Plow or disc

North Vale - PA · Jul 26, 2015

I plan to plant a field of alfalfa / grass in late August. In the past I have always mold board plowed the ground. I am tempted (not much) to just disc 2-3 times to loosen the top 1" of soil then plant. I did that 2 years ago when re-seeding grass over thinning alfalfa and it work fairly well. Thoughts?

FBH44 · Jul 26, 2015

I'd think it would work just fine. Could you roll it after seeding it?

Leroy · Jul 26, 2015

What is currently there now? If nothing then no problem, Weeds or some other crop then a disk will probably not get rid of it and it might be something you do not want in the alfalfa for possibly the next 10 years. So what is condition of ground now is big factor. Disk blades just go around weeds instead of tearing them out.

North Vale - PA · Jul 26, 2015

was alfalfa / grass. I sprayed it with 2-4D last August, which wiped out the alfalfa. There are broad leaf weeds, yes. I was planing on taking a 2nd hay cut in about 2 weeks then hitting it with roundup. Obviously, I am leaning toward the plow as I don't want to throw $$$ worth of seed down and mess something up just to save 4 hours of tractor time.

JD Seller · Jul 26, 2015

It sounds like there is currently grass there. I would think that if you just disk the ground your going to have a lot of root balls and have a hard time getting a good seed bed.

2underage · Jul 26, 2015

It will work. Wait until you see a good regrowth before you apply the herbicide and wait until the burn-down is completed before disking. After you have disked it a couple of times spread your seed and then make one last pass with the disc. AS for myself I plow before I reseed because I like a nice smooth field when I am done.

DR. EVIL · Jul 26, 2015

Around our part of the Midwest, western Illinois, alfalfa was universally seeded with an end gate broadcast seeder with oats as a cover crop disked into old corn ground.

The corn was disked leaving a marker row every 7-8-9 rows by skipping one row, seeding the oats & grass seed, then disking the seed in completely. We usually drug the peg tooth harrow over it as the last step to make sure the field was really smooth. This procedure was used for both hay fields and hog pastures.

Since two guys were needed on the seeder wagon, one to drive the tractor and the other to fill the seeder, it was common to have two tractors disking the seed in. It was common to seed 100 acres per day without breaking a sweat. With today's big tractors & disks 300-500 acres would be possible.

RedGreenGuy · Jul 26, 2015

I used cultimulcher with tines set shallow to just stir the soil. Used oats for cover crop with alfalfa. Field looked like I used a drill. And I had a firm smooth hay field.

Plow or disc

North Vale - PA

Member

FBH44

Well-known Member

Leroy

Well-known Member

North Vale - PA

Member

JD Seller

Well-known Member

2underage

Well-known Member

DR. EVIL

Well-known Member

RedGreenGuy

Member

Similar threads