Scratch the Ground Implement Recommendations

Bill VA

Well-known Member
As I've mentioned before, we are the Saudia Arabia of rocks, from small potato to basket ball size and larger at times. Plowing isn't an option IMHO. I had pretty good success with hitting a field I reclaimed earlier this year with a combo of roundup, repeated disking, broadcasting seed (for hay) and cultipacking.

IMHO - this is very hard on the disk harrow.

BTW - is it disC or disK harrow.... LOL!

I've considered a 3 pt mounted tiller, only tilling down a few inches - but am wondering if there is a better implement? I can see a tiller holding up for a few acres, but 10 or 20 acres at a time over the years - I have my doubts.

Is there another way, another implement that will rough up the dead sod and give me a shallow planting surface for Timothy, orchard grass or alfalfa?

Thanks!
Bill
 
(quoted from post at 14:03:13 09/11/16) As I've mentioned before, we are the Saudia Arabia of rocks, from small potato to basket ball size and larger at times. Plowing isn't an option IMHO. I had pretty good success with hitting a field I reclaimed earlier this year with a combo of roundup, repeated disking, broadcasting seed (for hay) and cultipacking.

IMHO - this is very hard on the disk harrow.

BTW - is it disC or disK harrow.... LOL!

I've considered a 3 pt mounted tiller, only tilling down a few inches - but am wondering if there is a better implement? I can see a tiller holding up for a few acres, but 10 or 20 acres at a time over the years - I have my doubts.

Is there another way, another implement that will rough up the dead sod and give me a shallow planting surface for Timothy, orchard grass or alfalfa?

Thanks!
Bill

Why not use a 9 shank spring loaded field cultivator. That's what Ford called it anyway but you know it has 9 spring loaded shanks and if you hit a rock the shank kicks back and then springs forward once it is past the rock.
 
To plant grass seed a fraction of an inch deep and cover it, I use a chain harrow, before and after. May take 3 or 4 trips to prepare, one trip to cover. I have an 11 foot pull type and a 24' folding lift type. Use the aggressive direction (side) of the harrow. Dead vegetation from Roundup kill will drag, spread, cover and hold moisture in to germinate seeds.
 
'Danish' S tine.They will bounce over and around a rock.An 8 or 10ft wide double bar with two rows of tines will do what you are asking. We have similar 'machines' here. I think they are known as a "Tripple K'
 

Sounds like you want a spring tooth harrow or cultivator of some type. If it's light ground a traditional spring tooth harrow works fine. In heavier ground you need something stouter.
 
I have a JD implement I guess its a ripper of sorts,the shanks are about 1 inch square with them being curl in a circle which gives them a springing action,7 of them mounted on a 3pt tool
bar they'll rip the ground a little or down to about a foot real easy.Couple of times thru with that and it makes disking go a lot better.I use it to put in food/deer plots will also do
a good job of ripping the tree feeder roots.Do not get a tiller and try to tear up a big area before you rip/plow or disk it'll just wear out the tiler real quickly, for me a tiller is to finish a seed bed like a garden.
 
If you are thinking about a power roto-tiller, you don't want to use one of those in rocky conditions. If it doesn't self-destruct, it will break you buying replacement parts.

Implements with a coil in the shank can hook on a rock and break; no way of telling if the broken shank will head towards the operator of take off in some other direction. That can even happen with shanks on heavy duty chisel plows if there is enough HP pulling it. The safest thing would be a chisel plow pulled by a marginal HP tractor that doesn't have enough power to break shanks, but pulled slow will give the shank an opportunity to work around so it can slip by the rock.

Neighbor broke a shank on his chisel plow; the shank went high in the air and came down on the tractor just ahead of the operator. Change of underwear time!
 
if you want to till the ground only a few inches and not tear up your equipment.

about your best bet is an old spring tooth tiller or a disc plow.

they are tough and have a coiled spring shank that can take the shock.
(do not know if you can take it as a tractor driver)
the disc plow will roll over the rocks and keep on going,

but they will workup the soil so you can disc and harrow the ground enough to plant grass, if that is what you are going after.

picture is of an old AC spring tooth tiller, snap couple hitch cut off, 3pt hitch added.
Ferguson disc plow,

they were used back in the day when farmers were breaking up new ground each year and most ground engaging tools would have been torn all to pieces.

most of these tools are in the scrap yard by now.
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These spring tooth harrows, cultivators, plows - are these things designed to go after sod - even after being killed down with round-up?

I always imagined them working previously plowed ground that was planted earlier the year before, i.e. corn stubble.
 
What are you planting? If you are planting grass, or clover or alfalfa in killed sod, rent a TYE Pasture Pleaser.
Then follow with a chain harrow to cover the seed.
 
I rented a drill last year and no tilled in some Timothy. Had OK results, but the machine was well used and in high demand, so in the end, it was a hassle to use it. One thing I didn't like about the drill was the wide spacing of the Timothy seed - side to side rows. Even though I cut the rate to half and drilled a second 90 degree pass, those checkerboard squares left a fair amount of open space for weeds and native grasses to grow-in.

I've got a couple pretty good broadcast spreaders now and like the random pattern of seed spread. I've had good simply roughing up the ground, broadcasting seed and cultipacking down. Best part, I own the spreader and can seed on my own schedule instead of standing in line waiting for a drill rental.
 
Ferguson had that implement designed and marked it under the Ferguson name for 8 years before ford coppied it and Ferguson called it a tiller. And yes that would be your best bet, just have to get rid of surfas trash as they do not handle the trash but if you do not get rid of that trash then you cannot develop a good seed bed for the hay crop.
 
an option if you would like some red clover in your hay fields is to frost seed around Feb. That clover adds needed nitrogen and works well with 2nd cutting Orchard grass. Pick a period when if freezes at night and thaws in the daytime, you know those early mornings where you can see lots of small cracks in the soil surfaces and ground is crunchy to walk on. I've had success up here in MD frost seeding red clover and even Orchard Grass in my hay fields. It augments existing hay fields but not good for establishing a new field. I also spread pelletized lime and potash same time using pto driven buggy spreader I rent from Southern States. I frost seed/fertilize like this each year, works for me. Good luck.
 
For clover, I'll pull my 12ft chain harrow as I'm broadcast seeding, like to do it on frozen ground, scuffs it up just enough.

Fred
 
I use a dearborn field cultivator to scratch up the ground for my deer food plots then broadcast seed. The double springs will kick out and reset when hitting a rock and I've got plenty of those.
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Bill VA, this is what you need you can get it torn up enough with this to follow up with the disk and as youdo so pick up the rocks to get them away from your hay mower and be able to smoth the field enough for a good smooth mower or baler ride. And after you get it torn up like that it will be fine enough to give the hay seed a good contact to ground. Made under Ferguson name as well and most are under that name.
 

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