Plow vs Disc

[Texasmark]

I'm with Kioskcarp and Texasmark

Here's the HayKing renovator chisel plow and the Tarzan chain link drag harrow that I use.

Perfect. I bookmarked the pages so next time someone asks I too can show the specs. On the harrow, mine is a different brand but is of the same design. It originally had a pipe at both ends whereby you could drag it with the spikes leading or lagging. I found that I run it with them lagging and the extra pipe loads up with dirt so I took the one on the rear off and it does better. I noticed this brand already didn't have the rear pipe.

On the 5 1/2 " claim on the renovator I don't know where they get that number. I run mine a lot deeper than that with the coulter hubs at ground level and the rear of the unit tilted back. I have the 4 shank and on really rough ground make 2 passes with the second centered between the cuts on the first. Works great.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Grateful11]

This field was sprayed with roundup to try and get some Italian Ryegrass under control. My wife then ran the Amco Bog disc harrow through, then a CaseIH 14' finish disc, chicken littered, little disced and then drilled with Soybeans and MIllet for hay.

http://youtu.be/13Yz_KCEN8M?list=UUPAR4rxGJNYlQIu7snVQ2nw

 

[Draagyn]

Thanks everyone for all the info! So much! Been real busy, will take a bit to get back to y'all. For now I will say I need to do this on the cheap. I just geared up for haying this year, tractor, baler, mower , rake, and TONS of maintence and upgrades. Im so short on time and money that some days it's more stressful than fun. If I'd known the hay would be this bad I'd geared up for breaking not haying, such as life.

I'm game for making a small difference this year and then hitting it harder next year.

Will be back again soon.
Thanks again

 

[Draagyn]

And I don't own any breaking equipment yet

 

[Draagyn]

So my first step after cutting hay should be spraying the weeds?

I'll have about a month of growth after cutting. How long after spraying should I start till and seed process?

 

[Grateful11]

So my first step after cutting hay should be spraying the weeds?

I'll have about a month of growth after cutting. How long after spraying should I start till and seed process?

Are you burning everything you can down with Glyphosate ?

 

[Draagyn]

Are you burning everything you can down with Glyphosate ?

I plan on finding a product at local co-op to kill off the weeds and wild flowers and leave the grasses be

 

[Draagyn]

I also like the chisel plow and a rough estimate is 10 hp per tine. Fracturing the soil is a great way to promote deep root growth. I have an 88 hp tractor and my seven tine chisel plow can be a load.

Thanks! Great info

If you want to kill the stand with herbicide (we never did) you could get by with just discing, although you'd probably want an offset disc instead of a tandem disc for heavy tillage like that.

So you're saying that just tilling alone will get rid of the weeds? As good as spraying would? What prevents the weeds from coming back, strong grass growth? keep in mind some spots are more weed than grass.

What kind of hay--grass, grain, alfalfa?

How thick is your good topsoil? That will tell you whether to use a moldboard plow, chisel plow or do primary tillage with an offset disc. Around here the topsoil is thin (4-5 inches) so grass and grain hayfields are prepared with an offset disc/spike harrow combination.

Timothy brohm mix is target crop.

I would say the good top soil would be no more than 4-5 inches. We are on solid clay and when i dig post holes its nothing but that after only a few inches.

 

[Deerherd]

I plan on finding a product at local co-op to kill off the weeds and wild flowers and leave the grasses be

IMHO that isn't practical, especially if you are going to plow/disc the entire field. I would shoot the whole field with Round-up.

You still need to address your standing water that caused your problem in the first place. Given the depth of your top soil, I would run a subsoiler in the areas where you have the standing water problem so it would drain in the future.

With only 4-5 inches of top soil, discing is all you really need to do, just remember that you will be exposing dormant weed seed. The good news is grasses grow better in the late summer/early fall than weeds do. DON'T wait until spring to plant, you will be dealing with a whole new crop of weeds.

Good luck!