skirting) and it'll whack the crap out of those clods! 15k to 16k feet per minute blade tip speed, well, speed kills [make sure that your slip clutch is properly adjusted, or if shear bolt protected, be sure to use low grade bolts]

Sometimes you CAN use the wrong tool for the job. And sometimes it's economically efficient.