Soil Conditioner Makes Quick Work of Difficult Landscaping Job

Jim Ettinger says the soil conditioner is a big time-saver.

When it comes to saving time and labor, one of landscape contractor Jim Ettinger’s favorite attachments is the Bobcat® soil conditioner.

His company, Intercity Lawn & Landscape, Sudbury, Ont., owns two Bobcat 873s and an S250 skid-steer loader, a Bobcat 337 excavator and several other attachments (landscape rake, pallet forks, sweeper, tiller, vibratory roller, dozer blade and soil conditioner).

The equipment, purchased from Max Equipment, is used to prepare landscapes, install sod and build retaining walls. It’s also used to build football and soccer fields. That’s the kind of work where the multi-purpose soil conditioner really shines. This versatile attachment can be used to windrow and separate rocks and debris, grade and level topsoil, tear out old sod and pulverize clods of dirt.

The Bobcat soil conditioner attachment prepares high school field prior to laying sod.

On one challenging project, the soil conditioner proved its value in extending an existing football field and building both a new football field and a soccer field at a high school. The fields were to be built on top of fill material. His first order of business was to use the 84-in.-wide soil conditioner to clean up about three tons of rock, brick and other debris. Crossing the sites in two different directions, he completed that job in a day and a half.

Next, he brought in about 3,000 cu. yd. of topsoil, using the soil conditioner to spread it, while filling in low spots and grading off high areas.

“We were able to control the depth of the tool without getting into the underlying clay,” he reports. In four days of criss-crossing the fields with the soil conditioner, they were ready for sodding. “Originally, I thought we’d still have to drag the fields with a chain harrow to prepare the bedding for sod, but that wasn’t necessary,” he explains.

However, the project was unexpectedly delayed for six weeks. During that time repeated construction traffic over the area required a second treatment with the soil conditioner prior to laying the sod. “If we didn’t have the soil conditioner, we would have had to go back in with a dozer to re-grade the fields,” he says. “I have no idea how we would have done this particular job as quickly and efficiently without the soil conditioner.”