Tiller Tiller or Field Cultivator

[hunterridgefarm]

Need some opinions.

I have a 4.5 to 5 ac river bottom, sandy soil. In the past I have plowed and disc for planting, pic attached.

I want to get away from plowing but the dics will not cut thru the crop residue and field grass unless I make several passes. The planting times for crops vary so even if I plow and disc the entire field I alwasy need to go back and disc. This year I plan on planting potatoes in Feb...about 1/2-1 ac. Once harvested I will plant pumpkins in that area plus an additional acre. I do a lot of Fall Harvest crops to sale.

Other crops will be greenbeans, corn, squash, etc.

I want the 5' tiller which cost $1499.00. I can get a field cultivator for around $600.00...5' or 6' give or take. The field cultivator is not the "C" tine but the heavy spring type.

My concern is will the field cultivator cut thru the grass good enough to make one pass with the disc? Disc are 6' with weight on top, (phone pole).

The tiller will be slower but I should only need to make one pass. But 5 ac is a lot to till, but I will not till it all at once...

I want the tiller but I am trying to justify the cost sice it is a $1000.00 difference. But there are other things I can use the tiller for!!

So any opinions???

Also I plan to purchase in the next few weeks.

Thanks,
David

 

[kthompson]

David, if I misunderstood any part of this sorry.
If you have grass so heavy a disk will not cut it think a plow will be a problem unless you are running coulters to cut a path in front of each shank. Think you will find the grass wrapping around the shank and being a problem. For my experience in trying to grow crops (vegetables) without chemicals found the best deal was to disk the field and let it set, then disk again and bed it in rows. Let it sit that way until I am ready to plant. Then at most the day before bust those beds open and rebed (can be done in one pass with cultivators set with leading middle buster and then hillers to bed it). It gives a very weed free bed to plant on. There are trips in this and may not suit your desire. but between a tiller and any type of plow believe you will find the tiller the best choice for single pass.

 

[Egon]

If you have your growing areas broken up in smaller areas with them all in different growth/cultivation stages the rototiller may be the desirable option for long term.

 

[JC-jetro]

David,

I tries to go field cultivation in lieu of tilling and it did not work well. You have to have c-tines so close and many of them to make a good bed and then you'll have issue with maintaining constant depth and lot so HP to pull. Tiller afford you one pass ready bed with not much horse power if you go slow.

JC,

 

[Farmwithjunk]

A conventional field cultivator probably won't do well with crop residue. Under normal circumstances a disc will do better. If you're already having issues with a disc, I'd say the problem will be worse with the cultivator.

Tillers do OK in MOST crop residue, but you'll still have issues if the residue is heavy enough.

When I first bought my tiller, I tried it prior to planting a 10 acre field of corn on corn. I tried another field, approx 5 acres, with a disc first then the tiller. I was much happier with the outcome after using both tools. Crop yields were almost identical. Your results may vary.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Thanks guys

I was hoping the tiller was the best way to go. I have not used a field cultivator before. We always would plow and disc. I had tried the one row culitvator but it was so light it would not work good. I was wanting to use the field culti to loosen the ground so the disc would cut it better and be quicker than plowing. The field grass is not thick but there is enough there to keep the disc from cutting in without 3-4 passes.

I am basically looking for a quicker way to get the field preped and the tiller looks like it is the best option.

Now to find a TSC that has one in stock. I have two TSC close to me and one will not have any in until Feb-March. The other has one 5' KK in stock. I will try to get by there this week or next and have a look at it!

Thanks again.

 

[pitt_md]

I have a 7 acre field that I planted last year and I used a tiller. Be sure to mow/bush hog tall plant material before tilling. Getting that stuff wrapped around a big tiller is no fun.

 

[zzvyb6]

A tiller will give you a few more options for use afterwards. Make sure you get one wider than the wheel track of your tractor. I also use mine to refurbish my gravel driveway. Once the neighbors see what a great job it does, you can pay for it by tilling their fields and driveways. I've done 10 acres at a crawl speed but worth it...

 

[pitt_md]

A tiller will give you a few more options for use afterwards. Make sure you get one wider than the wheel track of your tractor. I also use mine to refurbish my gravel driveway. Once the neighbors see what a great job it does, you can pay for it by tilling their fields and driveways. I've done 10 acres at a crawl speed but worth it...

after doing 7 acres I can tell you I had enough "seat time" for a while.

 

[johan3400]

without a doubt, I would go with the tiller. I use it on the size field you are talking and it does a great job. I have plowed and then tilled and just tilled. The tiller is just a great tool to add to your arsenal.

