Till or Plow?

[HiTechTed]

A couple of years ago, we purchased 6 acres of farm land surrounding our property. Long story short, I let it go to weeds and just mowed it, just as a quick "fix." I would like to smooth it out and plant grass on it all. It was last planted in beans so it's not as rough as the corn would have been, but it still busts my kidneys when I mow out there. So here are my questions:

First, can I till it all, or do I need to plow/disc it? The ground is rocky in the front acre or two, I have removed a great deal of grapefruit sized and larger rocks but I think I have most of the big ones out of there.

I had a local farmer offer to plant alfalfa on all of the land on his dime, but I have to let him harvest it for 4 or 5 years to recover his money, so he says. I would rather do it myself and be in control of it all myself than to hire it out. In that time period you never know what you might want to do.

Second, what would be a good grass to plant out there? It's basically open to the sun, with large trees on the South side. The North side is bordered by the remaining farmed land which will be planted in beans this year. I'm in Indiana if that helps, and the ground here is what the lady from the Conservation district called "stone lick" if I'm remembering correctly. It drains extremely well, it's sandy and of course, has rocks as I described above. The rear 4 acres borders a river and the land back there is healthier looking, just from digging around back there and observing it first hand.

I don't currently have any animals but my wife wants miniature horses at some point. If I could plant something that they would like AND it looked good, that would be great. The horses are not 100% going to happen, so I'm not basing what I plant on them, but I just wanted to throw that out there just in case. Our main goal for now is to smooth out the ground and plant something out there that's uniform rather than let the weeds dominate it all.

I have literally tons of good soil I could spread on the land if that would help. I'm sure I need to do some kind of soil test(s) but for now I just kind of want some expert opinions. I'm hoping that tilling would be a suitable option. It would give me a reason to buy a tiller this spring (which I could also use on our garden), plus give me seat time on the tractor.

My current equipment is: Kubota L3400, 5' rock rake, 5' rear blade, 5' brush hog and a 7 bushel (I think it's 7 bushel, it's fairly large) 3pt broadcast spreader.

I might be able to concoct a way to water it all, that's a topic for another thread. I suppose initially I would have to rely on mother nature.

What would you experienced guys do here? All opinions and ideas are welcome, and if you could offer up economical ideas (such as what's the best seed for the money), that would be great as well as ideas when to till or plow and when to plant, etc. All ideas are welcome here!

 

[sweettractors]

A refurbished 2-12 tripbeam plow at $450 and a New 5 1/2 ft lift disc at $795 would be one option for getting the field ready and use the disc to incorporate the seed. A second option would be a 5 ft geardrive roto tiller for $1595. The tiller would more used friendly and would probably be faster. Ken Sweet

 

[Agrantina]

My 2 cents.. I put in a new food plot this year on about 1 ac. It was grow up tall and had been about 5 yrs since it was just pasture. What I did was cut as low as possible and then sprayed roundup waited a few weeks and cut again LOW then sprayed 2 weeks later. After that I had a desert almost..I then disc 3 times to get it broken up real good. Discing was over 3 week peroid. Then it was ready to plant- soil was very nice.. NOW I want a tiller I think I could have cut my work in half with one---- but what about all that seat time I would have missed In my opinion I think a tiller would have done the work if not better?

AndyG

 

[sweettractors]

We have the 5 ft Geardrive tiller in stock for $1595. Cheap shipping. Lower tax implications for some who purchase before first of year. Ken Sweet

 

[powerstroke444e]

Guess it depends on what you want a yard or even looking pasture. Might be fairly cheap to have a neighbor farmer disc the ground for you then you use your tractor to pull a drag over it to level it up then use your broad cast seeder to plant grass see with, then drag it again to get the seed to grow.
Large farm discs will go in the ground better than the light ones you can pull with your tractor. Tilling six acres don't sound like much fun to me with all the rocks your said you have.

 

[sweettractors]

Guess it depends on what you want a yard or even looking pasture. Might be fairly cheap to have a neighbor farmer disc the ground for you then you use your tractor to pull a drag over it to level it up then use your broad cast seeder to plant grass see with, then drag it again to get the seed to grow.
Large farm discs will go in the ground better than the light ones you can pull with your tractor. Tilling six acres don't sound like much fun to me with all the rocks your said you have.

To get any kind of decent germination rate, you should use a cultipacker to put in seed. Seeds are getting too expensive to work too deep or too shallow to come up. Cultipackers get you as close to 100% germination as you can achieve. Priced White Dutch Clover yesterday at $2.10 per pound. Ken Sweet

 

[HiTechTed]

The rocks are only a problem in the upper 1 or 2 acres, the remaining land is pretty smooth. I don't mind the seat time, but yes the rocks might be an issue in that 1 acre or so...I'll just have to spend a day gathering rocks I guess.

As for the cultipacker, I have heard people say that they drag a post or even sections of farm fencing to cover the seeds. I'm not sure I'll be able to swing a new tiller + a cultipacker but I realize it would be the best way to do the job. I'm not really sure about what I should plant yet, so any ideas there would be welcome. I hope to get it all worked out on paper before this spring.

 

[ITHINKICAN]

We have a neighbor friend who is unable to do much with his land because it is too rocky. He's bringing in dirt to try and cover them up. Do you have any pictures?

Our next implement is a rototiller. Hopefully by Spring/Summer.

 

[Ranger Rick]

It looks like you are planning ahead on this project. The best time to plant grass seed early fall. That way the grass plant will have plenty of time and moisture to establish a good root system before the hot dry summer. So you will have plenty of time to till it up and pick up all of the rocks.:laughing: As for the best type of grass seed to plant in your situation I would check with your local Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service. I have found the Cooperative Extension service people to be a great resource of information. Good luck. Rick

 

[powerstroke444e]

Also check with local wildlife org's as around here Pheasant's Forever has grass seeders they will let members use for free. Sweet I agree on the the cultipacker but poor people have poor ways, I would hate to guess how much clover small plots and drowned out spots with a drag harrow and atv.