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Posted: 5/4/2024 2:22:06 PM EDT
I had some excavating done and part of my yard is now smooth, packed clay with sparse grass. I want to lay down a couple inches of black dirt and blend it into the clay, two or three inches down, before spreading grass seed. Will a flail-type dethatcher do this, or should I use/rent a roto tiller? I have already removed the larger stones.
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Posted: 5/4/2024 5:36:28 PM EDT
[Last Edit: 50-140]
[#1]
I don't have any experience with dethatchers but it appears they're are mainly towed. Rear tinned tillers are walked, so the size of your area might play into your choice.
A tiller can be set to where you're only tilling to the depth you want and any rear tinned tiller worth its salt has enough power to bust up clay. I have a Troy Bilt Horse tiller which has worked well, over the years, but now I also have a 3 point tiller on my tractor, I'm planting about 3 1/2 acres. |
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Posted: 5/5/2024 12:31:32 AM EDT
[#2]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By 50-140: I don't have any experience with dethatchers but it appears they're are mainly towed. Rear tinned tillers are walked, so the size of your area might play into your choice. A tiller can be set to where you're only tilling to the depth you want and any rear tinned tiller worth its salt has enough power to bust up clay. I have a Troy Bilt Horse tiller which has worked well, over the years, but now I also have a 3 point tiller on my tractor, I'm planting about 3 1/2 acres. Thanks, but I'm talking about the powered dethatcher with hardened flail knives on a rotating shaft with adjustable depth. I think I'll have to use a roto tiller to get to the depth that I need to. |
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Posted: 5/5/2024 5:01:44 AM EDT
[#3]
A flail mower's anvils are on chains, usually. I wouldn't imagine you'd get much penetration into hard dirt. I'd till it.
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Posted: 5/5/2024 7:58:29 AM EDT
[#4]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Homesteader375: A flail mower's anvils are on chains, usually. I wouldn't imagine you'd get much penetration into hard dirt. I'd till it. A dethatcher and a flail mower are two entirely different animals.. not sure why anyone would use a flail mower to loosen dirt. Go with the tiller OP as they're made to penetrate soil and mix it at the same time. |
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NC, USA
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Posted: 5/5/2024 8:04:48 AM EDT
[#5]
f it's anything like the clay in the NC Piedmonts, you're going to need dynamite!
I say tiller. Go with the tiller, don't think a flail mower is going to be the tool for this job. |
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Posted: 5/6/2024 4:48:33 AM EDT
[#6]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By IH1026: A dethatcher and a flail mower are two entirely different animals.. not sure why anyone would use a flail mower to loosen dirt. Go with the tiller OP as they're made to penetrate soil and mix it at the same time. I wasn't suggesting using a flail mower but presumed that a flail dethatcher was a similarly designed animal. I'm not far off, though, the dethatcher lacks the chains and simply has pivots, which I didn't know. I would still think it would lack depth of cut that OP needs. |
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Posted: 5/6/2024 6:44:46 AM EDT
[#7]
If you have a tractor, tiller all things then level.
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Posted: 5/7/2024 10:13:50 AM EDT
[#8]
For any decent sized area a tractor mounted tiller is the only way. Rent a small tractor/tiller setup and you’ll be done in 1/10 the time of a walk behind tiller. Dethatcher isn’t made to work the soil and hard packed clay is a bitch for a walk behind. Btdt. Seriously.
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