[harry]

ime going to start tidying up some rough land i have from weeds to grass... by spraying everything several time in spring,,,,,,,, i have a large off road 4x4,,,, what would be a usefull bit of kit to tow behind that to help ie not a plough but maybe a small cultivator or harrow  whatever

[Zebedee]

Is this a joke? Why don't you get what you need from a hire shop?

[bloomer]

no i think its a genuine enquiry as to what could be towed behind a 4x4 to help clear rough ground...

[john and helen]

http://www.logictoday.co.uk/agriculture#14

any ATV accessory that is petrol driven would do

[harry]

thanks for the usefull info by some i will look out for something, and Zebedee its TIME FOR BED as i think you always said

[Carse Goodlifers]

How large is the area?
It may be better for you to get a contractor in or indeed a friendly neighbouring farmer?

I would spray, cultivate with a set of disc's, wait for any regrowth and then spray again, disc's and then sow grass.

If you can get a trailed set of disc's that would be good but I think either the contractor or hiring in a small tractor and discs would be the road to go down.

[Bramblecot]

I tow a heavy chain harrow behind the old Landie, and we tow a petrol driven topper to tidy up any bits the sheep miss. Takes a while but I can do about 5 acres well enough 

[clydesdaleclopper]

SCH do a lot of implements that can be towed behind a 4x4

[Marches Farmer]

Depends on what you're trying to achieve.  If you want grazing with fewer weeds then getting someone in to harrow foloowed by topping through the summer will stop most of the annual weeds from seeding.  Spraying with a selective weedkiller at appropriate intervals will get rid of thistles, nettles and docks.  I too would prefer to hire a contractor than buy expensive kit that'll probably be needed only a few times.  If you disturb the soil too much you'll just get a lot more weeds germinating. 

[harry]

trouble the previous owner left loads of rubbish ie big flints bits of iron / tin and wire fencing etc buried that i still keep coming across so i think any contractor may not want to enter my plot ,,,its only an acre so i will look for something on ebay after your comments and use my usefull wreck of an diahatsu fourtrack

[Bramblecot]

OH has also used a Allen scythe to good effect on a hilly bit of ground but it was very hard work and crippled his neck . 

[cloddopper]

I cleared almost an acre of former land fill with perhaos more crap in than yours  using  a back pack to spray " Grazon " to remove everything save the grass. I used SBK & paraffin to take out the brambles and a few wild roses. Once I achieved that it only needed on application of round up in the back pack to kill off the grasses .

 I then patch burnt it off ( don't think that allowed these days ) & hired a pals gert big 8 horse power Honda rotovator which took a  5 foot or so wide bite . set it to shallow and worked a 10 mtr square at a time gradually setting it to run deeper each time  this took out loads of head sized lumps of reinforced broken concrete . The final run through in each square was a good 18 inches deep.
 I took me a couple of months of evenings & weekends to do the whole area as i also had to deal with a few tree stumps as well. 

 At another place after doing the basic clearing on 1/3 an acre I hired a friends 15 ton excavator over the Christmas period  . Got 2x 45 galling of diesel and galls of engine oil ready and used the 1.5 mtr wide bucket to dig about two feet down  to loosen the ground & pick out any big lumps , slide brick & head sized lumps to one side of the turned ground so i could collect them in the bucket afterwards & put then on the rubble pile where my new driveway was going to run . . 
 Once cleared i spread about 10 tonne of old pig muck & spent mushroom compost over the area using the excavator and then using the excavator again turned it in .
 By this time I had my own merry tiller rotavator  so  over the next few weeks I worked the manure and compost deep into the ground as already mentioned  . I had an amazing garden & lawn in the end
 
 I  ( got shouted at for a whole week or more by my partner ) when I purchased a two ( hard rubber)  wheeled engine driven  Husquvana brush cutter /strimmer .  It cost over £1000 but more than earn't it's keep , as I then cleared another acre of heavily brambled scrub with oodles of silver birches and sally willow on it .
 It was an effective grass cutter in the tree & fruit orchard areas as well , there was no way I was going to take my ride on mower over the roots and re-bar etc in there.

 Re the Allen scythe as far as In know there are no spares easily found or often available as these machine were not produced after about 1953 .  In 1985 I  had three Allen scythes that needed new cast iron cylinders & two complete blades in the plant hire workshop .... I ended up weighing them in as cut up scrap , putting three " Husky" wheeled brush cutters in the hire fleet instead .

[Zebedee]

thanks for the usefull info by some i will look out for something, and Zebedee its TIME FOR BED as i think you always said

Thanks for the ungracious comment. You may disagree, but in my opinion there's more to ground preparation than driving around a piece of weed-infested rough ground in a large off road 4x4 dragging a chain harrow or disc plough. Unless of course you're trying to make even more of a mess. A chain harrow will most likely be ineffective in any case. If the ground is as bad as you suggest, that it may require repeated spraying and cultivation before reseeding, in my view you're better off using a small tractor or self-propelled machinery. 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but best of luck anyway.

[harry]

Thanks for the ungracious comment !............. Pot / kettle

[john and helen]

Come on you two… lets not fall out over nothing…