Re: Land Plows

Posted by paul on August 05, 2005 at 23:20:41 from (209.23.145.47):

In Reply to: Land Plows posted by LumbrJakMan on August 05, 2005 at 12:19:21:

A plow plows well when it is bright & shiny &
very smooth. Any rust or paint & the dirt will
stick to it & you will get red with all the words
you have to say about 'that' plow...... Damp clay
soil is tough with a rusty bottom, and you
shouldn't grind the rust off - you leave grind
marks that are just as bad. Going through
sand or gravel helps, but on 8 acres you
probably don't have a choice. Anyhow if the
plow doesn't scour (let dirt flow) it might be a
rust issue.....

Best bet is to start with a rectangular field &
drive down one long side, throwing the dirt to
the outer edge of the field. Pick up the plow at
the far end, drive across the short end not
plowing, put the plow down again, & plow
down that long side of the field. Continue in
these 'rounds', plowing up one side, back
down the other side. This will leave you
headlands, or an unplowed strip on each end
of the field, plow those last - kinda tougher
going but you will get it.

You will also have a furrow, or dip, down the
middle of your field where the 2 plow furrows
met. Try to keep that shallow. Next year you
can start in the middle of the field plowing, and
throw the dirt into the middle of the field,
ending up done when you get to the 2 sides.
That will kinda level out the dip & the bumps
you create with the first year of plowing. Always
alternate from year to year.

To set the plow, the first round you make with
the plow level. The first round is always
difficult, it gets easier.... If the plowing is poor,
sometimes that's just how the first round
goes. Once you have a furrow to follow it gets
easier.

You need to move the plow frame - or your
tractor wheels - to make it line up so with your
tractor wheels in the furrow, the first bottom is
cutting a full width, but not more or less than
that.

Also you need to move the right side of the
plow up about 6 inches (or however deep your
furrow is) so with the tractor at an angle, the
plow is still level.

You need to adjust the top link so the front &
rear bottoms both plow the same depth. A little
adjustment can make a big difference. Also
any of the three adjustments I mentioned can
affect the others.... This all sounds more
difficult that it actually is, but a plowing demo
or help from a neighboring old-timer would
make this real easy for you to see.

Wet ground will stick to your plow.

Dry ground will want to break into basketball
size chunks, and the plow will not want to go
into the ground at all.

Ditto for compacted ground - chunks, hard
pulling, plow won't go down into the ground.

Heavy long stemmed trash will want to plug
up the plow.

Don't know I would bother mowing ahead of
the plow, see if the plow handles it as is. If
you have a lot of peranual weeds - like
Canadian thistle or the like - you might want to
spray glysophate (Roundup, etc.) _at least_ 7
days before you plow & that will soak into the
roots of these difficult weeds & make them far
less of a problem.

If you wish to get a hay crop, the mowing &
seeding in very early spring (frost seeding)
with no real tillage is an easier way to go if the
ground is quite level - no gopher mounds etc.

--->Paul

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