Leveling out a field

[Blue76]

I am currently mowing (as my back yard) a 4-acre field that in years past has had corn, soybeans and many other crops in it. I have used a box blade to level out some of it but it isn't great. Ruts have washed in places, and it is hard packed Georgia red Clay. Not easy to work with.
Aside from a box blade I have a BOG harrow with 8 22" scalloped discs, various plows, landscape rake and a worn out 5' tiller that needs new diggers.

I just want to smooth it out not turn it over like with a plow or the BOG harrow. The tiller is OK but not great. Still requires a lot of work with the bucket, box blade and rake to get decent.

Is there any other implement that might do a better job of smoothing this out and prepping for seeding? I looked at a Harley rake... too expensive and I cannot find one to rent. I looked at a soil pulverizer, many companies offer this at a reasonable price, but do they work? Looks like it would just scratch the ground a little to me. I also looked at a land plane, but I read where people said they were more for gravel and loose soil.

Any thoughts on this? Am I just stuck with tilling dragging and raking and cussing?

Greg

 

[jyoutz]

I don’t know why a tiller wouldn’t work perfectly for this purpose. The drag gate will make the ground perfectly smooth. You might have to go over it multiple times or wait till the soil moisture is perfect.

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

I am not familiar with your soil(in GA) or what you are considering a ‘rut’ (ravine, ditch, tire track, wash out from rain etc), nor do I understand what/how you want to plant, so take this with a grain of salt:

I’d probably consult your local extension service first (some may have some equipment that you can rent or borrow if you explain your project or they might give some helpful ideas relevant to your soil.)

assuming you want to seed (and not a winter/frost seeding), I would consider the process backwards to determine how to get there.

Consider you need to spray the field off to kill off current vegetation.

I would imagine that if have low spots fill those first (may need to pack or settle).

next, I would till or disc entire area to suit.

then cultipack.

at this point should be ready for seed.

after seed cultipack again. (Really depends on what planting IMo)

have refreshing beverage(and cigar if applicable) and hope for light precipitation every few days.

if you had access to a drill or better yet a firminator(I think those may made down your way) you could combine a few steps.

 

[McMXi]

I disced 3-acre field this past summer and the owner was going to drag a chain harrow around after I was done. I would think that a chain harrow behind a disc could do a decent job. The field was rough and uneven and the disc certainly improved it. Not red dirt for sure, but on the bright side, someone, somewhere has done what you're trying to do.

 

[D2Cat]

I have a soil pulverizer with two rear rollers and it does a nice job of breaking and leveling dirt. It is designed to do it's job when the material is loose, like preparing a site for seed. It will break up the soil when it has not been stirred up previously, but it will take going over it a few times.

Might be best to disc the area then pulverize.

Here's one in your neck of the woods.

CL

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[Elliott in GA]

Our property is in north Georgia - not as far north as your zip. The primary tool used by most farmers is a disc harrow, as I am sure that you know. You want to reshape/smooth the surface of the clay. Cutting or tilling deep into the clay will often produce serious problems - a hard rain will turn everything to something like concrete. Most farmers will harrow the field over and over again in various directions to produce a smooth top layer to plant their crop.

I second talking to your county office about your soil and what will grow in the clay. Additionally, they should be able to suggest what to add to the soil for the soil and the plants.

Good luck - at least with only 4 acres it should not take that long.

 

[Old Machinist]

A tiller and drag work great but you have to get it down to dirt. The last time I did a significant area I had to use my lawn sweeper to get all the tilled up grass out before the drag would work. With the grass still in the mix it would bunch up and drag ruts in the freshly tilled ground.

I made a 8 foot drag using 2x6 PT lumber.

 

[jaxs]

Box blade is my go-to when I need to loosen soil (chisel plow) AND level ground.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

I think running the BOG harrow. with dragging chains would be the best. Not too aggressive cutting angle and run N-S then E-W, repeat several times. Odds are whoever grew crops always ran N-S, so there's ruts. Also sounds like you need to add a LOT of 'compost' to the soil to reduce the clay .Plant cover crops you then till over in the spring if possible.

 

[skeets]

OK I gota ask whats a bog harrow, just a disk harrow or something special?

 

[BAP]

Go find yourself an old spring tooth harrow and drag that around. Go one direction, then go 45 degrees to that direction and then 45 degrees from that. You will find it will fill in divots and make it smooth. Old ones were drag with a chain and no wheels. Newer ones are on wheels with hydraulic lift. Stay away from 3 point hitch ones if you can because tow behind ones will follow the contour better and smooth better. When I used to farm, we had a 20ft Brillion tow behind on wheels spring tooth that we used on fields before seeding down to grass and Alfalfa. We would go over 3-4 times to smooth out the field. The faster you drive, the better they smooth. The only downside is that they will pull up the rocks, but not as bad as the chisel plow did. If you get a colter packer seeder to put the grass seed down with after, you have the ultimate seed prep and planting package.

 

[Blue76]

OK I gota ask whats a bog harrow, just a disk harrow or something special?

Bog Harrow is just a harrow with oversized disc/ scalloped discs for cutting into new ground. Mine can go pretty deep. Works better than a plow if there are roots or stumps to deal with.

 

[Old Machinist]

I have also had some luck pulling a drag behind my tiller. The right side of this photo was done without the drag attached.

 

[whatsupdoc]

Level a field lol, That is the rocks (only the large ones) that were dug out of a 40 foot long trench for the water line to the house.

Every time you stick a spade in the ground around here you hit a rock, maybe its the size of a baseball
or maybe the size of a car. Like a box of chocolates, you never know.

I have 3 fields that are somewhat smooth and I would like to make them a little easier to mow but
whenever you try to grade an area you find more monster rock(s).

 

[BAP]

Level a field lol, That is the rocks (only the large ones) that were dug out of a 40 foot long trench for the water line to the house.

Every time you stick a spade in the ground around here you hit a rock, maybe its the size of a baseball
or maybe the size of a car. Like a box of chocolates, you never know.

I have 3 fields that are somewhat smooth and I would like to make them a little easier to mow but
whenever you try to grade an area you find more monster

That’s what rock picking is for. We had fields with mountains of rock piles around them. Some piles had bigger rocks than in your picture. When we reseeded the hay fields, we would work them smooth, spend days picking stones, reseed and hope to get 7-10 years out of a productive stand of grass/Alfalfa mix.

 

[Blue76]

A tiller and drag work great but you have to get it down to dirt. The last time I did a significant area I had to use my lawn sweeper to get all the tilled up grass out before the drag would work. With the grass still in the mix it would bunch up and drag ruts in the freshly tilled ground.

I made a 8 foot drag using 2x6 PT lumber.

View attachment 163098

This is exactly what happened today. The box blade just pulled clods of grass making ruts

 

[Tim Horton]

At a time I also had about a 4 acre ...barn paddock... that only God knows who did what with it as it had bumps, pot holes, hills in it even the livestock wouldn't walk on..

I used a 5 shank, 5' chisel plow multiple passes, multiple directions, spring and fall over several years to get smooth enough to not buck you off the tractor seat to cross it..
Good luck..