Question about pull behind plows, tillers, disk/harrows, and cultivators

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OK - I'm from the suburbs can just recently moved so, this may sound like a dumb question. I can't seem to figure out the proper application of these tools

It seems to me their applications are easily interchangable (ie: tiller vs. cultivator vs. plow vs. disk/harrow).

When is one more appropriate to use than another?

Thanks,

Rudy

-- Rudy (rbakker@wcrtc.net), March 12, 2002

Answers

Each one moves the ground differently.For example,we have a disc (which is great for sprigging hay in pastures)but I just had to buy a PTO driven tiller for the tractor,to till my 2 acre garden.The disc does not work the ground well enough for my garden.

If I'm thinking of the same implement we use,A cultivator just cuts the ground,which is good if you have a hay pasture.This allows the grass roots to be cut,so they spread out more and make a denser hay field.It does not really disturb the earth,except to add to the aeration.

I don't have a plow,but I think it just breaks up the ground in a big furrow.

-- Johna (marcnjohna@aol.com), March 12, 2002.


Rudy,

Farm implements have generally been designed to perform certain functions. These functions are usually performed in a sequence. For example, plows are used to break ground and turn the soil over. When finished plowing, the dirt looks rough and in slabs. Plows can be set at different depths depending on soil types and conditions. I've seen plows set at depths anywhere from 4"-10" deep.

Disks are used to break up the clods, slabs of soil, and vegetation into smaller pieces and to level the overall surface of the field. Harrows are used to smooth the field and prepare it for planting.

Cultivator usage depends in part on what type cultivator is being used. Some cultivators are used to remove weeds between crop rows and throw dirt up and around the bottoms(stalks)of the plants. Other cultivator designs lightly break open the ground and more or less open the soil. Some cultivator designs are used to loosen the ground and remove weeds before a crop is planted.

Prior to the introduction of chemicals, cultivators were used in fields to keep down the weed population. On our farm in Nebraska we used to make an average of three cultivator passes a year in each field of corn. The first two passes would carefully mound the dirt between the growing corn stalks, help retard weeds, improve water usage and encourage plant growth. I now admit to burying a lot of young corn in my youthful attempts to learn how to cultivate. Looks easy, but takes some initial learning. As a youngster, I heard a lot of loud words about not doing it properly. As the corn got higher, the last pass with the cultivator was termed "laying by" and usually meant it was the final pass through the field until harvest time.

Tillers can usually be thought of as "mixers." A rototiller is designed to mix up the already broken dirt with compost and other natural soil amendments and to create a nice seedbed. In home gardens, where the soil is frequently amended with humus and nice compost, it is often easy to prepare the garden without having to plow every year. But, keep in mind that tillers are not plows -- although I also admit to sometimes forgetting that point.

There have been a lot of changes in farm equipment design in recent years. Many farm implements now combine several functions into a single piece of machinery. Large grain farmers who implement "no till" methods can be seen going through a field at planting time with tractors that prepare the ground, plant the seed, and put down pre- emergent weed control all in a single pass through the field. Later in the year they may make one additional pass through the field to put apply fertilizer and spray for disease and insects. The equipment used for such operations are of much different design than traditional pull-behind equipment.

So, I think the answer to your question, "When is one more appropriate to use than another?" is really answered by what farming function you want to perform and the sequence within the farming season.

Plowing is usually done in the fall or very early spring. Disking can also be done in the fall or early spring, but some farmers don't disk in the fall and prefer to leave the plowed ground open (fallow) through the winter to catch winter moisture and help the vegetation decomposition process. The approach used here is strongly influenced by things like erosion control, water runoff and crop rotation.

Harrowing and tilling are generally done at planting time and when preparing seedbeds. However, tilling is also performed by some folks after harvest in order to mix vegetation into the soil. Where multiple crops are planted in a single year, tilling is used between successive planting to eliminate weeds and prepare the seedbed for the succession crop.

Hope this helps.

-- Ed (ecpubs@lynchburg.net), March 12, 2002.


A plough/plow is perhaps different to other implements in that it turns the soil so that all plant material is buried.

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), March 12, 2002.

Just to clarify a potential point of confusion - there are two different "disc" or disk implements which are commonly used. The one that appears to be spoken of here is a disk cultivator, and breaks down the big clods left by coarsely ploughing the land (yes, I know, but that's English spelling, as opposed to a Murcan spelling). However, there is also a disk plough - big, tough, deeply dished disks mounted at an angle so that they cut into the soil more or less straight ahead with their leading edge, and then twist the cut slabs over with their dished faces and drop them, turned over and coarsely broken. Do more or less the same job as a mould-board plough.

-- Don Armstrong (from Australia) (darmst@yahoo.com.au), March 12, 2002.

Yes, different area call the same machine different things... I'll mention the older way (with newer ways in parenth).

Generally here in the midwest you would plow the ground with a regular molboard plow in the fall. (Now a lot of different rippers or chisel plows are popular, less erosion. A 'disk-plow' is not at all common where I live, but does about the same and handles tree roots better, but does not handle our prairie soils very well.)

In spring you would maybe harrow (aka drag - this is _not_ a disk harrow) the ground if it is still very rough, then disk it. (Some of you call a disk a 'harrow-disk' or some such - rows of blades in 2 or 4 gangs that chop up the ground & throw it a few inches. Most bigger farms have retired the disk and now use a field cultivator, which has shovels every 6" or so apart & rips up the ground lightly. It does not pack the ground hard like a disk, but early models of field cultivators were miserable because they packed up with old straw & cornstalks...)

Then harrow (drag) the ground again right before planting to level it and kill the tiny weeds. (Often there are spring-tooth levelers on the back of a field cultivator to do this step at the same time as field cultivating.)

Depending on the crop (regular farm grains) you can harrow (drag) the field just as the crop is emerging from the ground to kill the weeds, but not hurt the crop much. (Herbicides make this step less popular, as it does slow down the crop just a bit, and takes time, and can actually interfere with the action of the herbicide...)

That's about it. Now, in other parts of the country, I'm sure there are different patterns.

--->Paul

-- paul (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), March 12, 2002.



My Dad farmed light alluvial land in a low rainfall area. He practiced crop rotation, lucerne (alfalfa) for hay, turnips,swedes etc, kale/rape and occasionally oats or barley. Wool and mutton being the main products

Only a few paddocks/fields were ploughed each year. The ploughing was done with a mould board plough and left until much of the turned under vegetable matter was broken down. Then disk harrows were used to break up the soil, these disks were of the multi gang type with some disks 'scalloped' and others plain. Depending on how the gangs were angled the soil was either just lightly cut or quite thoroughly broken up to make a seed bed.

The light drag harrows were only used behind the seed drill and occasionally as a pasture treatment and to spread the cow dung about, all dairy cows on the farm being outdoors types.

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), March 13, 2002.


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