What Implement?

[rvcrawford]

I just bought this BX1850

To work this lot

The ground is hard clay and I don't know the best what to prepare it for a Bermuda grass pasture and a vegetable garden.

Would a small plow and a disc work best or should I buy a tiller? Will the BX1850 handle a 12" moldbord plow?

I realize that I will need to irrigate before I can do anything.

Thanks in advance,
Roger

 

[Bird]

Plows are cheap and tillers certainly are not cheap, but the tiller is certainly my first choice and what I used a great deal. Whether you can pull a 12" plow depends on how hard that ground is, what the moisture content is, and how deep you try to go. For just a wild guess, I'd say you have about a 50/50 chance.

 

[amigauser]

Something like this would work -
Woods Equipment Company - 48'' & 60'' Standard-Duty Pulverizers - 20A Series

I am not sure what they cost though. Probably cheaper than a tiller.

When I did my own clay yard I brought in truckloads of top soil, raked it ot with my landscape rake and then used a drag. I then seeded and rolled it with a tow behind water filled roller.

 

[Botabill]

Plows have their place and I really like mine but without some way of tilling a plow will just leave half prepared ground. We really need to know what you want to end up with to give you any usefull advice.

 

[aggiehortguy91]

I don't know exactly how hard your dirt is, but I've ripped out plenty of old lawns with a field cultivator, a york rake, and multiple passes with each. If I could have only 3 implements, they would be a field cultivator, a york rake, and a loader. Unfortunately, I have three and they do not include a cultivator or a rake so I need to get shopping I guess!

All you will need is clean soil and enough loose soil to smooth things out and incorporate the seed.

 

[J35]

Hopefully you have ditch water.

I believe it would be a losing battle with a well or city water.

With no ditch water you would be wise to wait till late July or August for the summer rain (monsoons). Timing is everything.

I have put in several small pastures with just a plug aerator . multiple passes, broadcast seed and fertilizer, lightly drag.

For your ground squirrels you can flood there holes and stand by with shovel and trash can or heavy glove and cage . Unless your neighbors do the same I am afraid it will be a never ending battle.

From the squirrel holes your soil looks OK, it will grow anything with just a little moisture .

good luck

 

[Sully2]

If the task is to plant GRASS...I have seen any soil yet I cant bust up deep enough ( actually more than deep enough) with a set of used disks I bought. ( 5 foot wide)

No extra weight or anything they cut about 1 1/2 inches deep. Make subsequent passes with more and more "weight" on them until they have broken and softened the "dirt" ( cant really call it soil at that point) to depth that are MORE than adequate for any sort of grass.

A real garden needs to be even finer but I have a very large walk behind rototiller for that ( I use it for flower beds of various sizes)

Pick up a used set of adjustable disks. Grass roots dont need to be 12" deep in the ground.

Lime and fertilize the soil ( if needed...mine sure did / does) prior to disking

 

[radioman]

without buying another implement, If you can truck in topsoil then use your rake to smooth out on lawn then plant, it would be better then working the clay. I am not familar with arizona soils and temps but here in NYS , That is what I do if i didnt have a tiller. Having a tiller, I would get soil tests done and find what you need to add. get it spread and till it in and plant grass. using a plow or anything would only create a mess from clay since it looks pretty hard and its already smooth right now.

 

[RobJ]

without buying another implement, If you can truck in topsoil then use your rake to smooth out on lawn then plant, it would be better then working the clay. I am not familar with arizona soils and temps but here in NYS , That is what I do if i didnt have a tiller. Having a tiller, I would get soil tests done and find what you need to add. get it spread and till it in and plant grass. using a plow or anything would only create a mess from clay since it looks pretty hard and its already smooth right now.

I was going to disagree with Bird and say a 0/0 chance with bermuda. Mole/squirrel activity "might" be a good sign since around here they like the softer soil, but if all you have is hard clay they may not have any choice.

Our weekend place is on a clay rock and the only way anything grows on it is with some sort of top soil(bermuda that is). Around the back I had nothing growing, I laid out about 1-2" of mostly sand-soil and now I have bermuda. I have a sprinkler system otherwise most of it would die without water.

You can probably get bahiagrass to grow but the only thing that likes that is cows. It makes a terrible turf grass IMO.

Good Luck,
Rob

 

[rvcrawford]

Wow thanks for all of the advice. I don't actually close on this place until June 23rd, it has ditch irrigation and the first order of business will be to order it up and flood the area. The tractor came with a LandPride rake so I think I will drag that around and see what it can do after the ground dries out a bit. I hope the rake will be sufficient for the pasture but the vegetable garden will need more work. I plan on hauling in some soil amendments and maybe I will hire someone to till it in for me.

Thanks for the help,
Roger

 

[RobJ]

I took some pictures this weekend of some good examples of what I meant.

First 3 is the rock hard clay(you can't stick a shovel in the ground), little of what we call iron ore in it(makes the best roads though). We laied on maybe an inch or so of some sandy loam, and walla bermuda! I fertilized this area and you can see clearly where the top soil stopped. I do not water this at all. The St. Augustine is some that took hold 2 years ago whe I stripped it off some of the Spring house yard. I threw a load there to prevent erosion, it's still making it. Again only rain.

Then a picture of my garden near the house. Raised 10 inches with some local soil, compost, Lowes soil. But it gets watered 3 times a week for 20 minutes. I planted the stuff on April 27. All the other gardens are dead. I haven't been up in a while, you can see the difference in that time. The young garden picture was taken May 10..


If you have water, stuff WILL grow. Sometimes the area is to big to keep watered though.

Rob

 

[rvcrawford]

Well I took this:

and added some of this:

and got this:

Then I used this:

and got some help from my son:

and even my wife:

To move the dirt around to make this:

In preparation for this, the foundation for my new workshop:

We hope the concrete will be poured tomorrow.

 

[Bird]

Looks like a successful project in the making.

 

[nessmuk53]

Just to throw my .02 cents in here. Regarding the use of a 12" moldboard plow. I have a BX1500 and pull a 12" plow with no problem. I am in central Virginia and my ground is not exactly the greatest stuff around. It has lots of clay and ALOT of rocks. An occasional large piece of quartz has slowed me down once and awhile, but otherwise no problem at all.

 

[RobJ]

WOW, looks like a drainage problem, but then again it doesn't look like it rains much there either. It is green now! Water works wonders!

Rob

 

[mcnitt]

It looks great! You've done a nice job and should be proud of the results.

 

[rvcrawford]

I found a 42" Landpride tiller on Craig's List for a good price so I bought it. It needed some work; the chain was way out of adjustment, the grease fittings were all rusted as was the PTO shaft, but with some LTC I've got it working.
I used it this mornig to till up a spot for a winter garden and it worked great.

The shop is almost done on the outside; I'm just waiting on some more screws. I ran out and I can't find them locally, at least not painted to match.

The inside is still a blank slate but I'll make good use of the extra space.

I lurk here all the time and I've learned a ton. Thanks to everyone that contributes!

Roger

 

[radioman]

very nice garage. I like the sidewalk you made. Most people would wait till the actual building is done.

 

[LBrown59]

I found a 42" Land pride tiller on Craig's List for a good price so I bought it.
Roger

To bad you didn't have it in the begining .
It would have made your grading and landscaping quicker and easier.
Here is what I would have used to do your project.

 

[LBrown59]

Anybody notice the miss matched tires on this.