Box Scraper Can I Use a Box Blade for Plowing

[beersngars]

Need some advice on reclaiming a field. The soil is mostly clay and a few rocks. I want to put in a food plot and some pumpkins and such for the wife. This field is about 4 or so acres and has been grown over since I bought the property 15 years ago. Most of the growth was briars and scrap sapplings with a few reaching 20 or so feet tall. Last September, I got my Kubota L3400, FEL and a Woods BB60X shreader and went to work. It took a while but I got it all mowed down. I did leave some of the larger trees I couldn't mow down and will deal with them later.

So, let me get to the point. Right now I have no other attachments other than a ballast box. That said, I like to buy things once and buy quality. I have decided that a Woods GB65 box blade is in my future and am wondering if I could use it to bust up the ground a bit and drag out some old roots. I want a tiller but think it may be a little early to expect decent results with all the roots an all. It appears to me, with a good heavy BB, and some time and patience, I might be able to get away a year with out a tiller and still have decent results.

What do you guys think? Will this work or not? I would love to buy both, but there are other large dollar projects planned that need done before I drop the money on a good tiller. The other option would be to see if I could get someone to plow and disc for me the first year.

 

[sactovalley]

Try to find a middle buster they only cost about $100 @ TSC. I reclaimed about an acre with one. A subsoiler would work also. I tried to use my box blade first with the rippers all the way down as soon as I broke up the dirt I was moving a ton of dirt. I now use my subsoiler first and then a small disc and I very pleased with the outcome. The first year with the middle buster only, the results were still very good. Reclaim the land and plant red clover if you have a year to let the land lay fallow, the soil will love it.
Good Look
Norcal

 

[greg_g]

If you're only concerned with working the top 4 inches or so, the boxblade should be just fine. For the roots, you drop the scarifiers down to their maximum depth, then pull the toplink in to it's shortest length. This will raise the back of the box up to let a lot of the dirt escape. You may have to buy a shorter toplink to get this to work to your satisfaction. I've got half a dozen different length toplinks for that exact reason.

But expect a lot of wear and tear on the scarifier tips. I'd recommend you buy at least one spare scarifier, and half a dozen replacement tips.

//greg//

 

[3RRL]

Need some advice on reclaiming a field. The soil is mostly clay and a few rocks. I want to put in a food plot and some pumpkins and such for the wife. This field is about 4 or so acres and has been grown over since I bought the property 15 years ago. Most of the growth was briars and scrap sapplings with a few reaching 20 or so feet tall. Last September, I got my Kubota L3400, FEL and a Woods BB60X shreader and went to work. It took a while but I got it all mowed down. I did leave some of the larger trees I couldn't mow down and will deal with them later.

So, let me get to the point. Right now I have no other attachments other than a ballast box. That said, I like to buy things once and buy quality. I have decided that a Woods GB65 box blade is in my future and am wondering if I could use it to bust up the ground a bit and drag out some old roots. I want a tiller but think it may be a little early to expect decent results with all the roots an all. It appears to me, with a good heavy BB, and some time and patience, I might be able to get away a year with out a tiller and still have decent results.

What do you guys think? Will this work or not? I would love to buy both, but there are other large dollar projects planned that need done before I drop the money on a good tiller. The other option would be to see if I could get someone to plow and disc for me the first year.

I did exactly what you are thinking of. I also wrote a whole thread about it here: Plowing Food Plot With Boxblade
It is very doable and I got great results. I didn't need to go any more than 4" to 6" deep. I had an adjustment left if I had to go deeper, but didn't need to. Just make sure you suspend you box above the ground while ripping to minimize the amount of dirt you drag around. Leave the cutting blade edge several inches off the ground if possible. I did not lose and scarifiers or tips during that plowing. I did about 2 acres or a little more for the food plot and ran into plenty of rocks, but not too many roots.
Good luck, it should work great.

 

[Bird]

I think this is one of those cases of "it can be done, but you may not like it." Personally, I'd go with the recommendation of sactovalley.

 

[greg_g]

Personally, I'd go with the recommendation of sactovalley.

I'm not picking on you personally Bird. But four acres with a middle buster? That's a lotta fuel, and - if you're gonna want a "plowed" effect - the tractor can't help but eventually drive right back over what the MB just churned up. Plus, it's only going to snag and break roots.

With a boxblade at least as wide as your tire tracks, you won't always be treading back over the ground you just worked. And half a dozen scarifiers on a boxblade will actually pull a lot of those roots right outa the ground.

//greg//

 

[beersngars]

I did exactly what you are thinking of. I also wrote a whole thread about it here: Plowing Food Plot With Boxblade
It is very doable and I got great results. I didn't need to go any more than 4" to 6" deep. I had an adjustment left if I had to go deeper, but didn't need to. Just make sure you suspend you box above the ground while ripping to minimize the amount of dirt you drag around. Leave the cutting blade edge several inches off the ground if possible. I did not lose and scarifiers or tips during that plowing. I did about 2 acres or a little more for the food plot and ran into plenty of rocks, but not too many roots.
Good luck, it should work great.

Thanks. Great reading.

 

[N80]

I did this for a couple of years. Similar soil to the OP, clay and rocks. And it worked very well. I got good 'crops' of oats, wheat, cow peas and sunflowers. But, as these plots got better established and I was planting in both fall and spring, it was the remianing vegetation that started causing problems, not the soil. The problem was that the leftover 'crop' would tangle up in the scarifiers and they would no longer dig. It got very frustrating.

Then I found an old middle buster and it really helped turn things over and went much deeper. But yes, going is slow with a single middle buster. Then, a few weeks later I found a two bottom plow. That was the ticket, it turned the soil and remaining vegetation over perfectly. But then I was left with these deep furrows and relatively high mounds and I was not planting row crops. That's when it dawned on me that I needed a disk. I'm saving my money now.

Bottom line is that you can make the BB work for this. And if there isn't money in your 'tractor' budget for new implements then go for it.

But for my soil type I have come to the conclusion that the minimum basics are a plow (two bottoms or more if possible) and a disk. And neither one by itself is of much use. The plow leaves deep furrows that need to be cut back down and a (typical) disk harrow will hardly scratch unplowed ground around here.

I've got the plow and want a disk. Saving money for the disk and or tractor shed. Can't decide which to get first.

 

[Wesdor]

Like others have said, it CAN be done, but do you want to? Sactovalley gave you some good advice about using a middle buster. Yes, 4 acres would be a lot, but seat time is always good time. I bought a middle buster on a farm sale for under $50 and it has been great to work out roots after I had an area bulldozed.

I first go over with the middle buster and then disc it. If money is tight, then perhaps the box blade is the only answer, but at about $100 more I think you would be well served to purchase a middle buster and go over the ground first.

 

[N80]

Here is my son 'plowing' with the BB. He used one of my plots for a 4H foodplot contest. Won third in the state. (Maybe they felt sorry for the poor kid having to 'plow' with a BB!)