Middlebuster

[Anonymous Poster]

I have seen many treads on the uses of middle busters. I want to use one for cutting trenches for 4" drainage pipe. I think it perfect ( comments ). I think I want one. During the discussions I have heard pricing at about $100-$150. I live in california the "bendover state". I am getting pricing at around $250 ( Gearmore ). Is there a place on-line to buy these at lower costs.

Chrisfromcal

 

[hermit]

Northern tool shows them in their catalog for about $90 plus freight. I built one out of some pieces of an old cultivator which works pretty well as a subsoiler but I doubt that it would work very well to make a trench for 4" pipe as it doesn't pull the soil out of the trench very well. If you don't have a lot of pipe to run you might want to consider renting a chain trencher. You can cut a lot of trench in a short amount of time if your soil isn't very rocky. Good luck.

 

[TBone]

Chris,

I have a homemade middle buster that I have used for trenching for small water pipe. It does pretty good but as hermit said it doesn't throw the dirt out of the hole very well. About 10" is about all I have ever gotten out of it and that's with somebody standing on the plow to force it in the ground.

Also if you plow in sod it tends to build up in front of the plow (at least it does on mine). One time it built up so much it bent the guard on my pto. Good luck!

TBone

 

[Bird]

<font color=blue>About 10" is about all I have ever gotten out of it and that's with somebody standing on the plow to force it in the ground</font color=blue>

TBone, with a middle buster, I never add any weight nor need to. Shorten your top link to aim the point more downward and it should pull itself on down.

 

[TBone]

Thanks Bird, I'll try that. I'm plum ignorant on plows.

TBone

 

[Bird]

TBone, you'd like the bottom of the plow to be running level when it's down to the depth you want so you can shorten the top link to go deeper, lengthen it to go shallower, then just let the 3-point down all the way (float). Naturally, it's easier to adjust on the fly if you have a hydraulic top link.

 

[toddwulf]

OK Experts. I've got 12 Acres, most of which is overgrown (12"-24") hay type grass. If I want to prep my fields for either grwoing something, or just to keep the weeds from becoming a fire hazard, do I:

1. Mow with a Bush Hog
2. Plow with a bottom plow
3. Smooth with Box Scraper (with or without points)
Or a disc?

Or
1. Plow with a bottom Plow
2. Smooth with a Box Scraper
Or Disc

Or
1. Do everything with Box Scraper first using the points to dig and turn and then smooth?

In other words, do I really need all these implements to turn and smooth the field. Seems a Bottom Plow would be the least expensive way to go and I imagine I'd have to cut the grass again after Spring growth. Future Plans include Horses (2) and grazing pastures. Future Future plans may include more acerage with an equestrian facility to lease to some Horse folks.

Thanks in advance. Todd in Placerville.

 

[rdln]

I replaced my potato plow blade with a twisted chisel plow blade the mounting hole spacing was the same. The blade can be found at farm supply stores. They are about 3.5in wide and if soil is right moisture, ground speed...and so on the dirt will slide up along the blade and windrow to the side, but as you may have figured some shovel work is still required.

 

[Bird]

Only Experts? I've heard an "ex" is a has been and a "spurt" is a drip under pressure, so maybe I qualify?/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

You can do any of the things you mentioned; some just work better and faster than others.

If all you want is to keep down the fire hazard, I'd just mow it short with a brush hog. If you want to plant something or get rid of the vegetation entirely, then I'd go with the bottom plow (preferably after mowing, although it may not be absolutely necessary to mow first). And you can smooth it with a box blade, but the disc would certainly be better and faster. And of course, a tiller would be a lot slower than a disc, but would get even better results.

And some may recommend spraying with Round-Up first if you really want to get rid of all existing vegetation.