6ft Rotory Tiller not getting job done

[lman]

Did I miss it? What's being planted?

 

[GillieBrook]

We use a 6' tiller and have had a 4' tiller on our farm for over 25 years. Virgin soil is tough to break down, so much root mass, dry conditions don't help.
My experience is run over the ground at a higher speed to open up the root mat then let is dry for at least a a week. Follow with a more a aggressive cultivation, slower tiller speeds, disc, or chisel plow. Let the field dry out again then finish with tiller.
Tillers are best to finish a field. Not the best tool for initial cultivation.
Its rare we slip the clutch, sounds as others have suggested, tool adjustment is needed, or you have a defective clutch.

 

[Bobrown14]

If the ground needs plowed and disced before using a tiller, why bother with a tiller at at all.

This exactly - you can use a plow and a disc and be done long before a tiller but the tiller is good for garden size or even a market garden.

I can still till certain soils with my tiller for sweet corn but IF I was doing a large plot no way would I use a tiller.

 

[alpacalips]

Just so everyone see's it, OP responded and made changes that helped, Post 38.

Three problem is they won't read your comment either. People will take the time to type out a long response but won't take the time to read the previous comments.

 

[Bill Guenthner]

If the ground needs plowed and disced before using a tiller, why bother with a tiller at at all.

Different things, different tools.

Plowed

Tilled

 

[BigJack601]

Run a breaking plow over it first.

 

[jyoutz]

I have never ran a tiller without discing first. I've seen people do it. They were good at replacing slip clutches and replacing chains.

It is good to break the soil with plowing or discing before tilling for the first time, but after the first year, I found that unnecessary for soil prep. I do like to rip or plow in the fall to break up hard pan and allow winter moisture to penetrate deeply.

 

[SEJustice]

Soil type and moisture and previous experience in each field is very important in deciding what to do. Agree those who recommended a discing first even in fields that are annually plowed. Too many people expect too much magic from a rotavator- beautiful soil tilth in single pass. Also as you go on you really should (IMHO) look into reduce till, conservation till, strip till, no till as ways to save soil health but also land prep times, machinery and diesel costs.

 

[oosik]

DEFINITELY - break the ground, first, in one way or the other. I would suggest a multi-scarifier tooth bar.

Back in '82 I broke ground for our garden with a Troy Bilt Horse. This spot had NEVER been broken previously. It was a rough ride that I would never repeat.

 

[ParkWhite]

Small cultivator or even better a small chisel plow sounds like a good idea. My clay/rocky soil likes to compact so bad that the tiller just bounces up and down on new ground. If you have a neighbor that is working ground with a big tractor they would do you a great favor to go over this field and get it broken up first.

I sew a heavy cover crop every fall. All those winter wheat roots help to keep the soil from compacting.

Good luck!

 

[Bill Guenthner]

I sew a heavy cover crop every fall. All those winter wheat roots help to keep the soil from compacting.

Good luck!

That’s the key. You have to keep a cover crop on. Let the roots keep the soil open.

 

[beenthere]

New 48hp tractor and 6ft Tar River tiller. Others told me this tiller is a good unit, and I trust their opinion. My land hasn't been farmed in 3 years, so weeds have grown. I mowed the weeds down first. I then hookup up my tiller and gave it a try. Ground is clay, loam so not exactly peat. The tiller's Slip-Clutch PTO protection keep the tines from running most of the time, basically making very little progress. I went over the land three times, having to adjust 3pt manually up just scraping the dirt so didn't engage the Slip=Clutch PTO protection. Painfully slow process. End result is maybe 2-3 inches of depth of till.

I'm wondering if I first need to get a small cultivator this run over this ground first? I have about 6 more acres to go and seems very inefficient to continue with the tiller like this. Can anyone think i'm missing anything here? I'd love to just keep the tiller on and not swap it out and buy another implement (plus hooking up the tiller was a pain in the @ss). Thank you

You need to break up that ground first, before using a tiller.
Sub-soiler or moldboard plow at minimum of 6 inches.

Without, you are just scratching the surface. And the "small cultivator" is only a surface scratcher at best. It will cultivate after you get the rototilling accomplished.

And agree, the clutch may be shot. Should have tightened the nuts as soon as slippage was detected.

Good luck.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

You need to break up that ground first, before using a tiller.
Sub-soiler or moldboard plow at minimum of 6 inches.

Without, you are just scratching the surface. And the "small cultivator" is only a surface scratcher at best. It will cultivate after you get the rototilling accomplished.

And agree, the clutch may be shot. Should have tightened the nuts as soon as slippage was detected.

Good luck.

I'm not so sure you've "beenthere" when it comes to tillers, because all of my 3 point tillers, will till 8" deep in the first pass, that is if it can be plowed, then the tiller will go in too.

