Need a disc lesson

[drz400]

I just got done discing up the garden. I stepped back and looked at it and the ground looks wavey. Does a disc throw the dirt to the outside or does it pull it in to the center? I must be making each pass in the same spot . Could this be why the soil is building up every other pass?

 

[RalphVa]

The old way of working dirt on the farm was with plow, disc and then harrow, often pulling harrow behind the disc. Plows makes BIG waves. Discs make smaller waves (talking multi disc, not a disc plow). The harrow levels things out. Some have used an old set of bed springs or something similar in place of a harrow.

Ralph

 

[JerryK]

I just got done discing up the garden. I stepped back and looked at it and the ground looks wavey. Does a disc throw the dirt to the outside or does it pull it in to the center? I must be making each pass in the same spot . Could this be why the soil is building up every other pass?

Single gang disks only move the dirt in one direction, while a double gang set attempts to return the dirt the first gang moved. The front gang [row] of disks usually work the dirt to the outside, while the back gang is usually a little wider and work the dirt back towards the center. Most disks can be adjusted to even out the process, but still leave an uneven seed bed.

 

[Tim D]

I am guessing that this is a tandem disc which means a front row of blades with a back row of blades. A disc has to be set so that the back gang of blades are bringing the same amount of dirt back to the center as the front gang threw outward. Some disks had an adjustment on the back gangs so that they could be moved in or out which assited in getting the disk to do a more level job. Another adjustment might be the angle that the gangs are set. The straighter the gangs the less dirt moved. See if you have any of these adjustments and tinker with it until it does a more level job. Also if you are going to fast, the front gang will throw dirt to far for back gang to catch it.

 

[drz400]

The disc is a MF 25 tandem. It does have adjusting levers for the front and back gangs.Maybe I need to adjust so they are even. Thanks

 

[TwinWillows]

When I'm making the last pass in the garden I drag a RR tie behind the disc. It is heavy enough to drag humps down & leaves a nice smooth surface.

 

[zionview]

Three things to check when discing1) the sharper the angle of the gangs, the further it will throw soil. (2)If the disc is not running level front to back, either the front gang will throw soil farther than the rear gang can reach, or the rear gang will furrow at the outside ends of the disc. (3)Ground speed has to work in tandem with gang angle and for and aft leveling. If you go too slow, the disc won't level correctly. If you go too fast, it will throw soil into a furrow. We have rocky soil, so I tend to run the front gang slightly higher than the rear gang to minimize rock damage to the front discs, and run about a 15 degree gang angle in good, loose soil. All that and 3-3.5 mph ground speed seems to work best for us. If your field doesn't smooth up to your liking after the first pass, try discing again 2 or 3 days later, driving at about a 10 degree angle to your first time(Hey, more seat time!).

 

[N80]

I have a very hard time getting my rear outside disks not to furrow. If the rear gangs are set at close to zero angle it does not furrow so i usually make a last pass that way. The company that makes my disk makes what they call a 'cover disk' that you put on the outside rears.

 

[RobJ]

This should be a "normal" look.

 

[Deere Hunter]

You should be able to adjust the "bite" of the disc. In the attached pic, I prepped the field by plowing in the fall, and discing. Friday, I set the disc to bite agressively, and disced the strips. I then applied the pre-emergent and fertilizer, and set the back gang of the disc to just about straight, with the front gang having a slight bite to move the soil, discs cutting about 4". I ran the tractor WOT in 6th gear, 4-5 MPH guesstimate. After that, it was good enough to plant with old Cole units. Note there are still slight furrows at the outsides of the disc runs. The best way is like mentioned above, level as best you can with the disc, and then drag it out.

It may take a few passes and different combinations of "bite" and speed.