Box Scraper Can I Use a Box Blade for Plowing

[beersngars]

Thanks a bunch guys. The BB will be my next purchase. Besides the food plot, there are a bunch of other things I want to get done with it. I also thought of a plow and disc, but if I could get by with one tool for now all the better. Not trying to be a cheap skate, but hope to get a well and septic installed on the property this upcoming year. Hope to get the tiller the following year. Do you think I should spray/kill the existing vegetation or just rip it up?

 

[greg_g]

As long you're only preparing a food plot, I personally wouldn't spray it. Erosion is always a concern on freshly tilled ground, and native grasses can help you out there. You may have stirred them up a bit with the boxblade, but some percentage will re-establish. Without them, you have to wait for the new seed to germinate and establish a root system capable of holding the soil

//greg//

 

[outdoorstom]

If it was me, I'd mow, wait until the weeds are actively growing, then spray with roundup before plowing. Good luck with your project!

 

[N80]

Well for me, in regard to spraying, the whole reason I've been using a BB for this task was that I did not want to spend money on other implements/devices. If I was going to spend the money for Roundup and a boom sprayer, I'd rather just save it for the plow and the disk. And yes, the native stuff does come up, but deer and turkey will eat fresh young shoots of almost anything.

 

[john_bud]

Well for me, in regard to spraying, the whole reason I've been using a BB for this task was that I did not want to spend money on other implements/devices. If I was going to spend the money for Roundup and a boom sprayer, I'd rather just save it for the plow and the disk. And yes, the native stuff does come up, but deer and turkey will eat fresh young shoots of almost anything.

So, will you be saying that after you spend a couple hundred in seeds, lime and fertilizer and the plant are all choked out from the weeds? Best case, the plot will be 50% weeds in 3 months and 80% in 6 months. Sure, critters like most any young shoots, but weeds are nasty after the first 3 weeks.


Sethoxidim for the grass when planting clovers, peas, chicory, brassica etc. (Poast, Poast plus)

2,4D when planting wheat, oats, sunflowers etc

2,4 DB when planting clovers and you have broad leaf weeds like pig weed, lambs quarters etc. (Make dilly dern sure it's got a "B" at the end or you just killed your plot!) Butoxone, Butyrac, Butirex

 

[N80]

So, will you be saying that after you spend a couple hundred in seeds, lime and fertilizer and the plant are all choked out from the weeds?

No, because after doing this for nearly 3 years that has never happened. If it does, I will certainly re-evaluate. But so far, so good. I'm not saying there have been no weeds, just not much and certainly not enough to buy more gear or chemicals for. I'm feeding deer, not my family.

The prime culprit is fescue. And while I'm sure fescue is hardly a deer favorite, I know, for a fact, that they'll eat it year round.

Of course, with this drought, they're eating anything green they can find. And weeds in my food plots have not been a problem. Got a good growth of rocks. But no weeds.

 

[3RRL]

.... the whole reason I've been using a BB for this task was that I did not want to spend money on other implements/devices.

That's exactly why I used the boxblade too.
As far as using an herbicide, I opted to plow under the newly sprouted weeds before they matured instead. Killed a lot of them but not all that way. I still have some that come up, but hey, so what.

 

[mobilus]

Several of you recommended using a "middle buster". Where I'm from, a middle buster is used to unearth row crops like potatoes and carrots. They have moldboards to the left and right. Like this:

Are you guys calling a single bottom plow a middle buster?

I know there are different names for the same things in different parts of the country...just checking.

Thanks!

 

[john_bud]

No, because after doing this for nearly 3 years that has never happened. If it does, I will certainly re-evaluate. But so far, so good. I'm not saying there have been no weeds, just not much and certainly not enough to buy more gear or chemicals for. I'm feeding deer, not my family.

The prime culprit is fescue. And while I'm sure fescue is hardly a deer favorite, I know, for a fact, that they'll eat it year round.

Of course, with this drought, they're eating anything green they can find. And weeds in my food plots have not been a problem. Got a good growth of rocks. But no weeds.

Interesting. You must not be in a very "weedy" area. I sure as poop am. I mow down tight, spray with round up, wait a week, add lime/fertilizer > roto-till, wait 2 weeks for the billions of weed seeds to sprout, roto-till again, seed and pack. In 5-8 days the weeds have sprouted. The deer don't touch them. In 10-14 days the clover, etc is sprouted. The deer eat them -- all. In a month it's 50-50 at best. 3 months - 90-10.

I had no luck at all in 3 years at keeping a food plot food crop. After spraying with the stuff listed, the weeds are starting to calm down. Still one area is 50-50 with lambs quarter, rag weed and johnson grass mixed in with the clover. Grrrr. The annual grasses have taken both spring and summer sprayings with poast to get thinned out. I will still have to spray next year as the fall crop was eaten (all at night, thanks ) and the weeds are prevalent.

Must be nice to not have them to worry about.

jb

 

[Bird]

Are you guys calling a single bottom plow a middle buster?

I know there are different names for the same things in different parts of the country...just checking.

Nope, the terminology is the same in our part of the country. If you want to plow a field, the moldboard would certainly be the better choice, but it does require a little more knowledge to set it up properly; i.e., placement side to side, tilt angle, both side to side and front to rear, etc., and it costs considerably more than a middle buster (also sometimes called a potato plow).

So if you just want to tear the ground up, the middle buster will do that and it's cheap.