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ANY EXPERIENCE WITH ROOT RAKE

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tcsloan
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 4 NC
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2009-01-26          159824


JUST PURCHASED A BX 25 TO CLEAR BRUSH, ROOTS, ETC. THE LARGER ROOTS I HAVE DUG UP WITH THE BACKHOE. THE SMALLER ROOTS ARE A PAIN. ANY IDEAS ON BEST WAY TO LEVEL AND GET SMALLER ROOTS UP. THE DEALER SUGGESTED A ROOT RAKE.



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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 3583 iowa
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2009-01-26          159826


TC; I'm guessing the dealer meant a landscape rake. They do pretty good, not as good as a powered rake, but better than by hand pickup. A landscape rake is also pretty good at leveling crushed rock, moving already loose soil, and snow remeval. I don't think your tractor is big enough for a powered rake. Frank. ....


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tcsloan
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 4 NC
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2009-01-26          159827


would that be better than a box blade with teeth? i'm not sure i know what a box blade is for. ....


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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 3583 iowa
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2009-01-26          159828


Yes, a landscape rake would work better than a boxblade. A box blade is meant mainly to loosen soil with the teeth then pull the soil to a new place where you want to put it. I have did what you describe with a boxblade before I had a landscape rake, but it just doesn't work too well, it plugs up between the teeth with roots, etc, and brings along too much soil with thr roots. Both are good tools and one compliments the other. Frank. ....


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candoarms
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1932 North Dakota
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2009-01-26          159833


Tcsloan,

I'm trying to draw a picture in my head.....but I'm not doing well at it.

Are the roots still intact, below the soil? Or, have they already been dug up and simply need to be removed?

If the roots are still intact, below ground level, a ripper usually works best.

A ripper is a thin, steel shank, that penetrates the ground to a depth of about 18 inches. It has a sharp knife edge at the bottom, and it simply slices through the roots. The thin shank slices right through sod, leaving only a small cut about 1 inch wide.

With several passes around the area, the roots are sliced and pulled to the surface, making them easy to remove with a landscape rake.

I've placed a link here that shows a root ripper in action, but it's attached to a tractor backhoe. Something like this can also be attached to a standard 3-point hitch, however. I made one to help remove about 100 feet of hedges. Worked great.

Joel ....


Link:   Bro-Tek Root Ripper

 

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2009-01-26          159834


If you are talking about smaller roots that are still in the ground after removing the stump, neither a root ripper as shown above, nor a box blade with scarifiers, nor a landscape rake will do anything but get you seat time and burn up some diesel.

The only 2 practical ways to get rid of them are to mulch them in place, as with a rototiller or mulcher, or to wait for them to compost.

Once they are dead and buried they will be gone in a fairly short order.

Best of luck. ....


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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2009-01-26          159835


Typically a root rake is a stiff, heavy-duty, vertical rake to be used on something like a dozer or skid steer--they take a lot of traction and HP to be effective as they have to cut through AND break up the soil AND dig or drag out roots.

I'm going to jump the gun a bit on Joel's questions since you haven't replied yet: If all you have are small feeder roots---no stumps of any kind or size, a boxscraper will work to shave most roots off and pile them. Running the box blade in reverse will work like a dozer to pile them up. Running the BB with the teeth down will brak up the ground but will do little to actually dislodge the roots.

A power or "Harley rake" may take a toll on the smallish machine from a vibration standpoint. HP wise on a 5' one would work; I have a 33Hp with a 6'. And it really isn't designed to remove rots; it's designed to grind materials in place sort of but not exactly like a rototiller which chops material.

A standard York or landscaping rake won't work either since the rake tends to roll the roots with the soil into a bundle then rides up and over it. Been there.

Based on the limited info provided, I would rent a 4' or 5' rotoiller, chop the soil as much as you can, let it dry out a few days, then use the boxblade going forward and reverse to work out the roots.

Also, a Harley rake in the hands of someone who hasn't used one before may get frustrated with the performance and want to go to fast or not deep enough--or too deep. If you go too deep it tends to act like a sod cutter and make large, thick ribbons of soil and roots which are then difficult to break apart.

