Breaking new ground. What a PITA.

[Raul-02]

I recently set about preparing new ground that I know hadn't been worked for better than a century. 47HP 4wd tractor with a 14" two-bottom dearborn plow. The roots and rocks and muck defeated me. There were ancient Grape roots (those things are tough), hundred year old maple roots, Siberian Elm, and walnut.
So I took a ripper to it and that made a complete mess of things. I then used a grapple to get the roots out. That made a bigger mess. Some roots were 6" in diameter. Now I got holes hills and it's a mess. I'll take my Howard rotovator to it and see if I can use that to bring it back to more or less level.
No box blade, no rear blade, no land plane.

 

[KiotiKowboy]

When you finish ... I've got a 20 acre section you can work on.

 

[bmaverick]

I recently set about preparing new ground that I know hadn't been worked for better than a century. 47HP 4wd tractor with a 14" two-bottom dearborn plow. The roots and rocks and muck defeated me. There were ancient Grape roots (those things are tough), hundred year old maple roots, Siberian Elm, and walnut.
So I took a ripper to it and that made a complete mess of things. I then used a grapple to get the roots out. That made a bigger mess. Some roots were 6" in diameter. Now I got holes hills and it's a mess. I'll take my Howard rotovator to it and see if I can use that to bring it back to more or less level.
No box blade, no rear blade, no land plane.

1. We are just days before winter begins. Why oh why are you ripping ground now ?

2. Double ganged notched disc harrow. Likewise, my ground out here had not been touched in 70 years. This tool ripped and shredded everything under the surface. Just a few passes and it began to look like great soil again.

Sub-soil 8-inches depth.

TADA, no more wild grape roots !

 

[Raul-02]

Why oh why are you ripping ground now ?

Roots. I'm ripping the roots so that I can work the soil. Plus I have a water issue and I'm breaking the hardpan hoping it'll perk down.
Never done this before.
I have a pile of mushroom compost I want to work in before the snows.

 

[Raul-02]

I wish I'd seen this video forst

 

[Gee Ray]

This is just like remodeling a house. Make a mess then make it pretty. Use your ripper and make a N-S then a E-W grid to bring up everything that you can. Use your grapple to remove every thing you can. It will be a chore. Find an old railroad tie or piece of an I-beam to make a drag and smooth it back out. Then try to plow it again. I would not use the rotovator until every thing was picked out.

 

[Raul-02]

I wonder if I should load the loader bucket for more weight

 

[Raul-02]

Find an old railroad tie or piece of an I-beam to make a drag and smooth it back ou

Roger. got it thx

 

[ehcrain]

Did something very similar this past summer with my 39 hp kubota. Started with a two gang notched disc. Very little impact.
Sprayed with roundup and mowed as low as possible. Once that was done my disc started to cut. Grabbed a two bottom plow and turned all of it over east to west. Disc once same direction and then 90 degrees opposite. That second time was horrible bouncing across the field. I finally gave in and bought a pto tiller. That was my best bet. I was wasting time prior to using the tiller.
I was lucky that i wasn't fighting any vines and only had to find a few rocks. I plan on doing more this summer with these steps.
Cut low
Spray and let die off
Tiller a few times in low gear
Wide drag for leveling

 

[stuckmotor]

One of the stories I grew up with is of my great grand-father watching my grand-father break a new ground in the 1920's. Every time the mule pulled the turn plow under a root Granddad had to pull it back and lift it over. My great grand-father turned my great grandma and said he'd never heard a family member curse so much.

 

[jeff9366]

Your T-B-N PROFILE does not show a 47-hp tractor. (kioti ck2610hst)


Some roots were 6" in diameter.

If you have a ~~4,000 pound~~ bare weight tractor a Bucket Spade will take out those roots.

I was excavating grape vine roots and Palmettos four layers deep with my Bucket Spade yesterday.

MORE: Front-End Loader - BUCKET SPADE TODAY // FEL BUCKET ATTACHMENT


Should I load the loader bucket for more weight?

