Food plot and garden attachments

[paulsharvey]

I know I've read all the posts, but I don't remember if it was been said; a 1 bottom plow, and then a drag harrow of some style will work. The thing is, on next year, and years later, I dont think you'll want/need to turn plow, but you probably will need more than a drag harrow. I think, after first initial breaking, a disc should work fine.

 

[Rockbadchild]

We have a harvester (very used full for various task like potato harvest and weed control between rows), bottom plow to start your garden, you can plow every year some do some don't, a tiller, can get away with a disk but a tiller works better and disk hiller for the potato's... its pretty much all we use for garden.

 

[Rockbadchild]

I tiller will break virgin ground?

Some do it while using different method like full dept at a crawling snail speed or layer by layer over a few pass, but in hard virgin clay my experience is it start jumping and pushing the tractor forwards. I am a believer of plowing way easier to till afterwards and it turn the roots up side down drying and killing them vs simply cutting them up and leaving them in the ground to sprouts again.

 

[wawajake]

I have a 30 x 30 garden and do random foodplots 20x 60 for deer. I have clay soil no rock. I use a roto tiller on virgin ground food plots , but only attempt it in spring or fall when ground soft wet. Then plant then drive over with tractor to pack in seeds . As for garden use.. rototiller in fall to put fallen saved leaves into the soil and to clear out summer crop ( beans, carrots etc) then in spring use tiller again to loosen soil , maybe add in any fertilizer, peat etc and rake into hump rows with walking rows cover in cardboard to control weeds somewhat.....pretty successful outcomes for garden and deer plots. Do have a single plow that I use rarely to break up tough stuff in new deer feed plots. I also use the toothbar on tractor bucket to dig up the potatoes in garden and pull out old pumpkin vines .

 

[Rockbadchild]

I have a 30 x 30 garden and do random foodplots 20x 60 for deer. I have clay soil no rock. I use a roto tiller on virgin ground food plots , but only attempt it in spring or fall when ground soft wet. Then plant then drive over with tractor to pack in seeds . As for garden use.. rototiller in fall to put fallen saved leaves into the soil and to clear out summer crop ( beans, carrots etc) then in spring use tiller again to loosen soil , maybe add in any fertilizer, peat etc and rake into hump rows with walking rows cover in cardboard to control weeds somewhat.....pretty successful outcomes for garden and deer plots. Do have a single plow that I use rarely to break up tough stuff in new deer feed plots. I also use the toothbar on tractor bucket to dig up the potatoes in garden and pull out old pumpkin vines .

by '' I use tiller on virgin ground food plots '' that means it is already worked soil right ? virgin ground should be ground that never been cultivated.

 

[wawajake]

by '' I use tiller on virgin ground food plots '' that means it is already worked soil right ? virgin ground should be ground that never been cultivated.

No I mean ancient pastures (40 yrs ago) long overgrown with grasses that need brushhog cutting every couple of years to control shrubs.

 

[caleb90]

I rulled the disc out as i think my plots will be too small to use it. 40x40 garden and a couple 50x100 food plots. By time i get them working and cutting right , it will be time to lift them and turn around

 

[Fields_mj]

For that small of an area, use the cutting bar on the bucket to push all the junk (saplings and brush) out of the way. Pile it in the middle and burn it if it can be burned safely. After that, it really depends on how much effort you want to put into it. You go as simple as fabing up your own harrow and drag that up just to "break" the surface of the ground. This is what I do. I basically drove some 1/2" rebar into some RR ties spaced about 12" apart, and left them stick out about 4". If the ground has been cleared and mowed, I drag 2 of those behind the tractor and then broadcast my seed and it works okay.

If you want to make a really nice food plot, clear it with the bucket (tooth bar helps, but the bucket alone will work if the cutting bar is in good shape), bush hog it as short as possible, then till it with a rototiller. Spray it as needed, go over it with a rototiller again, and plant it.

For my garden, I have an old walk behind Troybuilt tiller that I gave $600 for in good shape, as well as a 2 cylce Mantis that I bought used for $150. The walk behind gets used at the start and end of the year. The Mantis goes between the rows, and tills small areas, including my wife's flower beds. My problem with a PTO driven tiller is that it takes too long for the ground to dry out enough to get my tractor in it (Ford 1710 with loaded tires and a loader, weighs about 4,000 lbs WITHOUT anything on the back end). It would work well at the end of the year, but that's not enough to justify the added cost for me. A smaller, lighter garden tractor with a tiller would be a totally different story.