What’s going to be the easiest way to separate the rocks from the soil? I’m removing all the old fabric found underneath and scooping the rock with a shovel, but there’s just so much rock mixed in here. Help!
by Ambitious-Mode-1738
What’s going to be the easiest way to separate the rocks from the soil? I’m removing all the old fabric found underneath and scooping the rock with a shovel, but there’s just so much rock mixed in here. Help!
by Ambitious-Mode-1738
42 Comments
Put some kind of a strainer like wire mesh or barbecue grill on top of your wheelbarrow to sift out the rock
Just remove everything together and replace it.
Skidloader 😂 okay maybe a pointed spade shovel
At least it’s not river rock embedded in clay 😭
If you solve this problem without hand picking, you have a sight line in becoming a millionaire
Just dig down about 4-6″ and remove it. Ship in some dirt from yourr local nursery/dirt store.
Make a sifter box.
Stop trying to pick those out with a shovel or rake because you will be there until next year. You need to build a dirt sifter. Frame out a quick square using scrap lumber that fits perfectly over that blue wheelbarrow and staple a sheet of half inch hardware cloth to the bottom. Shovel your rock and dirt mix onto the screen and push it around with thick gloves. The good dirt drops into the tub and you dump the leftover rocks into a bucket. It is pure sweat equity but it is the absolute best way to separate that mess without throwing away all your valuable topsoil.
I had to do something similar when switching from rock mulch to wood mulch. Get a 2×4 and a 1/2” wire mesh fabric from Home Depot. Cut the 2×4 into a box and staple the mesh to the 2x4s. I did the size of my wheel barrow.
When you shovel out the dirt, shovel it into the strainer you built and sift it with your hands. The soil will go into the wheel barrow. The rocks will stay in the sifter.
A little laborious but it works well.
There is no way to get all the rocks out. No matter how much you rake there will be more. You could dig out the dirt and somehow sift it but that would take forever.
If you really want it rock free just dig out 3 to 4 inches. Buy screened top soil and manure and mix them together and add that to the bed.
Invite over some toddlers. They think rocks are treasure and will pick them all up within an hour.
A screen?
Sifting this is probably the only way.
Do you really need to? If you’re making it a flower bed again I would till it, then add/cover with top soil
Do you really need to remove the rock? It’s helping with drainage and if you remove them all, or even a lot of them, you could have issues with your soil compacting.
A rock magnet! 🧲
Lake everyone says, the sifter box is about the best thing you can do. I didn’t want to go through all the hassle making one with how much I had to deal with removing my volcano Rock earlier this year. I ended up using three different types of rakes a normal rake, Rock rake and some other weird looking grass rake.raked. my back out for a couple days but got the job done in a day
Hire out to someone that does this for a living, problem solved
A rake or a screen.
They sell a three pack of screeners on Amazon or if you have a local Tractor Supply near you. I sift out my top soil from my yearly compost bins and they work great.
Remove and replace by far the most efficient
Doing this inside the island of a circle drive right now. Rent a loader and scrape out 4” of rock and earth and then have good black delivered.
As my old boss used to say, “rocks are part of soil too”. They won’t hurt anything. You’ve got room to bring in 2-3″ of good topsoil, so do that. Otherwise you’re going to have to remove everything and haul it off.
Put in more rocks then separate all of the dirt. Now take out all of the rocks and put the dirt back in.
If you want to keep rocks smaller than a nut, get a nut ball
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nut-Gatherer-Acorn-Picker-Upper-Side-Opening-Dump-Walnut-Picker-Upper-Roller-Pinecone-Picker/17020817390
I’ve used concrete tubs with holes drilled, shopping baskets, beach sifters and even a bread tray. Tilled it, raked it, pushed it with the 4 wheeler. This next area, I am digging a hole where the soil is good and filling it with soil that’s rocky. F that sifting 😂
Get some sifters and if you have kids or know someone with kids you can probably convince them to help you out because a ton of kids love playing in dirt and rocks and you can play it up as treasure hunting.
I get metal mesh screen .. and use some 2×2 or 2×4 .. and then make it big enough to fit over wheel barrow.. add handles if you got a helper ans can then make rock pile together.
To get rid of them you dig out a couple of feet of dirt.
Then you have some clean dirt delivered.
Add it some compost as well.
I have seen a barrel think old dryer with holes to let the soil out the rocks build up then fall out the back into wheel barrow.
The best was made out of wire mesh hanging from two belts over a shaft that was spun by a hand crank turned by a child slave called me. folding A frame the pipes hold the shaft enjoy the metal on metal or find a bushing or a bearing from a blown out engine, we used a log and pipes bolted to the ends. The bark holds the belts.
I mean, do you really need to? I’d ask, how big are the rocks, and how many are there? If your bed simply has some rocks in it, don’t worry about it. But if the bed is really a bunch of rocks with a little soil, then yes, you shouldn’t plant anything until you get rid of the rocks.
So the question is, do you have more money, or more time? More money = dig out the top 12″ of rocky soil and haul it away. Replace with purchased soil of choice. More time = use a screen (Hardware cloth, which isn’t really cloth at all, but metal screening that comes in different hole sizes) to sift out the rocks.
Hand rake, hands, time. You will find more rocks forever, but eventually you will be at peace with it.
Leave it. It wont stop the grass.
My beds look like this. The previous owners used gravel. At a certain point, i just called it good enough and mulched the top. Without the landscaping fabric to keep rocks on the surface, the land will eventually reclaim them. Some of my beds we removed the rock nearly 5 years ago and there’s pretty much no noticable rocks when i plant in them.
I have 3” slate all around the front of my house that we need to remove. It’s like 100 feet, 3-6 feet out from the house.
This is obviously not the most simple solution, but I decided to just rent a skid steer to dig it all up at once.
I’m going to take advantage of it and do some other projects I have, so it may not be the most economical solution for you. Cost me about $500 for a day, a trailer, a bucket and an auger.
Just get a sieve
Sunday’s are for picking stones
You can do what my parents did. Have four children and send them out each day to pick them up until you’re satisfied with the result.
What’s your end goal?
If you’re just going to make a flower bed here, then I wouldn’t bother.
With your back
Make a frame of wood and staple wire mesh to it, add a couple side arms so it stands up at about a 60° angle. Huck shovelfulls of rock/soil mixture at it. Rocks will stay on top, soil will pass through.
I’ve been doing the same for the past month with my backyard. I built something similar to this: https://youtu.be/Y46ri-S9e4s?si=-zqY-pAWQI14OGRI
I built two levels as I had all different sizes of rock but you can probably do just one if it all similar sized. I built it to drop into my garden cart. Would suggest sizing it to your wheel barrow so you can drop in and out quickly.
Screen. Those plastic box tray kinda thing bread and produce comes in.. sometimes you see them stacked on the side of store can be good shaker screen..wire mesh on four by four frames..a circle fan has a round wire cover that makes a good shifting pan thing. It’s easier than you would think