What to do before tilling?

[RalphVa]

In the old days, we'd plow, disc and then probably run a harrow over it, probably pulled behind the disc. With a tiller, I'd probably plow, disc and till.

The main thing that the plow does for you is to turn the grass over and submerge most of it. When I did my garden with heavy fescue on it, I only had a Gravely with a rotary plow. The grass tended to bind up in the rotating parts of the plow. Same could happen with a tiller if you just tilled right away.

Ideally, you would have plowed and disced last fall or winter and let it sit, allowing time for the grass to decay.

Now that I have mine plowed and raised rows made with 2 opposed disc hillers, I don't till at all. I just apply mulch to the rows. Got lots of worms. Just scrape aside some mulch where I want to plant seed. If I had a seeder, I could run down the row with it.

Ralph

 

[Luremaker]

I am expanding my garden here right now. I am plowing then I'll pick all the larger stones that I can see, then in a week or so I'll rototill it all. This spot has not been plowed since the 1930's and the farmer left lot's of big stones in the ground. The plow is really good at finding the big ones.

 

[SCDolphin]

Walk area for hidden danger
Bush hog
Subsoil every 3 feet
Turn plow
Disc
Till

 

[pitt_md]

I'm planning to put in some watermellons and pumpkins this year. I'm a greenhorn at farming and I would like some advice on what I should do before I till the area.

The property we purchased has not been worked in 20+ years. The area I want to plant in is covered with native grasses and we have clay soil. I have a subsoiler, disk, 2 row plow and of course a tiller at my disposal. Do I just go out and till the area or should I first run the plow, subsoiler or disk first?

Thanks for the advice, I need it

How much area are you going to be planting? Small areas can be done more efficiently with a tiller. Larger areas I would use a plow and then disk.

 

[gregkabob]

Thanks Guys for all the help.

pitt_md - the area is going to be at least 2 acres.

SCDolphin - I think since it's the first time working the land and it's sat so long I'll do it like you suggest since I have the equipement available. Now if the rain will just stop for a few days.

RalphVa - I agree with I should have turned it last fall. Like I said, I'm green and learning with the help of all of you.

PA hayseed - I like the way you think. The cup holder isn't getting any time off on my tractor. Just have to figure out where to mount the cooler

Mickey_Fx - My house is currently in Moore but the farm is in Wellston about 45 miles NE. We've been working to get it set up to move out there full time and should be doing so this month and putting the house up for sale.

Again, thanks for all the advice, I knew I could get the help I needed on this board.

 

[IslandTractor]

I'm in a similar situation and I elected to just till. It works fine. So far I've just tilled the area twice and am letting it dry out a bit before running the tiller another one or two times.

I don't understand why one would need to use a subsoiler on land that has not been farmed for a long time. I thought hard pan develops largely as a result of farming and tractor use so if there hasn't been any and there is no evidence of poor water absorption then why use a subsoiler?

Likewise, plowing before tilling seems a bit odd to me. If you plow grass under and then till you will just bring the grass back up to the surface anyway. No question that it would be nice to get rid of grass but unless you are plowing it more than 8 inches or so underneath and don't think you will disturb it with the tiller it seems a waste of time to me.

 

[foggy1111]

Island I am debating the same questions as I prep my land for tiling. I think the biggest reason I want to run the disc and sub soiler thru my land is to break up the sod a bit and break down the roots and trash before hitting it with the tiller. Save on tiller wear and tear.... and tangles and "derooting" the tiller?

I wish for a landscape rake or a root bucket for my loader. I have allot of brush trash to deal with.

 

[pitt_md]

I'm in a similar situation and I elected to just till. It works fine. So far I've just tilled the area twice and am letting it dry out a bit before running the tiller another one or two times.

I don't understand why one would need to use a subsoiler on land that has not been farmed for a long time. I thought hard pan develops largely as a result of farming and tractor use so if there hasn't been any and there is no evidence of poor water absorption then why use a subsoiler?

Likewise, plowing before tilling seems a bit odd to me. If you plow grass under and then till you will just bring the grass back up to the surface anyway. No question that it would be nice to get rid of grass but unless you are plowing it more than 8 inches or so underneath and don't think you will disturb it with the tiller it seems a waste of time to me.

I.T. I have to disagree on the plowing before tilling. With two acres to do going over it 3 to 4 times as you suggest will be a waste of time and fuel. the seven acres I did I had a guy use a chisel plow on it prior to tilling. I did not have a problem with grass/weeds at all. Just plow it and let it sit a couple weeks and you will be good to go. Doing it this way you will save a lot of time as it will only take one pass with the tiller to put a nice prep on the land to be planted.

 

[IslandTractor]

I.T. I have to disagree on the plowing before tilling. With two acres to do going over it 3 to 4 times as you suggest will be a waste of time and fuel. the seven acres I did I had a guy use a chisel plow on it prior to tilling. I did not have a problem with grass/weeds at all. Just plow it and let it sit a couple weeks and you will be good to go. Doing it this way you will save a lot of time as it will only take one pass with the tiller to put a nice prep on the land to be planted.

I make no claims to be an expert at this as it is my first year prepping land for planting. However I guess some of the issues boil down to what equipment you have and what sort of time is available. I had the tiller and wanted to do a half acre sized field ASAP. Running it over with the tiller multiple times seemed reasonable especially as I don't have a plow. I had figured that a tiller was roughly the equivalent of plowing then disking. It's true that running a tiller is slow but I didn't have to change implements so that saved some time and fuel especially since I'm doing only less than 1/2 acre. What I don't know yet is how many times I should run the tiller before planting corn over what was previously a hay field. I've done it twice and am letting things dry out before assessing again. I'm expecting one more pass but we'll see.

 

[pitt_md]

I make no claims to be an expert at this as it is my first year prepping land for planting. However I guess some of the issues boil down to what equipment you have and what sort of time is available. I had the tiller and wanted to do a half acre sized field ASAP. Running it over with the tiller multiple times seemed reasonable especially as I don't have a plow. I had figured that a tiller was roughly the equivalent of plowing then disking. It's true that running a tiller is slow but I didn't have to change implements so that saved some time and fuel especially since I'm doing only less than 1/2 acre. What I don't know yet is how many times I should run the tiller before planting corn over what was previously a hay field. I've done it twice and am letting things dry out before assessing again. I'm expecting one more pass but we'll see.

A large part of it does come down to the equipment on hand. If you don't have a plow then tilling is best.

FYI on the planting...
I had a guy plant my field for me as I don't have a planter. When he showed up he said the soil was to fluffy and I had to run a cultipacker over it before his planter would work. Not sure if this is true for most planters or not.