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.

 

[Z-Michigan]

The old way of working dirt on the farm was with plow, disc and then harrow, often pulling harrow behind the disc.

And when you're done, you should have nice fluffy soil for the first 3-6" deep, and soilcrete below that. I say this from personal experience; if I have to disk an area more than twice - and I usually do the garden several times - my last pass over the area is with a scarifier to loose things back up. A chisel plow or subsoiler would be just as good; but none of these will leave a smooth finish.

I agree with Ralph and others that a fine finish can be had with a RR tie, or a straight log, or a chain harrow if you have one. In our garden we plant by hand so a fine finish isn't needed. If I were doing a large area I would probably try to disk once with disk alone, then a second time with the disk pulling my chain harrow, and stop at those two passes. Maybe my soil is more prone to compaction than some, but multiple passes create a lot of compaction below 3-6" in my soil.

 

[N80]

And when you're done, you should have nice fluffy soil for the first 3-6" deep, and soilcrete below that.

Maybe my soil is more prone to compaction than some, but multiple passes create a lot of compaction below 3-6" in my soil.

My soil is like that too. High clay content. Was surprised to find this in a small patch I plowed and disked for some sweet corn. And I had made many passes like you say. The plow had gotten a good 6-8" down. Disked it up and it looked and felt pretty good. A week later, after a rain, maybe 3" then 'soilcrete'. Problem is, many passes are required to break up the clods of clay. Not much you can do about it. If I get one edible ear out of that stuff I should definitely get the Farmer of the Year award.

Further down the hill where it is a little more sandy, it isn't the case. I can poke a stick way down in that stuff and it got disked pretty heavily....of course it is 'soilcrete' below that...but that was there long before I plowed it.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

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

The #25 MF disc is one of the best 3-point mounted disc's there ever was as far as leaving a nice level seedbed, IF set properly. You DON'T want it set full tilt aggressive, especially so once you have the ground loosened up a bit. Front gangs should be either one OR two notches from full cut, and the rear gangs one position LESS than the front. If you set the disc down while on a hard surface (driveway?) the front gangs should touch first, with the rear about half an inch off the deck.

As far as USING the disc, try your best to make successive passes at angles to previous ones. Go north/south, then swap to east/west. Repeatedly going over at the same angle will cause ridging with even the very best disc. The heavy drag behind the disc is also a good idea. I've always used a section of railroad rail. Anything H.E.A.V.Y. and straight will do the trick.

 

[sunspot]

Here is a picture of my first time plowing and discing. There was a week from plowing before I disced.

 

[dixie306]

Here is a picture of my first time plowing and discing. There was a week from plowing before I disced.

SS, if it rained between your plowing and discing, you did a great job. I've started plowing before, got rained out and gone back to disk and it took forever to bust the clods up and get it smooth. Farmwith listed a huge mistake I was making too, my harrows have cutting disk on the front and smoothing disc on the rear, I learned to set the smoothing disc a less aggressive than my cutting disk, that helps a lot, just keep on keeping on with the harrows and that soil will look like suger before long

 

[Rara Avis]

The #25 MF disc is one of the best 3-point mounted disc's there ever was as far as leaving a nice level seedbed, IF set properly.

FWJ here are the two that my local dealer have that I down to choosing between...

$2975 for the 10 FT MF 520 or $3000 for the 8FT White 252...

Care to throw your TWO CENTS in?

 

[Farmwithjunk]

FWJ here are the two that my local dealer have that I down to choosing between...

$2975 for the 10 FT MF 520 or $3000 for the 8FT White 252...

Care to throw your TWO CENTS in?

@ approx. $3000 each, $.02 won't help you much...

I've always preferred International Harvester wheel disc's, but that's not the question is it? Between the pair, I like the LOOKS of the White. Any idea what sort of weight we're talking about (with either)

MF had a good rep with a few disc models, but sort of a neutral rep over-all. White, clear back to the Oliver days, has a sterling rep on tillage equipment. With AGCO owning BOTH nowdays, there may be little difference between the pair.

 

[RobJ]

Further down the hill where it is a little more sandy, it isn't the case. I can poke a stick way down in that stuff and it got disked pretty heavily....of course it is 'soilcrete' below that...but that was there long before I plowed it.

That soilcrete is a good thing down there. It'll keep the moisture near the surface a bit longer between rains. It beats some areas where we might have 40' of sugar sand on top of a hill. But this probably helps feed the springs around the place.