Harley Power Raking Services
The best way to prepare your soil for a new lawn.
Power Raking
Proper soil preparation is the first and most important step in the success of a healthy lawn. We use a Harley Power Box Rake® not to be confused with a landscape or a York rake. Our power rake is 6 feet wide and mounted on a tractor. The drum on the rake has carbide teeth that will loosen compacted soil, remove rocks and debris, level and grade to achieve a well groomed seedbed. What use to take 5 men and several pieces of equipment to prepare your soil is now achieved with only the power rake and one man in less time.
The action of the power rake is very similar to a golf swing. As the teeth rotate on the drum is similar to the action of taking a golf club and making a 2 inch divot 6 feet wide. As the rake goes along it creates a seedbed roughly 2 inches deep leaving a level homogenized surface.
Furthermore the teeth on the Harley Power Box Rake® play an extremely vital role in preparing the sub base. Beneath the two inches of loose material, the teeth come through and literally hammer a golf ball size pattern into the soil. Fracturing the base beneath the loose soil will allow for a nice even exchange of air and water with the base. That’s what allows for faster and more even rooting and a nice evenly green growth of grass.
The key to versatility of the power rake is the box ends. This allows us to pull material from high spots into low spots, to spread topsoil and to drag trash, rocks and other debris off the job site.
Not every site will be suitable for a tractor driven power rake. We look for open areas with little to no obstacles. We need at least 84”min width at any fence gate or opening. For small areas where this is not feasible we recommend hiring a local landscaper for seedbed preparation. Or if you want to do it yourself a rototiller can be used but it will be more labor intensive. Some rental stores have a walk behind version of this unit which is much smaller and maneuverable. Contact us for more information or follow this link on soil preparation.
Once your soil has been power-raked, all the debris will be removed. We may add more topsoil to condition the loam and fill in low spots. This is also a good time to amend lime, fertilizer, and other additives to the soil. A Harley Power Rake, similar to a rototiller mixes the amendments into the soil. As previously mentioned there are smaller versions of this attachment. They have them in a walk-behind version as well. Some of our customers rented a Toro Dingo and were able to get the job done in the tighter areas.
The final step is to ensure all the areas are level and pitching in the right direction. This is the final grade or finished grade. We try not to hand-rake too much to preserve the dimples in the soil left by the carbide teeth. This is beneficial to trap moisture so your grass will thrive. We will always try to cover any tracks left by the machine. Hand-rake the tight areas that were not accessible with the machine. When the entire area has been prepared, we ask you to keep traffic to a minimum until the area has been seeded.