Tiller Thinking about buying a tiller an holding off on the disk.

[Cyberroc]

Either will work if you have time. I would start with a plow and then given the total area over years and if your wanting to get the job in quickest amount of time, then I would Disk...

That is unless...

Anything close to a 10 arces is going to take a while with a tiller, you should also consider what your situation is. Let's say you like tilling (I do) and you have a few hours each day to spend tilling over a weeks time (I do not right now). You should be able to get in the 10 to 15 acre range in a weeks time. Again, you can probably do the same work with the disk in about half the time, if you have the time and like to till though, well, you get the idea.

Now, given that both should work, go with what makes since for you. The other points given by others are very true to what you have asked, I just like to add my 'what would I enjoy most' factor also when considering a purchase.

Next, because I am suggesting that you may want to use a tiller, a short note on points of failure. If you do damage the disk, repairs (IMC) may be easier to fix. If you damage the tiller (depending on damage) you could be without it for a longer period of time and repairs may not be as servicable as a disk may be.

Last, if my total was 10 acres and I had time, I would go with a tiller and do a couple to a few acres each time. If my total was going to be 45 acres, I would then own a disk and a tiller...

Good Luck and Take Pics!

 

[flusher]

I had been leaning toward a disk harrow but haven't found great pricing on one, and now am thinking of waiting til I find a used one at a fair price even if it takes till next year or longer. I can't justify the cost of what they're asking for new disks and think you get your moneys worth out of a tiller.

I was at TSC and have to say I was impressed with the KingKutter tillers there. They look like a stout unit and the price wasn't outragous. My only concern is how long it's going to take tilling over plowing and disking. I know my garden will be much better with a tiller.

When I put in the lawn areas around my new house several years ago, I plowed the ground first with a King Kutter middle buster plow and then finished the work with a 4-ft Yanmar rototiller. The rototilling went significantly faster that way and minimized the wear and tear on the Yanmar.

 

[Mike120]

I agree with most here who have said "get both" for all the same reasons already stated. One that hasn't been mentioned though is the level of compaction you are dealing with. I have some paddocks that I can run over with a tiller and reseed very quickly. Others, may be like rock and the tiller just scrapes the surface. A disc will dig into very compacted soil with little trouble and I can then run the tiller over it to smooth it out. Most of the time however, I prefer to only use the tiller as most of my horse paddocks are just under an acre.

I tried the disc/tiller approach on an 11 acre hay field once. After I disced I made one trip down the field with the tiller and went and got the disc again. I could do an entire pass on the field with the disc in the time I could make one trip with the tiller. I guess I'm just impatient.....

 

[Glowplug]

How 'bout plow-->disk-->till!
I don't know though, may be a little repetitively redundant with the disk.

 

[Mike120]

One last point....the disc is very handy for "discovering" old tree roots and the like. When you find buried treasure with a tiller it can be expensive. I had the wrong shear pin in mine and it destroyed the PTO side of the drive shaft. I'm real careful now about making sure I have the right shear pin and about going into virgin territory with the tiller.

 

[LBrown59]

I was at TSC and have to say I was impressed with the KingKutter tillers there. They look like a stout unit and the price wasn't outragous. My only concern is how long it's going to take tilling over plowing and disking. I know my garden will be much better with a tiller.

MY 4' KK is great.

 

[LBrown59]

I was asking my dealer this same question when I bought my tiller. The answer is it depends...if you have to make more than one pass with the tiller it would be faster with the plow/disk. I did a 7 acre field with a 6' tiller and it took some time. For me a lot of the time was for stopping and loading rocks into the bucket. I like the offset feature on my tiller but *I think it would be better to just have a bigger tiller to cover your tracks.

*I know it would be.
My 48 inch kk covers both back wheels of my bx1500.