3-Point Hitch What implements would you suggest? MF 253

[Duwop]

Duwop,
You don't say how big your "garden" is, but I generally agree with boggen on this one. If it's a typical home garden or even up to 1+ acre you're making a BIG mistake to get rid of the Cub that you already have with the cultivators.

You've got the MF set up wide so you would need a "tiller" at least as wide as the tires to prep a garden. Let's say the MF is set up at 68" centers for example; if the rear tires on the 253 are let's say 15" wide (a guess), you'd need a 7 foot tiller to cover the tire tracks. The 253 might not even want to pull a 7 ft tiller, especially if it's not geared slow enough. How wide are the tires spaced now?

Ideally you should keep both tractors if you want to both brush hog and do a garden. To use only the 253 for a garden I would say you'd want to look for a 3-bottom moldboard plow (a 2-bottom won't work right with tires set wide), and a 3-pt disk harrow that's wider than the wheels. Then you'd need a 3-pt cultivator which is nowhere near as nice as what you have on the Cub but will do the job. You could plant one row of large vegetables (tomato, squash, etc) or 2 rows of smaller veggies per bed.

How are you prepping the garden now? You say you have a plow on the Cub, which is good for turning under the organic materials you're adding.

As far as the plow not going in the ground this time of the year, but it worked OK in the Spring and you have it set up exactly the same, it can only be one of two things (or both): 1. The soil is very dry or 2. the plow share(s) are dull/worn out.

I can't emphasize enough if you're serious about a garden, DON'T GET RID OF THE CUB. If you're able to keep both, take your time and look around for a used plow that is suitable to use on the 253 and practice with it. If the garden plot is small you could plow it "one-way" and not end up with dead furrows. Then you could look for a disk and these two would take all the primary tillage load off of the Cub. At that point you could look for a cultivator and make the decision if you want to sell the Cub. If you sell it now you will be making a mistake as far as the gardening goes.

I will try to address all of your questions but I'm leaning to calling the guy back and telling him I've changed my mind. First, size this year 30x60 previous years it's been as big as 1/2 acre. I'm now disabled and want to continue to grow my own food. Either it gets easier with different equipment or smaller in size. So this year I scaled back on size but I purchased the 253 recently and was trying to see if with different implements for it I could still have a good size garden. Putting on cultivators can be a real challenge for me now.

My thought of a tiller for the 253 is that instead of row gardening maybe I'd do bed gardening. I have plenty of land to do mutable bed patches.

Prepping now consists of mold board plow to turn ground in fall, disc in spring. Sometimes I till with a pull behind agrifab pull tiller it has it's own motor for turning tines. It can be pulled behind my 23 hp craftsman garden tractor/ lawn mower.

My research indicates that the plow share needs to be sharpened and we need some rains and the plow will suck in just as it should. Serious about a garden, I will grow something until I can no longer get out of the house, but my disability is slowing me down a lot faster than I want. I grew up in the country, born in NW Indiana in corn country we raised a garden all of my young life. My adult life took me to larger cities where work was plentiful and my neighbors could hear and smell my gas. I was fortunate enough to return to country life with my second young family and have been loving every minute of my life. My family has grown and moved on my disability has been kicking my but the last 3 years. Thanks to all who are helping me with this decision.

 

[HEC]

I have a little bit bigger garden than you and same size tractor as your 253 with a 57 hp kubota . I use a spring tooth harrow and disc harrow on prepared soil in the spring . I have a 3 bottom plow for new ground which I use very little . I also now have a 26 hp kubota for cultivating . The larger tractor will compact the ground quite alot. Like some of the others I would suggest keeping your cub , you may find a use for both as I do , if not you can always sell it at a later date . You may also find you can keep a certain implement on one tractor so you don't have to keep changing implements as often which would be a great help for you .

Good Luck,

 

[Duwop]

I've been researching cultivator/ tillers at Everything Attachments. I like the idea of working the ground with the non-PTO tillers. I would like to hear from people who may use these, when using these to rip soil and grass/weeds. What happens to the grasses or weeds unlike tilling where they are buried into the soil. It seems today most people go the PTO tiller route. Gardening in the old days before PTO tillers they had used cultivator/ tillers to break ground and then one or two row cultivator to work rows until plants got high enough to shade. Please share your thoughts I'm just trying to learn.

