Plows for dumbies.

[N80]

I'm not a farmer and have never used a plow. I am planning on planting some food plots in the near future but that is going to be a low budget affair for a while.

But, I hear a lot of talk about implements that I have vague ideas about what they are and what they are for, but not specifically.

Could some kind person here provide a brief outline about what's-what in the world of plows and what they are for.

I'm aware of disks, tillers, subsoilers, 'plows', drills, listers, harrows, etc. Any clarification on these and other 'plowing' implements would be much appreciated.

 

[RobJ]

I'll give her a stab, keeping in mind you only want some food plots on a budget.

Disks - just flips the soil. Really all you need. The more you go over it the more chopped up the soil becomes(IE less clods). For food plots, make several passes, broadcast the seed, pull the disk over it again with the disk about 2" deep. This'll just cover the seed. You can also drag it with just about anything.

tillers - about the same thing but very expensive. Hard to use if you have a lot of rocks, stumps, etc. The disk will just run over the top of these.

Subsoilers - go down deep and loosen up the soil. probably preferred to do first before disking. But add weight to the disk and it'll do about the same. These can also be used to bust it up for FEL work.

plows - generally used to remove weeds. But a number of different types, middle busters, cultivators, bottom. All do various things.

drills - basically a seed planter. drops in the seed pretty close together then covers them up. hard to see the little rows when the plants come up a foot or so.

listers - have no idea On Edit, bottom plow I'm guessing...

harrows - drags, etc, spikes point down and it's pulled over a disked field. smooths it out and breaks up the clogs, several homemade things work just as good.

When I plant my deer plots in the fall, I will use a 5 blade cultivator type plow (I don't have a disk). This one is homemade from some oldplows I got from my uncle, I'll go over it several times, then pull a homemake spike harrow, only about 4' wide so I cal pull it with a ATV. Get it smooth out, broadcast the seed and pull it over one more time. I tested this procedure this spring and it worked out great.

BTW, if you disk and broadcast just before a good rain, the seed will usually bury itself in the doil just fine.

 

[Birdhunter1]

Plows, 3 types I will describe:
(1) sod plow (molebord plow, turning plow) can be one or more "bottoms" that turn the topsoil layer over so the top layer is covered over to basically rot away and provide nourishment. Helps to plow under field stubble and whatever so that it becomes natures fertilizer so to speak. You will hear these in 2-12, 2-14, 3-16, 4-12 etc etc. the first number or is the number of shares which on a 3-16 the numbers of shares would be 3. The 16 refers to the width of cut or 16". Best way to use one is to plow you field, let rain hit the dirt for a while then take a good disc to it to break it up, if you ever plow dirt wet you'd better hope it gets a good hard freeze before you ever do anything else with it. One of those things you really only do once!

(2) disc plows. Though I don't know much about them they are a large disc of one or more that the disc is sort of semi-sideways mounted and it turns over dirt just as a sod plow would. Though I don't know enough about them to tell if they were as good as a sod plow or not and from what I have heard it takes a few more horsepower to pull them.

(3) Chisel plows-prolly the most widely used today they are chisel points that dig deep, bust up into the hardpan, turn over the top and you don't have a furrow that you have to follow such as with a sod plow so when you get to the end of a field you just turn around and come back next to your first pass. Sometimes called a ripper by mistake they do a good job of busting up and turning over the dirt and leaving a semi smooth finish, unlike a sod plow that leaves a field lumpy though it turns stuff under a bit better. With a chisel plow it will still need a good bit of prep work before final seeding can be done but the operator error factor is less with a chisel plow (as in keeping your wheel in the furrow), chisel plows take less adjustment for proper tillage, tractor sits on hard ground rather than part on hard ground and part in the trench. Chisel plows are used in production ag farming more often due to the fact it takes less time and easier to use.

