Options - Tiller or Plow & Disc?

[Kyle241]

Okay for those who have a lot more experience than I have, I would appreciate any input. I am planning to upgrade my tractor to facilitate some farming tasks that I have planned for my property. I have 9 acres that used to be plowed by a neighbour several years ago and has been idle now for 3-4 years. My plan was to bush hog everything and then prep the soil this fall for next Spring's plantings (potatoes, barley, wheat). My new tractor is going to be a Kubota MX5100 HST and I'm trying to decide whether to purchase a KK tiller 72" or purchase a two bottom plow and disc harrow (would I need a drag harrow as well?). There is not a huge price difference between the two different options:

KK 72" $2140

Two bottom plow $800-1100 depending on manufacturer and model
Disc $800-1100 depending on manufacturer and model

So what I know of the two options: tiller will be slower but will make a very nice fine soil. Plowing and disc is faster but soil will have larger clumps of soil.

I'm sure there are a lot of opinions, just wondering what makes sense for my purposes. The 9 acres will have some stones even though many were removed and made into walls years ago. The top 12-16" are loam and then clay for about 12".

Tks.

 

[mooseracing]

The 9 acres will have some stones even though many were removed and made into walls years ago. The top 12-16" are loam and then clay for about 12".

Are the stones going to refloat though? Does that area produce stones or how large do they get?

I would love to do a tiller but I would spend too much time unjamming the rocks from it.

Also factor in compaction (if you are worried), fuel consumption for the extra laps over your field to smooth it and the maintenance of your options.

Also if annually doing barley and wheat are you looking at a drill or your plan on planting it?

 

[blueriver]

A tiller is a nice piece of equipment ... I prefer a good plow, disc and a drag. 2 btm plows are reasonable on CL as well as a disc and drag harrow. In my area i could get all three for less than $1000

 

[bp fick]

No way I'd till 9 acres. I'd also be concerned about rocks. In any case, I'd absolutely do the plow/disk/harrow/drag method. It works for me.

A tiller can also pulverize the soil too much. I'd also have a deep ripper or sub-soiler to fun over that field every few years to break the bottom if hard pan is an issue for you.

I'd not even blink on this choice.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Kyle,
I have a KK tiller and plow & disc. I only plant 3-4 acres and don't use the tiller every year. 9 acres would take a long time to till but if thats is what you want then get what you want. My opinion is you can work faster with the plow and disc. This year I added weight to my disc and did not have to plow. Last year I plowed and disc most of the acreage and maybe tilled 1/2 acre and the year before I tilled the entire 3-4 acres to make sure the cover crop was tilled in good. One thing to consider is once a field has been worked a few years, depending on the soil, you may only need to run the disc over it a couple of times. As far as large clumps left by the disc, that depends on the soil and the moisture content when it is plowed and disc. Also if you do the wheat and barley is this for harvest or cover crop? Tiller is not much good tilling in tall cover crops since it will wrap around the tines.

Another thing I like about the disc is you can raise the front of the disc and make hills for planting potatoes, pumpkins, and other crops. Not as good as a hiller but works ok, see pictures. If it was me I would start with the plow and disc and add the tiller later.

Let us know what you decide, both will work.

 

[KYDan]

I would opt for the plow and discs as well. A whole lot less and cheaper maintenance than the tiller. Nine acres is a lot to till even with a large roto-tiller.

 

[Ford850]

I would normally think a tiller would be very slow for 9 acres. But having used both processes on only a half acre garden, the tiller is easily twice as fast for me. So I can't get it through my think head why I still think tilling 9 acres would be slower than a plow/disc.
If you have nice soil and can knock it down with a couple passes using a disc after plowing, then that would be faster. My issue is that it takes 4 - 6 passes with the disc and by then my soil is compacted. I love the speed the tiller offers me.

 

[Kyle241]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I kind of like the idea of plowing and discing the area as once I get a hang of it, it looks like fun (to me at least). I should have mentioned I'm looking at working about 4 of the 9 acres this year into next and if successful will expand. Everything we plant will be to harvest.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

When you take into account that a plow and disc will require 2, maybe 3 trips with the disc, besides time to plow vs 1, maybe 2 trips with the tiller, time differential won't be that lopsided.

After first year, you MIGHT be able to till once and get a decent seedbed.

That said, I'm old school and prefer plowing/discing, or plowing/tilling.

You should be able to find a decent 2-bottom plow in the $250 to $400 range. Good used disc for $250 to $600.

Used tillers are kinda hard to come by. People just don't sell 'em. New, expect $1500 to $2500 depending on what you buy.

Worth mentioning.....Wheat and barley generally don't respond well to a deep tilled seedbed in many areas/certain times of the year. They do better (here anyway) with just a good discing (or shallow tilling) Your locale' may be different. I'd look at local "customs" as far as cereal grain seed bed prep.

 

[TDtractor]

Good question. I use the plow/disk combination, but always wondered about the plow/tiller combo, especially for better fertilizers and lime distribution in the soil.

TD