Disking up an old field

[jaxs]

If tillers were the best way of preparing seed bed you would see farmers using Green 500 horsepower tillers instead of chisel followed by disc and harrow. As for Roundup before plowing,tilling or discing,it depends on what is growing at the time and how mature. In soil that's worked annually ,most vegetation will be immature annuals that will be killed by discing. For scattered perennials ,spot treating requires less Roundup and burns less fuel. Rye,Millit and such can be seeded with little or no soil prep and using more seed. Planting Winter pasture over Summer pastureland I drill directly unless it's low fertility soil. I broadcast seed followed by liquid N injected behind narrow chisels dragging chain harrow. It isn't worth owning,borrowing or stealing a dedicated implement for a small field but you can do a creditable job with 55 gallons liquid N sitting on a box blade with hoses behind rippers and blade just tipping surface to spread loose soil a little. There's little need for mold boarding unless you have heavy standing cover crop , inordinate amounts of trash OR YOU HAVE SPREAD COMPOST FIRST,in which case a tiller might be a better option.

 

[two_bit_score]

Years ago I had a 5 acre lot with no tractor and was borrowing my parents walk behind tiller to till about an acre at a time and seed it. I bought a boom sprayer and sprayed it with round up before tilling it. At one point, I had sprayed roundup to get a kill on the yard and then waited for the round up to work {7-10 days) during that period we were getting a lot of rain so I couldn't till until it dried up a little.

I left the grass in my seeder since I was using it regularly and one of my young sons found the seeder and decided to seed a long strip of that soil before I even tilled it. In fact, I didn't even know he did it.

A couple weeks later I saw this very nice stand of grass in a very long strip about the width of my seeder and I knew what had happened.

My point being, grass will grow with very little to no surface tillage at all. It needs a weed free environment so not competing and water. It will grow. There are even people who plant right on top of a late snow, say late March, and let the snow melt and create a moist cool environment for cool season grass to germinate. I've not done it but it seems like it would work.

It seems like for me grass grows everywhere I don’t want it and very few places I do.

But you’re 100% right one thing about grass...it will grow!

 

[Yander]

If tillers were the best way of preparing seed bed you would see farmers using Green 500 horsepower tillers instead of chisel followed by disc and harrow. As for Roundup before plowing,tilling or discing,it depends on what is growing at the time and how mature. In soil that's worked annually ,most vegetation will be immature annuals that will be killed by discing. For scattered perennials ,spot treating requires less Roundup and burns less fuel. Rye,Millit and such can be seeded with little or no soil prep and using more seed. Planting Winter pasture over Summer pastureland I drill directly unless it's low fertility soil. I broadcast seed followed by liquid N injected behind narrow chisels dragging chain harrow. It isn't worth owning,borrowing or stealing a dedicated implement for a small field but you can do a creditable job with 55 gallons liquid N sitting on a box blade with hoses behind rippers and blade just tipping surface to spread loose soil a little. There's little need for mold boarding unless you have heavy standing cover crop , inordinate amounts of trash OR YOU HAVE SPREAD COMPOST FIRST,in which case a tiller might be a better option.

A tiller, even a large one, is too slow for farming large acreage. We aren't talking about conventional farming here. That is an entirely different conversation. I assume you are talking about 45 in liquid form. You can also buy that in granular and broadcast it but not on newly planted grass.

Something that hasn't been mentioned as an option, if it has been mowed previously, how much grass is already there. Maybe you just go spray some broadleaf herbicide and then broadcast some granular nitrogen to help the grass and keep mowing it until you have just grass. If there is almost no grass there now, I would probably go with the suggestion that @LD1 had early, roundup and slicer seeder.

 

[nova3930]

My point being, grass will grow with very little to no surface tillage at all. It needs a weed free environment so not competing and water. It will grow. There are even people who plant right on top of a late snow, say late March, and let the snow melt and create a moist cool environment for cool season grass to germinate. I've not done it but it seems like it would work.

