Tractor rototiller ... Feedback on what to look for?

[Tree Spud]

I have never owned a 3 pt rototiller and have always prepped my food plot soil by using a disc. That has always worked okay but it leaves ruts, hard to control depth, and seed not always uniform in planting which has not always provided the best results.

I have a seed drill that i plan on using this year and am considering adding a rototiller for better seed bed prep. My tractor is 58 hp with 72" rear tire width. Our soil is a loamy sand so not real hard to work. Have about 11-12 acres to work with and in some areas I am focusing on increasing OM content by planting hybrid sudan grass, mowing, then tilling under.

What should I look for in a tiller? Thoughts on forward versus reverse acting, 4 vs. 6 tine?

We have some rocks ranging 2"-8" ... issues?

 

[mglenn005]

If you want to increase OM, keep the tiller and disc in the shed.


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[Doohop65]

You don’t need a tiller

I would consider a good rough cut mower and/or crimper/roller. Couple that with a no till drill and you will be in business.

 

[Freeborn]

11-12 Acres with a tiller is allot of tiller work. Depending on the size tiller you get your probably going to be 3 to 3.5 MPH or less which I'm guessing will be 10+ hours of tilling.

I have sandy loam which tills easily so you don't need reverse tine, I would go with forward rotating tines. The forward rotation will enable you to go over most rocks without hesitation.

If your trying to build OM, tilling is not the best option. I would shallow till to save as much OM as possible.

Most of the main-brand tillers on the market are built pretty stout but I do like Landpride.

 

[Northbound]

Drive faster with the disc?. I don't turn much dirt anymore but when I do a fast pass with a disc leaves a pretty flat seed bed. Tillers are way way to slow for my taste

 

[Bucktown]

You'll run out of time trying to till that much ground with a tiller and untangling the mess wrapped around the shaft. Keep your disk if you'd like to work the soil or better yet, don't till it and go no till.

 

[Doohop65]

The other thing to keep in mind with tillers is the cost to replace/fix parts when they break.

It isn’t a matter of if but when they will get busted up if you have stones.

If you insist on tillage I would utilize the disk and invest in a digger/field cultivator. It will be must faster and cheaper to fix.


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[SwampCat]

I have a disk, a cultivator, a woods seeder, and 3 pt tiller. I dont plant a big variety of seeds - soybeans, sunflowers, wheat, millet, and clover. The tiller does result in a better clover stand due to its ability to prepare a great seed bed. Other than clover, its use is refined to my garden.

 

[ksgobbler]

I went to a food plot deal at the local John Deere dealership and the guy they brought in actually said to avoid tillers. Said the roots tend to grow more laterally than down.

You’ll spend about as much time unwrapping Sudan grass from the shaft as you will tilling.

 

[yoderjac]

I have never owned a 3 pt rototiller and have always prepped my food plot soil by using a disc. That has always worked okay but it leaves ruts, hard to control depth, and seed not always uniform in planting which has not always provided the best results.

I have a seed drill that i plan on using this year and am considering adding a rototiller for better seed bed prep. My tractor is 58 hp with 72" rear tire width. Our soil is a loamy sand so not real hard to work. Have about 11-12 acres to work with and in some areas I am focusing on increasing OM content by planting hybrid sudan grass, mowing, then tilling under.

What should I look for in a tiller? Thoughts on forward versus reverse acting, 4 vs. 6 tine?

We have some rocks ranging 2"-8" ... issues?

With loamy sand, I'd get the least expensive tiller I could wide enough to cover your tractor foot print. With sandy soil you will want to minimize tillage (top inch). When using a tiller at that depth, there is very little stress on the tiller. When I first got my tractor tiller, I really put a lot of stress on it trying to till deeply with my clay. I didn't realize the damage I was doing to the soil, but the tiller required a lot of maintenance. Tine would only last a year or so before they needed replacement.

When I moved to minimal tillage, I started adjusting the tiller to go no deeper than the top inch. The feet were not adjustable enough to go this shallow so I actually lift it a bit with the hitch. Since then stress and maintenance on the tiller is minimal and tines last for many years. This chews up vegetation but leave it on top with enough soil contact for reasonable decomposition. You build OM top down this way and avoid introducing oxygen into the soil which increases the burn rate of OM.

