Plows versus tillers?

[Raul-02]

What's the difference?

prolly a zillion good opinions on that one.
I can tell you that tillers don't do a very good job of killing the weeds. They mix the grass and weed roots and seeds up and the darn things just re-establish themselves.
A plow turns the soil, burying the weeds. I believe this does a better job killing them

 

[MossRoad]

The key is tilling the soil before the weeds go to seed.

And plowing or tilling won’t do anything for stuff that grows from roots unless you keep doing it until the roots expend all their energy and finally die.

 

[Williy]

If you wanta kill the grass and weeds you
need to know how to use the tiller as its
not just a one time tilling but tilling is very
effective in killing grass and weeds!

willy

 

[denchen]

It seems that before adapting the `no till/low till` system, the soil must be in very good condition before going for it. This side of the pond there are many still against the system. Perhaps time will tell.

 

[MHM]

Repeated tilling with no plowing will leave you with subsoil compaction - it creates a hardpan from repeated tractor passages. That won't happen in a home garden with no tractor driving on top.

 

[RedBarnDad]

A plow is usually followed with at least one form of harrow.
Often plowing is done late fall or early winter and the furrow breaks down over winter.
Follow with a disc harrow (commonly called just a disc) then a drag for a nice seed bed.
A tiller does the whole process at once.
Plow and disc a field then go till the same acreage. The tiller will take much longer.
Of course, this is all hearsay and I'm only going off what I've heard.

 

[JohnnyMX]

I have a tiller and quickly found out that for my soil/weeds/roots and the amount of rocks that breaking ground for the first time is not as easy as I had heard. One-and-Done for me isn't a reality. I run the field cultivator now over the ground to break it up and pull the larger rocks to the surface before they get into the reverse rotation tiller. I still have to clean out the tines very often on new fields as the weeds/roots just get wrapped around everything.

A plow still feels like it would have been a good solution to just turn it over and bury the organics followed by whatever 2nd tillage tool you prefer.

 

[sailonner]

Part of the answer needs to take into account the type of soil. Where I am it’s pretty much clay with about 6-8 inches of soil with organic decay on top. Tried both a standard plow to turn it over and a 3 foot PTO driven rototiller. Takes three times longer with the tiller, and like others have said you get a more even mix of plant material and soil. The last two seasons I just plowed furrows and left them. This season I planted rows of corn, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes by drilling 6” auger holes filled with good organic compost/potting soil. Drilled into the top of the furrow. Veggies do well, weeds have grown like crazy. Going back to the rototiller next season. Hopefully burying more of the weed seeds deep enough.

 

[Jstpssng]

Repeated tilling with no plowing will leave you with subsoil compaction - it creates a hardpan from repeated tractor passages. That won't happen in a home garden with no tractor driving on top.

You do still get a till depth which roots won't go into though, unless your soil had good structure to begin with. Most home tillers don't go down very far, and when the roots hit that till layer they will turn and go laterally. That isn't very good if you get a dry spell.

For a while I was doing my garden with a backhoe and Troybilt... that was a lot of work!

 

[Oaktree]

I'd rent. Only use once.

(re: a tiller)
Just the opposite for me. A plow would have been nice when I first bought this property and wanted to till up part of a partially overgrown field to put in a garden. Once the sod was broken that first time, I'd not likely have much further use for one. Depends on the application of course.

I have a tiller and quickly found out that for my soil/weeds/roots and the amount of rocks that breaking ground for the first time is not as easy as I had heard. One-and-Done for me isn't a reality. I run the field cultivator now over the ground to break it up and pull the larger rocks to the surface before they get into the reverse rotation tiller. I still have to clean out the tines very often on new fields as the weeds/roots just get wrapped around everything.

A plow still feels like it would have been a good solution to just turn it over and bury the organics followed by whatever 2nd tillage tool you prefer.

+1 on that!! When I first tilled the ground where my garden now sits, it took quite a few passes with the tiller. First few passes it bounced a lot, and as you noted had to stop a lot to clear roots out of the tines. Finally once the surface was broken up a bit things went easier. Same thing for when I need to till up sections of lawn to level and re-seed.
It probably would have gone easier if I'd had an even lower gear on the tractor...first gear/low range was still a bit too fast at 2200 rpm! Didn't want to slow down the engine any because I wanted full PTO speed.

