You can seed a 1/2 acre fairly quick with a hand seeder. Depending on what you plant you can lightly disc or drag in large seed (beans and peas and such) I don't drag small seeds (clovers and turnips and such) at all the most I would do is drive over them with the tractor or wheeler to push the seeds in a touch. I would get a mower for the trails but you idea would work. Maybe plant the trails with clover ? ?
See that is why having a tractor with a mowing deck like yours would be so nice. Is there any pull behind mower that you or anyone suggests?
The rule of thumb I have always heard and used is.....the seed needs to be covered 3 times it's diameter. So the smaller the seed the less to cover with dirt.
I've comfortably hand seeded a 2.5 acre plot. I prefer by hand if spreading smaller seed. Something larger and cheaper like oats, if I have 2 plus acres, I'll run em though my spreader. I prefer to cover by dragging.
You can get pretty nice mowers that pull behind a 4-wheeler for about $1000 I believe My tractor is really sweet. I travel quite a bit doing plots for others to help offset the $$ :D
10....maybe 15 minutes. Like Pat said, only with larger seeds. Since you are working in heavy clay like me, here is what we did this summer, something different in each plot to see what worked best. Plot 1: Planted radishes and drove over the seed with an atv. Bad idea. The heavy clay compacted too much and we got the best germination out of the spots we didn't drive over. Had to reseed a lot of it. Plot 2: Planted a turnip/rape,rye grass etc mix. Not quite as heavy clay in this particular spot and it was a little drier, so we drove over the seed again. This plot turned out pretty good, minus the fact that the mix had too much rye grass seed in it. Plot 3: Planted turnip/rape, lettuce mix. Disced it up and seeded. No dragging or driving over. This plot turned out the best with great growth. Plot 4: Planted same mix as plot 2. Disced, seeded and used a pretty good sized cultipacker behind an atv. It was a hair wet and the only thing that germinated well was the cultipacker. From now on, with the small seeds there, we will just disc and seed. Found that the loose soil produced the best turnips and had the best growth. I would steer clear of trying to keep the trails completely clear, especially because of the clay. You will find that the smallest amount of rain will turn the trail into a muddy mess. For walking, you will probably want to keep the heavy matting of grass there. I would either invest in a mower, or just drive on it a few times. You would be surprised how fast the grass gets knocked down by driving on it....making a nice walking trail.
You guys rock. Thanks. I'll do that Dan and just drive back and forth a few times down the trails. My property is 1/2 mile deep so it really won't take long. And heck driving the UTV around will be fun as heck anyway. I wonder if running the drag over the weeds would knock them down as well without clearing them. But if that turns out that it isn't working enough I guess I'll get a mower. Floor space in the shed (to be built) will be a premium.
I had a plotmaster for about 3 years I had a lot of touble. Last summer i got a Golden Valley Cultiseeder and it is tons better. The seed drive system is ground driven I was really surprised at the difference in the 2 unit. The Plotmaster doesnt even compare to the Golden Valley unit. You should check them out they have a website and facebook.
Chris, just come out and say that you're from the company. People see through it. With that said, I'll look at your website and your equipment. Always nice to see what else is out there.
what kind of plots yall putting down? recommend the best brands I can't decide if I wanna go Biologic again this season
Tuffline disc This was a new plot last year. I use a tuffline disc behind my Arctic Cat and a old drag section, Which you can usually find at farm auctions
what kind of plots are you laying down? what's in season right now? thinking about putting one in out in the ground by me, not sure what to start with
Thoughts on the Tarter disc... I've been trying to determine what product would be best and have found this thread helpful. I came across the Tarter months ago on the web. Their website says one of their retailers is the Tractor Supply Store but they don't have it in stock for a closer look. Have any of you seen or worked with the Tarter? I've attached a link below. http://www.tartergate.com/switch.php?fn=catalog.details&cod=ATVCPDC&site=atv&emp=atv Thank you!
My brother and I are working on a 1/2 acre now. We have to finish clearing some trees and pulling some stumps. Most all of the equipment we need we're going to make work from what we have or what we can borrow from friends/ family. We have an old tractor and bush hog (old is an understatement), but it works To help clear, so far we've used my trucks to pull tree sections, but this weekend we're going to use a family friend's skid steer with grapple bucket. We have an old disk and are going to use my uncle's small yard tractor. For a sprayer, well we have a small hand tank, yeah it may take more time, but it's free. For a drag, we're going to use an old piece of fence or just do it by hand with rakes. For any hard to reach areas, well we have a walk behind tiller ... My point is, that you don't need expensive fancy equipment. Most of the time if you live in an area rural enough to own land, you have at least something, or know someone who does. If all else fails, hit up craigslist or farm auctions. I just don't see the need to pay $3k worth of equipment for a couple acres when all you need is hard work.
