Need to make a drag, or buy a harrow

[bearskinner]

Ok, I'm not sure the best way to do this, but I have an area with quite a few trees, one every 12' or so, that's about 150' x 100'. I'm looking to limb the trees up to about 8' and plant grass seed and fence it off as a dog area. I need to clear the weeds, and remove a couple inches of pine needles and start removing rocks so I can ride the mower around once the grass grows up a bit. It's a fairly flat area, although rutted, and lots of golf ball sized rocks. I was thinking about a 4' square of chain link fence wrapped around some heavy timber and drag it behind the BX. Having never "tilled any soil" I have no idea what works. I know I'll probably have to pick out rocks by hand with a rake. The goal is to make a secure fenced off area for our one very old dog and a couple new pups so they are safe if left outside. Not looking to feed the local wolf, bear , and coyote population. Sorry to be so long winded, just looking for ideas to level and smooth a really tight area.

 

[ShaunBlake]

I'm interested in the advice you get and wish I had some to offer. I'm having trouble envisioning your DIY harrow; do you mean wrapping chain-link around a log and trail a length of fence behind? I've read of some folk who've had a bit of success with that, and I expect you can find posts about it with info on weighting it down, etc. However, I think they are pretty cheap new, so you should be able to find some used even in 'the other Iowa'.

I'm particularly curious what grass you're going to plant in what sounds like an orchard. My back yard has far fewer trees than your 12-foot spacing, but I can't get grass to grow for anything. There just doesn't seem to be a grass that does well in shade.

 

[bearskinner]

I was thinking about taking some scrap 4x6's make a square, wrap it in chain link, and add weight as needed. Maybe build a box on top, and add rocks as I find them. We get about half sunlight thru the trees, and it moves through out the day. I'm not looking for a park like lawn, just want to keep it from being a muddy mess when it rains.

 

[D2Cat]

Your chain link fence should work OK for leveling small clods. If you've got some old chain link fence don't cut it off to four foot lengths, just fold it over on itself. Just extra weight and more iron to grab the dirt.

Your biggest challenge, I think, will be the pine needles. They're hard to rake when they're packed for a few years. A rock rake would work nice.

Here's what I made from an old baler pickup reel. Works excellent for what you're doing, and planting. The pickup reel from an old square baler works just as good as a big round baler. If you don't have any old junk farm equipment around, put some weight on an old box spring and drag.

Be creative, have fun and good luck with what ever you come up with.

 

[cerlawson]

If you can till it first, as with a roto tiller that will help. For the chain link drag the log in front is fine as something to pull on, but what you want is a flat area of chain link, possibly 4 by 6 or 8 behind that log.. Then dd more weights too sit on the fencing.

I've used this sort of thing a lot and it works, but you need weight on it., not just at the log.

For maneuvering, keep the hauling chain short, but then that tends to lift the log. After some trials you can find what works. Having a helper walk behind to throw the rocks on the drag as they are exposed helps some also.

It works, but a lot of trash can build up requiring hand labor also.

 

[Kingcreek]

Old bed springs will work. Old harrow sections are great if you can locate a section or 2. Try a local scrapyard or recycle center.

 

[HickoryNut]

I see you have the tooth bar. Have you tried back dragging the area with the toothbar angled down? Drag it into piles and scoop it up.

 

[bearskinner]

Your chain link fence should work OK for leveling small clods. If you've got some old chain link fence don't cut it off to four foot lengths, just fold it over on itself. Just extra weight and more iron to grab the dirt.

Your biggest challenge, I think, will be the pine needles. They're hard to rake when they're packed for a few years. A rock rake would work nice.

Here's what I made from an old baler pickup reel. Works excellent for what you're doing, and planting. The pickup reel from an old square baler works just as good as a big round baler. If you don't have any old junk farm equipment around, put some weight on an old box spring and drag.

Be creative, have fun and good luck with what ever you come up with.

That looks great for what I need to do, but its something I will never use again, that's why I was trying to make something cheap and easy. I have a pretty good sized yard ( about an acre) and this is the area along side the shop, so there's power available for lights. I like the acreage all around with the forested areas, its park like and you cant see in or out of the property from the house/ shop areas. ill go snap a couple pics, Mike

 

[ShaunBlake]

... We get about half sunlight thru the trees, and it moves through out the day. I'm not looking for a park like lawn, just want to keep it from being a muddy mess when it rains.

