hardpan advice - suggestions

[PA hayseed]

This is only my second year tilling with my tractor, so I am asking this for future purposes. I historically used a troy built walk behind tiller, and mounded the dirt every few years. (mounding for me is piling up dirt in areas so that I can get to the unbroken ground).

Now that I have a 6' tiller, and have run through my little garden (about 100' long and at least 36' wide) several times in the last two years, when should the hardpan be broken? Second, my soil type is crappy to moderately crappy. I have clay, stone, and a little soil, which I break up yearly with peat, sawdust, lime, compost, and whatever I can get free or really cheap (leaves etc) and also depending on the soil condition (too acidic or alkaline). My ammending the soil is beginning to raise it overall height (not a concern), higher then the surrounding ground. The garden at my house has been in for about 4 years now, some of the other gardens I have no idea.

second part, as I had alot of trouble locating a decent plow at a decent price. What size plow to break it up, or would a disc work better.
I may be overthinking here, and maybe I should just remove the soil out of the garden area with my FEL and then till again.

And by the way, I normally till several other gardens for friends/relatives, so this info will be needed for theirs as well.

 

[charlz]

As long as it drains well I don't think hardpan or 'tiller compaction' is an issue. Maybe if it is pretty shallow and you want deeper soil for root crops etc but 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'. If you want to break it up anyway a subsoiler is the way to go. You don't have to move the top soil off etc., just drop it and rip.

 

[spruce Deere]

Well hayseed, the easiest way to break up hardpan or subsoil is with a sub-soiler or a middle buster. One could do it with a box blade mabe, if you could get the rippers low enough. Using a sub-soiler or middle buster would be more effective by working deeper than a plow or disc. You dont have to move all the dirt off the area to use the sub-soiler or middle buster neither. If you rip the complete garden spot in the fall with a sub-soiler, middle buster it will help the ground saturate more moister deeper over the winter and help your amendments "amend" the soil deeper. Besides, a sub-soiler or middle buster is cheaper than a plow or disc.

 

[ChuckinNH]

I used my middlebuster this spring on my gardens, and it was obvious that it did penetrate the "tiller pan" left by my Troy Built. I'm anxious to see how much it helped, but the drainage does seem better already. Like the OP, I have added hundreds of bushels of organic matter to the gardens over the years, and am still puzzeled by the lack of worms in my soil, etc. I may try a subsoiler this fall since I would like to get a bit deeper, but I'm not sure that my B2620 will lift a full sized one like the Countryline at TSC enough to clear the ground when transporting. I am making a blade for my middlebuster, and that will be handy at any rate.

 

[flusher]

This is only my second year tilling with my tractor, so I am asking this for future purposes. I historically used a troy built walk behind tiller, and mounded the dirt every few years. (mounding for me is piling up dirt in areas so that I can get to the unbroken ground).

Now that I have a 6' tiller, and have run through my little garden (about 100' long and at least 36' wide) several times in the last two years, when should the hardpan be broken? Second, my soil type is crappy to moderately crappy. I have clay, stone, and a little soil, which I break up yearly with peat, sawdust, lime, compost, and whatever I can get free or really cheap (leaves etc) and also depending on the soil condition (too acidic or alkaline). My ammending the soil is beginning to raise it overall height (not a concern), higher then the surrounding ground. The garden at my house has been in for about 4 years now, some of the other gardens I have no idea.

second part, as I had alot of trouble locating a decent plow at a decent price. What size plow to break it up, or would a disc work better.
I may be overthinking here, and maybe I should just remove the soil out of the garden area with my FEL and then till again.

And by the way, I normally till several other gardens for friends/relatives, so this info will be needed for theirs as well.

You handle hardpan with a subsoiler (aka ripper). Your DK45 has enough hp to pull a single shank ripper like this parabolic subsoiler from Tufline

Tufline

It's a little pricy, but you'll get the job done quickly.

 

[matt_isserstedt]

My thoughts are you are on-track as far as adding compost. Horse manure can often be free and bales of peat have a lot of "bang" for the buck.

I wouldn't worry too much about hardpan or digging deeper for an annual garden. My experience is that the soil only gets poorer as you go deeper and so bringing that up somewhat compounds the problem. I defer here for alternate opinions to full-scale agriculture with different tillage and much heavier equipment.

I will hand-spade and amend down to 1 foot deep and plenty-wide if I'm going to be planting any perennials, other than that despite 2 other tractors I'll just use my TroyBilt for the garden...nearly the same size 37' x 98'.

I also like the TB as it is more of a precision tool inside a fenced enclosure, plus I like to leave some grassed walkways intact to keep the mud down a little bit. Not that it couldn't be done with a plow but it would take some razor-sharp starts and stops or some hand-spading at the end.

 

[PA hayseed]

II have added hundreds of bushels of organic matter to the gardens over the years, and am still puzzeled by the lack of worms in my soil, etc.

Dig one foot outside of your garden, where the soil is compacted/not turned over. I bet you find worms there. I was told that they prefer that type of soil versus loose soil. I have found it to be true around my property. FWIW.

 

[PA hayseed]

Thank you all.

I appreciate the input, as it helps me formulate a better strategy.

 

[slowzuki]

Tillers tend to kill off the worm populations. Usually need to minimize your tillage to get teh best soil. Tillers often pulverize the soil too if you work it to slowly. This isn't good for soil structure either.

the years, and am still puzzeled by the lack of worms in my soil, etc.

 

[kthompson]

You can check for hard-pan with a shovel or hand post hole diggers. As the saying goes you will know when/if you hit it. Hard-pan is not an issue in all soils.

You might can borrow a subsoiler to try. At same time depending on your area you might find used single shanks for sale right cheap as most farmer have thrown those to the side.