Meadeaw plowing advice, gettin at it.

I brush cut it down 2 falls ago, but the willow and bog birch are about waist high again, not not too heavy, and its heavy with slough hay grass, etc.

I have a 2 bottom IH Little Genius trailer plow that I used and can make work well for me. I did 3 acres of clay sod a few years ago.

I would prefer to get at the field and plow it but I wonder about the brush. Will I need to brush cut it first or will it turn that brush over. I am going to be going about 8" to get the stump holes leveled. Does a plow like mine put that brush under or will it be a problem? I will lose my weather window cutting the brush, its a first gear, full power project, losts of fuel, and lots of time which I dont really have to do both. But I want to do it right, so looking for advice on brushing/plowing or just plowing. (Then I am going to disk it smooth, let it sit till spring, redisk and harrow in reeds canary grass seed)

Stu

I plowed some peat swamp a couple years ago without any brush but some 5 foot canary grass. The dry peat will not want to turn but slide.

By the way I was using a IH 720 plow 5 x 18 and when it went good it was good. But when it decided to plug, it was not fun.

Whatever, do not try and burn. Peat fires are bad.

You are in for a rough day. This will not go easy no matter how you do it.

I would be _very_ scared to cut it, the stuff will not go through the plow, it will bunch up & plug. Peat ground only makes this much worse than regular ground. You would need to pulverize the shrubs/ grass into less than foot long pieces. Much less, probably.

I would try plowing it standing as is first. If that doesn't work, you can try chopping it fine later. However, peat ground does not hold root balls very well, so even the standing stuff will want to bunch up, pull out of the ground, and plug the plow. I think this will go _Better_, but it will not go well.

Then, how will you work up the ground after you plow it? A disk will work ok. But you can't go in with a field cultivator or harrow or anything with teeth for several years - will pull all those shrubs right up to the top & make a horrid mess. Not sure the plow will bury them 'good enough' to begin with.

Best option, if allowed, would be to burn the top off. Get all that stuff out of your way.

--->Paul