No. Use a Bucket Spade to concentrate standard bucket weight in 18" of working width.

 

[oosik]

When we broke ground for our garden it was with a TroyBilt 8hp rototiller. Garden area was too tight for my tractor. 80 x 120. Besides I only had a rear blade at that time.

"Horse" was an apt name. That tiller bucked, galloped, chewed its way thru that unbroken ground just like a year old stallion. We found ALL the old barbed wire also. If it wasn't barbed wire wound around the shaft - it was the knee high weeds.

Ended up being an excellent garden but not without several hours of tilling.

 

[Randy Gann]

Raul it seems to me that you most of the hard work done. If you have broken all the ground and removed all the roots all that is left is removing the remaining grass and clumps and smoothing things out. If you don’t have a disc as someone else mentioned you can make a drag to smooth things out and remove clumps. Some chain link fence with a log or heavy beam can do a good job.

 

[Thomas]

Sometimes gotta dig and tear to have out come.

 

[oosik]

Did someone say "drag" - yes, I heard it. This is what I made with some junk lumber. Notice the spikes on the leading/trailing 4x4's. I pull this with my ATV. It does a wonderful job of soothing out broken ground. Makes a whole lot of dust also.

 

[MossRoad]

Your T-B-N PROFILE does not show a 47-hp tractor. (kioti ck2610hst)


...

Maybe he borrowed it.

 

[Fxfymn413]

Do you have a tooth bar on your bucket? I have used that to dig up roots, rocks, etc. while prepping soil for grass. I found that raking the soil backwards will reveal roots and then going forward will rake them up. Go slow to avoid tractor damage.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I recently set about preparing new ground that I know hadn't been worked for better than a century. 47HP 4wd tractor with a 14" two-bottom dearborn plow. The roots and rocks and muck defeated me. There were ancient Grape roots (those things are tough), hundred year old maple roots, Siberian Elm, and walnut.
So I took a ripper to it and that made a complete mess of things. I then used a grapple to get the roots out. That made a bigger mess. Some roots were 6" in diameter. Now I got holes hills and it's a mess. I'll take my Howard rotovator to it and see if I can use that to bring it back to more or less level.
No box blade, no rear blade, no land plane.

I got me self a little rig for that. A Vermeer vibratory cable plow. This little machine will rip through things that will stop a 200 hp tractor in its tracks.

 

[bmaverick]

Did something very similar this past summer with my 39 hp kubota. Started with a two gang notched disc. Very little impact.
Sprayed with roundup and mowed as low as possible. Once that was done my disc started to cut. Grabbed a two bottom plow and turned all of it over east to west. Disc once same direction and then 90 degrees opposite. That second time was horrible bouncing across the field. I finally gave in and bought a pto tiller. That was my best bet. I was wasting time prior to using the tiller.
I was lucky that i wasn't fighting any vines and only had to find a few rocks. I plan on doing more this summer with these steps.
Cut low
Spray and let die off
Tiller a few times in low gear
Wide drag for leveling

I hear you on the ganged notched disc. It will split those wild grape roots that are awful like navy ropes. The issue is, the tiller would just jam up if the field still has those awful wild grape roots.

Mowing indeed will be the best way to gain advantage.

He can't spray and still get the mushroom compost in before the snows. So, spraying is off the list. Still mowing till he nearly hits dirt and a good winter freeze would work well also.

I got 1 more year of gang notched disc harrow work before brining in a PTO tiller. My place once was a 3,000 Christmas tree field. So many roots and stumps. Stumps are now gone, roots being chopped to mush. Some roots up to 5-inches in diameter.

 

[Raul-02]

he'd never heard a family member curse so much.

Can you imagine doing that with a single mule? Long ago when I was young dumb and full of C#@ I tried clearing virgin land. the plan was to start with the trees then the stumps then the roots then the rocks. The only mechanized tool I had was a chain saw.
I never got past the trees.