Suggestions on which implements I need.

[Steve_Taylor]

I just recently purchased a Mahindra 2810HST with FEL and box scraper. So far this has worked well for snow removal considering that we only get 6-8” at a time and it doesn’t come very frequently.

In the spring I want to start a vegetable garden in an area that will allow up to about 5,000 sq. ft. This land has been worked before by the previous owner, but I don’t know how long ago that was. I have a 5hp Troy-Built rototiller that has a hard time breaking through the compacted soil. The cheapest thing for me to try would be to use the box scraper rippers and then follow with the rototiller. Alternatively, I could get a used two bottom mouldboard plow and follow that with a lift disk or again just use the rototiller. Another way would be to get a small chisel plow, but they seem to be expensive and I haven’t been able to find any used ones. Finally, the most expensive option would be to buy a 3pt rototiller which would make quick work of it but would probably be overkill for the small area that I have. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Pallet forks are another question. Paynes 800# for $290, Gearmore 1000# for $380, or build my own. I have done a bit of welding in the past but am pretty rusty at it. These may be a good first project and I could save a little bit of money here.

I think a chipper would be something I could use and the Jinma 6” has been talked about here a lot. Does anybody have the 4” model? I would think that would be sufficient for my needs.

Finally, I have a lot of pine needles to pick up from a small lawn area, naturally landscaped(i.e. mostly dirt) area, and lots of driveway. How well would a landscape rake work for this. I am also considering a vacuum such as the Trac-Vac. The vacuums are all design to attach to a MMM which I don’t have and really don’t need. My lawn are is quite small and there are numerous trees and other obstacles that would make it difficult to mow with the tractor anyway. I am thinking I could fabricate some kind of ground hugging manifold that would allow the vac to pickup the pine needles. Any thoughts?

 

[Soundguy]

Disc and plow are a good combination.. roto tiller makes a good bed too.. depends on what you want to spend, and what time factor or how many inplements you want to own.

Soundguy

 

[RalphVa]

I'd think that a landscape rake would work pretty well on the pine needles, if your lawn is too big to rake by hand. Pine needles aren't too bad to rake by hand, if you don't have too huge an area.

Using your box blade on edge to break up the garden soil before rototilling might be a good way to get down below the hard pan. Another thing to get might be a toothbar on your FEL; could rip the soil with it on edge. Or, if you happen to see an ad or hear about an old soil ripper, they would get down around 6 or so inches. Attached is a pic of mine that a friend gave me. They're basically little chisel plows, 7 of them. Cost me $75 in materials to convert it to a 3pt; my friend did this after I bought the materials at TSC. A 3 pt rototiller will run you about $1100 for a new one. Might check around for used ones, but check them carefully before buying.

The local dealer has MacKissic 3 pt shredder/chippers for $1699. This is close to most prices I've seen for the smaller versions.

If your tractor is at least about 35 hp, you might want to look at some bed hillers to make raised rows. Some are at this site: http://www.buctraco.com. I'm looking into just getting a couple of disc hillers from them and clamping them onto the 2x2 bar in place of the chisels on my soil ripper. Trying to figure out what clamps I need for it. They have the best prices on the disc hillers than a couple other places I've looked. Think I can create raised rows on my little JD with two of these mounted right behind the tires.

Wish I could figure out a way to convert a couple Gravely rotary plows to mount on the 3 pt to do raised rows. They'll do it without much hp required. No one seems to make them. BCS makes a look-alike, but no one makes them for the 3 pt.

Ralph

 

[RalphVa]

For those who haven't seen a Gravely rotary plow, here's a pic.

It's not mounted on the tractor in this pic. The end that does mount on the PTO is sitting on that black bucket.

Ralph

 

[Dartagnan]

Regarding the landscape rake and pine needles:

Partially will depend on the species of tree, my white pine needles are only about 2 - 2.5 inches long, so the rake ends up picking up a lot of dirt with them, as I don't have any grass yet can't tell you how it behaves when they are on top of lawn. What I can tell you, if something happened to my rake, I would be finding another one asap.

Dart

 

[zipp669]

Use your knives on your box scraper to rip up the ground. Then run a tiller over it &i f you can, put weight on the tiller.
I would not waste my money on a 3 point disc. nor would I with a plow.
that tiller wont be overkill once you use it. I have a 450 JD & made a weight bracket for the top & can put 600 lbs of weight on it. Makes my 4100JD blow black smoke the whole time. I can get dirt coming up over the top of the tiller. You will be amazed. this goes in the ground about 12 - 14". If you do buy the tiller think of the way to pay it off, offer your tilling services to others in your area. YOu will get way more use from the tiller than the disc. I have one that just sits, actually 3. the disc does not go in the ground deep enough to make a good garden seedbed.
Buy a good set of forks. You can find some out there for $500. Look on Ebay. But get a 48" set.

I personally had a chipper & it was a waste of my money. You can go buy wood chips if you need them cheaper.

Vaccuum wont do real well on pine needles unless you have like a dethatcher to work them up first. Actually I think your best bet may be a the landscape rake. 1st thing I think that thing may be useful for. This way it will grab enough of the needles that you can get to the end & lift the 3 point & go get another pile. I use the dethatcher & the darn thin is on front of a mower & it is always getting plugged & the tines just dont clean out as well.

Hope this helps
zipp

 

[RalphVa]

Shredders/chippers are a waste of money if you want them to make your own wood chips/mulch unless you have a source for to make gobs of it. However, they're great for getting rid of huge amounts of limbs, prunings, leaves, etc. if you can't or don't have the space to burn these. I was constantly using my Troy Bilt in Baton Rouge on 2 acres because of lots of trees casting off their limbs all over the place. Used a little electric shredder a lot on my 1/3 acre in NJ grinding up prunings. Only run the Troy Bilt a couple times/year here in Va.

I buy dump truck loads of mulch for when I need it. Don't get near enough from shredding my own. I use my own for weed control in my garden, as I know what went into them. Only use the bought stuff around decorative shrubbery and trees and my fruit trees.

Ralph

 

[PBinWA]

I know Oregon gives a state tax credit for buying chippers in order to dissuade people from burning. Check your tax laws - California may do the same. Makes the chipper proposal more affordable.

 

[Steve_Taylor]

In this area of California we are not allowed to burn at all in the summer. The fire danger is too high. We are also required to clear all loose combustible materials from around all structures for a minimum of 30' in the early summer. I've heard that this may increase to 100' this year. We have lots of longer pine needles, like 4-6", and I also get a lot of fallen branches all over. Also this winter's storms have left a lot of fairly big tree branches that were broken off or damage so much that I had to remove them. I don't have a pickup or a trailer so I can't get rid of them easily. That's why I thought a chipper might be the best bet.

 

[SteveM]

I have a $70 trenching plow I bought at TSC, basically a single bottom V plow that is perfect for breaking up sod into deep furrows, for further tilling. Much easier on your tiller to break up (and turn over) the dirt before chopping with tiller. Cheap too!