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.