What to do before tilling?

   / What to do before tilling? #31  
Does anyone "double-disk" before plowing any more? I made the mistake of not chewing up the sod enough before moldboard plowing last year and it made it pretty tough to work out afterward. SO, this is what I would do:

1. Mow it off if the grass is longer than a few inches.
2. Disk it, overlapping by half the disk width on each pass to chew up the sod good, then let the grass kill off a bit if you have the time (we always called that double disking).
3. Subsoil it to open up channels in the hard-pan and allow for better water and root penetration. - if you use a moldboard rather than subsoiler, try to let it sit for a while to let things start to decompose and give the sun a chance to kill off any grass or weed roots.
4. Then till it to mix up the hopefully decomposing debris and leave a nice seedbed.

I tried to skip a few steps due to lack of equipment and paid for it, but since you have the equipment I would go through the full process, especially if you want to work it up and plant it within the same year.
 
   / What to do before tilling? #32  
I believe, using only the tiller, over time the soil line 8" deep becomes pack hard. Plowing before tilling every couple of years would help.
 
   / What to do before tilling? #33  
Not sure if you noticed but this thread is 5 years old.
 
 

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