disk frustration!

   / disk frustration! #1  

HCJtractor

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
1,544
Location
upstate South Carolina, Greenville
Tractor
Kubota M6800, Massey Ferguson 240
I plant 20 food plots every fall here in S.C. The soil is varied, some clay and rocks, but always dry and hard this time of year. My disk is a Leinbach 24, 20inch disc and it just doesn't work well. This weekend, I plowed with a 3 bottom plow and it does a great job. You would think it would now be simple to disc over it and get good results, but even now with the ground plowed, it takes so many passes. What am I doing wrong? I added 300 lbs of steel but even that did not help much.

My questions are what angle of the gangs works best and what effect does that adjustment have? Should I pull a levelling harrow first to level things out somewhat before I disk? And lastly, is my three point disc ever going to work? Or should I try another brand or even a pull type? Would a pull type work better? Please any advice would be helpful.

One thought is that I added a hydraulic top link last year and I wonder if it is too short, although I think it is the right size and works great on all of my other implements. Maybe I will put back on the original top link and see if it may extend longer and allow better ground engagement.

I have even thought about a heavy double roller pulverizer to use after plowing before disking. Wish I had one to try.
 
   / disk frustration! #2  
I plant 20 food plots every fall here in S.C. The soil is varied, some clay and rocks, but always dry and hard this time of year. My disk is a Leinbach 24, 20inch disc and it just doesn't work well. This weekend, I plowed with a 3 bottom plow and it does a great job. You would think it would now be simple to disc over it and get good results, but even now with the ground plowed, it takes so many passes. What am I doing wrong? I added 300 lbs of steel but even that did not help much.

My questions are what angle of the gangs works best and what effect does that adjustment have? Should I pull a levelling harrow first to level things out somewhat before I disk? And lastly, is my three point disc ever going to work? Or should I try another brand or even a pull type? Would a pull type work better? Please any advice would be helpful.

One thought is that I added a hydraulic top link last year and I wonder if it is too short, although I think it is the right size and works great on all of my other implements. Maybe I will put back on the original top link and see if it may extend longer and allow better ground engagement.

I have even thought about a heavy double roller pulverizer to use after plowing before disking. Wish I had one to try.

Weight and speed--that's what you need to get your disc to work correctly. Double the added weight to 600 lb and run that disc at 5-6 mph and see what happens.
 
   / disk frustration! #3  
The more it's angled the more dirt it will turn.

How deep is it going in now?
 
   / disk frustration! #4  
I plant 20 food plots every fall here in S.C. The soil is varied, some clay and rocks, but always dry and hard this time of year. My disk is a Leinbach 24, 20inch disc and it just doesn't work well. This weekend, I plowed with a 3 bottom plow and it does a great job. You would think it would now be simple to disc over it and get good results, but even now with the ground plowed, it takes so many passes. What am I doing wrong? I added 300 lbs of steel but even that did not help much.

My questions are what angle of the gangs works best and what effect does that adjustment have? Should I pull a levelling harrow first to level things out somewhat before I disk? And lastly, is my three point disc ever going to work? Or should I try another brand or even a pull type? Would a pull type work better? Please any advice would be helpful.

One thought is that I added a hydraulic top link last year and I wonder if it is too short, although I think it is the right size and works great on all of my other implements. Maybe I will put back on the original top link and see if it may extend longer and allow better ground engagement.

I have even thought about a heavy double roller pulverizer to use after plowing before disking. Wish I had one to try.



After plowing, always wait for a real good soaking rain before discking. If you do this, the ground should work very well with a couple passes with the disc. Ken Sweet
 
   / disk frustration! #5  
Sweet sums it up. I have clay and even though I can plow it when it's dry, it will not break down with a disc unless it is moist. If moist, the disc tosses the clumps of soil that it cuts and the soil breaks down as it rolls (that's why you eed to go fast). When dry the disc slices the clumps into smaller clumps but they don't break down as they roll. After several passes, it seems to just toss the slightly smaller rock hard clumps of clay and they don't break down anymore.
 
   / disk frustration! #6  
The other godsend is gypsum, which chemically reacts with the clay and dissolves it for you so you dont have clay anymore.

Adding a sacks worth(50 pounds) over 500 square feet breaks it up quickly and does not damage the seeds or any existing vegetation.

the mined gysum is the best in my experience rather than the gypsum which is chemically rendered (you dont know if its been scrubbed out of a power plant smoke stack) unless it comes from a chemical manufacturing company.
 
   / disk frustration! #7  
Ya Ken's got it. As a kid dad always tryed to plow all the ground he could in the fall. He called it fall plowing...then it had time to lay thru the winter and kinda self dissolve. Come spring the disc had an easy job.
 
   / disk frustration! #8  
Ya Ken's got it. As a kid dad always tryed to plow all the ground he could in the fall. He called it fall plowing...then it had time to lay thru the winter and kinda self dissolve. Come spring the disc had an easy job.

In farming, we have to work "With" mother nature, not against her. If we try to do it "our" way. she sometimes makes it difficult :D Ken Sweet
 
 
 
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