Can I plow a garden with only a tiller attachment on new, never plowed, rough ground?

[JohnnyMX]

I didn't know if Rotovator was the name of those machines that also actually pulverize rocks or something. Forward rotation tillers seem to jump up or walk over rocks and help push smaller stuff down. A reverse tiller essentially hits the rocks, throws it forward and then hits it again in few seconds and it keeps going till a pile is made. I have no issues with future year tillage, but I rake the rock out to get rid of the majority. Mine is a LandPride and their middle-duty tiller. It works, but I would have for surely gotten a forward rotation and heavier duty if I were to do it again no matter the brand. Super heavy duty is big bucks and I think my dealer led me astray as they probably had this laying around and I didn't know the difference at the time.

 

[leonz]

What you are referring to is a stone burrier they smash and beat down any rocks they impact.

An Italian brand of stone burrier is the FORIGO.

www.forigo.it/english/stone-burriers

A Northwest Tiller can dig down to 14 inches deep on the first pass for breaking sod.

www.nwtiller.com

When a rock picker is used they can dig down to 14 inches deep and remove every rock in the pass.
When rocks are picked that deep the farmer never has to deal with them again according to the folks
at Triginer.

www.triginer.com


The Lenco stone picker is also a wide bed stone picker.

www.lenco-harvesters.com

 

[California]

You guys posting already know this stuff but maybe this will help some newbie reading this thread:

I learned by trial&error that my Yanmar tiller won't turn under tall grass very well. As noted here, mow first, and let the grass decompose before rototilling!

I use this to cultivate the tight spaces at the edge of the orchard where the 50hp tractor pulling a disc can't fit.

This tiller did a good job as shown in the photo but it snarled up grass to the point where I had to clean out the tines after every couple hundred ft of progress. I have a cleanout tool, a curved linoleum knife blade jammed into a piece of conduit. This reaches to the center of the tines from either side.

No rocks here but the tiller leaps over orchard roots occasionally. No damage.

One final point in the photo: this first time I used it, I had the 'depth wheels' on the back set wrong. The arm that goes down to the wheel's axle, needs to be on the outside (where it can gouge treetrunks) per the tiller setup decal. With the wheels set smooth side out like in this photo, the wheels won't track straight, they make ruts.

g.

 

[Egon]

A farmer hired me to put this OLD cow pasture back into hay production,

First thing I did was to rotary cut it, it had some trees in it, but they aren't in the pict.,

With that done, I let it set several days to let everything die, then I made a pass with my Howard Rotavator,

After letting it set five days, I made the second pass,

After the second pass, the farmer put down fertilizer/seed ect., (he already had done a soil test) and I went over it with a crow foot cultipacker.

The next year he had a fantastic crop of hay there.

I've done this over and over, in MANY different types of soil, rocks and no rocks, if you know what you are doing it works! IF, it can be plowed, I can rotavate it!

BTW, this farmer had already owned a plow and disc, but when he saw how a rotavator works old sod, that's how he wanted it done from then on, so over the years I've done quite a bit of work for him.

OK, go ahead and tell me how it doesn't work where you live. lol

SR

Rotavators work very well as long as they are sized to HP and sturdiness of the attachment.

 

[Learning2Tractor]

Every post, it gets more expensive.

I swear. Im about ready to get an ox but I m guessing that would require something too.

I thought about a bcs walk behind, but it is still untouched ground. Clay. I'm sure it has some quartz in Georgia. I really wanted a front loader though. Dang, I can't but everything! I don't want to rent everything or call someone all the time either. Can't have it all I guess. Thanks for all the answers though. Nice folks on here.

 

[California]

... I really wanted a front loader though. Dang, I can't but everything! I don't want to rent everything or call someone all the time ...

I think the essence of the advice so far is to hire out the first ripping of the soil. That will require a larger tractor than what you need subsequently.

A front loader is extremely valuable. So - if I were you - I would get a small tractor with loader, and rotary mower. Mow everything down. Then hire a one-time pass with a turning plow or at least a deep ripper to bring up roots and rocks. Now your ground is ready to cultivate as you wish, using your small tractor.

 

[diesel85]

Way back when we used to use york rakes and rippers to prep a new field. Then we'd disc it up a couple times to unchunk it.

That would take care of 90% of the rocks.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I've done several smaller fields with this,

Yes it's a Howard, it does a fine job, even tearing up old sod.

SR

 

[MiserableOldFart]

I don't know about a cheapo tiller, but you'd be amazed how many times I've done it for myself and for customers, with my Howard Rotavator (tiller).

Here's one I reclaimed, and here's after the first pass,

I let it set several days, then made a second pass, here's what it looked like after the second pass,

Lots and lots of truck farmers here, have hired me to put old ground back into veggie plots, roots, rocks and all. Done "right" it works perfectly!

IF, You have a quality tiller and don't know how to use it properly, don't blame the tiller!

SR

Nice work, but that ground is a far cry from any I've ever run into, especially here in the Catskills. Might look like that after about 12 tons of rocks were removed.
Mom and Dad had a 50x50 foot garden here. They had it plowed and then ever after rototilled with a Troy Bilt biggest tiller they made. Whenever anyone would visit, Mom would hand them an egg basket, and request one basket of rocks removed, lol. She did most of the removal herself, and had a pile of rocks about 10x10x 3 feet. Amazingly though, every year, there was always another bumper harvest, and not just small ones, either, big rocks worked their way up every year.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Nice work, but that ground is a far cry from any I've ever run into, especially here in the Catskills. Might look like that after about 12 tons of rocks were removed.

IF you can plow it, I can rotavate it, that's all I claim...

I showed the pict. above, to show the size of the tractor that I've used to reclaim old sod fields, as it seems by comments above, that IF you don't have big equipment, you can't satisfactorily work old sod and that just isn't true.

I've done it too many times for that to be true.

SR