Some Plowing Help

[rock2610D]

Did some plowing last weekend..or at least tried.

Got about 3 acres done with a 14 inch 2 bottom plow. Everything was working great then I went to an area that has HEAVY SOD and I mean HEAVY. Its a moist area and the grass/whatever is so thick you cannot even use a shovel to get to dirt. After diging with loader I determined the grass was 6 inches thick and the root system is another 12 inches thick.

I would be plowing along and come to this area and plow would rise and skip along top of the grass, cutting maybe 2 inches of grass...the Plow could not dig in...It was like I was trying to plow solid rock...


Any suggestions...

 

[hotchkiss]

Yes, contact Farmwithjunk. He will probably respond anyway.

 

[Oleozz]

Do you have a pair of good sharp coulters on the plow setup so they will cut the sod in front of the moldboards?

 

[rock2610D]

No coulters, plow was rented. I can buy some and put on plow if you think it will work..but even then there could be issues I think..as I was coming into area the sod was so heavy that plow could not turn sod over it just flopped back down on itself....This is some HEAVY THICK STUFF...

 

[Oleozz]

I know exactly the type of soil you are in, for the past two years I've been trying to turn ground over that was in CRP for twenty years. It can be very frustrating and I've experienced the same things you are describing. The coulters will help some, ground speed is important, you go to slow and the ground will flip back into the furrow, plow setup is critical, and also the condition of the share and shin. There are shares that work better than others, the deep suck share works well in hard ground.
I'm not sure how much plowing you've done but setting the plow up so it works correctly is almost an art.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Did some plowing last weekend..or at least tried.
...the Plow could not dig in...It was like I was trying to plow solid rock...


Any suggestions...

You said a mouthful.... "Like solid rock".

Way back when, in the day when plowing was still a routine event, there were more options as far as plow designs. In conditions like yours, a plow share called a "deep suck" share would be used. They had an extended point that dug in and helped pull the plow into the ground. They're virtually a thing of the past. You'll occasionally find them on some antique plows, but they're a rare commodity anymore.

A plow with conventional shares needs to have GOOD, relatively NEW shares, not ANY wear, if you're attempting to break "old ground". They need to have a nice sharp edge. The plow needs to be adjusted near perfectly. And it helps if there's a bit of soil moisture. DRY, hard turf is darn near impossible to plow.

When I still had my farm, I had a 10 acre field that I'd grow a corn/soybean rotation on. The first couple years when I started plowing it, a plow wouldn't much more than scratch the surface. Afte a few years, and a couple rounds with a subsoiler, I finally got it where it was tillable. But for the next 30+ years, it STILL had hard spots. Some ground IS "just like solid rock".

 

[rock2610D]

Thanks for the info!!!

Identified the grass as not grass at all but "blister sedge" with wood like roots. Said minimum root depth on this critter is 16 inches!!!! Its a wetland/bog plant. Advise from NRCS was to kill it with a chemical...said Roundup will not kill it. Chemical needs applied for 2 years during spring and I have to wait for roots to die!!!

Guess I am not going to be able to do anything with this area...except let it be!!!

 

[kthompson]

You may find changing the direction you are plowing will help. Lowering the front of the plows may help the points get into and stay in the ground. Not sure on the HP you have but you may not have the power for the speed needed to flip the dirt. Don't miss Farmingwithjumk's comment on the subsoiler. Have little faith you will find one but they did make plows called tillers in my part of the world which are nothing like the tillers out there today. They used large disk blades and were much like the moldboard plows but they would cut the grass and roots you have working with and roll the dirt. You may be at the point of plowing what you can and disking and then plowing what you can and then disking until you get what you want.

Possibly best suggestion..if possible hire a farmer with bigger equipment to break it for you. You will still have plenty of work to get it in shape. kt

 

[kthompson]

Forgot to suggest you cut and burn the grass off to get ride of as much as possible. kt

 

[Gary Fowler]

What Kthompson was referring to as tillers, we called them Pan plows. They are just large disc angled to turn the dirt. If you can get a pan plow and put enough weight on it, it will cut through just about anything. As I recall, they were easier to pull than an equivalent bottom plow