Advice on Compost Spreader

[phasthound]

Originally Posted by dirtandhoops

I agree Barry. I'm 66 and capable of coreing and composting that size lawn in a full day.(shovel and wheelbarrow) But to me, that's too slow for enough production.(Not to say I could do that five days a week. ) I have two young employees and would be upset with them if it took them longer than about 3 to 3 1/2 hours with a machine. AND it would cost me too much.

I confess to hiring an 18 yr old to shovel this year. He wasn't very fast, but he could do it every day and I could get out of bed much easier every day.

[Barefoot James]

I talked to onebreezer and he can do two a day (if needed) but is putting 7 yards of material on per site - aeration and filling in low spots. He does 150 to 200 of these properties each year and making big $$$. Sounds like a great operation to me! His dressing material sounds pretty cool too - stumps with roots that have been ground up with dirt/sand attached and composted then sifted into a dark rich loamy material full of OM. About 1 yard per 1000 sf.

[adam.neusbaum]

Originally Posted by bicmudpuppy

Guys, I get "hung up" on precision when it comes to applications, BUT put precision in the right perspective. It isn't about how much product is in a 2"x2" square. It is about how much product is in a 2'x2' square and how the 2'x2' square down the middle of the pass compares to a 2'x2' square on either end of the pattern. I made tree mad when I "suggested" that some broadcast equipment fails this test unless the pattern is overlapped. I have never seen an eco-lawn, and in all honesty, TG's word that it is even is good enough for me. If it was my nickel being spent, I would want a demo and check it myself before I passed them the check, but I am that way about almost anything I expect to perform. If I had to build it, then I have to kick myself (quite good at that too, actually), but I still kick and I don't "settle". If I'm buying something, the trade offs are weighed accordingly and then I make a decision.

My point is that the picture shows some lighter and darker "spots", but overall the distribution (minus the one streak) looks decent. Plants, even turf, don't pull nutrients from a single 1" square. Root zones are wide. The goal is to be as uniform as possible in an overall sense of the application area, not "perfect".

And, even with a drop spreader, if I feel it must be as "perfect" as possible, we do overlapping patterns in two directions. Overkill? maybe, but I feel better.

This is partly why I prefer my Turfco Mete-R-Matic over the Ecolawn. With the Turfco I can easily tell where I've already been & covered. Not so wth the Eco-lawn. Running the two machines on the same yard was maddening until we designated the backyard to Ecolawn(faster groundspeed) and the Turfco does the front.
If I could buy an Ecolawn tomorrow for $2500, I'd do it because of it's speed and ease of use (1/3 the weight of the Turfco) but you can't and when I can purchase a used Turfco for $2100 and less then that's definitely the way for me. Anyone have an Ecolawn they want to sell me for $2500?

[adam.neusbaum]

Conveyor truck- What's that look like? Make/model/Expensive? I've looked at them all (so I think) and find them unaffordable at this time. I'm tired of driving to refill after each job since my F350 dumptruck can only hold a maximum of 7 yards.

[adam.neusbaum]

Believe it or not if you just idle while spreading, you can do even the smallest yards. Whereas with the Turfco's we'd be banging into things and still missing areas.