Tillers

slugger

5 year old buck +
Does anyone have experience with rear 3 point mounted tillers for working up food plots? Is there a type or brand better than others?
 
We have a 6ft reverse till land pride. Extremely happy we have it. We have moderately heavy clay and lots of rocks. Have broke some tines. For what we have put it thru, this is a minor negative. I don't know if we are doing something wrong, but it does not till well with anything more than a moderate amount of mulch. This was our 4th season using it. We have no experience with any other brand.7-20-14 Hill Brassica (68).JPG
 
I don't own one but am in the market. I have also heard good things about Land Pride. I know foggy runs a King Kutter and I beleive he has had good results with it.
 
I have a tiller and I hardly ever use it. If I knew what I know now about how easy food plotting can be I would have never bought it. They also clog up in thick tall organic material like rye.
 
Beware of fire. I am still scratching my head on this. We tried burning some of our thatch, and the "not-growing" line is almost identical to where we burned. I'm open to other theories on that, but I wonder if the fire didn't set the microbiology back for a little while.
 
You can spend more money....but it's hard to get more bang for your buck than a King Kutter tiller provides. Especially if your doing limited acres like most of us food plotters. Those tillers take a licking and keep on ticking. Forward rotation climbs up and over rocks and stumps....as it pushes the tractor forward. Slip clutch and bullet-proof drive system. - That's my story and I'm sticking to it. ;)
 
I used a tiller for the first time this fall - it was a 6' king kutter and it was awesome. I didn't buy it (I'm too cheap)I borrowed it (it's good to have friends with expensive toys) but may buy it if I get the chance. I worked plots that have been worked with plow and disc before and was ag field prior to that so I had no roots or large rocks or the like to contend with. Chewed up corn stalks and weeds roughly a foot tall (I got lazy and didn't spray and only mowed to control weeds). It did a pretty decent job even when the soil was wet - if I had tried to disc it would have just stuck to the blades and created a mess. With the weeds I would have had to use the plow to turn the weeds under. Makes a beautiful seed bed as well, far better than I would have gotten with a few passes from a disc and drag and all in one pass. Can't really suggest one brand or model over another, but a tiller is an awesome tillage implement if you ca afford it.
 
I used a tiller for the first time this fall - it was a 6' king kutter and it was awesome. I didn't buy it (I'm too cheap)I borrowed it (it's good to have friends with expensive toys) but may buy it if I get the chance. I worked plots that have been worked with plow and disc before and was ag field prior to that so I had no roots or large rocks or the like to contend with. Chewed up corn stalks and weeds roughly a foot tall (I got lazy and didn't spray and only mowed to control weeds). It did a pretty decent job even when the soil was wet - if I had tried to disc it would have just stuck to the blades and created a mess. With the weeds I would have had to use the plow to turn the weeds under. Makes a beautiful seed bed as well, far better than I would have gotten with a few passes from a disc and drag and all in one pass. Can't really suggest one brand or model over another, but a tiller is an awesome tillage implement if you ca afford it.

J-Bird, So you were able to till under your Corn stalks with out a problem? I just got a tractor and now am looking at my implement options and I was thinking I needed a disk but if a tiller will grind up corn stalks I might not need a disk. I was planning on brush hogging the corn stalks in early spring and then disking them. If a tiller can handle that I would just buy the tiller. I only have 2 acres of corn. How did you handle your corn to make it work for you?
 
Freeborn - Even before I had access to a tiller I would mow my standing corn with a rotary mower in the spring, give it some time to dry out and then burn off what I could. I would then plow and disc. This year I didn't do that and I simply mowed and let the plot sit fallow all summer with mowing to simply keep weeds managable. When I hit thefield with the tiller I had foot tall weeds and whatever was left of the corn talks and stuble - then tiller didn't miss a beat - but I was careful as I didn't want to destroy a toy I couldn't afford to replace. I also wasn't "letting it eat" either - I was only interested in tilling under the weeds and getting enough soil exposed to plant my fall plots. I'm sure I wasn't "working it hard". If I mis-led you that was not my intent. I will say this - if I owned a tiller I would feel very comfortable selling my plow and disc based on my plotting methods. See what others say as this wasmy first go at it - tillin under freshly mowed stalks may not workas well. Like I said I try to remove as much of the stalks and stuble as I can by burning them (it may not be the best for adding organic material to the soil, but its what I do). There are others here with far more experiance with tillers than myself, I know Foggy loves his, but I am not sure of his methods.
 