 

[boggen]

if area was recently a yard / lawn, i drop bottom plow to cut and roll the grass and roots over,
then grab a hold of the disc, to cut everything up.
then... run a drag harrow
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/141574-drag-harrow-conversion-3-pt.html (i only have a single section vs what they are showing 2 sections)

i like being able to adjust the teeth/tines on it at different angles. i have taken some sheets of plywood and laid over top and then tossed some concrete blocks on top of that. for additional weight. the extra weight lets it sink in a little further (more so in dry drought years) and i can use it like a "hand held metal garden rake" to basically rake all the grass and roots up and out. creating a big old pile of crud that ends up getting caught up on the tines/teeth. crud being some dirt, dust, grass, roots. for the most part no major problem of grass growing back, granted there are still some roots here and there that end up surviving, but overall clears it up so not constantly dealing with the grass for the rest of the year as the garden grows.

drag harrow, is one of many implements out there that can act like a hand held metal garden rake if prepping a fresh spot in the yard/lawn.

chain link fence, style drag chain harrows, to yorke rakes, to culivatiers/rippers, even a box blade to some extent.

if ya going to grow potatoes, till things up (with what ever stuff ya have), and then a hiller, is basically just 2 discs on on each side, that ya drag through the tilled dirt, to form a hill.

if ya got a box blade, cultivator, other words something you can just drop one or two shanks/teeth/rippers down at a time. you can make a V into the ground if you want to hand plant, say onions, corn, peas, etc..., and then adjust the 2 disc on a hiller closer in and run back over each row, to bring dirt back on top of the seeds. other words a make shift planter, but without the automatic dropping of the seeds of a planter. it means extra pass in the garden, but less hand held metal garden rake or use of a hand held hoe to pull dirt back on to the seeds.

a cultivator were you can space the rippers at different widths apart from each other and remove or add them. can make it easier to deal with weeds between just planting to till plants get larger to point they don't fit under the tractor any more.

alot of above means getting wrenches out and jacking around getting things lined up. on small gardens it may not be worth it. on larger gardens it may be worth it. tons of ways to go about things, work with what ya got !

 

[Piston]

No way on god's green earth would I ever sell that cub if I were in your situation.

By the way, cool stories about the history. Don't let that cub leave its birthplace!

And...please post a picture

 

[downslope]

Duwop, I admire your gardening perseverance in face of the physical limitations you're encountering.

You already said it's getting difficult to install/remove cultivators on the Cub. If you could get the MF set up to do the tillage maybe you could leave the cultivators on the CUB year-round. If you can get the wheels on the MF in to about 60" centers or less you could use a 2-bottom 3-pt plow and a small 3-pt disk for basic tillage. You don't say how wide that pull behind self-powered tiller is but if its not too wide you could use it to "cultivate" between large plants like tomatoes if you space the rows right, especially when the plants are small. For small seeded crops like greens, lettuce, turnips, etc I've seen Planet JR knives adapted to a Cub for close cultivating when the plants are tiny.

Tell us what tasks you're having difficulty with and maybe some of the posters here can give a few suggestions on how to make things easier for you, especially if you have both tractors to use.

 

[Duwop]

Plow rides on top because it is wore out needs new share to cut and possibly point share too. Now if I can find a source for plowshare parts.
I think I will keep the cub. I'm familiar with how to garden with it. If I sold it I wouldn't get enough to buy what I would need to set up the MF253 for gardening. I'm not guaranteed to be able to garden tomorrow, so I'm not going to invest anymore than I have already. Got to go before I begin to rant about the ills of being disabled.

I know some asked for pics and I will get one of Cub and pull behind tiller tomorrow.

Add one more row for me. Spirit

 

[Piston]

I think I will keep the cub.

:drink:

 

[motownbrowne]

Good lord, I wouldn't dream of selling the cub. If you have a system that works in your garden keep it. No need to reinvent the wheel. If you sold the cub and bought a tiller you'd only be ahead a couple grand at most. Is it worth that to totally change the way you've been doing something? Plus, you know the history of the cub and how it relates to your property. It's a piece of history. Keep them both!

 

[cartod]

So glad you aren't selling the cub.