What are sub-soilers and middle busters used for?

[shop_rat45]

I have been looking at some attachments lately and I came across a middle buster/sub-soiler combo at TSC for $125. I'm not exactly sure what they are used for, but if it's what I think it is, it will work great for me. So, what do they do? Can it be used to dig trenches at all? I need to dig a trench to bury wire and another to bury drainage tile for my gutters. Will this work at all? Will it at least get me a good start so I don't have to dig so much by hand? Any help is appreciated!!

Thanks,
Kris

 

[Bird]

Kris, a subsoiler cuts a very narrow, but pretty deep distance into the ground. It throws little, if any, soil out of the trench. It's most commonly used to loosen the soil a bit, allow moisture to get into the trench and then soak into the soil rather than run off.

Middle busters are also sometimes known as potato plows because that's one of the primary uses; digging potatoes. But people also use them just to tear up, or plow the ground. They're not as good at that as a moldboard or turning plow in my opiion, but I used mine that way occasionally, then followed up with my tiller.

As to whether they're suitable for the trenches you want to dig . . . maybe! They'll dig the trenches, but whether they'll go deep enough for your purposes is something I just don't know.

 

[shop_rat45]

Kris, a subsoiler cuts a very narrow, but pretty deep distance into the ground. It throws little, if any, soil out of the trench. It's most commonly used to loosen the soil a bit, allow moisture to get into the trench and then soak into the soil rather than run off.

Middle busters are also sometimes known as potato plows because that's one of the primary uses; digging potatoes. But people also use them just to tear up, or plow the ground. They're not as good at that as a moldboard or turning plow in my opiion, but I used mine that way occasionally, then followed up with my tiller.

As to whether they're suitable for the trenches you want to dig . . . maybe! They'll dig the trenches, but whether they'll go deep enough for your purposes is something I just don't know.

Well, for $125 it wouldn't hurt to try. Worse thing that would happen is that I end up with another attachment for my tractor. Thanks for the info and quick response!!

Kris

 

[Solo]

Kris

I have used mine to dig trenches, Birds right they don't dig very deep with the middle buster but it will give you a fairly good start.

Solo

 

[ScottOkla]

I can get almost 1 foot deep with my KK middle buster. The trench will be about 1 foot wide also, but not too clean on the edges (of trench) in my soil. A second pass helps.

 

[shop_rat45]

I can get almost 1 foot deep with my KK middle buster. The trench will be about 1 foot wide also, but not too clean on the edges (of trench) in my soil. A second pass helps.

I wonder if it could be modified and made longer to dig deeper?

Thanks for the input guys! I'm going to go get one tomorrow.

 

[JC-jetro]

I wonder if it could be modified and made longer to dig deeper?

Thanks for the input guys! I'm going to go get one tomorrow.

This is what you can do with the potato plow AKA Bottom Buster but it will not make for the great seed bed for garden as Bird mentioned above. You'll need to till to get a good seed bed started like on the second pic. For the price it is a great tool and can take the load off of your tiller plus a few other general uses around the farm.









JC,


By the way it take a lot of tractor to pull this beast deep in the ground. I do have issues with my turf type tires. I loose traction long before loose power. What size of tractor do you have? do you have ag tires?

 

[Bird]

I wonder if it could be modified and made longer to dig deeper?

You can always modify anything, given enough time and money. The problem with making it longer though is being able to lift it high enough with the 3-point hitch to get it out of the ground to transport from one place to another.

 

[RonMar]

They are also good in conjunction with the 3PH lift at ripping out small stumps and bushes. Just rip into the ground before the stump to get the point down to full depth untill the point engages the rootwad, then lift on the 3PH. Pops most small stuff right out.

They can also be used to pull wire and pipe thru the ground by attaching the end of the wire to the base of the shank with a chain or cable. Search "cable pulling" or "Pipe Pulling" and you should find several threads on the subject. Since this thing dosn't lift the dirt out of the trench, you need to shovel it out with a trenching shovel to get whatever you are burying down to the bottom of the trench. This is much easier than digging from scratch, but still a lot of work. Pulling the cable or pipe thru the ground skips all the shoveling.

 

[Glowplug]

I wonder if it could be modified and made longer to dig deeper?

Thanks for the input guys! I'm going to go get one tomorrow.

Like Bird said, you can always modify anything. But will it work comes into question. Not only is there an issue as to whether you can lift it high enough to clear the ground but there is the issue as to whether you have enough power to pull it. There's a reason they make 400hp true 4WD tractors. I remember out of curiosity looking up the most powerful tractors one day. The most powerful tractor ever built was something like 800hp and true 4WD designed and built specifically for soil disturbance to a depth of 4 feet. Probably the deeper you go the hp requirements go up exponentially.

 

[Renze]

I used a subsoiler with a loop attached behind the chisel to pull cables.

when i had to go around the corner, i made a pass at 90ｰ to the cable pulling pass, without the cable running through the loop, just ordinary subsoiler use.
After that, it was a piece of cake to dig a trench in the subsoiled path to put the cable in...

 

[rickmacheske]

I modified my subsoiler to be able to pull 1" PVC. Works really well. I use my PHD to dig a 12" hole on where I start and end. I hook up the piece of PVC (most I've done is 3 pieces at once) and then pull it between holes. The change I made was to take a piece of galvanized pipe that would just fit the PVC into it, added a cap to it. I drilled a hole through the center of the cap and attached an eyelet into the hole in the cap. I then drilled through the galvanized pipe and inserted a bolt. The PVC goes into the pipe, I drill a hole and put the bolt in. The eyelet attaches near the bottom of the subsoiler.