Down here in warm grass land, I'm convinced Bermuda grass will grown on concrete with enough water. It will sure enough send runners over 6-8 feet of it to get to more dirt....

 

[jaxs]

Down here in warm grass land, I'm convinced Bermuda grass will grown on concrete with enough water. It will sure enough send runners over 6-8 feet of it to get to more dirt....

A business black topped a lot overgrown in Johnson Grass next-door to my office and the grass busted chips the size of 25 cent pieces and kept right on growing.

 

[LHF2019]

Having bought my neighbors 8 acre field, one that adjoins my own, I:d like to disk it up and replant in pasture grass. This field had one horse for maybe 5 years but that was 20 years ago and has sat since in other than being mowed.. My tractor is 30hp but I don't own a disk. I could buy a new one, as used implements around here means very big like 100HP stuff and larger. I think a 6ft disk would work for me but which one would be suitable on todays market and at what cost? I know this ground has some rocks so I'd rather not plow it up if possible, but if disking it 4 inches or so this might be what I need. I talked around to have it done for me but custom guys want a lot of cash for such a small field, I can't blame them though but in reality I'd rather do it myself being retired now with lots of time. Any ideas on a disk?

Wow, lots of great ideas from so many. Thanks a bunch for all the input ideas. I may end up ripping with my boxblade, drag off any rocks then rototill it all as I have those implements already. I can pick a small area to try out, see how it goes.

I see a couple people asked and I don't see a response to why you want it tore up other than in your original post to replant.

Is it rough? If rough and you want it smooth then tear it up.

What is already growing? If broad leafs and you only want grass then spray and maintain and grass will grow. Much Much more inexpensive than going through the entire tillage and reseeding plan.

What are you going to use it for in the end? If pasture and field is a little rough does it really matter.

There is much more than rip it up and reseed if you are looking for good results. Soil sample, fertilizer, lime if needed. Very expensive not to mention purchasing the seed and tillage/fuel cost.

Whether going to use for hay, pasture, or just to mow and look nice consider mowing at 4-5 inches high on a 20-30 day interval. Spray for broad leafs if needed. Soil sample and apply what may be needed per your budget which appears rather large considering what you want to do to 8 acres.

Very rough estimate here for doing 8 acres $400/acre. That would be for everything from tillage to reseeding.

 

[3gunr]

Last yr i turned a 10 acre crop field that had not been planted in 2 yrs into CRP. I thought about having someone prep the soil but decided to do it myself, I sprayed it with gly 3 times over a 6 month period to kill all weeds and grass which was thick and tall , I then mowed it as low as possible, I started with my 6ft tiller but it was so slow going i switched to a 6 ft disk , added some weight and went at it, It took me 2 full weekends to get it disked and drug smooth but it worked great and the crp came up beautiful. The key was killing of all the vegetation and mowing down as low as possible, The disk is an angle iron disk with notched disks, I added about 150 of weight to it and it actually cut to good, ended up taking the weight off. It took some time but i enjoyed it and saved myself some money.

 

[MoPops]

Interesting thread. Glad I found it. I have a 6’ cheap disc built on angle iron, and a 27hp Bobcat tractor. It’s 4 wheel drive, but does not have ag tires. I’ve got a small 3 ac field that’s grass and poison ivy. I’m going to try and plant some clover, and anything else that might attract deer. I was going to spray, put down fertilizer and lime, disc up what I could, then broadcast some seed. Drag some
thing over it, maybe a cultivator. And just see what comes up. The field hasn’t had any livestock on it, but hasn’t been worked in 50 years. After reading through this, I’m wondering if I shouldn’t try to find someone to plow it first.

 

[Fueler]

While it goes against the DIY code I am in the hire a farmer group. Cost of diesel, a couple of hours of field time and cleanup might be less expensive. If you time it for the time of year the farmer is actually using the appropriate tools makes it the much easier for them to take the job on.

 

[kenhar]

By the time you buy a breaking plow, a disc, fuel, fix your break downs for a one time use: Hire it done. Pick up the rocks and plant your grass. Been there, done that.

