Tiller Plow/Disc or Tiller

   / Plow/Disc or Tiller #11  
NSBound said:
I just went through this, this year. My property is old-time farmland, but had sat for 50 years, growing weeds and brambles and alders :rolleyes: . I had the bigger brush hogged out, then just used a tiller, went over it 2 or 3 times. It came out perfect. :)
Click to expand...

I did exactly the same thing and was very happy with results. My only issue was that the land had been covered with grape vines and Spring tilling was a bit of a nightmare pulling up but not slicing through the roots. When I opened up a fresh plot in the Fall it was no problem at all as the tiller cut the vine roots in the dry soil rather than pulling them out whole from the wet Spring soil.

I'd go with just a tiller for relatively small plots (few acres) but it is likely to be faster to plow and disc for larger acreage.
 
   / Plow/Disc or Tiller #12  
Egon said:
Dabblam it Ian, where are your rocks.:D
Click to expand...

The rocks are all picked! (oh my aching back!:rolleyes:). But there were fewer rocks in this section of the yard, for some reason. It seemed to be nicer and richer soil than the "rocky" part of the yard, so that's where the garden is going! :D
 
Last edited:
   / Plow/Disc or Tiller #13  
Hoosier Farmboy said:
I am in the process of pricing a JD 2320, with 200CX FEL, 62D MMM, and a Ballast Box. The new place we are moving to has 5 acres of pasture. I would like to put out a large garden (enough to get back to my childhood memories of selling vegetables on Saturday mornings at the Farmer's Market.) The question I have is, "Would I be better off to buy a plow and a disc or can a tiller do the same job?" Can a tiller go deep enough for potatoes, etc? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Get yourself a $150 middle buster plow (aka potato plow) from Tractor Supply and use it first. Then rototill (my tiller is a used $300 Yanmar RS1200, 48" wide). Both worked fine behind my Kubota B7510HST (21 hp engine, 17 hp pto).

DSCF0089-small.JPG

DSCF0210 (Small).JPG
 
   / Plow/Disc or Tiller #14  
NSBound said:
The rocks are all picked! (oh my aching back!:rolleyes:).
Click to expand...

I pick my rocks on hands and knees, toss them into a 5 gal. bucket, empty that into the FEL bucket. It's not my back, it's the stomach compression :rolleyes:
Dave.
 
   / Plow/Disc or Tiller #15  
I just used my yellow KK subsoiler set about 16" deep to troll the garden and the "expansion" area. When I need to make furrows for the taters I take the chissel off and bolt on a middle buster blade from Agri Supply. The plant manager wants more mellons, taters and squash next year, so before I go finding anything big with the tiller I always try to do a recon with the subsoiler. Still managed to till up two pieces of 3/8" steel tubing and a short length of chain. Besides, the previous owner had a fairly intimidating disc that he used with an old Ford 4000, so I thought it might not hurt to rip up any residual pan. Two passes with the tiller and now it's ready for rolling and rye.

-Jim
 
   / Plow/Disc or Tiller #16  
I use a 1 bottom plow,old 6 ft pull disk,and a old 2 section drag harrow to do about 1 1/2 acre's.I used this set up for some yr's with good result's. In the spring I can find someone who will let me have some horse manure if I load and haul it, which I spread along with all my composted leaves and such over the whole plot then plow it under let it lay for a while then disk and level with harrow. As the planting season progress's will just harrow up next section to be planted.I kept a 6hp Troy tiller around for between the row weed work and it comes in handy for preparing small areas to be seeded also. Used plow,disk, and harrow less than $600. I use a 22hp kubota to pull these pc's with no problem's
 
   / Plow/Disc or Tiller #17  
I too live in Indiana (northern) and just purchased a JD 2520 and a Frontier tiller. It worked great! I tilled my 1/3 acre garden in less than an hour. I used to have a hydraulic unit for my JD 316 that worked okay but I have a real machine now. I definitely vote for the tiller.
 
   / Plow/Disc or Tiller #18  
Snow's about to set in. What better to dream about next year's garden!!!:D:D

This question, "Which is better, a tiller or plow/disc" comes up frequently. There is no one right answer.

The 3 pt tiller is pretty awesome and leaves a wonderful seed bed. But there is a limit to the acreage one might till so slowly. Additionally, if the soil needs to be loosened to a 9" depth first, there will be some prior plowing/sub soiling involved. Plus, a 3 pt tiller is quite a high ticket implement for those starting out and somewhat hard to justify if use is brief or infrequent.

Breaking ground with a plow, especially an inexpensive middle buster, followed by disc and/or spring/spike dragging takes many more trips over the ground. The up side for this approach is that these implements can be had for very little total investment.

Both get the job done, although differently, and at a different cost.
 
Last edited:
   / Plow/Disc or Tiller #19  
Just have to ask how many of you guys think a 2305 can pull a subsoiler 16" deep in rocky soil?

I know when I drop mine down behind a 4520 with weights the tractor definately knows it is there.
 
   / Plow/Disc or Tiller #20  
While that Deere has a few hp on me, it doesn't have much of a weight advantage. I can run mine down, bit by bit, to 12". I would question the ability, in rocky soil, of any small tractor to just plunge 16" and expect much result. YMMV
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
 
 

Footer Links 1

Top