smoothing behind disc

[jkornbread]

Ok, so, I'm in the process of upgrading the attachments for my new M7060 Kubota.

Im on the hunt for a larger disc, probably a wheel lift, pull style offset disc. On my smaller tractor I was using a 5ft double offset drag disc, no wheel lift.

One thing I haven't had much luck finding - What should I do to break up the clods that the disc makes? We have soil with a fairly large quantity of clay, so it the disc tends to make for a pretty rough finish without multiple passes (trying to avoid that).

So, I've seen a ring roller, or something of the sort behind discs, but I can't find anything on craigslist, and the web was a waste of time. Maybe I'm searching the wrong term?

Other ideas?

Thanks!

 

[patchnball]

cultipaker..........

 

[airbiscuit]

A drag.

 

[bcp]

Before cultipackers, we used a spike-tooth harrow. Maybe a chain harrow would be the modern version.

Bruce

 

[jkornbread]

my only concern with a spike tooth or chain harrow would be clogging. Alot of the fields I disc have a significant amount of vegetation on the ground when I disc.........
I guess I should specify that, I'm not discing a 40 acre feild for crops, with clean dirt. Mostly these are fields with grass growing or dead but standing still

 

[MF283]

I ran a chain through 3 railroad ties to pull behind my 7' disc, i've seen metal pipes loaded with concrete pulled behind as well.

Ronnie

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Go down to Tulare next week to the World AG expo. You may get a few ideas there. Don't bring your wallet, you'll go home with it empty.

 

[airbiscuit]

Would you have less vegetation if you made more passes with your disc, or also used a springtooth? The traditional implement is a spike harrow. There is another version of that which uses siderake teeth (called a soil conditioner?) that is a pretty good tool. There is also something called a rotary hoe that might do the trick. If all else fails, you could buy a rotary tiller.

 

[Tractorboy88]

Do you disc in an "X" pattern when you make your second pass?

 

[stuckmotor]

If you have lots of really hard clods, you may be discing when the soil is too wet. I've never been able to do a good job of pulverizing that kind of clod mechanically. They seem to be gone by the next year though. I suspect the winter rain and maybe the freeze/thaw cycle desolves them.

To break up clods formed when the soil was disced with the correct moisture content, some people follow the breaking disc with a smoothing disc. Their discs are spaced closer together and may be smaller.

When I used a cultipaker I used it to firm seeds in a seed bed. I don't think it broke up enough clods in my clay soil to make it a worthwhile investment for that purpose.