Virgin Ground

deereman10 · Feb 5, 2011

Anyone got any suggestions for breaking up virgin ground by another means besides a moldboard plow?

IslandTractor · Feb 5, 2011

There is not too much truly "virgin" ground. If you are talking about land that has not been plowed or farmed for decades then there are options once you have cleared the brush and trees/stumps. While a plow is traditional, you can also use just a tiller if the conditions allow (not a lot of big roots etc). Disking is also an alternative and some people even use subsoilers or just a boxblade with the tines all the way down. Depends on what you are trying to acheive and what your equipment/budget is like. Again, it depends on what you are trying to do (clear for lawn vs farm or pasture for example). Lots to read on no till farming techniques too so it may not even be necessary to "bust sod".

deereman10 · Feb 5, 2011

i guess you are right, it's not "virgin" ground it just hasnt been farmed for 40 years. It's a 7 acre field that i want to put pumpkins in. I have been looking at tillers for my JD 2440 and i'm liking the king kutter 5' or 6' tillers. I thought about discing it but discs are mainly for leveling ground not tearing it up.

sweettractors · Feb 5, 2011

deereman10 said:
Anyone got any suggestions for breaking up virgin ground by another means besides a moldboard plow?

The disc plow was designed for what you are describing. Here is one that we have on Ebay currently. Ken Sweet
Ferguson 2 Disc Plow With 3 Point Hitch and Scrappers - eBay (item 150557233618 end time Mar-03-11 11:49:31 PST)

Agrantina · Feb 5, 2011

I have used both a disc and a friends 4ft tiller... I used a disc this past year but have bought a tiller and will use it this spring. My disc did fine but did have to go over it a few times.. I sprayed round up and then disc once a week a few weeks in a row and it looked great after.. Now the disc is great for my 3ac plot but I have several that are small and curve around..I am really looking forward using the tiller on these cured -S- shaped plots that I have..

AndyG

blueriver · Feb 5, 2011

deereman10 said:
I thought about discing it but discs are mainly for leveling ground not tearing it up.

Not excatly ... I use a disc often to tear up the ground ... I level it with a drag harrow before planting.

Best choice a moldboard plow, then second I would use a chisel plow, third a shank type digger ... or a subsoiler or a disc to tear it up and make the seed bed.

deereman10 · Feb 5, 2011

anyone use a disc plow? what makes it better/worse/different than a moldboard?

blueriver · Feb 5, 2011

I used on about 15 yrs ago ... I preferred the moldboard ... maybe just because my G'dad and my dad used the MB plow. It seemed harder to pull and gave me the impression that the rotating disc wanted to push the rear of the tractor to the side .. JMO

sweettractors · Feb 5, 2011

I feel I can jump in on this "discing" subject because I have first hand knowledge. When I was raising tobacco, we normally prepared the field (seedbed) with multiple passes with a disc harrow before planting. After several years of noticing that about every 3-4 th row had all plants stunted all the way till harvest. After much investigation, I found that those stunted rows were exactly where the rear tractor tires had ran over the field on the last prep pass with the disc harrow. I solved the problem by deep tilling (8-12 inches) the soil with a Shank ripper with tines spaced about 8-10 inches apart. This opened the soil back up for better plant growth for the entire season. Long story short, multiple passes with a disc harrow will compact your soil,thus leading to poor growth of the crop and deep tilling or subsoiling is about the only way to alleviate that problem. Ken Sweet

blueriver · Feb 5, 2011

sweettractors said:
I feel I can jump in on this "discing" subject because I have first hand knowledge. When I was raising tobacco, we normally prepared the field (seedbed) with multiple passes with a disc harrow before planting. After several years of noticing that about every 3-4 th row had all plants stunted all the way till harvest. After much investigation, I found that those stunted rows were exactly where the rear tractor tires had ran over the field on the last prep pass with the disc harrow. I solved the problem by deep tilling (8-12 inches) the soil with a Shank ripper with tines spaced about 8-10 inches apart. This opened the soil back up for better plant growth for the entire season. Long story short, multiple passes with a disc harrow will compact your soil,thus leading to poor growth of the crop and deep tilling or subsoiling is about the only way to alleviate that problem. Ken Sweet

Ken ... Thanks. A disc harrow is great and will tear up the ground ... However one must go ahead and do some serious tilling somewhere along the line.