Rock removal??

[digdug]

Does anyone have any suggestions or know of a implement that will help remove rocks from a garden patch? The rocks I need to get rid of are about fist sized, the garden is 30'x50'. The spot is the only good place I have to put a garden. I've got so many rocks I can't hardly run my walk behind tiller.

Thanks

 

[Eric McCarthy]

Try either a big tractor mount landscape rake or a Harley Power rake. I'd suggest to rent either one of them and use it in the garden.


Landscape Rake

Power Rake

 

[Will In Tx]

Landscape Rake works well, I did lawn mowing/bidding new jobs and it comes in handy!

 

[ipz2222]

My problem 100 percent also. I have an idea but won't be able to test it untill the garden is done for the summer. If it works, I'll post pictures.

 

[cabu]

My field was double the size of yours and I placed my wife on Kuno with a trailer behind. She was driving slowly in circles to the center and I was walking behind picking up the stones. Everything else take more time to organize, to realize, to play around if you only have one field of 30x50.
I did it two times and then planted the lawn.

carl

 

[ipz2222]

cabu, I've been picking up rocks for 2 years and still have rocks. I think they are growing like potatoes. They must be good for the soil, my squash taste so good, I could make a meal of just them.
I dug up an eight by four foot section and planted 2 rows of watermelons. My wife counted 46 melons yesterday. Looking forward to August.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

cabu, I've been picking up rocks for 2 years and still have rocks. I think they are growing like potatoes. They must be good for the soil,

Ya know its odd you say that. I used to drive trucks for a local landscape product supplier. They sold mulch and topsoil and stone in bulk by the yard or ton. I delivered a load of material to a customer one time and she mentioned that she had us make her a special blend of topsoil, compost and stone dust. She swore up and down that the granite stone dust helped to bring the Ph level of the soil up. I want to say she mentioned that the acid in the stone dust is what did the trick!

 

[cabu]

cabu, I've been picking up rocks for 2 years and still have rocks. I think they are growing like potatoes.

So what you are saying is, that you need to get the field stone free up to a deep which is the same, you move dirt after you harvested your water melones.

Lets say its 6" (15cm), this mean you have to sieve the soil of you field this level.

Actually their are some machines in the market that could do the job, but running once around the traktor is cheaper...

I was thinking about it last year and planted gras!

 

[digdug]

Thanks for the ideas, everyone. At least I'm not the only one out there with field rock problem.

When using the landscape rake, do I need to have the tines dig down into the soil like a harrow?

Thanks again everyone who replied

 

[Eric McCarthy]

The landscape rake working much like a leafe rake just on a 6 foot scale. It will just scratch the surface and clean the top off.

 

[magicheater]

This is what I use for rocks.

 

[cabu]

Or this if do don't have a wife : YouTube

Or this YouTube

Or this: YouTube

Or this: YouTube


Maybe you can rent one of this things somewhere near you...

And here the Rake: YouTube

2.YouTube

 

[digdug]

That York Rake is pretty interesting, I'll have to look around and see if anyone in my area has something like that for rent.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

You could probably find a York rake fairly cheap used. They are not that expensive to buy new like 400 bucks or so.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/agriculture-farming-ranching/3-point-equipment/3-point-landscaping-utility-equipment/countyline-reg-landscape-rake-6-ft--2128325

 

[gktilton]

Does anyone have any suggestions or know of a implement that will help remove rocks from a garden patch? The rocks I need to get rid of are about fist sized, the garden is 30'x50'. The spot is the only good place I have to put a garden. I've got so many rocks I can't hardly run my walk behind tiller.

Thanks

Something else to try if you have one is a 3pt hitch cultivator. I used only 5 tines and separated them by 2 inches each. It dug down 6 inches and made piles of rocks all over my garden.

I usually use this for weeding the garden, but every fall I push the tines together and drag it around to pull debris and rocks out. This one isn't mine, but its just like mine and I got it for $50.00.

http://www.lysinger.com/Cultivator_1.jpg

 

[digdug]

Great idea gktilton, I'll have to give that a try this fall.

I'll also keep an eye out for a used York rake.

 

[ipz2222]

Cleaned the garden out, all plants, tomato plants, okra, etc. Borrowed a 6 ft rake and it was useless. The slightest amout of vegatation, grass or left over garden roots would clog the tines and it became a grader blade, no dirt would fall thru the tines. So, i decided to try the other idea. It worked great.
I had originally planned on mounting a small mower eng on the grate with an offset weight to vibrate the screen but figured it would take me more time to do that than to just move it with a hand rack. You can see from the picture what I did and it worked good. The pile of dirt under the screen was perfect, the rocks rolled into the tralier and i just hauled them off each time I move the pile. There was 4 miles of dirt when I finished and I just spread them back over the garden. Now i have about 4 inches of screened dirt with no rocks.
The dirt must be dry if you try this.

 

[stuart]

This is exactly what I was considering. When I had the driveway paved there was a small mountain of pit run, dirt, gravel & junk left over from the grading.

There is a company called 'powerscreen' or something similar near here that had used screens of varying sizes & mesh. Plan was to pick 2 screens, coarse & fine, and get started.

A few complications here have delayed the project. Glad to know that it is a workable idea.

 

[ipz2222]

That should say "4 piles of dirt".
Just hauled in a load of fine sawdust from a pallet co this am, tilled that in . Should have a good bed next year. I'll do my watermelon patch this way when it stops producing.

 

[digdug]

That gives me an idea, ipz2222, now to look into putting it together.

Thanks again to everyone for the comments and ideas.