Advice On Plows Requested

[HamishMacCheap]

I think frequently about how to do a better/more efficient job in food plot preparations. I use a chisel plow (scarifier in local terms) to break up the soil before using a disc harrow. Since the ground is red clay, it can be exceptionally difficult to break up when the ground is hard as a cast iron skillet in the summer. Also, using the chisel plow leaves clumps of dirt, some large, which require repeated passes with a disc harrow to break up.

I am giving thought to the use of a moldboard plow/bottom plow but even though I have many hours using tractors and implements, I have zero experience using a bottom plow.

I would probably use a John Deere 3043D tractor (gear transmission, 4WD, ballast in the rear tires and suitcase weights on the front) for use with a plow. The 3043D is probably somewhere above 40 HP, maybe 41 or 42. A second option is a Kubota L3302 about the same tractor as the 3043D but probably around 31 or so HP.

My desire is to turn the soil so that when I run a disc harrow over the food plots, I get the best seed bed before planting. I guess this is generally everyone's intent when they use a plow. I think less than five or so acres of food plots is a reasonable estimate.

Will either tractor pull a two bottom plow? Would a large single bottom plow be more practical than a smaller two bottom plow? I don't know how to size plows, advice on that would be very helpful.

Please include in any responses things which I have not thought to ask, which are probably more than a few.

Thanks in advance for guidance.

Hamish

 

[oosik]

My soil has little or no clay. However - late summer it can be just about hard as bedrock. Spring tilling will be OK if I'm going to do spring planting. By late summer it will - again - be too hard to plant.

My land plane has seven scarifiers across the seven foot implement. I drag it across the garden area and reduce everything to small clods. Then I use my disk and - hopefully - develop a plantable area.

If I were serious - I'd be getting some brand of heavy 3-point rototiller.

 

[oldnslo]

40 HP should pull 2-14’s or possibly 2-16’s if and repeat if it isn’t to light and spins. Moldboard will usually leave a smoother finish vs chisel plow. We always plowed in the fall and then finish till and plant in spring but have never lived in the south so not sure what works there vs here in the north.

Tire type will also make a difference in what you can pull. R1 - ag tread will provide the best traction for tillage.

 

[HamishMacCheap]

I'd be getting some brand of heavy 3-point rototiller.

oosik - I think there are far too many rocks present to use a rotary tiller.

 

[oldnslo]

oosik - I think there are far too many rocks present to use a rotary tiller.

What size rocks are you talking about? Softball, basketball, bigger?

If to many rocks you had best get a trip beam or auto-reset type mold board plow and only plow when conditions are right and not when clay is shiny coming off the bottoms.

 

[jumpin]

A few of points: 1) moldboard plow sizes are coverage measured perpendicular to the direction of travel. Common sizes are 14" and 16"; 2) a 40 hp tractor should pull a 2-14" plow; 3)moldboard plowing also turns plant material and weed seeds under the soil where it decomposes and interferes less with the next crop; 4)proper plow and tractor setup is critical to successful plowing-YT is your friend and 5) plow parts do wear and need replacing/refacing, especially the shares; 6) 3Point plows are more convenient for your size tractors, especially if you have "draft control"; 7)ditto on trip bottoms if 3 PT mounted, pull plows can have a trip hitch that serves the same purpose.

Hope this helps. Pics!