Lawn Rolling/Flattening

As hard as I tried I couldn’t keep up with a late summer invasion of moles and gophers at my place and I’d like to try out one of those roller attachments to flatten the lawn. I figure over the next month or so with frost melting and spring rains it would be as good a time as any to get this done.

I’ve done some window shopping and see that the attachments come either weighted already or you can fill them up with water and then drain them when you’re done so you don’t have a big heavy contraption to store. I’d be likely pulling it behind a UTV. Just wondering if anyone on here has any experience or advice on what to get or the process of flattening/rolling/evening out the lawn, or if it even works that well.

I have the same issue. Bought one that fills up with water. Used it a couple times in the spring like you said. Really didn’t do much of anything for me and haven’t used it since. I am on sandy soil.

PM me if you like. I’d probably sell it quite cheap.

Have to roll it right after a rain storm when the ground is real wet. Works best is what I found out.

lindyrig79 wrote:

I have the same issue. Bought one that fills up with water. Used it a couple times in the spring like you said. Really didn’t do much of anything for me and haven’t used it since. I am on sandy soil.

PM me if you like. I’d probably sell it quite cheap.

If it’s something that you’ll do once a year it may be a better idea to rent. I haven’t used one personally, but I’ve heard the self propelled rollers do a much better job than the average tow behind. Not a lot of places rent them though.

I’m watching this thread because the moles went from zero to terrible as soon as it got dry again last summer/fall, and now the lawn is like a dirt bike track. I’m sure the Deere rider could catch some air if you floored it…

Aeration should help too.

I plug spring and fall IF we get a good soaking rain. Only roll in the spring after frost and a good rain. It helps a little but a commercial blacktop roller does a much better job.

I always rent the kind you fill with water and push by hand. Its a tough job and your lawn needs to be very saturated. Best right after snow melt but I dont have my spigots turned on yet then. Still haven’t so I wait for a lot of rain after have my outside water is on.

I see i can rent one locally for $19 a day. I might swing by and see what they have. $19 doesn’t seem too bad to see if this works well or not.

Our lawn at the lake (3 acres) was a hayfield in it’s previous life. I mow most of it and rough as a cob doesn’t describe it. Your kidneys and back took a beating mowing it and I mow at least 2 acres. I call it lawn mower rodeo trying to mow it. Anyway I picked up a heavy duty drag rake. Waited until everything was wet and dragged that behind my UTV which had aggressive tires on for most of the morning. It made a bit of a mess. I let it dry out that afternoon and then dragged a section of chain link fence over that to smooth it out the next morning. I did that with the riding tractor with turf tires.

Turned out very nice. Didn’t have to mow for a couple weeks I just let everything grow back in.

My father-in-law insists on scalping his lawn to nothing with a set of old junk blades every so often, and this is when he then rolls the lawn. The first time I saw the operation I thought it was early onset dementia….beautiful lawn mowed right off and then compacted like mad the same day to make it perfectly smooth.

After watching the results, it’s hard to argue. It’s a golf course basically, and he doesn’t use much for chemicals.