 

[Stephen D]

I believe because slaves once worked in fields, the very word is now traumatic to them. I don't think we should say "sun" either, because slaves often had to toil under it in the ....acreage. They also had to wear shoes, clothing, and hats. These words need to be banned and replaced with softer, more sensitive words. See how silly this gets? I'll probably understand it all better once I'm back from the cultural reeducation "camp".

 

[jonathansfather]

Having bought my neighbors 8 acre field, one that adjoins my own, I:d like to disk it up and replant in pasture grass. This field had one horse for maybe 5 years but that was 20 years ago and has sat since in other than being mowed.. My tractor is 30hp but I don't own a disk. I could buy a new one, as used implements around here means very big like 100HP stuff and larger. I think a 6ft disk would work for me but which one would be suitable on todays market and at what cost? I know this ground has some rocks so I'd rather not plow it up if possible, but if disking it 4 inches or so this might be what I need. I talked around to have it done for me but custom guys want a lot of cash for such a small field, I can't blame them though but in reality I'd rather do it myself being retired now with lots of time. Any ideas on a disk?

I disk every March/April, against the slope, on my 3.5-acre horse pasture in west-central WV. I then plant a good pasture grass/clover mix. I don't smooth over because I need the furrows to catch the rainwater running down my sloped pasture. I have good pasture grass, every year, for my 2 Tennessee Walker mares. If you don't want to buy a disk cultivator you could frost/snow seed. I tried that one year and had fairly good results.

 

[sunandsand]

I believe because slaves once worked in fields, the very word is now traumatic to them. I don't think we should say "sun" either, because slaves often had to toil under it in the ....acreage. They also had to wear shoes, clothing, and hats. These words need to be banned and replaced with softer, more sensitive words. See how silly this gets? I'll probably understand it all better once I'm back from the cultural reeducation "camp".

I'll probably be sitting right next to you while you're being culturally reeducated.

I'm subdividing 70 acres into 15 homesites (with airport access, which makes it worthwhile). Zoning sez we gotta have Codes, Covenants and Restrictions and an HOA because according to them, this is a "Residential Planned Unit Development".

First draft: "Try not to annoy your neighbors, and if you are a neighbor, try not to be annoyed too easily."

Final version (after the smoke cleared and a LOT of checks were written to no fewer than five attorneys) is 14 pages of small print detailing anything and everything imaginable, and the punch line is "The HOA can elect to not enforce any or all items in this document."

Sheesh.

It'll be worth it, it'll be worth it, it'll be worth it (he keeps telling himself).

Best Regards,

Mike/Florida

(Who tries not to be deliberately politically incorrect, but since there seem to be people who are offended by the mere breathing of others, is not always successful.)

 

[Mej13579]

I had a field that was really rough due to wild hog damage. When I finally got my tractor one of the first things I did was use a tiller to level them out. Worked really well. It’s about 5 acres. I have a 35 hp tractor with a 5 foot roto tiller. Now when I get ruts I just use the box blade tilted as far back as possible to only catch the rear blade to keep them leveled out when I get new ones.

 

[Bentrim]

From past experience as a youngster on the farm and work experience at a dealer. My thoughts are unless you have a very sandy soil, you will never get a light tandem disk to penetrate hard soil to four inches, if you do after many, many passes you are going to find a power shortage with thirty horsepower. If you are after that depth you need some other type of tillage whether a chisel plow or a moldboard plow, although a box blade with scarifier teeth could possibly "get the job done". If you were set on a disk harrow to get that penetration you need what is referred to as an offset or an orchard disk, but they take power!
There have been many good recommendations offered here, but only you can decide on what you are going to do.
Personally I would recommend hiring a local farmer to plow or chisel the ground, if it is too ruff, otherwise reseed and eliminate unwanted weeds by spraying and targeting those weeds. But it depends on what you intent to do with the ground.

