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 | Nellie
Join Date: Posts: 1 
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2001-09-17 31852
I recently had 1.5 acres cleared using a bulldozer. I have roots and thick vines sticking up all around. I have been using my box blade to level the ground and pull up some of the roots but it only seems to uncover more of these. Would a tiller be useful in breaking up the roots so I can plant some ground cover?
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| Bird Senter
Join Date: Jun 1999 Posts: 962 
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2001-09-17 31853
Nellie, a plow or the scarifiers on the box blade are better for pulling up and getting rid of roots. A tiller will break up some of the roots all right (and I've tilled a bunch of them), but it depends on how big and tough those roots are. You may break tines or shear pins, or be slipping the clutch if your tiller has a slip clutch. My personal preference would be to plow it first, and then use the tiller for the finish work prior to planting. ....
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| Nellie
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2001-09-17 31858
I have used the box blade with the scarifiers. It pulls up the roots, but it seems the more I run the box blade the more stuff I have sticking up in the field. ....
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| glennmac
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2001-09-17 31860
Sounds like you really didnt get your land "cleared" by the dozer work. I would have expected the dozing to be deep enough to have cut all of that stuff off several inches below ground, and then smoothed back over. You then could have just raked out the roots and debris. That doesnt help now, of course. Sounds like Bird's advice is worth a try. ....
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| steve arnold
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2001-09-18 31863
roots and vines wrap around my tiller axle. I dont think it matters but I have a reverse rotation rototiller. ....
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| Bird Senter
Join Date: Jun 1999 Posts: 962
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2001-09-18 31864
Yep, Steve, I've had lots of roots, grass, and weeds wrapped around my tiller at times, and mine is not a reverse rotation. But if Nellie's roots are not too big, and sounds like they might not be since they've been pulled up by the box blade, then the tiller might be the way to go. A few years ago, the place next door sold and the new owner is allergic to cedar, so the first thing he did was hire a dozer to remove a beautiful cedar windbreak all the way across the back yard, then I tilled it, got most of the roots out, leveled it, etc. to plant grass. ....
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| Norm
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2001-09-19 31877
I have found that getting roots wrapped around the tiller has a distinct advantage - it gets them ripped out, ok maybe the hard way, but not the hardest way (by hand). So does anyone know if this will cause any damage if they are cleared off regularly? ....
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| Bird Senter
Join Date: Jun 1999 Posts: 962
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2001-09-19 31880
Will it cause any damage, Norm? Gosh, I hope not since I've done so much of it in the last 6 years; no damage so far. However, my cousin recently hit a big enough root (woods had just been cleared with a dozer) that when it came up around the tines, it crumpled the rear deflector and pulled it right up on top of the tines. He said it was quite a job to get it off and straighten it with a sledge hammer. ....
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 | DennisCTB
Join Date: Nov 1998 Posts: 2707 NorthWest NJ 
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2001-09-19 31881
Two tools that are good at preparing rough bulldozed ground for grass are a "Rock Hound" and a "Harley Rake". I have seen the "Rock Hound" as a front end attachment on a Bob Cat, the "Harley Rake" as a 3PH attachment. The "rock hound" I think is the faster of the two.
Both of these tools are great at beating the ground you have into "submission". Here that means picking up whats hanging around on top and putting some of the dirt back on top without trying get all the rocks out, while leaving a level mowable surface for seeding. ....
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| steve arnold
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2001-09-20 31907
Norm you are correct, if the roots are wrapped around the tiller shaft they are not in the ground anymore, which was the task at hand.
when I cleared roots off mine the best way was to cut with a sharp, sturdy carpenters knife.
A few years ago while working up my parents garden I found an old steel tool handle wrapped around twice comparable to 3/4 inch EMT but with 3 times the wall thickness, that took a sawzall to remove. ....
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