Tiller or Disk or Cultivator or Rake or Pulverizer

Mitigator33 · Feb 25, 2011

OK...so I am a new 50 acre land owner that will be maintaining about 25 acres. The rest is hardwoods. We will plant about 4-5 acres in grass (2 acres finish mow the rest bush hog). We also will be planting a few small gardens and some food plots. The acreage is bordered on two sides by 2,000 acres of national forrest.

So what attachments do we need? We will plant grass and other seed about once a year. The rest of the time we will be planting food plots or cutting fire breaks and trails.

Trying to decide between the rototiller, Cultivator & Drag Harrow, Rake or Pulverizer will also be getting a roller.

Thanks for any help you can give. We have a NH Workmaster 55

digger2 · Feb 25, 2011

If the ground you are working up is in decent shape,and by that i mean not too many rocks or tree roots,i'd go for the rototiller,mostly because you could cut youir implement purchase down to one unit.As far as gardens go,in my opinion nothing does the job better than a rototiller.But the first time tilling will take awhile,they are somewhat slow,especially if you are doing alot of ground.
A word of advice,buy a good unit.Although there are many brands i myself would reccomend a Woods.They are made in a couple of different
"grades" for everything from a homeowners needs right on up to ones that are made for somebody who uses a tiller regularly.Mine is a Woods model that is a "middle of the road" costwise unit and i can tell you it has swallowed more than its share of buried junk and it keeps on going.
Another thought would be to rent a tiller for the first year around,then decide if you want something else.You might decide then that you dont need a tiller and could save yourself a few $$$.
digger2

DAY · Feb 25, 2011

The condition of the acreage will dictate what equipment you need. Is it currently in production? (plowed, planted in corn/beans/hay) Or is it 'virgin' soil? If so, a moldboard plow, followed by a disc, followed by a harrow, followed by a grass seeder and cultipacker are called for. Why are you planting grass every year? What "other seed"? Hay fields/lawns can last for years.
I'm not sure how a food plot differs from a garden, and why have "a few"? If you have deer (and groundhogs and any number of other pests), you will want to fence in the garden, and get it as close to the house as possible.

I agree with digger2, a tiller is probably the first choice of attachments for soil prep. But before I opened the checkbook, I'd talk to a local farmer, and see what he recommends, and how much will he charge to do it? A couple of hundred dollars won't even buy one used piece of equipment, but it WILL get you several hours of professional land preparation!

Mitigator33 · Feb 25, 2011

The acreage currently is overgrown privet hedge and small sapling with some mature trees. We will be getting a company to come in with the shredders to mulch all the privet hedge and small stuff and leave the mature trees. It has been overgrown for 10+ years and has not been used for growth of anything. I have had some soil test done and had recommendations for what would be good. Overall good soil conditions. There may be a good number of roots present so that concerns me. However there is a 3 acre field that is cleared currently with no trees that has just always been a field of hay. It will remain.

Once the clearing is complete we will be planting some finish mow grass and some grass to be bush hogged where the privet and small trees once were. This will only be used for aesthetics for the property.

The backside is where the hardwoods and bottoms are and we will be planting the food plots for game (Turkey/Deer) and we may have a small garden for personal use closer to the houses (2 houses me and my Brother).

So mainly the use we will require will be to plant the grass seed the first year and any food plots then thereafter planting food plots 1-3 acre every year.

We are weekend warriors and do not do this for a living. Just something to bring in more game to our property or close to it and to have nice looking acreage on the front side near the houses.

digger2 · Feb 25, 2011

Yeah,i never even thought about hiring a farmer Day,good idea!!!!
What part of eastern Pa. are you in ?

Mitigator33 · Feb 25, 2011

Also. Call us crazy but we want to do it on our own. Pride thing for us to say we did it and learn a lot along the way.

sweettractors · Feb 25, 2011

Mitigator33 said:
The acreage currently is overgrown privet hedge and small sapling with some mature trees. We will be getting a company to come in with the shredders to mulch all the privet hedge and small stuff and leave the mature trees. It has been overgrown for 10+ years and has not been used for growth of anything. I have had some soil test done and had recommendations for what would be good. Overall good soil conditions. There may be a good number of roots present so that concerns me. However there is a 3 acre field that is cleared currently with no trees that has just always been a field of hay. It will remain.

Once the clearing is complete we will be planting some finish mow grass and some grass to be bush hogged where the privet and small trees once were. This will only be used for aesthetics for the property.

The backside is where the hardwoods and bottoms are and we will be planting the food plots for game (Turkey/Deer) and we may have a small garden for personal use closer to the houses (2 houses me and my Brother).

So mainly the use we will require will be to plant the grass seed the first year and any food plots then thereafter planting food plots 1-3 acre every year.

We are weekend warriors and do not do this for a living. Just something to bring in more game to our property or close to it and to have nice looking acreage on the front side near the houses.

You probably should go with a disc plow to contend with roots and trash undergrowth. Then use a disc harrow and cultipacker to finish the job. Ken Sweet

DAY · Feb 25, 2011

Mitigator33 said:
Also. Call us crazy but we want to do it on our own. Pride thing for us to say we did it and learn a lot along the way.

I meant to say hire the expensive/ high skilled jobs- like the mulching of the privets, that are a one-time job. For the other stuff a CUT is a great do-it-all machine. Even more fun, if it has a loader and a backhoe!:laughing:

PapaPerk · Feb 25, 2011

Sounds like you will have tree and bush stumps in the ground you are tilling. Is that correct? If so a tiller will not work well. I would plow and disc. Getting the stumps and roots out is key. Once the land is prepped... then a tiller will be the fast ticket to great gardens year after year.

If you have stumps... I would have a farmer plow and disc it... you pick all the roots out.... etc. Then buy and tiller and do it yourself from then on. It's nice to do everything yourself but a person still needs to be reasonable about things... unless you wanna buy lots of equipment... etc.

Mitigator33 · Feb 25, 2011

We will not have any stumps. He is taking all them out when he does the privet hedge and thrash removal. The ground will be leveled however there is a good chance of a lot of roots.