Help Selecting Implements For Food Plots & Field Work

[Howlin]

I am looking to tap into all of the knowledge and experience on this forum to help me select the right implements for my Kioti CK3510 to prepare and plant a 5 acre field and two food plot areas about .75 acres, all with red clay soil. The 5 acre field has been in hay for many years, so there will be sod to contend with initially. At first I was leaning towards getting a 60" or 72" tiller, but I am thinking that will take forever on 5 acres. My other thought is to get an S-tine field cultivator and a heavy duty box frame disc in the 5-6ft width range. What do you all think would be best for my application? I'm definitely open to other options too. Thanks in advance for the feedback!

 

[Fastball]

I’d think about something like a disc harrow to chew up the sod/ground first...then maybe a tiller to go over it all.

 

[LouNY]

What is the crop being contemplated in the 5 acre field.
I would spray with roundup or similar and no till it.

 

[Egon]

Go for the tiller. It will do the complete job for you.

In sod the other equipment might be a little much for your tractor unless you start with a plow.

 

[Howlin]

What is the crop being contemplated in the 5 acre field.
I would spray with roundup or similar and no till it.

Planning on putting soybeans in the 5 acre field. Tried the roundup & no-till in a nearby field last year using a no-till drill from local county extension. Round up got a good kill on the grasses but the no-till drill couldn't cut through the sod very well and left a lot of seed on the surface.

 

[jeff9366]

My second thought is to get an S-tine field cultivator and a heavy duty box frame disc in the 5-6ft width range.

I have years of experience with a spring-protected Dirt Dog (brand) Field Cultivator, which is orders of magnitude tougher than S-tine "Danish" cultivator, which I also use. Neither a spring-protected Field Cultivator with points (PHOTOS #1 and #2) nor an S-tine cultivator with shovels (PHOTO #3) or points will penetrate animal compacted sod in soft, Florida sandy-loam. The weaker S-tine cultivator will bend tines, break brackets or break clevis bolts in the attempt. Ask me how I know.

A spring-protected Field Cultivator with points will penetrate uncompacted, MOIST, Florida sandy-loam in grass 12". (PHOTO #2)
For a CK3510 I recommend a five tine spring-protected Field Cultivator. You may find it necessary to remove one tine the first time you cut sod to maintain traction.

I am looking for help selecting the right implements for my Kioti CK3510 to prepare and plant a 5 acre field and two food plot areas about .75 acres, all with red clay soil.

I have no experience with red clay soil however note red clay soil in following video.

VENDER + VIDEO: Fred Cain 5 Shank Field Cultivator Ripper Tillage


CK3510 is around 3,000 pounds, bare tractor. Only enough weight to pull a box frame Tandem Disc Harrow with pans 18" in diameter which will require multiple passes over the land to scuffle the top 2" to 3".

Go for the tiller. It will do the complete job for you.

In sod the other equipment might be a little much for your tractor unless you start with a plow.

If you buy a heavy, forward rotation PTO-powered rototiller, preferably with 'C' shape rather than 'L' shape tines and wait for moist soil, it will do the job. Ample tiller weight is important as field size increases, so one pass will till to adequate depth.

As Egon states, plowing first will speed tilling. Plowing would be optimal primary tillage for your commercial field. Unnecessary for food plots. Food plot seeds are eager germinators.

PLOW VENDER: Everything Attachments 12 Inch Double Bottom Plow

 

[LouNY]

Planning on putting soybeans in the 5 acre field. Tried the roundup & no-till in a nearby field last year using a no-till drill from local county extension. Round up got a good kill on the grasses but the no-till drill couldn't cut through the sod very well and left a lot of seed on the surface.

Our no till drill has a rack were front end weights can be added, also when we used the rental extension service drill many of the disk springs were not set properly.
Does a neighbor have a heavy no till?
Plowing brings up rocks if you have them, disking after spraying might soften the sod enough for the no till you had tried, disking may also bring up more weed seeds to germinate.

 

[Gee Ray]

With a sod field you will need to brake up the sod and turn it over therefore a mold plow will be your best bet. Then you need to disk it with a disk-harrow. If the ground is rough it will be helpful to drag the field with a spike tooth harrow. Five acres with a tiller will be very time consuming but it should work well. I look at the cost of the implements. The plow and disk can often be found on CL at a pretty low price. The tiller is a high dollar item. For the food plots the disk by itself should be able to turn up the soil enough to seed it. I do not recommend a 3 point pick up disk but there are many people will say it is the only way to go due to the ability to pick up the disk to turn. A drag type disk-harrow does a better job of prepping the soil. To me the pick up disk become dangerous when they are picked up. The front end of the tractor will become very light so extreme caution must be used as you approach any type of bump. Secondly if you travel on the highway with speed the undulations in the road can cause the front to come off the ground, causing a lose of control.

 

[Texasmark]

With what I have for implements today and I have quite a variety, and I am in clay soil, I'd mow it with a rotary mower like a Bush Hog brand to name one of many, to chop up the vegetation making it easier to incorporate into the soil and reduce the possibility of getting tangled up in the "tines" of the second and final implement, a roto tiller.......if you have a tractor that has a low ground speed.....needed for the first year's soil conditioning....after that slow speed isn't all that necessary.

I run a TSC 72" in Houston Black Clay which you have to work (with most any implement....Hay King Pasture Renovator excepted but that's just for the first pass of many) under it's terms...not too wet and not too dry. Roto tilling is slow but when considering the alternatives, whereby you make several passes with other implements (multiple implements you have to buy) to get the same soil texture/veggie matter incorporation for soil Humus, it's not all that slow. Besides, it is smoother riding for you sitting in the seat as compared to the other alternatives.

 

[Howlin]

Thanks for all the feedback so far everyone. Would it be wishful thinking to believe that I could run a 72" tiller with 28.9 PTO HP?

If you buy a heavy, forward rotation PTO-powered rototiller, preferably with 'C' shape rather than 'L' shape tines and wait for moist soil, it will do the job. Ample tiller weight is important as field size increases.

What would be considered a heavy tiller? It looks like most tillers available near me in the 5-6ft range weigh between 550-720 lbs. Is tiller weight considered to be more important than # of tines per flange, or C vs. L-shaped tines?

I run a TSC 72" in Houston Black Clay which you have to work (with most any implement....Hay King Pasture Renovator excepted but that's just for the first pass of many) under it's terms...not too wet and not too dry. Roto tilling is slow but when considering the alternatives, whereby you make several passes with other implements (multiple implements you have to buy) to get the same soil texture/veggie matter incorporation for soil Humus, it's not all that slow. Besides, it is smoother riding for you sitting in the seat as compared to the other alternatives.

Does your tiller have C or L-shaped tines? What PTO HP are you using to run the 72" tiller?