Street roller on yard??

[renagde]

Everybody I've ever talked to says that rolling your yard is terrible. It compacts the soil and hinders grass growth. However, I live close to Amish and they mostly still use the push reel type mower. Because it's extremely difficult to get a reel mower to mow grass nicely if it's bumpy, almost all the Amish in this area will roll their yards in the spring. They do it while the ground is still soft, you don't want it dried out and obviously not too muddy. They have some of the nicest looking grass and the smoothest yards around. My theory is the yard guys don't want to roll it because of risk or liability? They'd rather tell you to aerate and fill but in my experience, rolling actually does a better job.

 

[Fujicon]

By "roller" do you mean smooth drum? That might help if you first used a sheeps foot (some call it goats foot; see pic below) roller to help compact the soil where it's overly bumpy, but you'd need to perfectly time it when soil is mildly soft yet not too soft. Probably just using a grader would be the better option.

 

[JasonT]

What about a pulverizer?

 

[KsRancher]

I suppose it depends on what you call smooth. When I think of yard smooth I am thinking a baseball or football field. Where you can ride a lawn mower and it be smooth. Then there is small tractor with brush hog smooth. Two total different things. I have ran machinery for a lot years and done some work on football and baseball fields. That dirt is SMOOTH. Your aren't doing that with vegetation and a blade. If you just after small tractor smooth then a lot of the ideas mentioned above will work.

 

[mgray]

It might not be realistic with that much space, but I’ve seen some videos of leveling lawns with sand and spreading it around. It seemed like these were real turf junkies though. Maybe there’s something more large scale? I mow about two acres and I understand the bumping and jumping, even with the minimal suspension on a Ferris mower. I think a roller would help with the small stuff jarring your kidneys loose, and I think now is the time of year to do it before it drys out and gets hard.

 

[Nine Banger]

We have sandy loam (loamy sand) around here. I've never had luck trying to till or disc existing ground and move dirt around. Bring in more dirt and move it around with one of these. The grass grows right back. I use this after a blade too.

 

[huntngolf]

Rolling can definitely help if the bumps/ruts aren’t too big. Go multiple different directions when the ground is wet/soft but not muddy wet. Aerating before rolling will help improve the results as well.
If the ruts and bumps are just too big/deep your best to just bite the bullet and till it up and start over, but 4 acres is a pretty large area to be doing that.
I’m a golf course superintendent btw

 

[IDVortex]

Find a roller that you can hook up to a mower and feel it with water. Like the walk behind rollers. A construction roller will most likely be to heavy and cause to much compaction, especially if you hit the vibe. And could actually make more dips due to the unevenness of the lawn.

Are you trying to get a lawn you mow about 2in in height? If so, id suggest starting from scratch. If not, id take some time and work on the spots at a time, being in some dirt and slowly fill in the unevenness over time. But it is 4 acres. So you may need to decided on what you're true end goal is.

If I had 4 acres to maintain id be buying a wheel mower and making it into 4 acres of Kentucky Blue cut about a 1/2in tall.

 

[JasonT]

Well, I rented a small street roller, 3' @3000 lbs, and spent about 8 hours rolling the yard. It may have helped a little bit, but not sure it was worth the time and money. Maybe it wasn't heavy enough or I did it too late in the season (southern Indiana). I think I will just work up a few sections in the fall over the next couple yrs to smooth some of it out.

Thanks

 

[renagde]

Well, I rented a small street roller, 3' @3000 lbs, and spent about 8 hours rolling the yard. It may have helped a little bit, but not sure it was worth the time and money. Maybe it wasn't heavy enough or I did it too late in the season (southern Indiana). I think I will just work up a few sections in the fall over the next couple yrs to smooth some of it out.

Thanks

Around here, everyone will do it as early as possible, right after the ground thaws. Frost heave creates all sorts of bumps. Key is to do it right after it thaws and all the dirt is soft. Do it before the grass starts growing.

 

[IDVortex]

Just start lawn leveling with sand lol

 

[LostArra]

I had some rough areas because of pocket gopher mounds. Grass would grow over the mounds making a bouncy ride to mow.
1. Trap gophers when first mound appears
2. Spread some soil with a tooth harrow and level gopher mounds
3. Over seed areas
4. Pray for rain.

I'm not experienced enough with a blade to do anything helpful

 

[eoperator]

A good operator with a power/Harley rake on a track skiddy or 3 point tractor is by far the best in my experience for circumstances like this. Mow the grass short to help avoid sod clumping/piling up.