Starting to work field

rsciolino · Jun 18, 2015

I have an old farm that has not been worked in about 5 years. I would like to plant a cover crop for a few years to get ready to do some small scale farming. I am looking at about 3 acres to start working.

I have a L4400 kubota (about 43hp) and also a tiller but wonder if a small disc would be a better choice. What are you using? what do you recommend?

thanks

jenkinsph · Jun 18, 2015

I would rototill it and geturdone. You can have it ready to plant in a few hours. Do you have a seeder or spin spreader and a roller? If so you could do the whole thing in a day or less.

mddorange · Jun 19, 2015

I use my tiller on my acreage and it is fast and does a great job.

rsciolino · Jun 19, 2015

thanks guys. really appreciate your input

snowbelt geauga · Jun 19, 2015

I would mow the field first before you till. It will make it easier on the tiller.

jeff9366 · Jun 19, 2015

PTO powered roto-tillers and Disc Harrows are both forms of soil mixing tillers.

If you decide to buy a Disc Harrow anyhow, you can pull one with 20" diameter pans which will be quite effective, but you will have to plow first. Notched front pans and notched rear pans would be my recommendation.

Disc Harrows, to be effective, require at least forty pounds total implement weight bearing on each Disc Harrow pan. In practice, this mean a box frame Disc Harrow with minimum 18" diameter pans.

With 20" diameter pans you have 52 pounds bearing on each pan, or more.

Poopdeck Pappy · Jun 20, 2015

If the field has laid fallow for several years, I'd consider buying a chisel plow or field cultivator to break up the soil before tilling it.

Everybody here seems to love tillers and I understand why. But a tiller pulverizes the top few inches of soil, but does nothing to break up the soil underneath.

The disc harrow and the tiller perform similar functions. Instead of having both a tiller and a disc harrow, I'd MUCH rather have a chisel plow and a disc harrow or a chisel plow and a tiller.

jeff9366 · Jun 20, 2015

Poopdeck Pappy said:
If the field has laid fallow for several years, I'd consider buying a chisel plow or field cultivator to break up the soil before tilling it.

If you had completed your T-B-N profile with your location, so we had a pretty good estimation of your soil conditions and topsoil depth, we could make more particular recommendations. Lack of profile data may be why you experienced minimal responses to your earlier threads.

RE TILLER OR DISC HARROW: In North Florida I would not mix the topsoil deeper than 6" unless compaction resulted in standing water after a rain. You do not want to mix quality topsoil with infertile subsoil unless it is to overcome another problem.

Here is a LINK to my thread on Field Cultivators for compact tractors: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/339095-dirt-dog-all-purpose-plow.html?highlight=

A Filed Cultivator fractures soil profile but does not mix soil.

((A new Buckeye Tractor Co. 3-shank Chisel Plow, springless, for your L4400 runs about $1,800.))