Tilling grass pasture

[terraformer]

I have been trying to till for a large garden and for a food plot. The garden is going over an old grass covered corral and the food plot on some flatter areas of a pasture.

I did the garden yesterday.

My equipment is a 35 hp tractor, a 6' double row disk It is a heavy thing made with heavy box tubing and well built. The first row of disks are scalloped and the second row are smooth. My other plow is a sub soil spike. I also have a brush hog.

I went over the garden with the sub soil buster about every 3' then drug the disk over it and noticed that it didn't want to dig in very well. maybe 2-3". I shreaded the top layers I played with the top link of the 3 point hitch to get it to lay flat on the soil. After about 20-30 passes I was able to rake it off by hand to get the early crops in.

I loaded some heavy timbers onto the top of the disk. It dug in deeper, but was still pretty slow at tearing up the top soil. Perhaps it is the wrong tool for the job but it is what I have.

I am thinking that I for my food plot need to start with my sub soil tool and make more passes say every 2 feet in a cross hatch pattern Maybe at less than full depth. I am looking for advice. Hope to get some soy beans in the ground after May 1.

 

[jenkinsph]

It could be you are not pulling the disc far enough to fully engage with the ground before you get to where you need it tilled. Just an estimate but you need to pull a disk about 20 to 30 feet to get it to full depth. In an enclosed garden with your tools you could make more pasees with the ripper you have to break it up.
Good luck with your garden this year.

 

[terraformer]

That is a good point. My original garden was to be 20x30 but as I started, I realized that the disk had to move 20 feet to dig in so I changed the shape to narrow and it ended up about 4 rods long and narrow.

I was running the 3 point hitch. Might it be better to take the top link out? I have a feeling that the top link might prevent the full weight from bearing into the soil. Maybe the lower arms might need to be adjusted down.

 

[AKfish]

That is a good point. My original garden was to be 20x30 but as I started, I realized that the disk had to move 20 feet to dig in so I changed the shape to narrow and it ended up about 4 rods long and narrow.

I was running the 3 point hitch. Might it be better to take the top link out? I have a feeling that the top link might prevent the full weight from bearing into the soil. Maybe the lower arms might need to be adjusted down.

Adjusting the top link will either increase or decrease the angle of attack for the front gang on the disc. Increasing the angle will make the scalloped blades more aggressive and cut into the sod better. Although, if you don't have a long enough run; you'll just end up with chunks and big clumps.

Any possibility of renting or borrowing a rototiller?

AKfish

 

[wcampbell47]

Some sub-soilers hold the point on with bolts. If that is the case with yours I would replace the point with a 10 or 12 inch middle buster. Running the middle buster as close as you can on each pass will loosen up the sod. Then run the disk (weighted would be better) over the area. Be prepared for a rough ride. Better yet borrow or rent a tiller.

My preferred method is to till the area with the tiller set at 1 inch. Using the FEL I then push all the loose grass of the garden area that I can down to bare soil. Then plow and till or disk. You may also want to look into a disk hiller or bedder. Just google garden bedder and you will see examples.

 

[T Dew]

I am readying to do the same thing in the next week or two, and I always dread doing this. I have a tiller, but I have never tried it as wcampbell suggested. I love it, and I'm going to try it. Then I will just add some compost and till again at a deeper setting. There are plenty of places to use the 1" I remove. This might not help the OP, but it is still great advice.

 

[Colt_Cowboy]

I've been doing the same thing on a 200'x100' area. I ran a two bottom plow over the area and then let the dirt break down for a couple of weeks. Actually, the rain hit and it was two weeks before it dried out. This weekend I made three runs with my tiller over it to get the soil consistency I wanted. Next time I do this I think I'll run my disk over the plowed rows first. I think they'll break down the sod clods to more manageable sizes for my tiller.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have been trying to till for a large garden and for a food plot. The garden is going over an old grass covered corral and the food plot on some flatter areas of a pasture.

I did the garden yesterday.

My equipment is a 35 hp tractor, a 6' double row disk It is a heavy thing made with heavy box tubing and well built. The first row of disks are scalloped and the second row are smooth. My other plow is a sub soil spike. I also have a brush hog.

I went over the garden with the sub soil buster about every 3' then drug the disk over it and noticed that it didn't want to dig in very well. maybe 2-3". I shreaded the top layers I played with the top link of the 3 point hitch to get it to lay flat on the soil. After about 20-30 passes I was able to rake it off by hand to get the early crops in.

I loaded some heavy timbers onto the top of the disk. It dug in deeper, but was still pretty slow at tearing up the top soil. Perhaps it is the wrong tool for the job but it is what I have.

I am thinking that I for my food plot need to start with my sub soil tool and make more passes say every 2 feet in a cross hatch pattern Maybe at less than full depth. I am looking for advice. Hope to get some soy beans in the ground after May 1.

If you have a heavy frame disk with weights on it and it is not cutting in, then there is something else wrong. Post a picture of the disk as it is set up and lets see if we can figure this out. Are you sure that your draft control is all the way down along with the lift control. If you have the draft control lever up then it isn't letting the disk go down. Do the gangs have adjustable set? IF so make sure that the front center is as far to the rear as it will go (should be some pins in it or maybe a screw adjustment). The rear gang needs to be pushed are far forward in the center as it will go and pinned or screw adjusted to the max so the disc should look like this (front of disk >) (<rear of disk. You would adjust the top link to level the disk so the back is not throwing up a mound but is throwing enough dirt to level back the ground from the front gangs. If it is mounded up in the middle, shorten the top link, lengthen it if it leave a shallow depression. When double cutting, you should straddle the previous furrow with your tractor so the disk is cutting centerline of the furrow left by the first pass.
5-6 passes even with a light duty disk should be cutting up to the axles during the spring when the ground has been soaking all winter from the rains.
If you have full set in the gangs, hydraulic and draft lever is all the way down, and still not cutting, put on some more weight like concrete blocks.

 

[terraformer]

The disk unit is an american made (It has a Wallace sticker) with two rows of disks about 18" diameter. The frame is 2" square tubing probably 3/16" thick. Just like the big boys. I bought it used It had been used by a farmer for about 2 hours several years ago. He is a friend of mine and the blades are nice and sharp.

I have been running it with just a two point setup. The arms will touch the ground on concrete if they are not hooked up. I felt this would let it float, It floats too good

It cuts in pretty good on our trails but on the pastures which are grass covered it cuts through the grass but not deep maybe 3" total. I put some weight on it but I feel that I just need more. Our area has gotten some rain and there are two inches predicted in the next few days. The soil is not any where near saturated at this point. A week ago I felt like it was too wet to get the tractor out.

Thanks to those who have replied It all helps.

 

[CliffordK]

A plow should dig in quite well... But, most smaller tractors run a 1, 2, or 3 bottom plow, much smaller than your disk.

It always seemed that the plow left the field rather bumpy, and it took quite a bit of work to get it smoothed out again.

I've liked my tiller a lot lately. Mine seems to limit the cut to about 3 or 4 inches (bottom of the bearings/pulleys), but it seems to do quite well for my needs. I haven't done more than few thousand or so sq feet at a time though.