A rototiller is the way to go-- pun intended-- no matter how you cut it.

I do a lot of residental land clearing. Every job is different as soil conditions are different too. I've also found that using a bobcat (skid steer) with a regular dirt bucket works too. If you have any stumps at all, using pallet forks on a bobcat is the easiest way to dig them out. And by setting the forks down on even ground and tipping them forward just slightly, then moving the machine side to side going forward or backward the forks will shear or rough up anything in their path (depending on weight of the machine, soil conditions, etc.)

Using the dirt bucket all the way down and tipped back just slightly going forward causes dirt and roots to accumulate. The scrubbing action of the materials stuck under the bucket causes the dirt to fall out while leaving a growing pile of compacted roots. If you find there is too much dirt that does get in the mix, simply drive backward spreading out the pile and start again.
....


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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 3583 iowa
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2009-01-26          159837


EW; I know you have did lots more landscape work than I have but. I can vision a reverse tine rototiller working in roots, but my experience with a conventional forward rotation tiller was nothing but a wraped up mess of roots that had to be cleaned out about every five minutes. Enough of that. Where did I go wrong? I've did as Murf said a time or two and just put a layer of clean soil over the top and let them rest in peace. ....


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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2009-01-26          159838


I would think a forward cutting RT would be best, as like you say the oorts will get warpped around a RT or even the Harley rake which rotates the same way.

Ya haven't missed anything anything bud.

And Murf is right about rest in peace but some people can't sleep at nite knowing there's roots under them thar dirt. ....


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kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2009-01-26          159841


Murf's RIP is, "rot" in place. ;) ....


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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2009-01-26          159843


Hey Nurf! My redneck checker is working--you know the one I had installed at the Mason-Dixon Line!

It found Kenny!

Hey Kenny where ya been hidin'? Are you ready for another winter blast heading toward you guys? brrrrrrrrrr

The up side is you won't be having another drought this year with all that snow, right?

A week ago it was so cold here my Cummins wouldn't start nor would my buddy's Ford Super Duty--frozen fuel lines. 5 hours later with plastic draped over each truck and a torpedo/salamander to heat each and they strated right up. Then we both high-tailed it to the autoparts for anti-gel. ....


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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2009-01-26          159844


Quote:
Originally Posted by earthwrks | view 159843
A week ago it was so cold here my Cummins wouldn't start nor would my buddy's Ford Super Duty--frozen fuel lines. 5 hours later with plastic draped over each truck and a torpedo/salamander to heat each and they strated right up. Then we both high-tailed it to the autoparts for anti-gel.


Tsk, tsk, tsk. These guys that don't maintain & properly equip their trucks!!!!

Mine came from the factory with 2 electric battery blankets and a block heater. In cold weather (read: below 0° F.) I also put a magnetic block heater on the oil pan and plow pump.

Above 0° F. all I have to do is jump in and turn the key.

A few ounces of Power Service (white bottle) in with some good diesel (high cetane stuff too) every fill up makes a difference too.

Best of luck. ....


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candoarms
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1932 North Dakota
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2009-01-26          159845


Murf,

While in the Army, I drove my pickup from North Dakota to Georgia. When I returned from a store, this elderly southern fella was looking my truck over, real hard-like. His facial expressions clearly told me that he was wondering about something.

As I approached him, he asked, "What's all them thar cords fer........you done got yerself a recric truck?"

"No", I said, "That's the cord for my block heater and the battery heat pad. There's a couple of electric heaters in there that help me get the truck started in cold weather."

He rolled his eyes, said something rather nasty about yankees I think.....southern accent (couldn't understand a word he said)..then walked away shaking his head, like I was lying to him or something.

I still laugh about that, nearly 30 years later.

Joel ....


