Disking up an old field

   / Disking up an old field #61  
Control burn the field then rent a NO-Till Drill to sow in your seed. Check your local county co-op many have the drill for rent. No need to disturb the soil if you control burn and drill the seed in, fertilize as needed after you have taken a soil test and receive the results. Probably will need to lime it as well, however, the soil test will show your Ph and recommend the amount. Good luck.
 
   / Disking up an old field #63  
Tinhack said:
Yep. According to USC. But, yeah, that's in California. :cautious:
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Honey I'm going down into the field and plant some maters... I'm gonna be OK doing field work, wtf is wrong with you thats racist.

Im going with a solid HUH?

Bard plow 16-18" turns the soil 180 degrees. Neighbor farmer should do it but ya gotta make advance communications so he does it at same time as one of his fields. Any decent full size tractor can doit easy gotta be bigger than yours tho. Gotta make friends with the farmers.

Offer him $$ and tip is nice. Only need to doit 1x so paying a little bit now is better than purchasing an implement thats not effective and will sit around un-used.
 
   / Disking up an old field #64  
Ricn said:
Having bought my neighbors 8 acre field, one that adjoins my own, I:d like to disk it up and replant in pasture grass. This field had one horse for maybe 5 years but that was 20 years ago and has sat since in other than being mowed.. My tractor is 30hp but I don't own a disk. I could buy a new one, as used implements around here means very big like 100HP stuff and larger. I think a 6ft disk would work for me but which one would be suitable on todays market and at what cost? I know this ground has some rocks so I'd rather not plow it up if possible, but if disking it 4 inches or so this might be what I need. I talked around to have it done for me but custom guys want a lot of cash for such a small field, I can't blame them though but in reality I'd rather do it myself being retired now with lots of time. Any ideas on a disk?
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   / Disking up an old field #65  
daman1 said:
Yup it needs to be deep tilled first.
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Get yourself a 6' to 8' cultivator and bring it down 3" to 4" and then do it again going at 45° down to 6" or so. Let it dry and go over again opposite way, it should work good for you
 
   / Disking up an old field #66  
Ricn said:
Having bought my neighbors 8 acre field, one that adjoins my own, I:d like to disk it up and replant in pasture grass. This field had one horse for maybe 5 years but that was 20 years ago and has sat since in other than being mowed.. My tractor is 30hp but I don't own a disk. I could buy a new one, as used implements around here means very big like 100HP stuff and larger. I think a 6ft disk would work for me but which one would be suitable on todays market and at what cost? I know this ground has some rocks so I'd rather not plow it up if possible, but if disking it 4 inches or so this might be what I need. I talked around to have it done for me but custom guys want a lot of cash for such a small field, I can't blame them though but in reality I'd rather do it myself being retired now with lots of time. Any ideas on a disk?
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Discing up a grassy/weedy field to broadcast-seed a grass pasture doesn't have to be very aggressive or deep. You basically just need to scratch up the surface a little to expose some soil, you do not need to bury residue like you would if you were planting row crops. If you get an inch or so deep, that is plenty. You just want to make little cracks for the seed to go 1/4" or so into the soil and that doesn't take much. A lightweight 6-7' disc should be fine for a 30 HP tractor to do this. These do show up used from time to time as that size of equipment was what was commonly used in the '30s and '40s and some of that old original stuff pulled out of fencelines does come up for sale from time to time.

The other question is "do you actually have to work up the soil?" Most people around where I am never work up the soil at all to renovate pastures. They spray to kill weeds in the fall and then broadcast spread grass seed over the winter where the top few inches of ground freezing and thawing works the seed into the soil enough where it germinates well (frost seeding.) If somebody wants to be more aggressive than that, they use a grass seed no-till drill to plant seed into the existing pasture. They'd spray first if they want to completely restart, they would just plant if they want to overseed.
 
   / Disking up an old field #67  
lots of people have success with simply, aerating the soil seed and fertilizer. Of course, it depends on the field.
 
   / Disking up an old field #69  
OP - I see your location Washington, which from experience means different soil types than about anywhere else in the USA. Do you live in the eastern Palouse area where the soil will be volcanic ash, or in the Cascades where you might have various other types? Location is going to dictate how you attack the soil. Like where I am, a person purchased 80 acres near me that had been a horse pasture as long as I know. He wanted me to work it up which first involved removing brush, roots, and plowing. But Washington - you mentioned only large equipment being available used and I think of the Palouse area where one pass with a heavy disk is complete tillage. Your real source for ideas of how to handle your 8 acres is going to come from talking to neighbors, the county agent, etc. What works for me in my area will be completely different from 100 miles west of me which has completely different soil types.
 
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