That's my need. I just want my yard to stop washing down the hill, exposing the roots of the trees I want, and leaving all those pines and cedars.

Have you decided what grass you'll use? (I realize our climates are so different that your choice might not be possible here.)

 

[sawmill]

Bearskinner:
I had a similar situation as yours. I have a springed lawn aerator that I got from Lowe's. I took the wheels off and pulled it it around with my atv (it could also be pulled with a riding lawnmower). It works great for loosening the pine needles.
Then you could use your chain link fence idea. I think it would work just fine.
Some of my areas the trees are 6' to 8' apart.

 

[bearskinner]

[/ATTACH][/ATTACH]
here's what the area looks like. lots of rock, I think the PO cleared the lawn area and placed extra rocks out here. The area near the shop is a little more open, Ill go out and fire up the chainsaw, and start limbing. The ground is pretty rough, so I made need something a bit heavier to help level out the ruts.

 

[ShaunBlake]

That looks great for what I need to do, but its something I will never use again, that's why I was trying to make something cheap and easy.

I see you have the tooth bar. Have you tried back dragging the area with the toothbar angled down? Drag it into piles and scoop it up.

BS, HN has a great idea (for a nut)! That Piranha bar really works great at back-dragging. I know it's a PITA to drag, dodging trees and keeping track of the load, but it should be only once-in-a-lifetime.

 

[ShaunBlake]

View attachment 15240 [/ATTACH][/ATTACH]
here's what the area looks like

Oh, that's a nice place! And it's level, how nice!

 

[bearskinner]

I see you have the tooth bar. Have you tried back dragging the area with the toothbar angled down? Drag it into piles and scoop it up.

I was just talking about just back dragging the really rough areas with the tooth bar. its a pretty good sized area, and with all the trees, would make it rough.

 

[bmblank]

on another note, pine needles themselves act pretty well as mulch, keeping the dirt underneath it.

Sent from my XT1254 using Forum Fiend v1.3.2.

 

[ShaunRH]

Drags and trees are often a messy combination. The most effective thing I can think of is a triangular shape which will let you actually hug the trees and still deflect well. This can also be accomplished by dual chains to the front corners of a square or rectangular drag but you are dragging chain against a tree trunk at that point.

The design of the drag has to consider what you are trying to do: Level, rake up stuff, and churn up stuff are pretty much different drag types. You can hand build any of the types but they aren't the same kind. Chain Link is a good leveler. The spring harrows shown are good for churning/breaking surface stuff up. A rake needs to be of the spring/tine/powered type to be effective at moving the material.

If you have a front loader, I'd look at something like this to scoop up and remove the debris:

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200586891_200586891

You can put your chain link section under the forks to scoop up the needles and hold the smaller debris, but start with just the forks to get the big stuff loaded and moved out of the way.

If you can afford a rock bucket for your unit, that does everything you are looking to do but they are usually over $1K in price.

 

[sawmill]

I was just talking about just back dragging the really rough areas with the tooth bar. its a pretty good sized area, and with all the trees, would make it rough.

As I stated in post #10, here are some pics of what I dealt with.

 

[sawmill]

We have 7+ acres and I mow about 4 acres of it with my 3ph 48" King Cutter rotary mower behind my BX24. I mow it about 3 times during the summer.
I have dug out over 100 stumps with the backhoe. This is what it looks like now.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

bearskinner,

I have all they tools you need, spike tooth harrow, spring tooth cultivator, and by next week a landscape rake, that is one trick tool for rocks, pine needles, and debris.
You are welcome to use them just give a shout.
I would say if you buy any tool up here a landscape rake is the #1 tool!
Get one at North 40 for about $500.

 

[bearskinner]

As I stated in post #10, here are some pics of what I dealt with.

Pretty much what I'm working with. I spent a few hours with a small chain saw limbing up to about 6-7 feet, than cutting it into manageable size sections to fill the FEL and haul off to the big fire pit. 24 overfull loads to the slash pile, and a couple hours burning. ( my lower back is killing me!) there's a good line of sight from the back of the house to where I want to put in a fence, and from the fenced garden area to the shop. Ill take some pics once the sun comes up.