TILLING VS PLOW AND HARROW

[jenkinsph]

Hello
I have a JD 2320, with a FEL, 54" inch front snow blower and all is good. Trying to decide to by a tiller or try a 2 bottom plow and harrow for 1+/- acre garden. I much appreciate any feedback. The land was wooded until last year when I cleared it. I have to say I would buy a Timber wolf log splitter any day of the week.
Coginchaug (means long swamp)
South Central Ct

A 647 tiller is a good match for the 2320 imo. Good for a garden or putting in small lawns.

 

[super55]

For a 1 AC garden I would agree a tiller would probably best suite your needs.

Personally for putting fallow ground into cultivation I don't thing a plow can be beat but they aren't very forgiving. Getting a field plowed correctly is practically an art and the less bottoms on the plow the more difficult it seems to be. If you don't lay your furrows correctly or run the plow too deep you just buried all your best soil and will spend a ton of time trying to level it back out. I only use my plow about once every 3 years to roll over an area that has heavy sod.

I own all three implements and the one I use most by far is the disc harrow. The tiller gives a finer finished product but is a pain in the butt to till under cover crops with. Everything likes to rap around the tines and you have to go considerably slower with the tiller. Plus it seems to have some magical magnetic force to bring rocks to the surface no matter how many I have previously picked.

For me I like to keep as much my organic matter near the surface as possible to help retain moisture in the soil. I have pretty sandy soil with only about 4 inches of topsoil so I have to really try to preserve what I have. On my final pass I will hook up a log or chain harrow to the back of the disc to level everything off and then run a cultipacker. A tiller ran shallow can do this task also but from my experience a disc will do a better job of putting a light layer of dirt over the dead matter.

 

[randy41]

you will be much happier with the end result of tilling than plowing and disking. i would do all 3.

 

[sixdogs]

This is my earlier post below and I'd like to add to it that while this tiller works in his gravel-loamy-stony soil, it definitely would NOT work for someone in a clay area. It would work for a while but tillers create compaction where the blades scalp the earth and plants would not be readily able to penetrate the pan unless it was chisel plowed to break up that pan. Yes, have the tiller but also a chisel plow. Still forget the regular plow unless it's for the occasional romance of flipping the soil to invert residue.



i

Buy the tiller...forget the plow. With the tiller you can bounce over roots and rocks or obstacles and the surface will remain fairly smooth. A plow will leave clumps of dirt or roots and grass and be difficult to smooth. If I was doing hundreds of acres of hayfields in the stony glacial till of New England, I would own a tiller and never touch the ground with a plow and harrow. I have done both and in soil like yours the tiller wins without exception.

 

[Coginchaug]

Thanks everyone, great input

 

[bigbull338]

with your size tractor id buy the tiller.because itll breakup the ground just as good as a plow an be easier on your tractor.a plow is something that you would use to break the ground up deep.an really only need it once.

 

[bigtiller]

I really like to till gardens but I love to plow gardens. So I did both with my 2305. Moldboard plow in the fall and till in the spring. I traded up to a 2720 so now I am looking for a plow for it.

 

[seecerpent]

What about the worms?

Worms are extremely important to aerate and keep your soil fluffy, which allows plants to grow much better. I know of farmers who covet their worms so much that they won't sell any manure for fear of losing their worm content.

Tilling will chop up these little darlings quickly. Also tilling will pulverize the soil into a state that can make your garden ground as hard as cement if the clay content is high. Therefore I prefer the plough and harrow method, easier on the worms and gives you more seat time which is what it's all about unless you doing 150 acres at a time.

 

[sixdogs]

What about the worms?

Worms are extremely important to aerate and keep your soil fluffy, which allows plants to grow much better. I know of farmers who covet their worms so much that they won't sell any manure for fear of losing their worm content.

Tilling will chop up these little darlings quickly. Also tilling will pulverize the soil into a state that can make your garden ground as hard as cement if the clay content is high. Therefore I prefer the plough and harrow method, easier on the worms and gives you more seat time which is what it's all about unless you doing 150 acres at a time.

Wow...great comment. I forgot all about the worms and yes, if you deep till year after year you will lose worms. That bothers me about my garden so I only skim the surface with the tiller every other year. Because of my heavy clay, I chisel plow and then lightly till.
If I were doing a farm field or a lawn. something that would be a one-time type event I wouldn't have a problem with a tiller.

 

[City Farmer]

I have all three, tiller, plow & disc. Once you start using the tiller you'll probably never use the plow again. I've hit 3.5" roots and some 10" stumps. The tiller just rolls over them and chops them up with every pass. Make sure you adjust the slip clutch properly. I always try to till when its really dry because I try to save the worms too. I put 8.5 yards of horse manure in the garden this year and the tiller is the only way to go for mixing compost.