Disc harrow to Buy?

W5FL · Aug 29, 2000

gordon,

I always just set at PTO speed in first gear which is about 1.4 mph and go all day like that with the tiller. Probably takes 2 hours per acre, but does an absolutely beautiful job. If you let it rain on the tilled ground and then do it again, you have a seed bed with good deep moisture and it will grow anything.

Disks and plows do a really poor job in comparison, although they are faster. The clods and roughness of the ground causes problems for several years and the plow is no faster than the tiller. The disc usually has to be a really heavy one to break hard land and still leaves clods. Nope, a tiller is a really wonderful invention. I just smile and think with hand tools the months of hard work that I am able to do every day with the tiller! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Great for gardens, flower gardens, shrubs and other landscaping and with a little pre-emergence you can have a weed free orchard that will hold a lot of moisture.

Anonymous Poster · Aug 31, 2000

Wen, when was the last time you used your tiller on a 10 acre hay field. You are not old enough to have finished. While the tiller may do good looking work , on the farm such perfection isnt needed. For starters if the field isnt really flat erosion can start from the super fine soil and second the super fine soil now has no tilth and if you get several hard rains the soil compacts to a concrete consistency and least the clay soils here in N. Ga. do.
The type work done on the farm and done for our homes often require different results and if you arent experienced in those areas one doesnt realize the difference. Dont get defensive Wen this isnt an attack just my 2 cents. A disk harrow , the proper one , used with sufficient soil moisture will certainly do the job for a hay field. How many real farmers use a tiller. None that I am aware of. Large jobs just take too long.
Greg H

W5FL · Aug 31, 2000

Well, my dad probably qualifies as a farmer/rancher. He farms 150 acres and after going from horse drawn teams to a tractor, he too felt that a disc was the way to go. After many years of putting in his hay fields with the disk and the resulting mess that it made, he finally got a 6 ft tiller and puts it in every year with that. Yes, it takes about 2 hours an acre, but the field remains level and smooth enough to drive across at 4 or 5 miles an hour without bouncing you off of the tractor. You only have to do it once a year. His coastal fields are nice enough for a lawn when they are cut.

Maybe at 85 years old, he likes to ride his tractor more hours than you do. The doctor told him that he was not to work more than 8 hours per day. He complies with that by working in the mornings until lunch, and coming back in at 8 at night. I thought that was at least 12 hours, but he told me that was 8. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

W5FL · Aug 31, 2000

p.s. yes, I did my 10 acre coastal field with a tiller. If the guy had used his big disk on it, I would still have a mess. It took 2 days to do it the first time and 2 days after a rain to do it the second time. As a result, it held moisture well enough to get the crop started under drought conditions. I guess even my grandson is over 4 days old. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Anonymous Poster · Aug 31, 2000

What is the price range for tillers? I've got a L-3710 and some rough ground (sandy loam) that needs leveling for pasture/horses. I've got the time to till - now to find out if I've got the money?

Also any suggestions on brands of tillers will be gratefully accepted.

Bob C.

Bird · Aug 31, 2000

Tillers probably start at $1100 to $1200 and go up from there. 5 years ago, my 40" Bush Hog tiller cost me $1,300. And like Greg said, I don't think many of the "big" farmers use a tiller in the field; too exensive and takes too much time so the disks are very popular. However, if they have the time and money, they use a tiller and do a better job. I know one fellow in this area who supposedly paid $5,500 for his tiller last year, primarily to use on a hay field (and yep, he has lots of money and a big new tractor, too).

Bird

Anonymous Poster · Aug 31, 2000

Can most PTO-powered tillers be used to till in long established sod (e.g., quack grass)? Does one need a special heavy duty model for this?

Bird · Aug 31, 2000

OK omg, I'll bite. I have no idea what "quack grass" is; never heard of it./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif But a great deal of my tilling has been in long established bermuda and other grasses. The moisture content and texture of the soil is more important than anything else in determining how deep I go, how smooth the result, and how many passes I need to make to get it like I want it. In dry conditions, grass is usually not a concern, but if the grass is green, and especially if it's tall, I sometimes have it get wrapped around the shaft and tines. It doesn't seem to bother the tractor or tiller, but sometimes I stop and clean off the grass and roots so the tiller will do a better job of pulverizing the soil the way I want.

Bird

livefree · Aug 31, 2000

Well I originally posted this question, & I must admit I have just gotten more and more confused.

Believe me I would much rather, other things being equal, buy a tiller, as it seems there are some nice ones 6' wide at a reasonably good price. Even the farmers, when they say they prefer a disc harrow, are rreally talking about the pull type, not the three point hitch type. The market for a 6' high end disk harrow is zero here, and if i do buy one everyone tells me that I have to find or make a harrow to bust up the clods.

But I am just concerned with rocks and roots. This is Middle Tennesse, and i will be rejuvenating a hillside after bulldozing it. I walk around & I can see the 6-9" long rocks everywhere jst at the surface. What will this do to my tiller?

Do I need to get a filed cultivator to pull stuff out? The locals say forget about a subsoiler.

Man I had no idea that I would need three inplements to put in some grass and food plots for birds. Them be pretty expensive quail!

Thanks for all the help, but i am sure lost here, and running out of time for this year.

Chris

Anonymous Poster · Sep 1, 2000

livefree, I use my disc for quail food plots in rough ground. believe me a tiller will be destroyed by those large rock after a few trips. Most of us tractor nuts lose site of practicality and buy many toys and expect perfection. What you and I seem to need requires the soil be plowed but not necesarily like a yard. The rocks you mention will have to be manually removed. A field cultivator is not designed for rough ground. The older people used what was called a bush and bog harrow. That was a single gang of discs with a lot of weight on it much like the foldover harrows of today. Do what you like but after tearing up a tiller on big rocks and roots you will probably like me go back to old technology and tools and be happy you finally figured it out.
Happy tractoring
Greg H