 

[flusher]

I have been looking at some attachments lately and I came across a middle buster/sub-soiler combo at TSC for $125. I'm not exactly sure what they are used for, but if it's what I think it is, it will work great for me. So, what do they do? Can it be used to dig trenches at all? I need to dig a trench to bury wire and another to bury drainage tile for my gutters. Will this work at all? Will it at least get me a good start so I don't have to dig so much by hand? Any help is appreciated!!

Thanks,
Kris

I have one of those combos from TSC. Works OK with my 21 hp Kubota B7510HST provided I don't need to dig more than 12 inches deep. Even then I can only get to this depth during the rainy season when the soil is soft.

I used the middle buster to break up the soil before rototilling when I was preparing the seedbed for my front and back lawns earlier this year.

The MB worked OK to dig trenches for 4" dia corrugated plastic drainpipe for the downspouts I installed last March. Need to make several passes to reach 12" depth. Keep your trench shovel handy to scoop out the loose dirt.

There are many TBN threads discussing how to use a subsoiler to pull plastic irrigation line and power cables into the ground. Use the Search feature to find these.

My neighbor has just used a single shank subsoiler to break up the hardpan under 20 acres of hayfield. He needed all the pull he could get out of a 90-hp Massey Ferguson to bust up the soil. This type of plowing has to be done during the dry season so the soil fractures when the subsoiler hits it. Takes a lot of hp to do that job.

 

[Glowplug]

My neighbor has just used a single shank subsoiler to break up the hardpan under 20 acres of hayfield. He needed all the pull he could get out of a 90-hp Massey Ferguson to bust up the soil. This type of plowing has to be done during the dry season so the soil fractures when the subsoiler hits it. Takes a lot of hp to do that job.

I believe that is what subsoilers are officially designed for. . .fracturing of hardpan. If you pull a subsoiler through anything else it's just going to slice through the soil. Of course, the hp requirements are going to be a small fraction of that needed to fracture rock hard soil. But I have seen some of those threads of people using subsoilers to lay corrugated irrigation pipe. It's pretty slick to see it done. As you slice a fine line through the soil the pipe is fed down through just behind the subsoiler. Once the very minimal turf disturbance is pressed back down you can hardly see where it was placed. I would imagine that after a couple of days you would never be able to tell anything was done. Now you can't argue with that as a good use for a subsoiler either!

Check out Monroe Tufline Subsoilers. I wouldn't mind having their 1S-28. Even though my tractor manual says my tractor can handle two shanks I would stick with a single shank, that way I could use it for either purpose. Of course, these run about $700.00!

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I believe that is what subsoilers are officially designed for. . .fracturing of hardpan. If you pull a subsoiler through anything else it's just going to slice through the soil. Of course, the hp requirements are going to be a small fraction of that needed to fracture rock hard soil. But I have seen some of those threads of people using subsoilers to lay corrugated irrigation pipe. It's pretty slick to see it done. As you slice a fine line through the soil the pipe is fed down through just behind the subsoiler. Once the very minimal turf disturbance is pressed back down you can hardly see where it was placed. I would imagine that after a couple of days you would never be able to tell anything was done. Now you can't argue with that as a good use for a subsoiler either!

Check out Monroe Tufline Subsoilers. I wouldn't mind having their 1S-28. Even though my tractor manual says my tractor can handle two shanks I would stick with a single shank, that way I could use it for either purpose. Of course, these run about $700.00!

What he said.

 

[N80]

I played with a middle buster recently and found that it did a fair job of turning the soil over. Got a two bottom plow and it worked much better, but I'd consider the middle buster a good cheap alternative if all you're trying to do is bust things up a bit so you can disk or till later.

I've never used a sub-soiler, but my B-I-L used one to lay PVC for his cattle watering troughs. He pulled it with a 60 hp tractor and was very pleased with the results. I think soil type and moisture level (as always) would be a major consideration.

Next year, I'm going to go all the way with my food plots. I'm going to borrow his subsoiler and break up the hard pan. Then I'm going to turn things over with the two bottom plow and then I'll disk it. I'll do this over several months before planting time.

 

[twodogs]

If you search the site on installing water lines you will find a great use for subsoilers. One of the members did a fantastic job documenting (photos) & explaining the procedures for installing a shallow (12") water line with a subsoiler. I bought one myself & followed his advice this summer to run some lines to my orchards & it worked very well. I am not sure how many more times I will use it, but it was worth it for the job that I used it for, without a doubt! I may look into buying the attachment to convert my subsoiler to a middle buster (plow).

 

[Jstpssng]

This is what you can do with the potato plow AKA Bottom Buster but it will not make for the great seed bed for garden as Bird mentioned above. You'll need to till to get a good seed bed started like on the second pic. For the price it is a great tool and can take the load off of your tiller plus a few other general uses around the farm.










JC,


By the way it take a lot of tractor to pull this beast deep in the ground. I do have issues with my turf type tires. I loose traction long before loose power. What size of tractor do you have? do you have ag tires?

Time tp resurrect this thread. I purchased one of these this week, thinking it would be useful to begin working the old field I had reclaimed last fall; but all it does is ride across the top of the soil. Looking at JC's pic it seems like the bracket for my furrower was welded on at the wrong angle; mine is only about 10 degrees from perpendicular to the down piece, and the bottom of the furrower is parallel to the ground. The other one at TSC was the same way.
I tried to include a pic, but my phone isn't "TBN friendly"
Anyone else bought one of these recently and had similar results?? (I really need a plow and harrow, but those aren't in the budget until fall.)

 

[bcp]

Can you post a photo? Have you tried adjusting the top link?

Bruce

 

[N80]

It can be hard to get a bottom buster to bite in hard soil. You may have to fiddle with your top link to get the right angle. See if you can get a picture to us.