Best Attachment for Breaking Up Ground? Box Blade to Plow/Break Up Ground?

[vcollaco]

Hello everyone! I want to start a food plot on a 5 acre field that has very rocky soil. The field has been mowed for the last 5 years, but hasn't been plowed in over 10. What attachment should I use to break up the soil? I only need to loosen the top 3-6 inches of soil, as I only intend to plant oats, clover, maybe beans. Can I use a box blade by making many passes to rip up the soil? I also need to level out some spots. A roto-tiller is out of the question, I think, as the soil has rocks all over. I have a Mahindra 3616. Any ideas and suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[1026mrg]

Resettable bottom plow. Resettables will handle the rocks better. You will likely have to pick out the large ones before disking.

Plow. Remove rocks. Follow up with disk harrow.

Box blade will level things, but won't turn soil properly. Box blade with scarifiers may work. But it is still a leveling & filling tool, not
a plowing/turning tool. Also with big rocks you run the risk of ruining the scarifiers if you get some stones jammed in there well enough.
Box blade without scarifiers won't do very much at all, at least not for your purposes.

You also may want to check to match the number of plow bottoms to your tractor HP.

 

[bigtiller]

The best tool for your situation may be an offset disk. Do you have any farmers driving by this time of year? He could drive in and do it in just a few minutes.

 

[nybirdman]

Can you do it with a box blade;yes.Not the best tool but it will do it.I would BH short,spray with Round-up and give it a try.
A bottom plow would be better;a inexpensive "potato plow"would also break the sod.Slow going for five acres though.
I use my roto tiller all the time on ten acres and nobody has any more rocks than I do.Pick out the big ones.

 

[jeff9366]

Hello everyone! I want to start a food plot on a 5 acre field that has very rocky soil. and hasn't been plowed in 10 years.

What attachment should I use to break up the soil? I only need to loosen the top 3-6 inches of soil, as I only intend to plant oats, clover, maybe beans.

If your field has not had animals pastured on it, I think a Disc Harrow with a minimum of 20" diameter pans would prepare your soil; certainly ample for oats and clover. After sewing, rolling in the seed with a Cultipacker would give optimum results.

What implements do you own at this moment?

What is the horsepower and weight of your Mahindra 3616?

You may need to plow for soybeans.

 

[vcollaco]

Can you do it with a box blade;yes.Not the best tool but it will do it.I would BH short,spray with Round-up and give it a try.
A bottom plow would be better;a inexpensive "potato plow"would also break the sod.Slow going for five acres though.
I use my roto tiller all the time on ten acres and nobody has any more rocks than I do.Pick out the big ones.

You don't break tines on the rocks?

 

[vcollaco]

Thank you. My tractor weighs 2560 and it has 36 hp. All I have is a backhoe and brush cutter.

 

[vcollaco]

Thank you. Thought maybe I could get away with multi tasking one attachment, like the box blade with scarifiers.

 

[1026mrg]

Thank you. My tractor weighs 2560 and it has 36 hp. All I have is a backhoe and brush cutter.

With 36 hp, you will likely be limited to a two bottom plow. I think that three would really be pushing it. Good rule of thumb is 15-20hp per
each bottom of plow.

Would respectfully suggest either borrowing, renting or buying the proper implements. We are up in VT with very rocky soil. Soils are great but the stones are prolific. Had tried for a couple of years to bootstrap food plots without the proper attachments. Finally broke down & got the stuff that we really needed. It has made a huge difference. Can you grow stuff with minimal soil preparation? Yes. Will it be optimal? No. Will the plots be much more productive with proper preparation? Yes.

Everyone's situation & appetite are different. If you really want a good yield and a sustainable plot, try to figure out the most cost effective way to get access to the right prep gear.

 

[1026mrg]

Check out Craig's list.... you may be able to get a decent deal on some stuff. A couple of examples below....

Ferguson Two-Bottom 12" Moldboard Plow

Bottom plow and Harrows

 

[jeff9366]

If you decide to plow, consider a DISC PLOW as well as a Moldboard plow.

Monroe Tufline is the only company making Disc Plows today but there are many used Ford Dearborn Disc Plows out there at low prices.

LINK: Agriculture TDP Disc Plows - Monroe Tufline

I owned a Kubota B3300SU which has specs pretty much like your Mahindra. You need to be cautious shopping for full size Moldboard plows, such as the Ferguson or a Ford, they will fit a Cat 1 hitch fine, but the plow frame may contact various parts of your tractor making use difficult or impossible.

LINK: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/276736-ford-series-101-plow-2-a.html?highlight=

 

[vcollaco]

Thank you so much for the info! I wasn't sure what my tractor could handle as far as how many plows I could pull with my tractor. I'm going to do it right and get what I need to do it properly. The double moldboard plows with the coulters that you gave me the link to is what I think will work best, especially to cut the thick sod. I have a farm bureau auction coming up in two weeks that usually has some good deals. Have you or do you know anyone who has purchased equipment from Everything Attachments? Curious on the quality of their stuff.

 

[vcollaco]

Thank you!

 

[jeff9366]

I think every "regular" here, living east of the Mississippi River, has purchased at least one implement from ETA.

High value, very good customer service.

 

[vcollaco]

Thank you! Good to know they have quality stuff.

 

[vcollaco]

What is that circular implement?

 

[Fallon]

What is that circular implement?

I believe its called a rotary harrow. It has pins on the bottom with a slight clockwise or counter clockwise angle. As you pull it, the angle of the pins causes it to rotate. Used for smoothing & leveling, primarily in arenas with softer ground or sand.

 

[Fallon]

I wouldn't say most people have purchased from ETA, but they have a great reputation here.

Hard to go wrong with them.

Forum sponsors
Great instructional videos
Good to great implements
Decent prices (quality costs, so they are rarely the cheapest)
Great customer support from most reports of people with issues (crap happens. I'd rather buy OK quality with great support than excellent quality with junk support)

 

[jeff9366]

What is that circular implement?

It is a King Kutter 60" Rotary Harrow, purchased from ETA.

Care to buy it? Landscape Rake has largely assumed function of the Rotary Harrow for me. Rotary Harrow is on auction at eBay.

LINK: Rotary Harrow King Kutter Model RH 60 3 PT Mount 302 Pounds | eBay

 

[FTG-05]

I wouldn't say most people have purchased from ETA, but they have a great reputation here.

Hard to go wrong with them.

Forum sponsors
Great instructional videos
Good to great implements
Decent prices (quality costs, so they are rarely the cheapest)
Great customer support from most reports of people with issues (crap happens. I'd rather buy OK quality with great support than excellent quality with junk support)

This is the part that stands out for me. There are a lot of "instructional" videos out there on farm implements. Most of them are either poorly disguised selling videos from vendors or just some guy posting a video, which can be very hit or miss. EA videos are very instructional with selling a very minor if even noticed feature. I learn something from every EA video even if I have no idea what the implement is or have no use for it.