A backwards disk chisel, (chisel disk?) to make food plots

[airbiscuit]

So, you have 69hp tractor that is about 6' wide. A chisel plow for $1,100 new sounds cheap. You can probably find an 8' pull type disc on Craigslist or Facebook for less than a 6' one, unless that's too wide for your trails. The chisel plow will loosen the soil. The disc will chew up the weeds. Where are you located?

 

[airbiscuit]

An old Bog Disc is as close as you'll come to a 1 implement solution. They are heavy, with large disc blades that are widely spaced (more forgiving of rocks).

 

[Rockbadchild]

I am all for a no-till or minimum till method but the ground has to be establish first, you can't do a no till or even minimum till in virgin ground. Any tines type attachment wont do much other then scratching the ground, there's a reason it hasn't been done. Bottom plow your area and disk it, then removed the rock and even then you will have a hard time plowing it with all these rocks.

 

[rScotty]

About 3 years ago we planted a three acre plot of very rocky soil with cover crop and grass.

Not having a toothed implement that works well in rocky soil, we used the front end loader and a rock bucket dragged backwards. We already had the rock bucket, but I suspect a tooth bar on a regular FEL bucket would work nearly as well.

So to prepare the soil for planting grass, we first dumped a few bucket loads of good topsoil and fertilizer in shallow piles around the field, and then replaced the Front End Loader SSQA dirt bucket with the mult-tined rock bucket - I'll attach a picture of that rock bucket.

Then we angled the rock bucket down about 30/45 degrees from horizontal, gave it a little down pressure, and back-dragged the entire field.

Backdragging like that spread the top soil while also making a series of furrows 3" apart and a few inches deep. Small rocks were pushed under, while larger ones were either picked up or tumbled along to be carried to the end of the pass.

Next we walked the area, hand-broadcasting grass seed,
Then back dragged it again at a shallower angle to cover the seed.

After a few years, it's looking pretty good.
rScotty

 

[airbiscuit]

For technical info I’d be running 10 rippers with spring trips made from snow plow trip springs, a 8 foot 2 gang toothed disk, single row, and pulling the whole setup with my 5000 ford. It would be made from scratch with the exception being I may see about finding an old worn disk to cannibalize for the cost savings.

I can’t seem to find anything about this being done, which has me wondering if it’s not a good idea. What do yall think?

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The horsepower needed to pull a chisel plow depends on the number of shanks and the type of soil. A general rule of thumb is that each shank of a chisel plow requires 12–15 horsepower

 

[paulsharvey]

I'm not sure what part of the world you are in, but within a 1h30m radius i found 3 chisels of me. Two of them are cheaper than a working used disc.

I think a chisel/all purpose plow/field cultivator (they use those names interchangeable) likely fills about the same roll as a disc, but with deaper penetration. A chain harrow afterwards (also a pretty cheap impliment), will do a good job smoothing and covering the seed.

As a replacement for the chain harrow, bolting 5 tires together, flat way, and dragging will also work,

 

[paulsharvey]

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View attachment 2665420
The horsepower needed to pull a chisel plow depends on the number of shanks and the type of soil. A general rule of thumb is that each shank of a chisel plow requires 12–15 horsepower

For a true chisel, maybe, but the light spring chisel, or the field harrow/all purpose plow, my 25hp engine will pull 7. Thats in sandy soil, but that old Ford 5000 could probably pull a good sized one with zero issue. A used 7 ft one, 9 tine, likely you could pull faster than you butt can take in the seat.

 

[airbiscuit]

I agree that a springtooth is different than a chisel plow, and the power it takes to pull. I'd still like to run a disc over the area to chew up the plant material.

 

[paulsharvey]

Some pictures of the area would be helpful, ad well as the rocks. There's a difference between fist sized vs basket ball sided. Also, does the area hold water at that shale layer?

 

[airbiscuit]