How long to till 15 acres?

[Ford850]

If there is a lot of weed growth, grass, or debris growing now then a plow and disk would be better. If you can mow it very short first, a tiller at 2 or 3" max would be my choice. Either way I would spray first, as your farmer friend suggested.

 

[MMagis]

IMO a tiller is overkill.

I agree, it's not worth nearly that amount of time and fuel just for fescue and such. Disk/drag and plant before a rain.

 

[clemsonfor]

My first response was why, then you said why, so i have changed my answer. Now im going to ask, since you said you want to land/takeoff your ultralight, why not just do a "air strip"? What i mean is just till plant and pack the area you will use, it will save you a lot of time, fuel and wear on your tractor. Till a 30 ft wide or whatever by 1/4 mile long or howeverlong you need and make that the spot that you land and take off. This area will stand out as it will be green and well maniqured like a lawn so you should see where it is from the air. If you have trouble seeing it get some plastic cones or markers to line it with that you can take up to mow.

This is what i would do before i would consider tilling 15 acres.:confused2:


Also think that a tiller makes soft fluffy dirt behind it if done correctly, this will sink in and make ruts as you drive over it if you dont pack it. A disk can leave large clumps if not gone over enough times and still is soft, where your tires will sink and get caught in forrows if not dragged and packed.

You also need to constider how you will pack it? Will you drive your pickup across the landing area, 20 times to pack this soft dirt or will you let it settle out with rain and time and not use it for say a year or more?

-NAte

 

[charlz]

Also think that a tiller makes soft fluffy dirt behind it if done correctly, this will sink in and make ruts as you drive over it if you dont pack it. A disk can leave large clumps if not gone over enough times and still is soft, where your tires will sink and get caught in forrows if not dragged and packed.

You also need to constider how you will pack it? Will you drive your pickup across the landing area, 20 times to pack this soft dirt or will you let it settle out with rain and time and not use it for say a year or more?

I am thinking the guy who recommended the pulverizer meant the version that is like a cultipacker but with notched wheels versus smooth. This would break up any clumps (not likely in sandy soil) but also do some firming of the soil.

 

[paulinkansas]

Whatever you decide to do, do not cut it and then spray with Roundup. You also do not want to disk/plow it, and then spray with Roundup.

However, you can spray Roundup first, wait for it to do its thing, and then follow with cutting/plowing/disking.

 

[flusher]

IMO a tiller is overkill. You'll waste a lot of time and fuel stirring up several inches of dirt the seed doesn't care about. The disc and drag idea is much better. You will need to run some kind of packer over it after the seed is spread to get good earth-to-seed contact and hope for rain.

Yep. I have a 10-ft cultipacker on hand for that use.





This one is in real good shape--paid $600 for it. Haven't seen one this size much cheaper.

 

[Stargazer]

Hi But remember roundup etal only works on active growing plants. If in MINN think might be early for stuff to be popping. Forecast says some snow NW IA/sw mn this weekend

 

[wingbone]

Originally the field was very, very rough due to gophers. Last summer I rented a gopher getter and put down poison and that helped. Then an 80 year old gentleman stopped by and asked if he could trap the gophers. I gave him $2 a gopher and the County paid him that, too. He trapped a 190 gophers. Afterwords, I dragged the field and got rid of a lot of the roughness.

I'm going to fly an ultralight off of the field. So I need to be able to travel up to 30 mph with 10 inch tires and not be shaking the ultralight to death.

I just got off the phone with a friend of my dad's and this fellow has been farming the area all his life. He suggested I spray roundup, wait 3 - 5 days then plow with a moldbord plow. Then he said immediately after I should disc. Does that sound like a good plan? Could I get the field as smooth disc'ing and dragging as I could if I used the soil pulverizer/harley rake?

What kind of ultralight do you have? I had a Phantom for a few years but ended up selling it. I agree about just preparing a strip. 15 acres sounds like a lot just to land an ultralight, especially if 30mph is your take off/landing speed. We used to land in a long driveway.

 

[Canada_CT230]

I till 7 acres with my Bobcat CT230 and my 60" tiller. Takes me about 4-5 hours using MED range. I can till and full speed in the MED range.

 

[MNBobcat]

Wow! Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'll try to answer all of the questions.

I fly a powered parachute. Its a 3-wheeled cart with a pusher prop on the back and a parachute for a wing. Its critical with these that you always land and take off into the wind (unless you like tipping over). By making the whole 15 acres a runway, I can always take off or land directly into the wind rather than being constrained by a runway. Its a convenience more than anything. I could get by with two perpendicular runways but the big field would be a whole lot nicer.

I went out this evening with my old Farmall H and did some dragging. I discovered that by going over an area multiple times with the drag that it brought up a lot of sand and did a pretty fair job leveling. In some areas, you couldn't see any grass any more.

After seeing how the drag was able to work up the sand, I'm convinced that I could probably use a disc followed by a drag rather than tilling or plowing.

One of the concerns that I have is that my JD 3020 (which is what I mow with) is pretty heavy. If I loosen up the soil too much by tilling or plowing, then get everything level and the grass growing nicely, I'm worried the first time I mow the tractor is going to rut everything up. Whereas, if I lightly disc the top, drag and seed, I'm wondering if the ground won't be more solid and less likely to rut when I mow?

I do plan to spray round-up but not until after the grass in the field starts to green up. My farmer friend explained that round-up works by getting into the roots and only works when stuff is growing.

Lets say I do disc and drag....I was planning on seeding with a brillion because I can't find a no-till drill. The brillion does require really loose dirt (sand) to work, doesn't it? Would I need to go over the field with a cultipacker after using the brillion?

I'm sorry about all of the questions. I'm trying to educate myself and do things right. I'm going to get soil samples tomorrow and drop them off at the local feed store.