 

[Bentrim]

In ancient times man prepared the soil for planting by using a stick or tree limb pulled by a beast of burden. As man found the wood wore out quickly it was replaced by metal eventually turning into the moldboard plow. Still pulled by a horse or other draft animal. As tractors made the scene multiple bottoms got assembled together making them wider to get more done. With advancements made by James Oliver and John Deere plow were able to work almost anywhere and last a reasonable length of time before the parts wore out. Even automatic reset plows made plowing easier as you did not have to stop and back up to reset the bottom. As farmers used the plow to get soil ready for planting and reduce weeds their use increased, until erosion and the great dust storm started to change practices and no-till became doable, also plowing is one of the power hungry fuel burning things a farmer did. Plows have disappeared from most farms even manufacturers are stopping making them. Most farmers parked the moldboard plow and went to disk harrows and chisel plows as less power was required and more acreage could be covered quicker. With better herbicides another blow was taken by any form of tillage. No till became the way to plant seeds. Most plows now are used by hobby farmers or those that work small areas for gardens. In fact plow shares and other wear parts can be hard to find anymore.
The tillers started being used in gardens. Small easy to use and they usually worked well, but they like rocks about as well as a plow does. As larger gardeners found the advantage of tillers manufacturers especially European manufacturers started making larger tillers for small tractors. Tractors made it possible to use a larger tiller. Some say that if the tillers is used too much it destroys the tilth of the soil. But remember it also breaks to soil into very fine particles so the soil is easier for the wind to blow it away and water to wash it away.

 

[Mud2Money]

As stated the hardest parts with tillers is first breaking ground and compaction. I combat this with subsoiling. I used to fight water even when plowing due to the compaction layer depth in my clay field. Now I first run my subsoiler to break the compaction layer. Then I run my tiller. How many passes can really depend on the tiller. I have a forward rotation hd 7’ tiller. In my rock hard clay the first pass is chattery but gets down a few inches. 2nd pass will go deeper then needed and turn it very fine. Next season I might try and field cultivator first then till. But so far I like subsoiling then tilling vs plowing and disking.

 

[Bobrown14]

Wow -- well, this is all fascinating! Thanks for a nice little education here!!

For virgin ground:

Moldboard plow - turns the soil completely over to depth of 16-18" which disrupts the weed seed layer and the grass is now at the btm.

2nd pass:
Tractor drawn PTO tiller. Add soil organic matter and pot-ash then till that in and grow a cover crop first year.

Till in the cover crop early spring add manure if you have it.

We use a garden hiller attached to 3pt hitch to make garden raised garden beds and spread hay/straw in between rows.

After harvest season till everything in and plant a fall cover crop.

Repeat.

When that soil gets good enough from all the added soil organic matter it wont need to be tilled. Can take a few years.

Anyone that grows hay/corn will have a moldboard plow. Make friends with a farmer neighbor. Our neighbor did our plot for fresh veggies and flowers. Takes a full size tractor minutes to turn over a very very large garden plot in hard pan.

You cant use a tiller on hard pan very well. Maybe in early spring maybe.

 

[divyakfm]

This is just curiosity, but I've always wondered. It seems like farm fields always get worked with plows, but home gardens get worked with rototillers. What's the difference? Aren't both trying to achieve the same goal?

Thanks!

 

[divyakfm]

Read through all the 'enlightening suggestions' and maybe I missed it but with the plow the last furrow, dead furrow, is there and what to do with that ditch? A tiller leaves no dead furrow but needs to be used/gone over several times to get rid of compaction/deep rooted weeds.

 

[bigtiller]

Read through all the 'enlightening suggestions' and maybe I missed it but with the plow the last furrow, dead furrow, is there and what to do with that ditch? A tiller leaves no dead furrow but needs to be used/gone over several times to get rid of compaction/deep rooted weeds.

My tiller leaves a hole/dead-furrow as wide as the tiller at the end of every row.

But I till over them leaving one dead furrow as wide as the tiller on 2 sides.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

LOTs of misinformation here!! I'll try to answer "some" of it.

NO one states what tiller?? NO, they are NOT all created the same! Most of the tiller misinformation is because the posters own, use or have only seen light duty tillers, and they have no idea how to set up and run a tiller properly!

They DO make big tillers, over 15' wide in some cases. IF you are breaking your tiller on stones, then it's a light duty tiller! If you are grinding up your soil, you just don't know how to properly use a tiller! The only tillers that ruin the soil structure, are the ones owned by folks that don't know what they are doing! IF you think tillers are too slow, you have the wrong tiller or on too small of a tractor. Tillers do not cause more compaction than a plow.

I could go on and on... Sad part is people keep repeating this crapola over and over! lol

BTW, when plowing, you are NOT supposed to "turn the soil over", you are supposed to stand it up on edge!

I've been doing custom tilling for more than 40 years; I've learned a thing or two about it...

SR

 

[Yamezz]

Can you give us some tips you've learnt in your years of experience?

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I'd be happy to try and answer any questions you may have...

I have three tillers, this one has tilled over 2,000 acres,

It still has the original chain, sprockets, all the bearings/seals ect...

SR

 

[JohnnyMX]

My tiller is a LandPride RTR1272 (reverse); 4 tine which I feel was a bad choice from the dealer when I told them what I was doing and they still sold me the lighter weight model. I was new to tractors and didn't know any better and now I have it. It is probably too lightweight for my rocky/clay soil on the first groundbreaking. After that it works fine, assuming you've picked out the rocks large enough to wedge themselves into the tiller. If I go over more than one pass the soil looks like it was delivered and spread. Wish they would have told me about the RTR25 from the same lineup as it looks like it is built much more rugged.