Rock Removal Ideas?
Trying to start a food plot in an old power line right of way. It's 0.6 acres. At this point, all the scrub trees have been cleared and vegetation has been sprayed. About half has been disced a couple times and sprayed three times. I'm still working to clear the rocks from the other half. This land is very rocky. Anything from baseball sized rocks to rocks the size of a pick up. I have a Kubota L3901 with an FEL and have used that to pick up a lot of them. Problem is I'm running out of time and need to come up with a faster method.
Right now I'm considering renting a box blade and a landscape rake for a weekend to try and get the smaller rocks up. Will use the FEL to move the big ones. My idea is to use the box blade with the rippers set to about 3" deep and slowly go over everything to turn up the rocks just under the surface. Then go back with the landscape rake and try to pull the rocks into a row to be picked up with the FEL. Does this sound feasible? Never used a landscape rake before so I'm not sure if it will do what I'm thinking. I do have a tiller on the Kubota which works great but I have no doubt the rocks on this land would destroy it in a matter of minutes. Don't need to get every single rock but would like to get it cleaned up a little better.
Soil test says I need a ton of lime which will be going down this weekend. Fert will be spread just before final discing and seeding. Going to be 50/50 mix of Durana and Patriot clover. I think if I can get the rocks cleaned up a little better this plot will be beautiful. Anyway, let me know if you've tried this before and it worked or not. If it will work the plan is to rent the stuff Labor Day weekend and do it then. That should give me time to do one more spray if needed before planting.