 

[3gunr]

Interesting thread. Glad I found it. I have a 6’ cheap disc built on angle iron, and a 27hp Bobcat tractor. It’s 4 wheel drive, but does not have ag tires. I’ve got a small 3 ac field that’s grass and poison ivy. I’m going to try and plant some clover, and anything else that might attract deer. I was going to spray, put down fertilizer and lime, disc up what I could, then broadcast some seed. Drag some
thing over it, maybe a cultivator. And just see what comes up. The field hasn’t had any livestock on it, but hasn’t been worked in 50 years. After reading through this, I’m wondering if I shouldn’t try to find someone to plow it first.

You really need to mow down the grass and weeds as low as possible then spray and let roots die for a month, you can then put down lime and disk in heavy thatch on top of the ground will keep the disk frpm cutting. Old chisels can be had cheaply around here , I paid a hundred bucks for one a while back , chisel plowing first will help with disking,

 

[dcarman]

So is that a field of study or a field of wheat that is considered racist?
That woke stuff isn't needed in this forum please!

 

[Drzensen]

Im a handyman and farmer, i use many methods and only have a 25 hp tractor. But build roads and graded 2 acres with that little tractor. I always have people telling me what i cant do.
Hireing out is expensive cause the guys over charge!! Period i hire out as equipment operator and also with my tractor. At my rate after expenses including renting a trailer, i am putting 400+ in my pocket per day. And i charge less than half of the rate others do. Then there are the people that tell me thier neighbor did it for 50$. I dont work for free, and i dont over charge.
How i would approach your problem.
A disc will work, get one use it see how you like it and if it is getting your goals done. Using an implement takes experience. I have used discs, plows, rototillers, spike harrows, rippers, subsoilers, chisels plows. Each dose some thing, but your land and tractor, and goals are different. Strait up reseed i would,
Burn if possible,
Disc see if it is how i want,
Work with the tool on 1 acre,
Seed area,
Use a roller to press seed in and get better germination.

I have used a disc, then spike harrow, seed, spike harrow, roll and have gotten results. I use this method when i dont want to annihilate a pasture. Each year, 2 years in a row and had great pasture for my sheep.
Plowing compacts the soil at plow depth. So dose rototilling, and tilling or plowing rough, rocky soil with compaction is not easy. I dont suggest it unless you want to grow specific crops, pasture just isnt worth that kind of time.
Look for older tools around or see if a neighbor has 1 you can rent to see how it works. Im going to buy a disc, because i have customers that want me to do work. I used a 2 wheel tractor and a disc, and spike harrow to reseed 2.5 acres. Took time but i was very knowledgeable about every foot of that space. Too hire out, i need one for my tractor. Its a time on site deal with that.
For your acreage i would want a single tooth ripper or sub soiler, rotory disc 3pt or pull, drag or 3pt spike harrow, and a roller. This should get you started. Most of those implements can be used every year for some thing. Plan out how you will use the ripper/subsoiler, i did this across a slop and it spread the water out past my sprinklers 80'. Substantially increasing pasture growth, also used in an area with compaction which wasn't growing well. You couldn't tell where it was at after, before it was my bain as a brown short spot in the green field. I have also used the subsoiler to help waterlogged sections, and drainage. Get out and experiment, see what you like best for your goals. And don't let people tell you what you cant do. Those same people will say i dont understand. They give me funny looks every day, it warms my heart
Thanks
3HR

 

[kenhar]

This response is to Stephen D. Are you being sarcastic or just plain stupid? Man asks a question for help or advice and you but in with that s__t. Any farm kid knows if you leave a pile of crap alone it won't stink long but keep stirring it up and it will stink from now on. Leave it alone.

 

[duke7595]

Control burn the field then rent a NO-Till Drill to sow in your seed. Check your local county co-op many have the drill for rent. No need to disturb the soil if you control burn and drill the seed in, fertilize as needed after you have taken a soil test and receive the results. Probably will need to lime it as well, however, the soil test will show your Ph and recommend the amount. Good luck.