advice on a Rotary Tiller

[HCJtractor]

I plant 7 or 8 acres in food plots. I first use a 3 bottom plow which works great. (pulling it with a Kubota M6800 4WD, loaded tires) When we usually plant in September, it is always dry making it frustrating to disc. My Leinbach 20"disc works pretty poorly, taking many passes to get adequate results. Our soil can be a little rocky and has some clay in spots, but in other places, it is pretty good. Discing my plowed plots was like trying to break up a field of concrete blocks. It beats you to death and takes 6 or 8 passes just to get fair results. I know it would do better after a rain, but probem is, we don't get consistent rain in Sept. and when you have to work around a real job schedule, i have to prepare these plots on wekends, so I don't have the luxury of waiting for the ideal day. I have thought about a heavier pull type disc, but some of our plots are tight and turning around can be an issue.

My question (finally) is would a good tiller take the place of a disc? If i plow first and go over it with a quality tiller, how should this work? One pass or several? Would the occasion rock be damaging? Obviously, I need a pretty stout tiller. Looked at the Phoenix T20-80GE(rated 40-70HP), but it costs $5000. Any others to consider? My thinking, if I could plow and till with one or two passes, it would really save time and eliminate the dreaded disc. What are your thoughts?

 

[leonz]

I plant 7 or 8 acres in food plots. I first use a 3 bottom plow which works great. (pulling it with a Kubota M6800 4WD, loaded tires) When we usually plant in September, it is always dry making it frustrating to disc. My Leinbach 20"disc works pretty poorly, taking many passes to get adequate results. Our soil can be a little rocky and has some clay in spots, but in other places, it is pretty good. Discing my plowed plots was like trying to break up a field of concrete blocks. It beats you to death and takes 6 or 8 passes just to get fair results. I know it would do better after a rain, but probem is, we don't get consistent rain in Sept. and when you have to work around a real job schedule, I have to prepare these plots on weekends, so I don't have the luxury of waiting for the ideal day. I have thought about a heavier pull type disc, but some of our plots are tight and turning around can be an issue.

My question (finally) is would a good tiller take the place of a disc? If i plow first and go over it with a quality tiller, how should this work? One pass or several? Would the occasion rock be damaging? Obviously, I need a pretty stout tiller. Looked at the Phoenix T20-80GE(rated 40-70HP), but it costs $5000. Any others to consider? My thinking, if I could plow and till with one or two passes, it would really save time and eliminate the dreaded disc. What are your thoughts?

the problem is depth as most do not go below 7-8 inches and you still have hard pan-YUCK.

The smallest www.Northwesttiller.com sucks in 14 inches deep but it will require a prime mover that is much higher in HP even in a two row unit



I would see about replacing your shares with the weiss industries deep conservation tillage plow shares and you will suck 14 inches deep AND
the shares are small so they have very low drag and pulling will not be an issue.

Even if you buy a 1 or 2 bottom used plow and mount the weiss shares you will be money ahead.


Then you can decide if you want to buy a heavy three point disc with front and rear ripper discs.

www.weissindustries.com


That way you can spend less money and get quicker results

 

[Storm56]

Check out ccmachinery.com for a heavy duty tiller. I have the SR 185. It is a 72 inch and very heavy duty for $2800 plus shipping. The shipping was pretty reasonable, about $240 if I remember right. They are in TN and I am in PA so about 600 miles.

 

[HCJtractor]

Check out ccmachinery.com for a heavy duty tiller. I have the SR 185. It is a 72 inch and very heavy duty for $2800 plus shipping. The shipping was pretty reasonable, about $240 if I remember right. They are in TN and I am in PA so about 600 miles.

I just looked at that one online after your suggestion. Looks nice, and the price is a lot less than the other one I was considering. Tell me about your use of this please. What would it do if used after plowing wher the sod is turned over but hard? How many passes? Is it pretty tough? What happens when it meets a rock? Wonder who makes this and how it compares to the Phoenix. Anyone else have any experience with tillers behind a 70 horse tractor? Thanks!!!

 

[leonz]

A landpride rear tine rotation tiller will break up the sod as it is sucking itself into the ground like the Weiss plowshares.

A number of the folks on the forum here own them and like them for use as they do bury the debris and large clods of dirt;

The rule is still the same as the slower you go the finer the ground is broken up for you but again you are limited to a shallow depth of 7-8 inches.

www.landpride.com/rototillers


www.woodsequipment.com



the tillers are protected by either a slip clutch pack or shear pins in answer to rock problems encountered.


