Tiller Plow/Disc or Tiller

[Hoosier Farmboy]

I am in the process of pricing a JD 2320, with 200CX FEL, 62D MMM, and a Ballast Box. The new place we are moving to has 5 acres of pasture. I would like to put out a large garden (enough to get back to my childhood memories of selling vegetables on Saturday mornings at the Farmer's Market.) The question I have is, "Would I be better off to buy a plow and a disc or can a tiller do the same job?" Can a tiller go deep enough for potatoes, etc? Thanks in advance.

 

[Couple of Achers]

I am in the process of pricing a JD 2320, with 200CX FEL, 62D MMM, and a Ballast Box. The new place we are moving to has 5 acres of pasture. I would like to put out a large garden (enough to get back to my childhood memories of selling vegetables on Saturday mornings at the Farmer's Market.) The question I have is, "Would I be better off to buy a plow and a disc or can a tiller do the same job?" Can a tiller go deep enough for potatoes, etc? Thanks in advance.

We have been gardening for over 10 years and a tiller does an excellent job for smaller plots. Or even larger ones if you have the time. We raise potatoes every year with great success. I would vote for a tiller.

 

[dave1949]

Welcome to TBN!

Maybe you could punt - hire a neighbor to plow down the pasture grass, then see how it goes with a tiller? Seems like a tiller would be a good thing for preparing seed beds for vegetables with small/tiny seeds. May not have to make as many passes as with a disc, and that would mean less soil compaction.
Dave.

 

[jenkinsph]

I use a tiller with great success to handle the majority of my work. Alot would depend on the depth range of the tiller in question. Tillers can run from $600 to upwards of $30,000 and from about 3 inch depth to over 12 inch depth.

That said I use a Deere 673 which is perfect for my uses, covers my tire tracks, tills just over 7 inches deep. If you need to break up deeper I would suggest you run a subsoiler such as one of the type that Tractor supply sells, their not really a subsoiler but you can break up the ground about 12 inches deep with them and the cost is cheap too (about $150). When buying and pricing a tiller you should verify what the working depth is and understandably the ones that cut deeper cost more.

In my opinion a tiller is the best choice for small acreages because you get a good seedbed with only one tool. Tillers with forward rotating tines are also well fitted to light weight tractors since they tend to push the tractor along you don't need alot of weights or ballast which in turn reduces your soil compaction. To clarify this if you were to use other plowing methods that required more tractive effort and weight would you remove all this extra weight before you harrowed the field? Last important difference is a tiller will start working at maximum depth as soon as you engage it with the ground, whereas a disk needs to roll a distance to get to full set. This means you can back a tiller up to a garden fence and till deep as you move away from it.

Let me be the first to say that you should consider a larger tractor than the 2320, I would get something that could handle larger implements. I currently have a 4520 cab and would not want anything smaller than the 4120 as an all in one tractor. Trading up at a later date is too expensive and lots of guys make this mistake.


Steve

 

[flusher]

I am in the process of pricing a JD 2320, with 200CX FEL, 62D MMM, and a Ballast Box. The new place we are moving to has 5 acres of pasture. I would like to put out a large garden (enough to get back to my childhood memories of selling vegetables on Saturday mornings at the Farmer's Market.) The question I have is, "Would I be better off to buy a plow and a disc or can a tiller do the same job?" Can a tiller go deep enough for potatoes, etc? Thanks in advance.

I used a middle buster plow (aka potato plow) with my Kubota B7510HST (21 hp engine, 17 hp pto, 4WD) to plow the ground for the landscaping around my new house. I did this in Spring during the rainy season here when the ground was soft enough for the 7510 to plow to about 8 inches depth. Then I rototilled with a used Yanmar RS1200 that I bought for $300. Total area was about 1/3 acre. I also use the RS1200 on my veg garden.

 

[Egon]

Go for the tiller. Much handier and quicker.

 

[randy41]

I would want to plow/disc the field first now and then till when I'm ready to plant.

 

[NSBound]

I just went through this, this year. My property is old-time farmland, but had sat for 50 years, growing weeds and brambles and alders . I had the bigger brush hogged out, then just used a tiller, went over it 2 or 3 times. It came out perfect.

 

[Egon]

Dabblam it Ian, where are your rocks.

The tiller may be better in larger rocks than a plow and it sure will cut down on time spent cultivating??

 

[FxdGrMind]

I went with the Tiller, Kuhn 58" on my B7800.

Ran it for the first time this w/e. Tilled under the weeds in the Hop rows. The burn spot and re-seeded. Then went over and tilled under the neighbors garden and enlarged it for next year (they need to pick rocks though!!!)

Then headed across the street and tilled for the other neighbor, a new plot 40'x20'. They REALY need to pick rocks!!!!.

Then I did a 16'x30' plot for myself... spent the whole day Sunday on that.... tilled once then plucked rocks out by hand for hours on end... I'm only 1/2 way done with picking out the rocks but deposited the 3/4 yard of rocks in the stream bed and added new dirt over the top of the planting bed to help level. Then tilled again, 90deg off from the orrigional direction, with great results!

Now to work up the energy to do the other 1/2" of the rock picking! (shakes head in disgust)