Disc or tiller?

[TimberHole]

I want put in some food plots in the river bottoms. I don't want to turn the soil very deep as I think it would just promote erosion. A 5' tiller starts at about $1,500.00 and a 6.5' disc starts at about $800.00. Any suggestions on which would be best for this work? I feel like a disc is adequate but was thinking I could also use the tiller for gardening and also to loosen the soil and then move with my FEL. I realize this isn't the most efficient way to move dirt but would at least let me do some small projects. Thoughts?

Tractor is a 30 hp with MFWD, FEL and power steering.

 

[mddorange]

A tiller is great for breaking up new ground and also great for loosening ground for easy pickup with your FEL.

 

[majorwager]

It seems you have already derived your answer. The disc should perform the task to address the food plots. The tiller would provide additional benefit with regard to proposed garden. A roller would be helpful to set the seed at food plots, subsequent to disking. Cultipacker would set seed as well, however more expensive option.

 

[TimberHole]

It seems you have already derived your answer. The disc should perform the task to address the food plots. The tiller would provide additional benefit with regard to proposed garden. A roller would be helpful to set the seed at food plots, subsequent to disking. Cultipacker would set seed as well, however more expensive option.

Point taken but to clarify I've never used either implement. I guess my question was whether folks found enough extra value in the tiller to justify the cost difference.

 

[skipperbrown]

If you are doing large food plots, go with a disk. They work much, much faster than a tiller. Tillers are slow. If you want to finely prepare soil for a garden, the tiller easily wins. We do 20 ac of food plots every fall and we can easily disk the 20 ac with 2 runs in about 6 hrs with a 8' disk and 65hp tractor. It takes me 20 min to till my 5000 sq ft garden. Of course, we are looking for different results, but you can run fast with a properly matched disk.

 

[LD1]

A light weight $800 disc is not gonna do well if the soil is packed, or if there is vegetation.

If the soil is already bare....and somewhat soft (like you could dig pretty easy with a shovel)....then a disc will be fine, and likely faster.

But a light disc won't cut through the vegetation or hard pack worth a darn

 

[flusher]

I assume you are looking a 4-axle (in an X-configuration) tandem disc that attaches to your 3 point hitch. Mow the food plot as short as you can, add a few hundred pounds of extra weight to that disc, and you should be able punch through the undisturbed sod.

If your garden is small (1/2 acre are less), get yourself a good rear-tine walk-behind rototiller. Cost:$600-700.

Good luck

 

[nybirdman]

Disc on large Ag type tractors work well;not so much with the smaller tractors and disc that they can pull.Virgin ground;plow and roto-till;established plots roto-till should only should work.
A lot depends on soil types also;but for us it would take multiple passes with a disc where one pass with the tiller works.

 

[Z-Michigan]

A light weight $800 disc is not gonna do well if the soil is packed, or if there is vegetation.

If the soil is already bare....and somewhat soft (like you could dig pretty easy with a shovel)....then a disc will be fine, and likely faster.

But a light disc won't cut through the vegetation or hard pack worth a darn

Disc on large Ag type tractors work well;not so much with the smaller tractors and disc that they can pull.Virgin ground;plow and roto-till;established plots roto-till should only should work.
A lot depends on soil types also;but for us it would take multiple passes with a disc where one pass with the tiller works.

I've owned and used both on garden plots, with two different 45hp tractors. My experience has been exactly as above. The disc is almost useless on sod or vegetated, undisturbed ground. You might get something OK after 6-10 passes, but will have spent a ton of time and probably compacted the soil below 4-6" in doing so. A good rototiller will break sod in one pass, and make a nice seedbed in two passes. The big discs used by professional farmers have four to eight times as much weight per disc wheel as anything readily available for small tractors, so they work much more effectively.

Soil type matters. A dry, sandy soil with thin vegetation will let a small disc work pretty well. Damp clay soil with healthy vegetation will keep it from penetrating.

 

[Redlands Okie]

The tiller will be much more versatile. No tool does it all but the tiller can do more things than the disk.