To rip or chisel plow a field??

I have a 3 shank Paulk ripper with shanks probably 2 feet apart? Looking at disc chisels. Which one will do me better?

Depends on what you want to do.

You use a ripper every three or four years for breaking hard pan. You chisel yearly.

Agree

I am on hard clay when dry, mush when wet. I used to use a chisel but the last few years I have used a "Hay King" pasture renovator for my pastures primarily consisting of Coastal Bermuda. The Coulters on the renovator slice the off shoots of the bermuda and in doing so a new plant is formed making the field a lot more productive.

I make 2 offset passes with the renovator and come back with a spike toothed harrier, the newer kind with the bent up steel rod that you can use the spikes forward or reverse or flip it over and it is a lot smoother. I use the smoother part. With this combination minimum surface disturbance is encountered and the grass just loves it.

On cultivated land I use the same implement and come back with an offset disc to roll the tops in and then when that all dries out come back with the spike harrow. Between times I run 10" sweeps to keep the weed population under control.

We don't use moldboards around here as the clay just sticks to them and gums things up unless the clay is dry and then it just rolls in chunks, a big mess especially for the next pass in attempting to smooth things out with a tandem disc.

If my soil were different I'd do things differently but this has evolved over the years and works best for me.

I am primarily no till on the crop side of things. I just wanted to know if a chisel plow would be good for getting ground into shape, especially some first year ground, and what other uses it had compared to a ripper. I know my riper is used for deep tillage to break the hard pan but didnt know if i could achieve something similar with a disc chisel and cover more ground faster

Your ripper is to work 10" deeper than that disc-chisel.

How big of a tractor? What type of soil? What are you wanting to get done?

Around here a three shank ripper in the hard clay ground in a dry year you can bring a 150 HP tractor to its knees with a three shank ripper in a good depth.

JD I have couple 4430's, I am in silt loam type soils and looking for a way to work some problem spots that are compacted, headlands, work on some places in the field for drainage.

That ripper will be good on your headlands if they are low and not draining. It will bust up the cap that is down there blocking the percolation of water. You are really going to need some donkeys if there is much compaction. Better hook those 4430's together. Lol. Around here the 8430 would really be overkill but I am not sure my 4440 or 7800 could do it. Maybe the 7800 as it is dualed and has front assist. We have some pretty tight soil here, though.

I would go with the subsoiler then. You will make those JD 4430 work if the ground is real tight/packed.

On those low spots that are not draining well. Go to where you want the water to go to. Drop in and rip back to where the water is not draining. Your kind of making an under ground ditch. I have spots on the side hills around here that don't drain well. I rip up the hill through the hard spot. Then a rip across the spot like I would plant it.