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.
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.
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!!!!
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.