 

[JC-jetro]

Field plowed using a potato plow




Same field tilled using a 5 foot KK tiller



Food plot directly tilled without plowing first, not much difference when you use tiller. Here my first pass was 2'' or so to knock off the vegetation and then 6" deep planting bed.

JC,

 

[hunterridgefarm]

JC,

Thats what I plan to get the 5' KK, $1499.00 at TSC...unless you want to sale yours for say $500.00.

The KK comes from the factory dry, correct? What weight gear oil do you use. I put 90 weight in my PHD...I think it was 90.

David

 

[teg]

"river bottom, sandy soil"... Do you have many rocks? and how big? You might damage your tiller if you have lots of big rocks out there... just a thought.

 

[kthompson]

hunterridgefarm,

I have looked back at your picture and first post again. Part of it is below.

Per the picture it looks like it disked very well. Of course no idea if that was one pass or how many.

Secondly, if the residue is so heavy the disk can not handle it think you will have issues with the tiller.

The way crop residue is handle here in cultivated fields is normally: soon after the crop is gathered and soon there after the fields normally disked once. That is allowed to rot for at least a few days and then disk again. That normally takes care of any reasonable amount of crop debris. If your disk is not handling the debris again not having used a tiller on a tractor only smaller units, think you will either be very slow or have problems also.




"I have a 4.5 to 5 ac river bottom, sandy soil. In the past I have plowed and disc for planting, pic attached.

I want to get away from plowing but the dics will not cut thru the crop residue and field grass unless I make several passes. The planting times for crops vary so even if I plow and disc the entire field I alwasy need to go back and disc. This year I plan on planting potatoes in Feb...about 1/2-1 ac. Once harvested I will plant pumpkins in that area plus an additional acre. I do a lot of Fall Harvest crops to sale."

 

[hunterridgefarm]

teg, no rocks in the bottom...thats the only place on my property that does not have rocks!

kthompson,

The pic was after several passes with the disc. The soil is very soft and like powder once you get it worked and its very fertile. I was hoping to disc without plowing. If I had heavier disc and a bigger tractor I think discing alone would work. One thing that makes it more difficult is I was unalbe to work this field the last couple of years due to clearing land and building a house. I think the tiller will work great just thought the culitvator might work and speed things up. It will take about 2 more years to get the bottom in the condition it was before.

 

[JC-jetro]

JC,

Thats what I plan to get the 5' KK, $1499.00 at TSC...unless you want to sale yours for say $500.00.

The KK comes from the factory dry, correct? What weight gear oil do you use. I put 90 weight in my PHD...I think it was 90.

David

David,

Hmm, you gotto make an offer I can't refuse and $500 ain't gonna cover it. can't blame you for trying though. Considering Price/performance it'll become very difficult to beat KK-II gear drive tiller with 5" wide being one of their most popular one. I have looked for few months to see if I can find a decent second hand to no avail. All the beat up ones were always in $700 range in my areas. After I bought mine later on I saw one for $900 that was 5 years old. I know the price of steel has gone up a lot hence the new higher pricing for for KK tiller. I bought mine for about $1150 from TSC two years ago. I'll watch their spring season sale. They match price with with Orschlyn or any other farm outfit you have in your area. If they are far from you, I'd just call them as you established what you want and really do not to see it to decide. Additionally they have 10% off coupon that the store manager has in pocket to be dispersed at will, just ask for it. By the way, where I have my food plot and garden I had hardly any big rock and each case might be different. disking or plowing using a potato plow can reveal big rocks to be picked up prior to tilling. slip clutch is great and I keep my slip clutch not real tight to make it easier to slip if tines encounter an unfriendly rock/boulder.

JC,

 

[hunterridgefarm]

David,
(Hmm, you gotto make and offer I can't refuse )




Ok, thats it...horse head in the bed! If you don't have a horse then...tractor tire in the bed!! (Godfather, I made him an offer he could'nt refuse).

 

[JC-jetro]

David,
(Hmm, you gotto make and offer I can't refuse )




Ok, thats it...horse head in the bed! If you don't have a horse then...tractor tire in the bed!! (Godfather, I made him an offer he could'nt refuse).

That'll be enough to make me accept the lovely $500 offer, Don't have a horse but a slashed tractor tire will certainly steer me in the right direction, lol.

JC,

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Well I pick up the KK 5' tiller today.

Question: The booklet calls for 80-140 gear oil I picked up 80-90 gear oil.

Should I take it back and get the 80-140 or will the 80-90 be ok?

 

[wedge40]

Hunterridgefarm. Did you just use this thread to justify the tiller with the DW?

Wedge