Starting to work field

   / Starting to work field #1  

rsciolino

New member
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
10
Location
Upstate NY
Tractor
Kubota BX2370, Kubota M6070
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
 
   / Starting to work field #2  
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.
 
   / Starting to work field #3  
I use my tiller on my acreage and it is fast and does a great job.
 
   / Starting to work field
  • Thread Starter
#4  
thanks guys. really appreciate your input
 
   / Starting to work field #5  
I would mow the field first before you till. It will make it easier on the tiller.
 
   / Starting to work field #6  
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.
 
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   / Starting to work field #7  
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.
 
   / Starting to work field #8  
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.))
 

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