How do I get that fine powdered garden soil?

[Santa Craig Cringle]

So I broke new ground on a garden this year using a King Kutter roto-tiller pulled behind my tractor. The last 2 years we've used raised beds which are no till. The area where we broke ground was basically a grassy field that definitely grew the green stuff well.

Despite running over it at least 20 times with the roto tiller on different days, when the day came to plant, I still had mostly a garden of large clods. The soil type for this area of the yard is Westboro-Schaffer silt loams according to the soil survey, whatever that means. To me it means "hard to work with, clay-like soil that is soakin' wet from run-off all spring".

The farmer who rents my land told me that I had clods because I had tilled when wet. That's not entirely true. There were at least a couple days at the end where I tilled several passes, the ground was dry, and all I did was turn up new moist clods to dry hard in the sun. Made using my Earthway seeder a pain in the rear.

So, my question is, what sort of implement or tool should I use to bust up the clods on tilled soil before I finally plant? How do I get that powder that I can hoe a row easily come planting day?

 

[PHPaul]

1. Tilling while wet is a HUGE no-no. You WILL get clods unless you have sand. And no, tilling wet soil does not speed the drying process. Resist the urge.

2. Use the slowest ground speed you can manage while running at rated PTO speed. This will give the best tilling action.

3. You don't want the tilth too fine anyway, it compacts too easily and can inhibit germination and ****** growth.

4. If you have a problem with heavy soil, organic material mixed in will lighten it up. Good compost is best, peat moss will help.

On an established garden I try to till once a day or two before planting. If the weeds get too much of a head start before I'm able to plant, I may till twice.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Organic matter will help in a huge way. I have three gardens two are nice one is red clay. I piled oak leaves on that garden over a foot deep and tilled them in with my kk. Tilled them in several more times during the winter and if you just walked by that garden you would have to look to see that it was red clay in it. Listen to PHPaul and add mulch, compost, Whatever you find that does not have weed seeds in it and it will be a new garden next year.

 

[bp fick]

Fine powdered tilth will compact easily into very nice concrete. It isn't the ideal soil condition.

Tilling while too wet, especially in soil that may lack the building blocks of organic materials can contribute to clod making.

 

[jeff9366]

I second above advice never to till damp soil, never to over till and to add organic matter regularly.

One way to add organic matter is to grow 1-2-3 cover crops, then turn them under in succession. I find deer food plot seed, which is relatively cheap, makes good, strong germinating, cover crops. Research the seed blends before sowing; they vary by region.

Fine powered soil is the raw material for adobe bricks.

Tractordata.com lists Ford 881 at 3,500 pounds minimum, without filled tires. Do not run your tractor over wet ground, you will wreck it.

COVER CROP LINKS:

https://www.google.com/search?clien...+crop+site:tractorbynet.com&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

 

[PHPaul]

You may have a problem with the Ford too. I say "may" because I'm not familiar with the 800 series, but I do know that even in low gear, the "N" series are way too fast for tilling unless they have a step-down transmission. You just can't get the ground speed down far enough to get the tiller to work properly.

My JD750 covers the ground at 7/10ths of a mile per hour in low gear at rated PTO speed.

A quick surf shows the Ford at around 2 MPH in first at 2000 RPM. I don't know what engine RPM equates to 540 RPM PTO.

 

[pmsmechanic]

I rototill customers gardens yearly. The best gardens are the ones that people stay out of with their large equipment and regularly add organic matter. Spread newspaper between the rows and spread lawn clippings on top. The newspaper keeps the weeds from growing through and the clippings keep the newspaper from blowing away. Just don't use clippings from a lawn that has been sprayed recently with chemicals. The next spring just rototill newspapers and clippings in and start over. In a few years you will have very mellow soil. My experience has been that you can also safely add at least 4 or more inches of well rotted manure rototilling it in. It's very hard to find weed free manure but you end up with awesome soil. Another tip: Don't let your kids play in the garden when the soil is wet. It gets well compacted. I find too it's very hard to get a nice job the first year out of fresh breaking. Every year that you add organic matter and rototill will improve your soil.

 

[Bill Hoffman]

In NE CT we have fine silt/clay loam. I've had to add tons of sand and manure, lime,
leaf mold and more sand to lighten the soil up. If tilled when wet, instant concrete.
This in a garden that's 60 years old. If your soil is clay based you have to keep adding organic
matter every year.

 

[Santa Craig Cringle]

Tractordata.com lists Ford 881 at 3,500 pounds minimum, without filled tires. Do not run your tractor over wet ground, you will wreck it.

