What kind of plow should I get?

[Raindem]

Hello. My wife wants me to turn up about 1/4 acre for a garden. Our ground is hard & rocky and it's never been turned before so a tiller is probably not a good choice.

I have a JD 2305 so I was wondering what kind of plow would work for this project?

Thanks

Curt

 

[bp fick]

Started out, again, in a similar way, a few years, back when we got our property. With small subcuts, the turning plows available mostly were designed for much larger tractors.

I just went ahead and bought a middle buster or potato plow.

A. It was available everywhere, Atwood's, FleetFarm, TSC, etc.
B. It was cheap. For $120 with coupon? Couldn't be beat
C. I love it doing other things, like digging the potatoes, or laying in a ditch.

It will not flip the soil as neatly as a turning, share plow, BUT, for all the reasons above? Priceless.

Use the search feature above. Put middle buster and garden in your keywords. You'll read great threads about guys who have put in spectacular gardens using the middle buster, followed by disc, or tiller, or harrows. I highly recommend them.

 

[nybirdman]

Another vote for the middle buster,can't beat the price.Works excellent on new ground.They don't plug up with brush roots either.Till or disc afterword.
I use mine every year to plant and then dig potatoes.

 

[flusher]

Hello. My wife wants me to turn up about 1/4 acre for a garden. Our ground is hard & rocky and it's never been turned before so a tiller is probably not a good choice.

I have a JD 2305 so I was wondering what kind of plow would work for this project?

Thanks

Curt

Get a $150 middlebuster from Tractor Supply.I used one of these to plow the landscaped area around my house using my Kubota B7510HST (21 hp engine, 17 hp pto, 4WD, hydrostatic tranny). Worked fine. Then I used a 4-ft Yanmar RS1200 rototiller ($300 used from my local grey market tractor dealer) on the back of the 7510 to do the finish work before planting.

 

[KML]

Same here - I used to have a 2210 (almost identical to the 2305) an used a brinly 10" plow for a while but ended up using the middle buster for the garden instead. The others plows out there are too big (tall) for these tractors. Believe me, I tried

A middle buster, as has been mentioned, has MANY other uses. Well worth the money!

 

[bigtiller]

I used a 12 inch Brinly Plow for a few years. It worked great. Your JD dealer sells re-branded Brinly plows painted green but they run about $500. Watch Craigs List for a used Brinly selling for around $200 or less. I have seen them for as little as $75.

 

[Raindem]

Hey thanks the info. I'll be looking for one of those middle busters.

 

[OldMcDonald]

40 years ago I would never have dreamed of turning over ground without using a mouldboard plough, but I have not woned one since 1979 and in the 1980s cultivated up to 2000 acres.

To quote myself:-
For primary cultivations I use an implement that goes by various names around the world, such as scarifier, ripper, chisel plough, and it is a fairly robust implement with legs that are held in position by strong springs so that if a solid underground object such as a very large rock or old tree root is struck, the leg deflects, passes over the top of the object and returns to its working position, although it is surprising how big an object they will move. These implements have light and heavy-duty cousins for lightly cultivating or deep ripping respectively, but the type I use in routine cultivations is capable of primary cultivations or further cultivations for seeding. On many properties this one middleweight is enough, but I have sometimes had all three, and I have a home-made deep ripper too.

With the middleweight I use 2 inch wide points on the tines for general work, but if I want to do a quick shallow run through an area to kill weed growth I use wide ones (sufficient that they cover the full width of the implement) that cut through weed roots a little below the surface and lift the soil slightly at the same time so that the weed roots and soil that they are in dry out very quickly, killing the weeds. Points bolt on for easy changing. In primary cultivations I am looking more to open up the soil, and with tine spacing at about 10 inches there is also some soil inversion and burying of surface trash, crop residue or manure. Not a complete inversion as with mouldboard or disc ploughs, but usually sufficient that vegetation is killed and some of it or some of the manures incorporated pretty well to the full working depth of the implement. This means some manure is left on the surface too, and I am quite happy with that. The implement also leaves a loose soil to the full depth of the incorporation so that air penetrates to this depth. For deeper ripping with the same implement it is a matter of removing some of the legs to give less resistance, and perhaps adding some weight to the frame, but for extra depth the heavy weight ripper is best, or a subsoiler. Subsoilers will not normally incorporate organic material to their full working depth. In fact they act differently due to a different tine profile and little or no inversion or incorporation is normal.
.......................

