Middlebusters - am I missing something?

[RobJ]

Lots of talk about these, will they did a trench, etc. By the name I guess they might be called a poor mans turning plow??? (Note the ??? I'm not sure, open for discussion).

Some have seen my homemade multi tool bar thingy. Mostly I have some chisel plows and I use it for loosening up the ground and sort of raking up a virgin area I'm about to disk (garden, food plots, etc). When I made it I also made a middlebuster looking thing, but never used it. Yesterday I wanted to flip some ground so I adapted a second buster to the tool bar. I got all this old stuff from my uncles farm scrap pile. The pics are what happened.

First I could not get it to dig very deep. maybe 10 inches once you cleared away the dirt pile. A little deeper in the soft already plowed garden. QA second pass and the spoils would fall back in the hole. I fabbed up the second one to speed up my plowing process. With the holes in the tool bar I could remove one and put the other in the middle for the skipped rows.

I also ran it in some grassy areas. The MB that's on the left never clogged up. It's a little more upright, stuff would just peel off it nicely. Clogging wasn't a problem in plain dirt.

So what to yall actually use these for? Am I using it correctly? It worked ok, I ran over the area with a disk afterwards. Tough riding on the first pass, then it smooth out.

Anyway here are a bunch of pics to look at.

Rob

 

[RobJ]

A few more....

 

[RobJ]

in the end that grassy area looked like this...

 

[AKfish]

Whooeee...!! Looky there --- diggin' in the dirt in Feb! I can just smell that fresh dirt all the way up here!

Looks like more fun than just about anythin' ya gotta keep yor clothes on for!?!!

I think "workin right" can be judged by your last pic --- nice, cleared, dirt. Waitin' for the planter...

Thanks for the pics and the opportunity to dream a bit.

AKfish

 

[sandman2234]

Just out of curiousity, what was limiting the depth of the trench? I was under the impression that a turning plow or a middlebuster both would dig as deep as you want them to, until something limited the depth of dig. Or to quote the guy that told me this, "a turning plow will dig to China if something doesn't stop it"
Horsepower, angle of the plow, 3pt bottoming out all seem to be things that limit the depth of the trench. I just had a middlebuster given to me, and it is going to require some work before it gets dirty.
David from jax

 

[RobJ]

Whooeee...!! Looky there --- diggin' in the dirt in Feb! I can just smell that fresh dirt all the way up here!

Looks like more fun than just about anythin' ya gotta keep yor clothes on for!?!!

I think "workin right" can be judged by your last pic --- nice, cleared, dirt. Waitin' for the planter...

Thanks for the pics and the opportunity to dream a bit.

AKfish

Yep I did a little rowing, I still can't get this 1 row cultivator to row like I like, but it'll do I guess.

Don't tell anyone up north, I worked over 4 different areas(and we got about 3" of rain on saturday ) , I planted 4 small blocks of corn, half row of potatoes, and 2 short rows of peas. If we don't get to bad of a freeze it may make it. I'll start planting more blocks in 2-3 more weeks. I like to get an early start.

 

[RobJ]

Just out of curiousity, what was limiting the depth of the trench? I was under the impression that a turning plow or a middlebuster both would dig as deep as you want them to, until something limited the depth of dig. Or to quote the guy that told me this, "a turning plow will dig to China if something doesn't stop it"
Horsepower, angle of the plow, 3pt bottoming out all seem to be things that limit the depth of the trench. I just had a middlebuster given to me, and it is going to require some work before it gets dirty.
David from jax

Actually I wasn't trying for depth. I'll give that a go in a couple weeks. But it seems if I made another pass, with the spoils on the sides and the height of the plow, the new spoils would just go up and over the back or fall back in the hole. Maybe a deeper hole but not a clean hole. I posted a pic of a super-sized MB I found I can't wait to try out.

Also maybe something to do with the angles (might be able to adjust this), On every row I would start with the MB and 3pt all the way down. I'd only bring it up if the tractor bogged down or started spinning.

Rob

 

[3RRL]

Rob,
That naked dirt looks good!
It's funny that your set up with those blades are called "furrowers" out here. I've got a set ready to plow my food plot in March.
Looks like you got yours working great man.

 

[oliver28472]

Rob,
I have seen these used to dig potatoes in the garden. (tater plow)

 

[Eastinlet]

RobJ -

You might find it useful to pick up a moldboard plow, it does a better job than a middlebuster. It turns the furrows over completely, burying trash and weed seeds, rather than just ripping up the ground. Nothing wrong with using what you've got though when you have a job to do.

I use a middlebuster for making potato trenches and for plowing them up in the fall. You can also make small hills, as your photos showed, and plant on the ridges. I do that with garlic.