Is a middle buster / subsoiler appropriate here?

   / Is a middle buster / subsoiler appropriate here? #1  

ctgoldwing

Platinum Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Messages
552
Location
Central Connecticut
Tractor
L3800HST
one of my hobbies for the last couple years has been to put video cameras in the woods to video the various critters that come wandering through. CT isn't MT but i still have snagged some interesting animals including a gigantic owl taking a couple passes over a raccoon (I light the areas with many infrared lights), our fox family that has a den about 200' from our house, coyote, bobcat and the ever popular bear as well as a load of deer and fawns.

Up to this point I have just laid 3/4" pvc conduit on top of the ground protecting my cat 5 cables and power. Now that I have a tractor again I was thinking of getting a subsoiler to be able to get the conduit a few inches below the ground. Its all in the woods so no chance of it getting accidentally dug up.

Would a subsoiler accomplish what I want? I understand I would have to 'clean out' the cut before laying in the pipe but that would be pretty easy.
 
   / Is a middle buster / subsoiler appropriate here? #2  
Subsoiler will close the ground as soon as you pass. I used a middle buster to lay down a 4" congregated pipe, many passes and lots of shovels of dirt later - I got it buried.

How deep do you want to plant it? Oops, a few inch I see... Yes a middle buster will work pretty good, except for any big roots :shocked:
 
   / Is a middle buster / subsoiler appropriate here? #3  
Did the same thing 250' to a pond for a low watt air pump. Since it's only a few inches deep and in conduit used a mattock. Waited after a rain and ground was soft and did it in less than 3 hours. You'll have more time than that cleaning up after a middle buster.
 
   / Is a middle buster / subsoiler appropriate here? #4  
If you are talking small diameter conduit. I've taken everything off my single bottom moldboard plow. Leaves me with a single shank ripper. Doesn't do well in heavy tree roots and the "trench" will need cleaning out with a shovel.

However - far superior to digging all by hand & shovel.
 
   / Is a middle buster / subsoiler appropriate here? #6  
I vote for a middle buster....and watch out for those bigger roots as mentioned. ... should go pretty quick.
 
   / Is a middle buster / subsoiler appropriate here?
  • Thread Starter
#7  
I like his posting this video - it gave me a couple of ideas to try. Personally I wouldn't bury line voltage wire that shallow. As he found out he stumbled onto a cable he didn't know was there that was pretty shallow.
Here in CT I'd be worried going much more than 8 inches deep because of all the 'potatoes' in the ground.
I may try to mod that design to lay 1" polypipe in as a conduit. Alternately I may just tape my 40volt line and cat5 cables together and use the same design.

Now that i think of it we have way too many roots in the woods for a middle buster to last. I think I'm going to try n find a good subsoiler that will stand up to a stupid operator.
 
   / Is a middle buster / subsoiler appropriate here? #8  
If you already have a subsoiler, use that first to get your roots out of the way, then go back over it with a middle buster, 'potato digger.
If you dont have either yet, I can recommend 1 tool to do the job, I have a middlebuster that I beefed up with some extra bracing and welded an 8 inch chisel to the back side of the 'blade', the top of the chisel is butted up against the shank of the implement and the chisel extends 2 inches below the blade.
I originally made it for busting up ice on our mountain road in the spring so the water from the melting ice had a path to flow, but it works great for trenching for shallow utility lines in our rocky soil just as well or better.
Here are a couple pictures before I cleaned it up and painted it black so it looks nicer now, but it gives you a general idea of what I am describing. 31341.jpg31342.jpg
 
   / Is a middle buster / subsoiler appropriate here? #9  
How big is your pipe? Might try something like this, Subsoiler - modified cable, wire and pipe burier/layer - YouTube

I did not watch the video. But I have laid direct burial wire with a subsoiler and feed tube. I have also used the same setup to lay water line using somewhat flexible black pipe water line.
However even shallow lain rigid conduit will not work well with this process.

My suggestion is a middle buster with as narrow a plow as you can mount on it. Dig several inches deep 6-8” minimum, deeper is better due to moisture levels in the top few inches of soil. A middle buster usually pushes soil out of the trench on both sides. A blade (box or straight) should allow you to fill the trench. Tree roots will be a pain with any ground engaging implement. Depending on size of roots, you may be able to rip through them with a middle buster or you may need an axe to chop them out.
 
   / Is a middle buster / subsoiler appropriate here? #10  
one of my hobbies for the last couple years has been to put video cameras in the woods to video the various critters that come wandering through. CT isn't MT but i still have snagged some interesting animals including a gigantic owl taking a couple passes over a raccoon (I light the areas with many infrared lights), our fox family that has a den about 200' from our house, coyote, bobcat and the ever popular bear as well as a load of deer and fawns.

Up to this point I have just laid 3/4" pvc conduit on top of the ground protecting my cat 5 cables and power. Now that I have a tractor again I was thinking of getting a subsoiler to be able to get the conduit a few inches below the ground. Its all in the woods so no chance of it getting accidentally dug up.

Would a subsoiler accomplish what I want? I understand I would have to 'clean out' the cut before laying in the pipe but that would be pretty easy.

Agrisupply.com sells a very nice (cat 1) 3 pt. Subsoiler that is not very pricey ($165) but cannot be shipped UPS (it could be shipped UPS as two items, if they would disassemble it)
I bought mine for "planting" 1500ft. of low voltage dog fence.
They also sell a pipe layer attachment for that Subsoiler that looks like it would work great for poly pipe.
Max. depth is about 12".
Cost of pipe layer attachment is $125 additional, and can be shipped UPS.

I used my Subsolier in MA., but picked it up at an Agri Supply store in NC.
Freight cost to CT, may be prohibitive however.
Of the 9 Agri Supply locations, the most Northerly store is in Petersburg, VA., but they will ship anywhere.
Agri Supply is a GREAT company to deal with!
 
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