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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2009-01-26          159846


Your Honour, in my defence, it was 17 below. It sneaked up on us. I'm good to about 13 below without Power Service--but I learned my lesson, Your Honour and keep a white AND a brown bottle in the truck (now, if I can only not treat it like my gym memebership card which never gets out of my wallet, and remember to pour it in.) Good thing my head's connected, eh? ....


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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2009-01-26          159848


Quote:
Originally Posted by earthwrks | view 159846
Good thing my head's connected, eh?


The jury's still out on that one.......... LOL


Joel, I can soooooo relate!

A number of years back a buddy & I had made a road trip into the very far north to pick up a wrecked airplane and trailer it back south.

We stopped for lunch on a beautiful summer afternoon in this lovely little town and my buddy (who was riding shotgun) jumped out and starts digging through his pocket for loose change to feed the meter.

Meanwhile the locals were looking at him like he had 3 heads. He was happily digging for change and literally stopping pedestrian traffic as they stopped to see if he was really going to feed the meter.

I tried to tactfully tell him it was ok, he didn't need to put any money in it.

He wouldn't hear of it!! He was determined to be the gracious passenger and feed the meter......

Right up until I pointed out to him the meter was NOT charging for PARKING.......

It was for electricity to plug in a block heater!! LOL

I still rib him about that to this day.

Best of luck. ....


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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2009-01-26          159853


While cleaning up after Katrina, I frequented the local county hospital cafeteria which the only place in town to get a hot, decent meal (not to take away from the gracious volunteers). It had only 6' of water so it went online 6 months after the storm (the rst of the 200 or so sq. miles saw about 28')

Anywho, the hospital was still under Army guard. I pull up at the guard shack and the late 20-ish guard says, "Boh', what's that under yer truck?" pointing to the snow plow mount. So I told him what it was. He says disbelief, "Now why would you have one of those down heah?". Apparently he, like the many other locals I ran into thought the commercial/DOT signage on my truck's door of my home state of MI (Michigan) was the same as MS or Mississippi. And I always knew when someone was lurking around my truck looking inside because I had a custom made snow plow controller mount for the joystick that stuck up higher than the center console between the console and the dash. It resembled a smallish black hotdog mounted vertically on a black box.

They couldn't hide their thirst for asking "what does this Yankee have THAT for?" Asking overrode any fear that I might know they were scoping me out.

I'd oblige and tell them.

Some thought it was a...well...ahem...let's say a "toy" for the Missus! I'd tell I was single and that got even BIGGER raised eyebrows. (oddly, I remember hearing the theme song from Deliverance playing in thr background). Well I do have a purty mouth...er... back to the story...

Then I'd look to see what was stolen. No joking. ....


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auerbach
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 2168 West of Toronto
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2009-01-27          159857


TC:

See the "Re Brush ..." thread at the left. I got that device, and will report how it works after our winter ends, if it ever does. ....


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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2009-01-27          159858


I'm not sure it's been addressed, but "terminology in sales and marketing" plays a big part in what we buy. For example I see marketed a "hand held landscape rake" at Home Depot--this was originally designed and is still used for placing hot asphalt. Cahnge the name and you open up a new market. Another dealer tied a pice of floating rope to it and dubbed it a "pond weed remover".

Same rule applies to the "box scaper" which was designed to clean out livery stables--which is why true "box scrapers" have dual blades and "box blades" typically have only one blade. Now we use them for general dirt moving.

A "root rake" I think falls into this category too. It likely that the dealer is trying to sell what one brand (York) calls a York rake. It probably was designed for farm work. I can see a dealer calling it a "landscape rake" to sell to landscapers; calling it a "rock rake" to guys who have rocky ground; and alas a "root rake" to guys with roots. It's still a rake. But will it fit the bill? ....


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drews58
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 3 Kaukauna Wi
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2009-02-24          160579


TC I bought a Bro-Tek ripper tooth and thumb for my BX24.I live in an area with alot of buckt thorn. Roots are small to four inches in diameter.The tooth will peel the root out without ripping the ground up.I'll use both tools to pull the root and trees out toghter.Also buy or make a skid plate for BX to protect your fan blade. ....


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