Sorry, I do not know the US name for these implements.

 

[brin]

40 years ago I would never have dreamed of turning over ground without using a mouldboard plough, but I have not woned one since 1979 and in the 1980s cultivated up to 2000 acres.

To quote myself:-
For primary cultivations I use an implement that goes by various names around the world, such as scarifier, ripper, chisel plough, and it is a fairly robust implement with legs that are held in position by strong springs so that if a solid underground object such as a very large rock or old tree root is struck, the leg deflects, passes over the top of the object and returns to its working position, although it is surprising how big an object they will move. These implements have light and heavy-duty cousins for lightly cultivating or deep ripping respectively, but the type I use in routine cultivations is capable of primary cultivations or further cultivations for seeding. On many properties this one middleweight is enough, but I have sometimes had all three, and I have a home-made deep ripper too.

With the middleweight I use 2 inch wide points on the tines for general work, but if I want to do a quick shallow run through an area to kill weed growth I use wide ones (sufficient that they cover the full width of the implement) that cut through weed roots a little below the surface and lift the soil slightly at the same time so that the weed roots and soil that they are in dry out very quickly, killing the weeds. Points bolt on for easy changing. In primary cultivations I am looking more to open up the soil, and with tine spacing at about 10 inches there is also some soil inversion and burying of surface trash, crop residue or manure. Not a complete inversion as with mouldboard or disc ploughs, but usually sufficient that vegetation is killed and some of it or some of the manures incorporated pretty well to the full working depth of the implement. This means some manure is left on the surface too, and I am quite happy with that. The implement also leaves a loose soil to the full depth of the incorporation so that air penetrates to this depth. For deeper ripping with the same implement it is a matter of removing some of the legs to give less resistance, and perhaps adding some weight to the frame, but for extra depth the heavy weight ripper is best, or a subsoiler. Subsoilers will not normally incorporate organic material to their full working depth. In fact they act differently due to a different tine profile and little or no inversion or incorporation is normal.
.......................

Sorry, I do not know the US name for these implements.

I think you may be describing what I used to use...It was a 9 shank spring toothed cultivator...I used it behind my JD 3020 and it would bury the shanks ..about 10 inches and really tear up the soil...If so...you are right , they will tear it up but you have to have the horse power.

 

[bp fick]

40 years ago I would never have dreamed of turning over ground without using a mouldboard plough, but I have not woned one since 1979 and in the 1980s cultivated up to 2000 acres.

To quote myself:-
For primary cultivations I use an implement that goes by various names around the world, such as scarifier, ripper, chisel plough, and it is a fairly robust implement with legs that are held in position by strong springs so that if a solid underground object such as a very large rock or old tree root is struck, the leg deflects, passes over the top of the object and returns to its working position, although it is surprising how big an object they will move. These implements have light and heavy-duty cousins for lightly cultivating or deep ripping respectively, but the type I use in routine cultivations is capable of primary cultivations or further cultivations for seeding. On many properties this one middleweight is enough, but I have sometimes had all three, and I have a home-made deep ripper too.

With the middleweight I use 2 inch wide points on the tines for general work, but if I want to do a quick shallow run through an area to kill weed growth I use wide ones (sufficient that they cover the full width of the implement) that cut through weed roots a little below the surface and lift the soil slightly at the same time so that the weed roots and soil that they are in dry out very quickly, killing the weeds. Points bolt on for easy changing. In primary cultivations I am looking more to open up the soil, and with tine spacing at about 10 inches there is also some soil inversion and burying of surface trash, crop residue or manure. Not a complete inversion as with mouldboard or disc ploughs, but usually sufficient that vegetation is killed and some of it or some of the manures incorporated pretty well to the full working depth of the implement. This means some manure is left on the surface too, and I am quite happy with that. The implement also leaves a loose soil to the full depth of the incorporation so that air penetrates to this depth. For deeper ripping with the same implement it is a matter of removing some of the legs to give less resistance, and perhaps adding some weight to the frame, but for extra depth the heavy weight ripper is best, or a subsoiler. Subsoilers will not normally incorporate organic material to their full working depth. In fact they act differently due to a different tine profile and little or no inversion or incorporation is normal.
.......................

Sorry, I do not know the US name for these implements.

You did fine. With these middle busters, the potato plow face un-bolts and many of them come with a deep ripper blade attached. Sub-soiler, ripper, all kinds of slight variations, but the concept is pretty much the same.