General intro to 'ground engagement'

[tshep]

I have been cutting 2.44 ac with a MMM equipped BX23D (typically just MMM for ride).
It takes me 2 hours.
We will soon be adding 5 adjacent acres.
After batting ideas around, we added a BX1500, also with MMM.
It takes her 2 1/2 hours.
So we predict 7.5 ac will take us (2 operators) 3 1/3 hours.
(We have 2 operators, know the equipment, bits interchange (I'm a pretty good tech), we are happy with 8 or 9 mph!, the BX23 can do the worst areas, while BX1500 continues working.)
So, we feel like we have mowing handled.

We just might want to garden/farm up to, say 2 ac of the combined 7 1/2, no more.
We would still have 2 4WD, 23/15HP tractors, and 2 operators.

What's the best way to get into this?
Smaller, lighter implements for either machine?
Rent implements, or services?

A bigger machine to drive more universal implements?

Seat time, on non-repeated tasks, would not be a deterrent, now.
(If it took 2 days instead of 4 hours to plow/rip once a year, we could handle that.)
I imagine machine weight will be the first limit, and hp the next.

What's a practical, cost effective way to attempt this experiment?

 

[Gee Ray]

I have two suggestions. Get a tiller for one of your tractors. If you’re only making 2 acres of garden first time will be a little rough, but it should improve as you repeatedly till it.

Second suggestion is to look for a tow behind mower such as the 5 foot Swisher. Attaching it to your small tractor. Will give you a approximate 8 feet of coverage as opposed to 50 inches or so.

 

[oldnslo]

What type of soil do have and what type of crops are intending to grow? Reason for asking is tillers don’t like rocks, vines or tall grass or stems. Vines and grass just wrap around the tines so would need some method of cutting them prior to using tiller.

If lighter sandier soil a 48 - 54” tandem disc may work the ground up for a garden. I had a 54” on a BX1850 and traction is the limiting factor.

 

[Gee Ray]

A disk is not a primary tillage tool. If you want to disc, you need a mole board plow to break the soil first.

And yes, the tiller can get bound up with long grass in wheel hit rocks, but it’s a one simple tool for ground prep for gardening. It will also allow you to mix in organic materials once you start gardening, which will need to do to amend your soil

 

[tshep]

I have two suggestions. Get a tiller for one of your tractors. If you’re only making 2 acres of garden first time will be a little rough, but it should improve as you repeatedly till it.

Second suggestion is to look for a tow behind mower such as the 5 foot Swisher. Attaching it to your small tractor. Will give you a approximate 8 feet of coverage as opposed to 50 inches or so.

All my writing about mowing conveyed the wrong message.
We feel the 3 1/2 hours or so is appropriate, and we both enjoy our 2 or 2 1/2 hour duty; the 3 1/2 would probably just be more fun.
We are willing to get things done with our small machines - when they are capable.

This is all former cow pasture - so various grasses and weeds now. I do not recall seeing a rock - a previous farmer must have handled that.

My basis google got me rip/plow, then disc, then till. I think I'm hearing have it plowed, disced once, then maintain with tiller? My machines would probably be OK driving a forward tiller (the second time)?
Kubota seems to suggest 42 inch?

 

[RayIN]

If you are positive of the area and design you plan to garden; I suggest you burn off everything growing there with a chemical spray the fall before you think about breaking ground. (like no-till planting)
Grass sod is hard to turn and disc, plus it will regrow rather quickly after planting. It is very difficult to disc or roto-till root clumps into loose dirt.
You can get the job done with your SCUTs, and the proper equipment, it just takes a lot longer.
BTW, you will turn up rocks with the first ground breaking, be prepared.

Back when I put out a garden I tilled it in late fall; made spring ground prep much easier and normally killed weeds and grass that was growing after harvest.

 

[dodge man]

I’d get someone in to break the ground up for you the first time, then do it yourselves with a tiller after that. A 2 acre garden is huge by the way.

 

[nyone]

A 2 acre garden is huge by the way

Sure is!

But since there doing it with a tractor I bet theres a ton of wasted space.
My little 20x35' garden feeds 3-4 of us in season..but some walking paths are only 12in wide. The biggest one is as wide as a wheel barrow..

 

[tshep]

OK all, thx!
It was 'up to 2 ac, max, in an effort to size equipment for 'worst' case. We are going to try a 1/2 ac to ensure our 'attention' is sufficient (ya' know, in retirement) and test water supply.
Sounds like, I should:
Buy a 'day' from a real tractor, to plow and disc maybe the first acre? Till it all, plant 1/2, see how we do.
Successful, go to the full 1 acre.
Successful, buy another 'day' or plow and disc, go to full 2 acres, keep it tilled.

I had seen it as cow pasture for, say 30 years, history seems to be that it was a planted farm before that.

 

[nyone]

For a test patch it may be cheaper to pay someone to till it. However 1/2ac is 30x75'. For that and the fact that your ground prob isnt nearly as bad as mine I would go rent the biggest walk behind tiller you can. Should be under $150 for a day.

My soil is so terrible (its rocks and clay) that after tilling once I decided that I needed to add so much organic matter that it's not worth tilling. We use fall leaves, wood chips and dont till at all. Any weeds are easy to pluck out because the soil is so loose. The fist year I mulched in 150 leaf bags into a 20x35 area. It kept the weeds at bay and brought in earth worms like crazy.