--a ripper/subsoiler is also another frequently used tillage tool, what it does is breas up the groudn underneath and leaves teh top surface relatively untouched (other than a narrow slit in the ground. It's purpose is to break up the hard pan so the roots can reach down deeper where the soil moisture content is higher, also revives a field due to severe or moderate compaction from years or frequent heavy traffic. This will also leave your ground a bit more squishy since the hard under layer is broke up. Most farm field may get subsoiled every two or three years depending on compaction of the soil.

Hope I helped you more than confused you!

 

[N80]

Thanks guys. Big help. This is mostly just to feed my curiosity rather than to decide what I need to get next. My wife insists that I've got plenty of implements already (FEL, box blade and two rotary cutters). Even though we all know that she's clearly nuts in this case, the fact remains. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I know what a disc looks like, and a tiller, and basic harrow. I'm assuming the sod plow is the thing that looks like what they used to pull behind a horse. Kind of a curved over spade.

I'm not sure what a chisel plow looks like. I'm guessing it looks more heart shaped and symetrical that a sod plow?

As for my plans, the 'plots' are small, all of them less than 1/2 acre and in really bad soil (clay, mica, crumbly rock.) I'm planning on using the scarifiers on my box blade to break it up (teeth all the way down, blade tilted up so that it doesn't contact.) I'll spread the seed over this and then drag a section of chain link fence around over the top of it. Fertilize heavily. I know that's not going to give me much, but its a start.

Maybe I'll get a disk for Christmas. You think? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Birdhunter1]

The only downside of a disc is it compacts the soil so much, heavy discs or not they compact a great deal. Best bet is to break it deep with a plow or subsoiler to bust it up so roots can take growth.
Tillers are great, but they seem to fluff the soil too much where moisture runs through too fast and won't soak in.

 

[RonR]

Lister--another name for a row planting machine, such as for planting corn. Usually, the listers are spaced 18, 24, 30, or more inches apart. Basically, it's like a ripper with a moldboard that tosses the soil both left and right, then drops the seed in the bottom of the trench.

Later, when the seeds are up a little, a cultivator is used to knock the ridges and WEEDS down, and gently place soil next to the plant base.

Listers are old school I think. Have not heard new no-till planters referred to as listers. The difference is the new no-till disturbs less soil than the old listers.

ron

 

[Birdhunter1]

For all practical purposes here are examples of a:
Chisel plow
(a good looking one too!)

cultivator Not much different thatn a chisel plow but chisel plows have a chisel point whereas a cultivator has a sweep point to it, it scracths the top but doesn't dig deep, hence cultivates teh soil.

5-14 moleoard plow 5 bottoms, 14" cut per bottom

ripper/subsoiler Granted ths is big but notice teh disc wheel in front of the shank, it slits the goround so the shank pulls easier and deeper and realy doesn't disturb the top layer very much at all.

Disc plow a good picture of one too!

disk ripper Not to be confused with a disc plow, the disc's on his one churhn the top soil while the shanks break up compaction from the disc itself and normal compaction. Yes it does take a good bit of HP to pull one of these that really isn't all that wide!

disc It's a pretty good heavy duty one.

culti-packer Now if you wre gonna do a bunch of food plotting or seeding this thing would be the cats nuts! After all of your other prep work this will leave one heck of a finish for a planter or seeder to run right over it.

 

[daTeacha]

Those prices are amazing! When my FIL sold his farming equipment, they had auction. The stuff was in good shape, always parked inside, etc. Basically for scrap value less the effort to move it. His 20' wide cultipacker went for about $15. Everyone by his place that farms now uses seriously big equipment and all his stuff was old-school

If you want to use older equipment, go to farm auctions and be patient.

 

[N80]

Excellent, thank you very much.

I have to say, the chisel plow looks like it would just bounce along the top of what I have to work with.

 

[Birdhunter1]

Chisel plows will sometimes bounce if they have very dull snub nose shovels on them and the ground is super hard, but I have only seen it do that a few times in very hard compacted soil (it was actually a field road and a very dry year, plus it was August).