Opiniions please! Soil finishing....

Dave H (MI)

Well-known Member
When pulling a cultipacker or similar finishing tool behind a disk, how important is it that the two tools match in width? I have not done a lot of tillage until recently. This Spring I just used the disk to plant corn but I have a couple of packers available to me right now and I could use one to break up some of the clods and finish the seed bed. The disk is 25' and several options on the packers include 20' and 25'. The one that is the same as my disk is a lot of money and, of course, the smaller one is much more affordable. Opinions appreciated!
 
I left a bit of info off of that post. The tractor is an IH 1586...160 hp, 2wd, duals, inner tires loaded. It had no trouble with the disk even when I went thru the wetter areas of the field this past Spring. I was hoping to do the final tillage in one pass. Won't be quite half the fuel but will be a savings. Plus my time and there was precious little of it this past season what with the rains. Anyhow, that is my tractor stats. If I am going to go to two passes I have larger implements available...up to about a 30' but that is one of those rolling basket arrangements.
 
A packer will add a LOT to that disc as far as pulling goes, going to be a FULL load with it. The 20' will have to be pulled separate. Packers also don't work in the mud, so if that's whatbyou frequently have then a spring tooth leveler would be better for you.
 
Not so much mud. It is good soil. The packers I am looking at are the crow-foot style and not the traditional. Soil can be moist in some areas but we don't have much mud and I don't care to venture into it with a two wheel drive tractor. Even with the duals. But if you think I need to go around twice...I'll go for the best price and save myself some money on the front end.
 
What type of soil? The guys on sand are using different tools than the guys on clay. The rule of thumb on clay around the Shiawassee county area is if the dirt sticks to the tires on the tool it is to wet for a packer. If your working ground this fall don't worry about clods they will freeze out. I would fit the packer and disk or field cultivator to the tractor. You should be able to pull a 25ft disk and packer with w 1586. I worked for a guy pulling 27 ft with a 4366 about the same horse.
 
No need to go twice, just that the narrow one won't cover your disc so you will need to do it separate.
 
Growing up in sandy kansas we pulled a packer behind the disk without question. It wasn't the cultipacker of today but had cast packer wheels that were about six inches apart and then had an offset back gang - basically it looked like a disk. We wouldn't have dreamed of entering the field without those two tied together.

Now that I farm on my own in NEKS I wouldn't dream of using a packer of any kind. With our hard black ground we worry about the front tires on the tractor doing too much compaction. Do you have a lot of clods? If that were the case I would be pulling a field cultivator through. That's what I do now. Disk and then field cultivate. If the soil is a little moist it leaves it perfect.

If the tractor can pull it buy one the width of the disk. I wouldn't make another run through just to pack it. From what you say it would load up the tractor but it would work just fine.
 
Ideally cultipacker should be a foot or two wider. 20 behind 25 would not work well. A separate pass might work. Even with two passes I think you could work down 5-6 acres an hour. If you need more than that I'd spring for the 25'. 25' disc and cultipacker is going to to take a pretty big tractor, you may be on the smaller side. Did you get your corn combined?
Josh
 
What are you going to plant in the field next spring? Crowfoot rollers are for lighter soils in the spring not in the fall Are you just disking the cornstalks? Around here they like to have you leave 30% of your stalks on top or like most of them here do just run the no-till planter in the corn stalks maybe just rip up the ends.
 
No, not yet. The combine is ready but I am working on the corn head. I had a devil of a time finding one that didn't cost almost as much as the combine. Ended up with an old IH 863. Paid too much for it but it will get me thru a couple years. Today I was REAL lucky and had 70 degrees so I put a Polytech kit in the auger trough. Just need to replace about 7 chains and most all of the snap roller knives and she will be ready to roll. Gear boxes are solid enough. I am timing my picking based on some of the other fields in the area. The fella who rented from me the past couple years took his soy off my fields yesterday and he was picking his corn across the road today. He planted a full 10 days before I did. So I figure in the next two weeks I will give it a shot. Hope it goes well because I gave the tenant plenty of notice so he could line up some replacement dirt. It's all mine now!
 
I'm putting in more corn next year. The small field I planted in corn this year I will try in something else...not soy though. The packers I am looking at are for my Spring tillage. Probably won't till this fall as the property rolls and I don't have time to plant anything to hold the soil. Come next year I have a couple options on tillage. I have a big IH 720 high clearance plow that seems to turn under everything. It just is not a good option in wet years. This year I used a disk chisel. It was the only thing I could get thru the heavy ground. Once I broke the surface it dried out in a couple days and I was able to disk then put in the corn. Worked very well but I hope I don't have to be so creative every year!
 
I've got about 18" of good topsoil sitting on a heavy clay base. When I say heavy I mean it. Couple years ago when it was so dry I had to hire a fella to do post holes for me. I could not get my digger thru it. Some places in the back are sandy near the surface and I have a couple low areas that hold water just below the surface. The tenant was using rolling baskets and did a real nice job getting the ground ready, even with the wet Spring we had. It is not a big deal with corn. I have an 8 row IH Cyclo 800 that would put seed thru asphalt. It didn't mind my cloddy soil this Spring. I want to do a better job next year though.
 

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