lastcowboy32
Well-known Member
Good morning, good people.
So, we do mostly hay, and we have a full line of haying equipment. But, since we live on a well traveled road, we tinkered with a roadside stand and sweet corn last summer. It went well, and we want to do it again this year.
We do about five acres.
To do the corn, we have depended on a little agrarian "Triangular Trade" with some neighbors. One neighbor has horses and a field to bale, but no haying equipment. We put in their hay. They let us use their nice, 75HP, new, New Holland tractor and their seven foot tiller.
Another neighbor has a White "Plantair" 5400 corn planter, that he uses for deer food plots. We do some stuff for him, he lets us use his planter.
We do our corn organically, which means no fertilizer, other than manure. We also rotate every year to fresh sod to turn under for the extra boost of "fertilizer". (listen to me say "every year"...like we've been doing it forever...)
Anyway, the tiller takes three passes to break sod to a seedbed. Even after those three passes at 2 or 3 miles per hour (i.e. SUPER tedious), I'm not necessarily in love with the seedbed. The ground around here is clay, and tilling sod with a rototiller invariably ends up with cup-sized chunks of sod...almost no matter how many times you till.
I have seen a small, two bottom plow (no colters) and disc for sale locally.
For tractors, we have a Ford 3000 and a Ford 4000 (we also have a 2N...but I would rather not plow with that).
So... with heavy clay sod (especially sort of wet clay sod this year), is it better to just flip it over with a plow and then disc? As compared to rototilling?
Assuming that it is, that little two bottom plow is going to be very narrow, compared to either of my tractors. Is it going to be a bear to get it setup to track properly? Isn't one tire of the tractor supposed to ride in the previous deadfurrow?
I'll still do my neighbor's hay... but I was thinking that, if plowing was a better way to till soil, I would have a more efficient way of turning sod and then re-seeding last year's corn plot.
Thanks for any insights and opinions from experience.
So, we do mostly hay, and we have a full line of haying equipment. But, since we live on a well traveled road, we tinkered with a roadside stand and sweet corn last summer. It went well, and we want to do it again this year.
We do about five acres.
To do the corn, we have depended on a little agrarian "Triangular Trade" with some neighbors. One neighbor has horses and a field to bale, but no haying equipment. We put in their hay. They let us use their nice, 75HP, new, New Holland tractor and their seven foot tiller.
Another neighbor has a White "Plantair" 5400 corn planter, that he uses for deer food plots. We do some stuff for him, he lets us use his planter.
We do our corn organically, which means no fertilizer, other than manure. We also rotate every year to fresh sod to turn under for the extra boost of "fertilizer". (listen to me say "every year"...like we've been doing it forever...)
Anyway, the tiller takes three passes to break sod to a seedbed. Even after those three passes at 2 or 3 miles per hour (i.e. SUPER tedious), I'm not necessarily in love with the seedbed. The ground around here is clay, and tilling sod with a rototiller invariably ends up with cup-sized chunks of sod...almost no matter how many times you till.
I have seen a small, two bottom plow (no colters) and disc for sale locally.
For tractors, we have a Ford 3000 and a Ford 4000 (we also have a 2N...but I would rather not plow with that).
So... with heavy clay sod (especially sort of wet clay sod this year), is it better to just flip it over with a plow and then disc? As compared to rototilling?
Assuming that it is, that little two bottom plow is going to be very narrow, compared to either of my tractors. Is it going to be a bear to get it setup to track properly? Isn't one tire of the tractor supposed to ride in the previous deadfurrow?
I'll still do my neighbor's hay... but I was thinking that, if plowing was a better way to till soil, I would have a more efficient way of turning sod and then re-seeding last year's corn plot.
Thanks for any insights and opinions from experience.