Tiller What will saplings do to my tiller?

[RickO]

I am getting ready to bushog and till about 2.5 acres of land. I don't expect to bushog anything larger than 1 inch in diameter. What I am worried about is what the sapling stumps will do to my tiller. Do I need to dig these out with my dirt scoop before tilling or will my tiller, KK 60" gear drive, handle small stumps?

 

[Egon]

It may depend on the soil type and wetness and the type of roots involved.

Think perhaps it may be advisable to pull stumps prior to tilling. This will save a lot of time cleaning out the roots from the tiller tine area and be much easier on both tiller and tractor components as the shock loading should be reduced.

Methods of root removal may vary from using box blade rippers to tooth bar on the bucket.

The easieiest is a large tractor pulling a disk or plough and then rakeing up the roots.

Egon

 

[cisco]

The roots of saplings over 1" and most tillers on the smallish tractors of "gentlemen farmers" do not mix. Read the instructions on your particular tiller (some industrials ones can churn up pretty dense stuff), but I'll bet yours is intended to prepare dirt, with weeds or grass on top, for planting, and not for anything else, from larger rocks to tree roots.

 

[DocHeb]

Well, a rotary mower ("shredder", or "bush-hog") will have tip speeds of 14000 feet per minute and will have the power to shred saplings without problems. A tiller runs around 220 rpm with tip speeds at nowhere near the speed of a rotary mower - the tiller will not chew up saplings. They will either wrap around the shaft (if flexible enough), or will jam the tines and stall the machine.

You will need to remove those saplings (and their major roots) before using the tiller

 

[Bird]

Rick, like Egon said, it depends on the soil type, moisture, and type of roots. A few years ago, the place next door to me sold and there were quite a number of cedar trees in the yard, including a row that made a windbreak across the back of the yard that was 10-12' high, and a couple of individual much larger trees. The buyer hated cedar so he hired a guy with a big dozer to uproot all of them. Then he paid me to till the whole back yard and spread several dump truck loads of top soil. That was when I still had the little B7100 and RTS40 Bush Hog tiller. Sometimes the tiller hit roots that made the tiller bounce, and it dug lots of roots of various sizes out of the ground. It did NOT chop up or mulch the roots, but usually just brought them to the surface in pretty large pieces to be picked up. And while it may have seemed to be a little hard on the tiller, it did no damage at all.

 

[ducksjunk]

If you decide to pull the stumps, IMHO it would be much easier done before you cut the area with the hog. A chain or rope around the trunk of the sapling will pull it out. A 3" stump is a lot harder the get a grip on.
Richard

 

[JJT]

1" stumps should be no problem. I've tilled up 100's of them without any issues. If the area is going to be lawn, I'll pick them out, if it's garden, I'll leave them in and till them up next year and the year after...... Eventually they'll break down.

 

[RickO]

Thanks for all your advice!