Tiller Tiller Questions

[Alan L.]

I am planning on buying a tiller finally. I had to wait until the prices went up so that I could spend as much for as little as possible......

Anyway, with, say a 56" tiller, how long would it take to till 3 acres about 3-4" deep to get ready for planting bermuda? This is heavy clay not rocks. I read a review on here earlier about it taking 5 hours to till a 40 by 75 garden. According to my calculations it would take 712 hours to till 3 acres! If its that slow, maybe I should just use my disk again?

This is clay that came out of the digging of my pond almost 5 years ago. I have been planting cover crops on it, and it is somewhat improved, but still when I disk it, if conditions aren't perfect I end up with 1" - 2" clods even after several passes. I figured a tiller would chop it up finer.

 

[johndeere2210]

" I read a review on here earlier about it taking 5 hours to till a 40 by 75 garden. According to my calculations it would take 712 hours to till 3 acres!"

Yeah, I know. I used to have a tractor like that. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Seriously, I tilled 2 1/2 acres of corn stalk ground in about three hours when we planted our fescue. This was done with a 48" tiller. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[JerryG]

Moldboard plow and a disc.

 

[texastomtom]

I have an 84" on a 58hp / 50hp pto 4720
Kinda sandy soil,,,, some clay

I can do about 1 acre in less than an hour. (open area - not my garden )

My Garden area was Probably 100' x 100' last year....
Less than an hour also,,, it has a number of obstacles that slow me down some on that.



I would think a 54" + slightly smaller tractor would not be much more than twice the time...

I go full depth on the tiller which leaves over 6" of tilled soil over the hard pan..... at least in my type soil...


I tried the disc at the first of the year and really couldnt get the kind of penetration and type soil condition I desired....

If you deep broke / busted the soil first then maybe the disc after to smooth out somewhat and break up soil more would be appropriate.

I plan to use the tiller pretty much as it was so stinking expensive for a deere 84" tiller that I will have to use it a lot to seem worth having spent the bucks for it.....

/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I have lots of other work to use it on besides the garden though,,, so I am very pleased with it.

 

[rdln]

Mathematically, it would take 3.5 hours to till a 56in x 5.25 miles doing 1.5 mph.
(about the speed I till)

add switching directions and potty breaks and I would say about 9 beers.

12oz ers to be exact.

 

[Alan L.]

Based on these responses, it sounds like I might do the 3 acres in 4.5 to 6 hours. Quite a bit more time than it takes with the disk, but I just haven't got real good luck with the disk in this soil. In better soil on my property the disk does fine, but not this soil. If it takes 6 hours, thats probably worth it.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[kayssupply]

Hoye tractor is in Texas. If he is close, you might look at the Japanese tillers. They can till much faster if you have a multi speed PTO. A used Japanese tiller in good shape usually sells for about half what a new US tiller does. They don't really like hard pan but if it was busted up first they do a great job. They also have gage wheels and that makes holding a set depth pretty easy and adjustment is just the turn of a wheel.

 

[MarkV]

Alan, why not disk first and then till. If the clay has been partly broken up by the disk the tilling will go faster.

MarkV

 

[KiotiJohn]

I think you'll find that you're able to go a little faster with the tiller if this is not virgin soil. Soil that has been turned a good bit in the past is usually not quite so difficult to till and you can keep the tractor speed up a little.
The real challenge is soil that has never been tilled/disked/etc and is very compacted.
I suspect you'll enjoy the seat time regardless. John

 

[Bird]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( 5 hours to till a 40 by 75 garden )</font>

Now that would really be slow. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif I just had a 40" tiller with a main garden plot of 83' x 103' and another plot of 83' x 15' and it never took an hour to do both of them.

 

[PBinWA]

I just rented a Kubota 52" tiller and double tilled just over 1 acre of old pasture field land in about 4 hours. If you want good results in one pass you would need to break it up ahead of time.

If you want really nice fluffy soil and a smooth surface a third pass was the trick. I busted up some areas ahead of time with a middle buster in order to try and find the big rocks but most of it was untouched.

 

[Indydirtfarmer]

"Nice, FLUFFY soil" will compact into concrete after a good rain. Soil does not and SHOULD not be turned into several inches of powder. (This coming from a 6th generation farmer with a AG degree from Purdue Univ.) It looks impressive, but soil should not be over-worked. It is proned to erosion (wind/water) and subject to compaction when over done.

Part of the cause of "The Dust Bowl" of the depression era was the over-working of Great plains soils, as the Ag world was just starting to mechinize.

 

[PBinWA]

I don't claim to know what I'm doing but I do want a nice flat lawn in this area that no one will sprain an ankle in. I tilled the crap out of it and will be leveling it off, pulling rocks, and pushing stuff around for a while yet. I figured tilling the crap out of it was as good a way as any to get rid of the old crap grass and weeds without resorting to Round-up.

This isn't farm land. Just an acre in front of a house that I want to grow some Perrenial Rye Grass on.

I hope to get some rain to flatten it all out a bit. I've got a Landscape rake with gauge wheels to rough up the top inches when it gets time to seed it. A tiller was only $75 to rent for the day and it definitly got the job done. I also tilled two neighbors gardens with it while I had it.

Things are so hot and dry up here in the NW that I am worried about the dustbowl effect. It's not a normal winter for us. I got some sunburn on my face yesterday!

That fluffy soil sure looks pretty though! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[notamustang]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( without resorting to Round-up. )</font>
You want to resort to Round-up or Remuda. If you till the old grass and weeds in those roots and seed just get pushed deeper and are evasive when you try to pull them out of your nice new lawn. Belive it or not you want to water and fertalize to get everything to grow and then spray with a non selective herbicide. This info was from a sod farmer that lived across the street from my parents. One of the largest sod farms in So Cal.
Just my 2 cents
Steven

 

[PBinWA]

Oh well, too late now.

; )

 

[Alan L.]

I am in North Texas, not sure where Hoye Tractors is.... The Yanmar tillers look a little different and don't seem to be as aggressive. Also, aren't they 2-point and require some modifiations?

If I could get a decent used tiller for $500 I would, but they are nowhere to be found. At least other than the Yanmar tillers.

I have not read a good comparison between the Yanmars and some of the other tillers, as to how good a job they will do.

I guess I should run the disk over the 3 acres once, then till. I plan to use roundup first. Right now there is green clover - the johnson grass hasn't come up yet, so I guess I won't be able to kill it. Maybe spray roundup this weekend and then again in a couple weeks? I plan to plant the bermuda in late April.