Ever plow sod without coulters?

C.Amick

Member
I recently bought a set of 2-bottom, 3-point hitch plows without coulters. They don't look like they ever had coulters mounted on them. Did some plows come this way? How will they plow sod ground?
 
I've always used coulters on my plow, but I had a neighbor that in the spring he never used them when he plowed last years bean ground. He always said using them on a clean field was a waste of money. He would turn them upside down on top of his plow so they were sticking straight up in the air. And he would disk his ground real lightly just before he would plow. He done this when he planted oats for seeding for hay so he would have a nice level field and he always had a nice catch of alfalfa. I always thought he was a good farmer.
 
Without coulters to cut the sod it will have to be torn apart which leaves the field rougher but if you have enough horsepower to pull the plow through it the plow will turn the sod over. I find it best to kill the grass first with glyphosphate and leave it long enough for the roots to soften up before plowing.

Once the sod is killed (mostly) I plow without coulters as they will cause straw to plug the plow as it piles up between the coulter and the front of the plow beam.
 

Like someone said, if you have enough HP they will likely work after a fashion, but it isn't going to be a pretty or clean job. In some ground I think you'd be hard pressed to do more that rip up the ground and some of your furrow walls might jut flop back into the furrow. I would also imagine you're going to have trash packing between the plow and frame sometimes.
 
Never plowed anything without coulters. In some conditions like the bare bean groung one of the posters mentioned you could get by but you are dammaging the plow by causing excess wera on the front edge of the moldboard or replaceable shin due to it having to do the work of the coulter in breaking the soil at edge of what you are trying to turn over and in doing that plow is pulling harder and then you are burning more fuel. And a proper coulter and set properly will hardly ever plug. A 12" plow bottom will plug quicker than a 16" bottom just due to opening for trash clearance. but a properly set coulter will never cause a plow to plug. Trying to plow too deep will want to make a plow plug. Should never buy a plow without good coulters as putting them on will cost way more than the plow did and you can by good plows with coulters cheap. Last saturday consignment a good condition Dearborn 2-16" plow with coulters and blade type shares sold for $25.
 
Set your colters deeper to cut the trash rather than just pushing it down and bending the stalks and then they wont plug. Also most plows have multiple holes to space the colters farther from the bottoms. Put the brackets as far forward as possible.-------Loren
 
I don't know why anyone would plow any type of ground without colters. See Leroy's reply for reasons colters should be used.-----------------Loren
 
Most of the plows around where I am never had coulters installed when they left the dealership. Of the 6 John Deere 822 plows I have bought 1.5 had coulters, the numbers are worse for the 825 and F835 plows that I have bought. I did get one pair of shanks off of a F835. I have been trying to put coulters on the rear bottoms of my plows. I am looking for an arm John Deere part number A15524 used with the anti friction bearing coulters with 20" blades and one left hand trashboard bracket for NU bottoms. The plow in the picture is a John Deere 4200 with 18" NU bottoms.
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Where I started farming almost everyone only ran one coulter and only on the rear bottom. We had limestone rock ledges and you would break way to many coulter posts. Even the newer plows with spring loaded coulters were not much better at breakage. Give it a try without or start looking at farm implement salvage yards for used ones. Tom
 
I never seen a plow without coulters until I've seen pictures on here, although I haven't been around a farm much in 45 years. We had three plows when I was a kid with coulters and I think the three bottom had cover boards or whatever there called.
 
(quoted from post at 17:26:11 11/13/19) I never seen a plow without coulters until I've seen pictures on here, although I haven't been around a farm much in 45 years. We had three plows when I was a kid with coulters and I think the three bottom had cover boards or whatever there called.

Same here, never saw a plow without coulters, or at least the mounts for a coulter. I have seen a LOT of plows with missing coulters, but never one that didn't have a set up intended to take a coulter and maybe a jointer too. Must be the ground where they are popular is a lot different than here.
 
Actually smoe makes thet were an option you had to buy seperate. And the new short line plows for some they don't even list a coulter as avaible. Or even replacement shares. Stupid.
 
Here in western Colorado(and in other areas) we don't use couters. The two way plows that we use here are heavy,coulters add even more weight. Rocky fields and coulters don't mix. They break.Thats why we have trip plows.Sometimes a plow will have coulters on the rear bottom,but not often.However,we disk our fields once or twice before plowing to level watermarks and chop stalks.I even remove the trash boards in rocks,or old sod to prevent them from breaking.Every area has different practices. Several years ago I hauled some coulters to the sale. Didn't even get a bid. Finally hauled tem to scrap. Nobody here uses wants them or uses them.
 
One year back when I was a teen my mother bought a 4 bottom plow at an auction since dad wanted one for behind our JD 730. By the time I got there to drag it home someone had stolen all the coulters....we plowed with it anyway, didn't seem to matter.
I have a JD plow I use and it is missing the front 2 coulters but still plows nice, Actuall the sod looks better than when I plow with my IH fasthitch plow that has all its coulters.
https://youtu.be/u69DUCZ_ZrQ
 
Yes a lot . Never seen a plow with coulters within 500 square miles of here I guess they?d be nice but I think around here the rocks and sagebrush would break them off
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