My brother inlaw had borrowed a tractor with a tiller on it to put a new food plot in on Virgin soil. He didn't spray he just adjusted the depth on first pass . I saw the results and was very impressed. Looking for a 3 point 5ft. Or 6ft tiller might be my winter project!!!!
 
Freeborn - Even before I had access to a tiller I would mow my standing corn with a rotary mower in the spring, give it some time to dry out and then burn off what I could. I would then plow and disc. This year I didn't do that and I simply mowed and let the plot sit fallow all summer with mowing to simply keep weeds managable. When I hit thefield with the tiller I had foot tall weeds and whatever was left of the corn talks and stuble - then tiller didn't miss a beat - but I was careful as I didn't want to destroy a toy I couldn't afford to replace. I also wasn't "letting it eat" either - I was only interested in tilling under the weeds and getting enough soil exposed to plant my fall plots. I'm sure I wasn't "working it hard". If I mis-led you that was not my intent. I will say this - if I owned a tiller I would feel very comfortable selling my plow and disc based on my plotting methods. See what others say as this wasmy first go at it - tillin under freshly mowed stalks may not workas well. Like I said I try to remove as much of the stalks and stuble as I can by burning them (it may not be the best for adding organic material to the soil, but its what I do). There are others here with far more experiance with tillers than myself, I know Foggy loves his, but I am not sure of his methods.

Thanks J-Bird, I understand. When I mow my corn it would probably sit for 3-5 weeks before I would plant my summer annual. I understand you should get the corn stalks on the ground as fast as possible to get them to decompose. I'm not certain if that would work or not but I like the idea of reducing the number of passes I make on the field.

Thanks again.
 
High levels of stemmy trash could lead to wrapping problems with a tiller. I've had wrapping issues with rye, cornstalks and with buckwheat IF I DONT BRUSH HOG OR DISK IT FIRST.

I think the brush hog is the best way to deal with corn stalks. Most farmers will either disk or use a flail type chopper (or both) on cornstalks to break them down and make for better tillage.

I still own my disk.....and really don't want to sell it....mostly for breaking new ground. But, I don't think I used my disk all year.
 
Main reason I mow my stalks when I can is to reduce the chance of corn borer. I still have 100 acres of ag crops to consider and corn borer can devostate a corn crop. By breaking the stalks up as soon as you can (especially getting freezin temps) or burning them (higher temps) it reduces the chance of the corn borer surviving and thus multiplying. Not that it applys to us plotters, but I really don't want to be under a microscope of a corn borer outbreak! I still think a tilleris an awesome impement (I costed a new versin of the one I borrowed (6' king kutter from RuraKing - $6K) - nope not buying one - need to make sure I have plenty of deer summer sausage for bartering purposes!!!!
 
Main reason I mow my stalks when I can is to reduce the chance of corn borer. I still have 100 acres of ag crops to consider and corn borer can devostate a corn crop. By breaking the stalks up as soon as you can (especially getting freezin temps) or burning them (higher temps) it reduces the chance of the corn borer surviving and thus multiplying. Not that it applys to us plotters, but I really don't want to be under a microscope of a corn borer outbreak! I still think a tilleris an awesome impement (I costed a new versin of the one I borrowed (6' king kutter from RuraKing - $6K) - nope not buying one - need to make sure I have plenty of deer summer sausage for bartering purposes!!!!

??? $6k, is that correct? I have not looked at new units but that seems very high.
 
the 5' king kutter was like $1299, a 6' cannot be $6k. can it??

I was giddy the first time i used one. I couldn't believe how much time it saved.
 
the 5' king kutter was like $1299, a 6' cannot be $6k. can it??

I was giddy the first time i used one. I couldn't believe how much time it saved.

IIRC.....a new 6'er is about $2000.
 
Sorry! Some a-hole either jacked with the sign or didn't change it! I just recall seeing that price and about crapping my pants last time I was there. I still can't swing the $1500 to $2000 so I'll keep borrowing the one I have access to. Maybe he will get tired of a garden or it will get in his way enough that I can find it a better storage location!
 
For what it is worth we have a 6 ft Land Pride and love it. It is forward rotation which is nice when you run into rocks and roots etc...Our tiller has taken a beating and works great. Unless you are doing large acreages they are great.
 
I am tossing around the idea of a tiller too. We have clay and rocks. do you guys think 10 acres would be too much on a tiller? I thought foggy mentioned he does around 10 or so?!!
 
Hawaii5joe - I do not think 10 acres is too much for a tiller. We plant around 15 acres a year with ours and for a weekend warrior it is a little much. I think 10 acres would be fine.
 
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