Adjust Disk Angles

[Boeing]

Guys, it's "disking" time for my food plots. As usual they're grown up with tall thin wiry grass and weeds in general.
I bush hog but the wiry stuff just lays down and doesn't cut. Then I hook up my very heavy disk and roll, roll, roll. I recently read an article about disk blade angle. I returned to my disk and.....they're welded in place, no adjustment.
Soooo, advice on ALTERING my disk or selling it and buying a different adjustable angle disk.......Please advise. Thanks

 

[Gee Ray]

Disking is a secondary tool most of the time. The idea of plowing a food plot is not what most people do.

For your problem I would try to add some more weight to your disk before I spent money for a new one. Lay a railroad tie or a log across the disk to see if it improves the ability to cut. Use a #9 wire or similar to tie the log on.

Also you might try shorting the top link to make the front gang cut better. Then flatten the dick back out to smooth the plot on a second or third pass.

 

[Boeing]

That's a great idea Gee......thanks And....what should I be doing to this overgrown plot if not disk?

 

[Gee Ray]

Without knowing the details of what you want to achieve I can suggest a few things. Mow short, use a turn plow, disk and plant with what ever you desire. There are different crops or mixtures of seed you could sow for what ever you are hunting.

Or you could till the field but the unknow rock and roots conditions makes that kind of iffy.

Many will say to round up the field to kill off everything but I frown on using pesticides or herbicides that are not required.

 

[canadianstrom]

My tillage experience would lead me to believe disc angle would not help. I know of some people have sharpened the disc. Some crop residue could be managed by flattening and uniform angle to help tillage tool cut. But in this case , cutting residue better first would be most effective. Get mowing several times beforehand, a flail mower or most effective, use roundup. Its a safe and effective solution.

 

[jeff9366]

1) You might try shorting the top link to make the front gang cut better. Then flatten the dick back out to smooth the plot on a second or third pass.

2) Pin the INBOARD end of your Top Link into a lower set of the paired Position Control holes. Lower positioning of the inboard end of the Top Link will raise the rear of the Disc a little higher.

 

[Boeing]

Without knowing the details of what you want to achieve I can suggest a few things. Mow short, use a turn plow, disk and plant with what ever you desire. There are different crops or mixtures of seed you could sow for what ever you are hunting.

Or you could till the field but the unknow rock and roots conditions makes that kind of iffy.

Many will say to round up the field to kill off everything but I frown on using pesticides or herbicides that are not required.

I have a bush hog, not a mower. The best I can do is about 4 inches. I do have a single turn plow that I use for road ditches. I swear that everytime I use the plow or box scraper tines I bring up 8 TONS of rocks.....and weed seeds. I'm told not to turn the ground any more than I have to. I have used Round up but still need to disk the remaining dead stuff. I like the LOG idea for weight though, thanks

 

[Boeing]

1) You might try shorting the top link to make the front gang cut better. Then flatten the disk back out to smooth the plot on a second or third pass.

2) Pin the INBOARD end of your Top Link into a lower set of the paired Position Control holes. Lower positioning of the inboard end of the Top Link will raise the rear of the Disc a little higher.

Thanks Jeff, I do keep the upper link short to put most of the weight on the front cutters but I never thought of moving the link pin. Great idea. Thanks again. I love this website, there are hundreds (thousands) of people with more experience than I.

 

[Texasmark]

That's a great idea Gee......thanks And....what should I be doing to this overgrown plot if not disk?

Moldboard plows are used to turn the top soil under.....top soil includes whatever is growing on it. In clay soils you have to carefully pick your soil condition to prevent gumming up. Fall is the best time but lots of smoothing required which is a bumpy ride the first couple of passes....with your disc then chain harrow.

 

[Texasmark]

My tillage experience would lead me to believe disc angle would not help. I know of some people have sharpened the disc. Some crop residue could be managed by flattening and uniform angle to help tillage tool cut. But in this case , cutting residue better first would be most effective. Get mowing several times beforehand, a flail mower or most effective, use roundup. Its a safe and effective solution.

"Its a safe and effective solution. "Seems lots of folks differ with your opinion especially for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and it (Glyphosate) usually doesn't last very long, maybe a year on perennials on my farm.

 

[bambam31]

My disk doesn’t always cut the grass on top but the ground underneath the dead grass is always broken. We seed, fertilize and drag. . Never a problem with the plots coming up.

 

[wolc123]

What food plots are you doing ? I usually start a new plot by mowing the weeds as short as possible with a Bush hog. Sometime in mid August, I plow the area. It sounds like you skipped that step. You can only get away with that if you use gly to kill off the weeds, which again, it sounds like you skipped.

A disk is a secondary tillage tool which means that is nearly useless on unsprayed, unplowed ground, no matter how much weight you add to it, what angle it is set at, or how sharp it is.

I disk the plowed ground and get it ready to plant (upstate NY location) around September 1. I braodcast wheat at about 50 pounds per acre and soybeans at 25 pounds per acre, then cultipack. Then I broadcast medium white clover at 5 pounds per acre then cultipack again 90 degrees from the first time.

The soybeans are the first to germinate and have unmatched attraction to deer as they begin to sprout. Since global warming kicked in, we don't get hard frosts until well into October, giving them soybeans good early season draw. Next, after the frost kills the soybeans (if the deer have not ate then all) the wheat kicks in. That will feed and attract the deer thru late season and even in winter.

The following spring, and for the next 3 to 5 years, all you will need to maintain the white clover is your Bush hog. The wheat had two jobs, attracting deer the first fall and shading out the weeds to provide a nurse crop for the clover. You do need to mow it off before it goes to seed the following spring to take full advantage of that.

