This guide will teach you exactly how to remove rocks from lawn. Whether you’ve just bought a new home and noticed that the lawn is extremely rocky or you threw rocks in the lawn, neglected them for quite some time, and you now want to do some clearing, you’ll find this guide helpful.
Rocks in lawns do more than just hinder grass from growing well. They make mowing more difficult as you’ll often have to mow around them, not to mention use a trimmer to cut the grass.
If anything, you end up doing a lot more work than you really should.
Fortunately, removing rock from the lawn doesn’t have to be difficult at all. With the right tools and some effort, you can handle any bounders, whether small, medium, or large, with ease.
Contents
- 3 Reasons to Remove Rocks from Lawns
- 1. Rocks can undermine the performance of your lawnmower
- 2. Rocks can lower the quality of your lawnmower
- 3. Rocks on lawn can cause injuries
- Tools Required for Rock Removal
- 1. Rototiller
- 2. Scoop shovel
- 3. Garden rake
- 4. Pick
- 5. Wheelbarrow or bucket
- 6. Steel bar
- 7. Working gloves
- How to Remove Rocks from Lawn-the Best Way
- How to Remove Large Boulders from Lawn
- Removing small rocks
- Removing excess pebbles
- Removing Rock from Soil
- Hire a Professional Landscaper to Help You Remove Big Rocks
- 1. Can I Use a Dethatcher to Remove Rocks?
- 2. What’s the cost of hiring a landscaper for rock removal from lawn?
- 3. What’s the most efficient way to remove landscape rocks?
- 4. Should I Pick Small Rocks by Hand Before Mowing?
- 5. How do you remove rocks from turf?
- 6. Will a power rake remove rocks?
- 7. Can you put topsoil over rocks?
- 8. Should I remove stones from the soil?
- 9. How do you rake big rocks?
- Author
3 Reasons to Remove Rocks from Lawns
Rocks on lawns can be unsightly, especially if they’re small and scattered all over the place. So unless you intentionally added them for the purpose of decoration, you should remove them.
The drawbacks don’t end there.
The presence of rocks in a lawn can also make mowing difficult, not to mention affect the quality of your lawnmower.
1. Rocks can undermine the performance of your lawnmower
Small, medium, and even large rocks on the lawn can undermine the performance of your lawnmower blades. It isn’t just the loud clangs that are an issue.
Even worse is that the blends tend to bend, eventually forming dents and damaging them permanently. You end up with a not so functional lawnmower that will cost you a lot of money to repair.
2. Rocks can lower the quality of your lawnmower
Rocks on the lawn lower the efficiency of your lawnmower. With the blades already damaged at this point, you cannot be so sure about the quality of the other parts of the machine.
Even worse, the sharpness of the blades lowers significantly, and that makes it difficult for the equipment to tackle the next mowing job.
3. Rocks on lawn can cause injuries
Lastly, there’s even the possibility of injuring yourself if you mow a lawn that’s full of rocks. That’s because the stones can as easily shoot across your lawn, fly in any direction, and therefore hit you or any object around you.
As you can see, the presence of rocks on the lawn isn’t just bad for your lawnmower but also can be detrimental to oneself. That’s why it’s important to learn exactly how to remove them from the lawn.
Tools Required for Rock Removal
Rock removal can be a daunting task. But with the right tools, this work can be easy. Before you start the process ensure you have at least one of the tools mentioned below;
Related Post: How to remove stones from lawn
1. Rototiller
These are motorized cultivators with two sets of rotating tines that dig up the soil revealing rocks under the surface.
You can buy one from rent on or buy one from Amazon; Always wear safety gears will operating the machine
2. Scoop shovel
Amazon provides you with an option of a short-handled or long-handled scoop shovel. With this tool, you can dig up small or medium rocks.
3. Garden rake
A leaf rake is a common garden tool. It helps collect rocks without bending over. If you are dealing with heavy rocks ensure the rake has strong steel spikes. Garden rakes are in various sizes
4. Pick
Moving a large rock can be very difficult. But not with this tool. It breaks the rock into smaller pieces
5. Wheelbarrow or bucket
After digging the rocks from your lawn. You will need something to transport them to your desired location for reuse or disposal
6. Steel bar
A steel digging is convenient in removing the medium-sized rock. Using a tapered end steel bar place it under the rock and maneuver to loosen it from the ground
7. Working gloves
Self-protection is very important. Garden chores can cause blisters very quickly.
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How to Remove Rocks from Lawn-the Best Way
How to Remove Large Boulders from Lawn
They are difficult to remove since they are hefty to lift. Before using a pick, try prying it out with a shovel first.
For this you’ll need:
- A garden rake
- Wheelbarrow
- Gardening gloves and
- A pointed garden shovel
- Use the pointed garden shovel to dig around the boulder until you’ve uncovered around the base.
