Tiller tiller vs disc/harrow

[cisco]

I've seen a number of posts, with photo attachments re. the field results, of tillers and of discs with a chain harrow attached (trailing the discs). Results look kind of similar, especially after a few passes with the disc/harrow. The tiller obviously does a better job on the first pass, but seems more sensitive to rocks, etc. I would assume a good (high tine count) tiller does a better job of finely chopping soil, but is the difference worth the price - discs and chain harrows (or the chain link fence alternative) are distinctly cheaper, and unlike tillers, not much that you can't easily see on inspection of a piece of used equipment can go wrong with them - used tillers are another story. What factors (such as what you intend to plant, soil type, depth of soil disruption) do our experienced forum members weigh when making a selection?
Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[radman]

Tillers work great if you want a very nice, finely tilled soil. In general they can till deeper than a disc and mix existing compost/material better. Most of the time the amount of land tilled is relatively small. The down side to a tiller compared to a disc, is that a tiller takes relatively more hp, covers smaller area of ground in the same amount of time (ie. not as wide and travels much slower) and in general costs more.
If your looking for the ideal soil to plant a garden a tiller does a very nice job but a disc could probably also do a good job. Discs work best in previously cultivated soil. A disc would not work well in pasture, grass or other compacted, undisturbed soil.
In all a tiller probably works best for most people with compact tractors in nearly all situations compared to a disc provided you don't have large areas to till.
For a period of time in the early 70's, tillers were breifly popular for large Ag tractors. Farmers quickly realized they required lots of hp, didn't cover acres very fast, were prone to high repair from the stress of higher hp, and they wore out relatively quickly from wear on the tines. You can't even find a tiller for large Ag tractors now.

 

[Kodiak]

radman:
Out here in western Washington, you see quite a few 12 foot, and sometimes two 12 footers running in staggered tandem, behind large ag tractors. Both the large veggie farmers and the big floral operations use them. they seem to eat up a
60 acre field in 4 to 5 hours.

 

[radman]

I live in the midwest. Mostly corn, soybeans and wheat. I could see them used for veggies, flowers and the like. Relatively deep till, and very nice planting bed. Here I don't see any large tillers. Here most discs are 25'-36' in size and more acres need to be covered per hour for medium and larger sized farms. On our farm we rarely use a disc. We use no-til planting for our soybeans and corn. Minimal to no tillage is used prior to planting. Tillers in our area had a brief popularity which was all but gone in a few years.

 

[Alan L.]

I bought a disk harrow because it was cheaper and I have several acres to get grass growing on. Mostly, it is heavy clay, sterile soil that came from digging our tank (pond). The small disk does a pretty good job but only works about the top 4 to 6 inches of soil. Larger ones do better. It takes couple of passes to get the results needed, but its faster than a tiller, and does get the job done. I paid $459 at Tractor Supply for my disk.

 

[rf33]

Lotsa good information in the previous posts. I think that the general sentiment is that a tiller does a better job of getting very finely divided soil on the first pass, but is relatively slow going. A disc on the other hand goes much faster, but often requires a few passes to get ground nicely tilled up. I am not sure about the tillers going deeper than the discs, as most of the tillers I have seen only have about 6" tines, but it might be right.? I definitely do not agree that a discs are not well suited to breaking up untouched ground, but it does take a heavy disc and a larger tractor to get through it. I have disced some very rough and never tilled ground with my 8' Tuffline disc, and can assure you that it worked pretty well, and I bet that I would still be out there trying to get it done with a tiller.

To sum it up, I think that for a small tractor, the tiller will do a better job, and for a larger heavier tractor, capable of pulling a heavy (150 lbs per foot or more) disc, the disc will be able to cover alot more ground in a given timeframe. The small discs I have seen really seem way too light to get into the ground and do much good.

My disc weighs around 1200 lbs (8' model), and I am really thinking about trading it on a 9' 6" model which weighs 2300 lbs. The weight per foot of a disc is a critical measure of how well it can penetrate tough soil conditions. Check out the discs from Monroe Tuffline. Mine puts up with quite a bit of abuse with nary a complaint. If you have clay in your soil, you might want to consider a scraper kit for the discs too.

 

[wichiwichi]

If you want to see some massive tillers for ag use check out Northwest Tillers Inc. If I remember right from the brochures they will till 14" in one pass. Lots of horsepower is required though. If I remember correctly they recomend 15HP per foot.

 

[TerryinMD]

Cisco,

I am using both....

The reason being is that I cannot get the soil groomed properly for our garden. The tiller leaves some ridges which are difficult to work in our situation. So, I got the disc harrow to smooth out the ridges and bumps in our large garden bed.

We have a large market garden that takes a lot of time to maintain. Weeding, watering, etc. So, to lessen the amount of maintenance, we started using silt fabric between our vegetable and herb rows to keep the weeds down and allow for less water loss. Last year was the first year in which we used the fabric and it was quite successful. Having the soil with a consistent flat surface helps when laying the rows out. So, having the harrow really helped us out. The CFO was not convinced at first, but is now a believer.

Terry

 

[radman]

I agree with rf33 that some discs can dig fairly deep, but those usually are fairly heavy and not very wide discs and pulled by large Ag tractors. The discs used by road construction crews would be an example. On our farms if we use our 28' disc on hard ground, we leave the wings of the disc up so that all the weight is on the central part which is about 12-14' wide to get penetration into the soil. A typical disc pulled by compact tractors are in my opinion very light in weight and construction for their width. A compact tractor with disc would do very poorly in my area on untouched ground. Soil is clay/black dirt. I have a older 10' pull type disc that probably wieghs over 2500 lbs. First my L3710 can't pull it fast enough or deep enough. Part of the problem is I have R4 tires and the tractor is limited in physical weight and power. I use my old AC D19 (72hp) for that. Still on grass is does poorly and just glides on the surface. I use a plow first, then disc later. I prefer to the disc when I can because it can go a good job and is much faster. For the perfect prepped garden, I go with the tiller.

 

[Soundguy]

I agree totally. In fact... I'm sure that the 6' disc was a curse placed upon man from some time earlier in history...

Soundguy

""The small discs I have seen really seem way too light to get into the ground and do much good.""