One pass, 8" deep in an old "heavily sodded" field with saplings,

I rotary cut it, let it sit for a few days in the sun, and tilled it, the field was done for a veggie farmer. I did make a second pass where the rows went, after he picked up all the roots and broken up limbs from the saplings I tilled up.

Oh yea, I hit an old pitchfork in that field too!

SR

 

[tjandrews]

I'm not so sure you've "beenthere" when it comes to tillers, because all of my 3 point tillers, will till 8" deep in the first pass, that is if it can be plowed, then the tiller will go in too.

One pass, 8" deep in an old "heavily sodded" field with saplings,

I rotary cut it, let it sit for a few days in the sun, and tilled it, the field was done for a veggie farmer. I did make a second pass where the rows went, after he picked up all the roots and broken up limbs from the saplings I tilled up.

Oh yea, I hit an old pitchfork in that field too!

SR

You don't have the same soil type I do, that's obvious. Or the same tiller. My tiller has shoes on either side to set the digging depth. Maximum is about 3-4 inches. If I were foolish enough to take them off, then the side gearbox would give me maybe another inch before bottoming out.

I'm fine with that. Digging down an acre about four inches in one pass with a tiller would take 2-3 days on my soils. But I don't need my tiller to go that deep - that's why I still own my grandfather's 2-bottom plow and tractor.

 

[Bill Guenthner]

I'm not so sure you've "beenthere" when it comes to tillers, because all of my 3 point tillers, will till 8" deep in the first pass, that is if it can be plowed, then the tiller will go in too.

One pass, 8" deep in an old "heavily sodded" field with saplings,

I rotary cut it, let it sit for a few days in the sun, and tilled it, the field was done for a veggie farmer. I did make a second pass where the rows went, after he picked up all the roots and broken up limbs from the saplings I tilled up.

Oh yea, I hit an old pitchfork in that field too!

SR

You must not get around much. We don’t all live in areas with glacial till soils that you can turn with a plastic spoon.

 

[kwijybo]

DEFINITELY - break the ground, first, in one way or the other. I would suggest a multi-scarifier tooth bar.

Back in '82 I broke ground for our garden with a Troy Bilt Horse. This spot had NEVER been broken previously. It was a rough ride that I would never repeat.

I had to do that in 2019 (twice!), and on both gardens each Spring since (each is about 100' x 50' fenced in, heavy clay that packs and gets matted with weeds). Dang thing should be called "Bronco" or "Mad bull" instead of a "horse" for all the bucking it does. I keep it up, it will kill me.

I'm reading this thread to try and figure out the best route, a tiller for my (Yay!) tractor, or what. I also want to use it to break up a field I have for a few rows of blackberries, strawberries, a few fruit trees, and so on.

 

[Gee Ray]

I have found this thread to be very interesting. Fact: the tiller is not the correct tool for virgin ground breaking. Fact: soils varies a great deal from area to area. Fact: the breaking of the soil with some type of plow or disk is often needed.

I am also noticing that several people keep having the compaction problem with their soil and there has been little discussion on remedies for this problem.

Having grown up in SE Ohio and plowing hundreds of gardens in our small town I will offer this solution. Add organic materials to your soil. We brought in truck loads of sawdust, straw, grass clippings, leaves, straw and composted it or added it directly to the gardens. And I mean truck loads. It was amazing now quickly it would disappear into that red clay.

 

[flat tyre]

All due respect, that tiller is a lightweight toy. One needs at least a 900 - 1000 pound tiller to go break up soil effectively. However, if soil is rock hard, due to vehicular traffic, rocks, horses et cetera even the mightiest of tillers will bounce.

 

[Martin Roper]

New 48hp tractor and 6ft Tar River tiller. Others told me this tiller is a good unit, and I trust their opinion. My land hasn't been farmed in 3 years, so weeds have grown. I mowed the weeds down first. I then hookup up my tiller and gave it a try. Ground is clay, loam so not exactly peat. The tiller's Slip-Clutch PTO protection keep the tines from running most of the time, basically making very little progress. I went over the land three times, having to adjust 3pt manually up just scraping the dirt so didn't engage the Slip=Clutch PTO protection. Painfully slow process. End result is maybe 2-3 inches of depth of till.

I'm wondering if I first need to get a small cultivator this run over this ground first? I have about 6 more acres to go and seems very inefficient to continue with the tiller like this. Can anyone think i'm missing anything here? I'd love to just keep the tiller on and not swap it out and buy another implement (plus hooking up the tiller was a pain in the @ss). Thank you

I was taught and have always believed that as a rule of thumb that you need a horse power per inch so even if your slip clutch wasn't slipping you are pushing your luck a bit so you would need to take it in easy stages.

 

[Redwagon96]

My tiller works best on virgin ground to make a shallow 1st pass and then a deeper one. I may make 3 or 4 passes to really stir virgin ground