- Loosen the soil around the rock so that it’s easier to lift.
- Ask someone to help you load the rock into a wheelbarrow and then push it away from the lawn.
- Now use the garden rake to level up the space the rock sat on in readiness for overseeding.
Removing small rocks
A rake, shovel, wheelbarrow, or rototiller can easily remove small rocks from your yard. The soil will be broken up by the rototiller, exposing the larger rocks.
Pick up the rock with a work glove and deposit it in the wheelbarrow. Use a rake to collect smaller rocks from the loose dirt and carry them using a wheelbarrow.
Removing excess pebbles
Excess gravel will be present where the massive rock was extracted. To pile them up, use a rake with smaller spike steel.
Place them on a dirt sifter to remove any soil that has accumulated with the gravel. To dispose of the gravel, place it in a bucket or wheelbarrow.
Also Read: How to fix lawn depressions
Removing Rock from Soil
- Start by pushing a rototiller on the area with rocks to break up the soil.
- Pick the large rocks by hand and put them in the wheelbarrow.
- Rake the soil to remove small rocks and level it up.
- Now use the garden shovel to scoop the rock piles into the wheelbarrow.
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Hire a Professional Landscaper to Help You Remove Big Rocks
Some rocks are obviously too big to rake from the lawn. If you have such rocks in your lawn, and you don’t intend to keep the rocks as your landscaping pieces, consider hiring professional landscapers to help you remove them from the yard.
This is a one-time engagement, and the overall cost shouldn’t be that high either.
Often, professional landscapers will inspect the monstrous rock and determine which equipment will be ideal for the job. Then, they’ll give you their suggestion alongside a quote for your consideration.
The reason we’ve included this recommendation here is that it doesn’t make sense to buy expensive lawn equipment for a one-time job. Renting the units makes the most sense, as you’ll only ever do the job once.
After all, grass grows and will always need the most care and maintenance, rocks don’t.
1. Can I Use a Dethatcher to Remove Rocks?
You can use a dethatcher to remove small rocks from your lawn. The problem with this solution is you still have to go the extra mile to collect the rocks, put them in a wheelbarrow, and then dispose them off to the right spot.
2. What’s the cost of hiring a landscaper for rock removal from lawn?
The answer to this question isn’t in black and white. Quite too often, the cost tends to vary based on location, service provider, the equipment required for the job, and how farther away your home is from the service providers.
Such factors notwithstanding, you can expect to pay between $50 and $200 to remove rocks from your lawn.
3. What’s the most efficient way to remove landscape rocks?
The most efficient way to remove landscape rock from your lawn is to use a flatbed truck or a wheelbarrow.
4. Should I Pick Small Rocks by Hand Before Mowing?
You can pick small rocks in your lawn by hand, throw them into a wheelbarrow, and dispose of them farther away.
However, this process is time-consuming and tends to be less efficient. It’s best to consider other options that we’ve shared in this guide.
5. How do you remove rocks from turf?
Find small rocks and remove them from the yard:
Having a cultivator or rototiller would make the process a lot simpler for you.
Start the machine and apply some force onto the ground.
The smaller rocks should start appearing on the surface of your lawn.
Pick them up with your hand and discard them properly
6. Will a power rake remove rocks?
The Power Rake is an excellent tool for new lawn preparation, levelling the ground, and removing ground and surface rocks.
Rental customers will appreciate how well the Power Rake operates and how it takes all of the efforts out of prepping fresh lawns or cleaning up gravel drives.
7. Can you put topsoil over rocks?
When you encounter a large area covered with gravel that you want for agricultural use, it is possible to lay topsoil over the gravel and plant a productive garden or healthy lawn. … Topsoil is the necessary top 2 to 10 inches of soil in any lawn or garden.
8. Should I remove stones from the soil?
Removing stones is hard work but will increase usability and help to improve soil structure. Nurture your soil by adding a thick layer of organic matter (5-15cm thick).
This will increase the number of organisms that will help to loosen the soil and add nutrients. The mulching prevents soil erosion and retains moisture
9. How do you rake big rocks?
Use a heavy, iron rake with widely spaced tines for the best results when removing rocks, especially if you are working with heavy, clay-based soils.
The tines should be spaced slightly smaller than the width of a plum so you can remove plum-sized rocks or larger.
There’s no one right way on how to remove rocks from your lawn.
The methods we’ve shared in this guide works to give you the same results. It’s just a matter of choosing what option you wish to consider and then using it to remove the rocks from the lawn.
Handpicking is a good option for small rocks scattered in a small section of the lawn. A sifter or a rake can also be helpful in this case.
Since medium and large rocks are somewhat difficult to manage, you should consider breaking them up into manageable chunks for easy removal.
Read: how to remove stones from lawn