Already learned that lesson, sad to say.

 

[Santa Craig Cringle]

You may have a problem with the Ford too. I say "may" because I'm not familiar with the 800 series, but I do know that even in low gear, the "N" series are way too fast for tilling unless they have a step-down transmission. You just can't get the ground speed down far enough to get the tiller to work properly.

My JD750 covers the ground at 7/10ths of a mile per hour in low gear at rated PTO speed.

Too fast for roto-tilling, you mean? I thought the Ford 801 series tractor was originally designed for the small farmer, which means it would have had to been designed for tilling in some capacity??

 

[motownbrowne]

Too fast for roto-tilling, you mean? I thought the Ford 801 series tractor was originally designed for the small farmer, which means it would have had to been designed for tilling in some capacity??

Nope, designed for tillage, but not rototilling.

Originally designed when tillage was done with a plow followed by a disc or spring tooth harrow and a drag harrow.

That said, especially with the sos transmission, you'll be able to manage it. Here's some rules of thumb.

Don't Till when wet.

Don't till anything 20 times. 5 would be a lot.

You don't need or want fine powdery soil. The soil has structure for a reason, it will drain better and grow better crops if it's not over tilled.

Get a soil test.

 

[wupham]

The only thing I would add is to break new ground in the fall, if possible. Even if you get clods, the freezing and thawing over winter will break them down or at least loosen them so tilling leaves a nice seedbed. A soil with good structure will break apart into particles that look like grape nuts. That type of structure gives you the good properties of sand (good aeration, soaks up water fast, easy to till) and the good properties of clay (high water and nutrient holding capacity). Whatever you do, don't add sand to loosen a tight soil. You are essentially making concrete with the clay acting as the cement. Organic matter is the way to go.

 

[breadtrk]

You may already know about this but leave the back flap of the tiller all the way down in the closed position will help make it fine too.

That said, I agree with the rest, you can get it too fine.

 

[Ed of all trades]

As Wupham just said winter will take care of the clods so don't think that your garden is forever cloded. If you can give up gardening this patch this year grow buckwheat on it. Plant a crop, I plant mine with a walk behind one row seeder, it is what I have, put the rows about 6" apart and in about 30 days when it is in full bloom till it in. It tills in easy and in a week after that plant another crop, till, plant ect. until it is time to plant a winter cover crop. Buckwheat also kills weeds and next year you wont think it is the same land.

 

[CalG]

A very heavy layer of organic material as mulch will have that soil softened up in time for fall planting.

It takes a lot of material though (Do you know anyone with a chipper?

If you have clods, the soil was too wet when you tilled. 'Just the way it works.

 

[SmallTrac]

Lots of good advice here. The only item I see left unused are your own grass clippings. If you don't have a lot of weedkiller or pre-emergent on them, then they should be safe for composting. Personally, I like to make compost piles in my garden in an area I am not going to use for a year. At the end of the year (beginning of spring) the compost is ready to be spread and the soil under the compost pile will never be the same--in a good way. Earth worms will have worked their way in and rain will have leached compost nutrients directly into your soil. I have done this on red clay and after a year it looks like black loam. Can't say enough about compost or grass clippings.


SmallTrac
SubCompactTractorWorld.com

 

[PHPaul]

Slight thread drift here, but if you're serious about gardening and have the room, DO consider getting into composting.

A short composting tutorial

 

[KFhunter]

I had to make a garden plot in a hurry a couple days ago when a family member wanted to plant a bunch of stuff and the old garden was full up.


1st I rototilled 2 inches down to break up the sod, it was knee high and thick bottom land soil - dark and rich.
2nd scrape off the sod off with the FEL and pile it up to compost

3rd then rototilled it deep as it would go, which on my little tiller is about 6 inches

4th then I top dressed with compost from a compost pile I keep going all the time and tilled shallow to help spread it out


It should work fine but not 100% ideal - quick fast and in a hurry

 

[2458n]

Find someone who keeps their horses on sawdust. There is a woman who always has a ad in our country living monthly. It is easy to load and after it is aged a bit you have a great addition to your clay soil. I use it on both sides of my driveway about two inches deep and cover with black mulch for the topper.

 

[Dozernut]

I find that running a sub-soiler through the garden every year helps immensely. This helps with drainage. Running a tiller every year serves to compact the soil, resulting in shallow root growth. So tilling after sub-soiling has shown a marked improvement in my garden. The other tips about the news papers and clippings were spot on. Lots of good advise here.