Have you thought at all about a PTO mechanical overseeder for your food plots?

No plowing or tilling with them as they cut slits in the ground and plant seed and fertilisers.

I would rather see you buy gypsum and lime to break up you clay and save your money to buy a PTO powered overseeder and buy a used one or two bottom plow and replace the shares with the wiess deep conservation plow shares.

 

[Storm56]

I just looked at that one online after your suggestion. Looks nice, and the price is a lot less than the other one I was considering. Tell me about your use of this please. What would it do if used after plowing wher the sod is turned over but hard? How many passes? Is it pretty tough? What happens when it meets a rock? Wonder who makes this and how it compares to the Phoenix. Anyone else have any experience with tillers behind a 70 horse tractor? Thanks!!!

I also food plot about 9-10 acres. This unit is made in Turkey for CCM. It is a gear drive unit and just compare the weight of this unit to most. This unit is 300-400 pounds heavier than most 6 ft models you will find. It has a 100 horsepower gearbox. Everything about it is oversize and heavy duty. It is truly built like a tank.

I wanted the heaviest duty unit I could afford. This was competetively priced with the other units I considered but is MUCH heavier duty, and believe me I looked at most of what was available. Everything about this unit is massive. It is about 30-45 percent heavier than competeing units and if you put them side by side you can see where the beef is.

Anyway I have used it for 2 years now and some of my ground is rocky. Nothing had broken thus far and I have run it over some pretty big rocks I did not know were there until after I tilled. I go around after I till and pick up all the big rocks so I do not hit them next year.

I ran this tiller behind my 4700 Deere and it was all it wanted. I now use the 74 HP Mcormick and it is fine.

I have not seen your soil but I have a hard time imagining this tiller not breaking it up with authority. It may take 2 passes or 1 slow one, but believe me this is a beast.

 

[HCJtractor]

Thanks Storm for the input. i will look closely at this one. That is good info. Do you plow first? See on your profile that you have a cultipacker, which I need also. As far as the other advice, my Ford 101 3 bottom plow works great. I cannot imagine needing to go deeper. And we do put out tons of lime. I just restored a 8' Deere lime distributor, which I plan to use soon. Any other tiller advice?

 

[Storm56]

No I do not plow first. I plant mostly wheat, rye, clover, brassicas, soybeans, turnips and peas. Wheat, rye and soybeans I disc lightly after seeeding. The rest I simply cultipack after seeding.

I have been struggling with ag lime for a few years managing to get down about 4-6 ton per acre. Now that I have the bigger tractor I found a place that will let me use the spreader if I buy the lime from them. Even better is the fact that the lime is a couple of bucks cheaper than where I was buying it! I also use about 300 lb to the acre of fertilizer when I plant. I usually use 18-18-18 for everything but the clover, that I use 12-24-24 on.

Have not looked at my profile for a while, have added some stuff, guess I need to update!

 

[HCJtractor]

What is your thought on size? I would consider either a 72" or the next size up ( I believe is an 80")

 

[bilrus61]

Do you have to plow every year? Once I get the sod killed with my JD 660 tiller I can just mow it and then re-till it without any plowing. For the size of plots your talking about a tiller alone should be able to do it all. It might take awhile but saves the pain of switching out implements all the time. I would get a 80" one if I was you. If conditions arn't perfect you can just till shallower or lap the tiller a bit. If conditions ARE perfect you can't grow a 72" tiller into a 80" one, but I guess you could till faster get the job done at the same lenght of time:confused2:.

Rocks arn't all bad, they knock the soil off the tiller and keep it clean of soil buildup. If your tilling moist clay it will build up on the tiller's hood/door/tines and really gum up the works after awhile. A few rocks helps keep the tiller clean but it does sound like your tearing it apart. I have little gravel plots around where I can go and till smaller rocks to get the tiller clean. Like a "tiller wash".

After I sow it I can run over it with a tiller set very shallow or you can run over it with the tiller off. Just let the tines roll along over the top of the ground to bury the seed. Makes the soil have a "egg carton" texture. Then you can culitipack it or ride over it with a ATV. Again takes a bit of time for 5 acres on a ATV! (if you have a teenager its a good job for them to do). For the acreage your doing every year a cheap King Kutter should be fine. Just make sure to keep that slip clutch on the PTO shaft adjusted and ready to slip cause you will get a rock jammed in it at some point.