No herbicide is used in this method, but the plow is the important piece of the puzzle that you have lacked. You got to use that to bury the weeds and let your disk do the job for which it was designed.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Most of the time unless the grass or weeds are mowed off close any leveling type disc or small disc will tend to roll up the residue in bunches and make a mess , if you make enough passes and cross cut the field you can get it good enough for a food plot, most crops will come up in fairly rough ground. My dad sprayed a lot of roundup on power line right of ways and on the farm and he died of Non Hodgkins Lymphoma, I couldn't say with 100% certainty that that is what killed him but I am fairly certain that it played a part, so I can't blame you for being hesitant to spray it.

 

[CoyPatton]

From looking at your ground in your photo of your disc and tractor, you have 2 major obstacles you need to deal with before using your disc. 1st and foremost is the height of your grass/weeds.
1st & Foremost is a deliberate word choice—realize that your 3ph’s only down pressure is the weight of the implement. The weeds cause the disc blades to act more as wheels than blades keeping the disc on the surface. Mown short 3” will continue to be a battle for a disc. I will come back to this in a bit.
2nd issue you have is a 2fold one. You have hard packed soil and rocks. Both of these factors limit your penetration of the ground even after the the grass/weeds are dealt with.

Recommendations:
You can do chemicals to deal with the grass, but the chemicals will do nothing (or less) for your hard-pack and rocks.
You need a plow!
I suggest a single bottom plow (in hard pack, your 3032 is going to struggle from both a HP and weight/traction with a 2 bottom plow) and skip the chemicals. The bottom plow will turn the soil including the roots of the grass/weeds from bottom to top. (Use some caution with the depth if the bottom plow as you want top soil to remain on top—this may or may not be an issue in your area. However, I know it is a major concern in the western/central NC area with the heavy clay in the area my son lives in,)
There are other types of plows, but the bottom plow does the best job of turning the roots up to kill the grass and weeds. They will decay adding nutrients to your soil. Following the plowing , you can disc (I recommend at 90 and 45 degrees from direction of plowing in that order. Remember you are not looking for a lawn finished product, just soil loose enough for seed to take root. A cultipacker is a great tool and one you may want to add, but a light hand ranking has worked great for years for lawns after broadcast seeding. A very light discing can be done as well.
One last point—most areas have a relatively thin layer of top soil so 6-8” of penetration is ad deep ad you ever want to go, in hard pack you may only get to 4-6”. I would guess from what I could see in your photo of your disc, you are only getting 2-3” max.

 

[3gunr]

What coy said is right, But if you are in a hurry this year then glyphosate is the fastest option , Spray ,wait 2 weeks then work the soil. A cultivator can be a cheap option as well, I have an 11 shank one that will rip up the ground and make it easier to disk, I have had good results with just my disk for tillage , but my soil is mostly bottom soil , no rocks or clay, get the grass off and it will work up much easier,

 

[oosik]

Loooong ago when I was new at this tractor game - I bought a light weight disk. I got exactly what I paid - an implement that rolled along the ground and BARELY left a mark. I weighted the disk - it helped somewhat. Even at full gang angle - I could make a deeper cut just dragging a shovel.

My neighbor had a towed disk that was much too small for his needs. I borrowed it.

It cut like a weighted straight razor. It lugged my little Ford 1700 down so much - I had to significantly reduce the gang angle.

That disk you have pictured is quite a bit larger than my little one. Like has been said - add weight and see how much it helps before spending $$$.

 

[Egon]

With your tractor size a rototiller would work best.

For your situation a two bottom 14 in. Plow may be the cheapest choice. Plow the plots & then disk. Doing this for two or three years your soil should loosen up to where the disk will do the job.

Don’t put more angle on your disc’s as you may have problems pulling it in loose soil after you put some weight on it.

 

[Boeing]

You guys gave me so really good advice and I thank you. I am attaching a photo of my single blade plow. I have NOT used it on my field because I was told that "it will just turn up more weed seeds"
I wanted to buy a rototiller but I have so many rocks that I think it would destroy a tiller. I have started using my box scraper diggers....just shallow cuts and that tears the dirt AND pulls up hundreds of more rocks But....after clearing the rocks (right) I can plow or box digger some more THEN disk. Thanks

 

[CoyPatton]

You guys gave me so really good advice and I thank you. I am attaching a photo of my single blade plow. I have NOT used it on my field because I was told that "it will just turn up more weed seeds"
I wanted to buy a rototiller but I have so many rocks that I think it would destroy a tiller. I have started using my box scraper diggers....just shallow cuts and that tears the dirt AND pulls up hundreds of more rocks But....after clearing the rocks (right) I can plow or box digger some more THEN disk. Thanks

Cut your grass/weeds as closely as you can (at least 3-4” high) then use the fire out of that single bottom plow in the picture. It is difficult to avoid weed seeds, but buried at 6-8” (your plow should turn 6” of soil with little difficulty) the seed should be too deep to ever grow. Once turned with the plow, make multi passes with your disc harrow until you achieve results you want in soil condition. Do your passes at 90 and 45 degrees to the plow direction. This should allow 3 passes in differing directions to the plow direction. As long as you watch the wetness of your soil conditions, this will probably be as much tillage as needed.
You may need to follow this tillage process for a few years till just discing will provide acceptable results. Number of years depends upon soil conditions. The organic material (weeds and grass) will provide nutrients to your soil.
Plowing was typically done in the fall of year to break up and turn under crop residue for organic material to decay prior to spring ground prep (discing, and others depending on planting process to be used). With current no till procedures, plowing is not often done, but is very effective for previously unworked ground.

 

[Boeing]

Thank you so much, Coy. Great guidance and I will follow it.