lantxinNETX
Bronze Member
I have some land in SE Oklahoma that is typical OK red clay. Except I have the added fun of having a large amount of rocks. When I dig down with my BH a couple of feet, I will find everything from golf ball size rocks to some the size of a soccer ball. (Fortunately not too many of the later!) Until about 6 years ago the land was 100% covered with trees. Then the prior owner cleared about 5 acres of it, removing all of the trees less than about 10" in diameter. Which means that this cleared area also has a lot of left over stumps and roots. I am working on the larger stumps with the BH and will eventually have those all removed. But my wife wants us to start working on a piece of about 1 acre to get it ready for her new full-time activity - row farming. We have an 18-24 month time line on getting this going, so I have some time to do the work.
But I don't know exactly how to attack the soil. It has not been worked before. And as I said, is going to be full of rocks and roots that I want to remove. I know that I ultimately will be adding compost / amendments to the soil to make it better for growing. But as for doing the primary tillage on the land what would be best? Subsoiler seems pretty straight forward, but from what I have read this might not be the best thing to use. Although it seems to me that I would catch a bunch of the roots and larger rocks with this. And the price seems right - about $300. Something like a field cultivator Fred Cain Tractor 7 Shank 3 Point Field Cultivator, Ripper, Tillage Tool, Jitterbug, Field plow, Bermuda grass plow would seem to be a good choice. But at $1100, seems a little steep. Especially since this would be the only place I am likely to ever use it. (The rest of the property that is heavily wooded is going to stay that way. And 1 acre is probably plenty for her farming aspirations!) Some things that I have read - not on ETA - imply that it can be used for weeding of row crops as well. So if there were other good uses for a field cultivator after we start actually planting stuff then I could justify that kind of $$. Or is there something else I should be considering?
Thanks
Martin
But I don't know exactly how to attack the soil. It has not been worked before. And as I said, is going to be full of rocks and roots that I want to remove. I know that I ultimately will be adding compost / amendments to the soil to make it better for growing. But as for doing the primary tillage on the land what would be best? Subsoiler seems pretty straight forward, but from what I have read this might not be the best thing to use. Although it seems to me that I would catch a bunch of the roots and larger rocks with this. And the price seems right - about $300. Something like a field cultivator Fred Cain Tractor 7 Shank 3 Point Field Cultivator, Ripper, Tillage Tool, Jitterbug, Field plow, Bermuda grass plow would seem to be a good choice. But at $1100, seems a little steep. Especially since this would be the only place I am likely to ever use it. (The rest of the property that is heavily wooded is going to stay that way. And 1 acre is probably plenty for her farming aspirations!) Some things that I have read - not on ETA - imply that it can be used for weeding of row crops as well. So if there were other good uses for a field cultivator after we start actually planting stuff then I could justify that kind of $$. Or is there something else I should be considering?
Thanks
Martin
