Luremaker
Veteran Member
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.
The last time I worked up about an acre of old pasture I only used my tiller. I felt that it took too long and I was constantly hitting larger rocks that would bounce my tiller all over the place. This time I plowed first, picked all the larger stones and I am letting it sit for a week or so to help kill many of the roots. Then I'll pull out my tiller and till it all up.
All in all in my case I hope to cut my time in half by plowing first. Now if I did not already have the plow I would only use my tiller.