If you plan to use it for traditional tillage, I'll let others make recommendations since mine didn't do too well when used this way. When used for traditional tillage, the seed bed is very uniform but very fluffy. You really need to cultipack in some way to get the air out. This fine chopping of soil is really not a friend of crops, especially in my heavy clay soil. I don't know if you remember Doug (Dgallow from the QDMA site). He was a great soils guy but often a bit oblique. At any rate, I was discussing my old tillage method with him using a bottom plow followed by a tiller. The bottom plow would turn the soil making it easy for the tiller to chop it up very fine to about 6" deep. He pointed my to a link. When I looked at it, I thought he sent me the wrong link. It was an article on how to build a good dirt road. I did read it and that exactly what I was dong. I was breaking my clay into fine particles that compacted together tightly to make a solid road and prevent water infiltration.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Tree Spud]

Okay guys, thanks for the comments ... I think ...

I understand what you are saying about the tiller, but I must be missing something. I see others with large plots and the seed bed is flat and level. I have a Landpride double row disc with notched blades. My fields tend to be uneven with furrows.

I definitely want to avoid wrapping & binding with long strand stuff like oats & sudan grass. Still need to add a rotary cutter to chop everything up.

I can certainly try and disc more shallow and maybe at a higher speed?

How does a cultivator improve the the soil bed?

 

[Buckly]

I've had a tiller for over 10 years in clay and somewhat rocky soil and never had a thing break on it so, a sandier soil would be no issues. I used to use disks but you really can't beat a tiller for soil prep. It just makes such a nice seed bed. You'll probably fall asleep while tilling because it's a whole lot slower than a disk but, in sandy soil I bet you could go much faster. Once the ground has been tilled several times it also goes much faster. I got mine from Tractor Supply and it's a 6 foot unit. That's probably the size you're looking at. If it doesn't quite cover the wheels just offset it a bit to one side an keep tilling in the same direction. I carry a 3 pound hammer and crow bar with me just in case you get one of those bigger round rocks stuck between the tines. A tiller is be the best plotting tool I have.

 

[yoderjac]

Okay guys, thanks for the comments ... I think ...

I understand what you are saying about the tiller, but I must be missing something. I see others with large plots and the seed bed is flat and level. I have a Landpride double row disc with notched blades. My fields tend to be uneven with furrows.

I definitely want to avoid wrapping & binding with long strand stuff like oats & sudan grass. Still need to add a rotary cutter to chop everything up.

I can certainly try and disc more shallow and maybe at a higher speed?

How does a cultivator improve the the soil bed?

Spud,

There is no doubt a tiller can produce a pretty and flat seed bed, but that pretty and even seed bed is not necessarily what works best for the crops or soil health. The way I use a tiller, a field is still mostly green when I'm done. It is not really a pretty seed bed. Depending on what I'm planting, I'll either drill through that or surface broadcast and pack it. Granted, I'm not growing sudan grass, but I don't generally have a wrapping issue. Sure, some stuff does wrap around the tiller, but when the tines are only engaging and inch of soil it is not a problem. If you are trying to till deeply it can limit depth and may need to be dealt with.

I believe the primary purpose of a cultivator was to disrupt weeds in young row crops without disturbing the crop. For minimum till, some guys do use them to scratch up the surface.

There is a difference between furrows/ruts in afield and the seed bed. Because of my use of a 2-bottom plow in the early days, my fields had furrows and humps as well. When I switched to minimal tillage, I first used a box blade to level and even out the field. The soil tilth had already been disturbed by the plow so the damage was done. Once the field was fairly level with the ruts and furrows removed, I started my min-till program.

A lumpy seed bed is generally not an issue and the clods left after disking can be broken up with a cultipacker after seeding. This also compresses the air from the soil, pushes the seed into the soil to ensure good seed/soil contact and puts an irregular surface on the seed bed so rain does not run off.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Tree Spud]

Jack ... thanks. I have a tractor spike harrow which I have not tried. Sounds like that will help smooth out the soil bed.

As mentioned previously, I have grain drill and cultipacker so I think I am going to start with those.

Planting of the sudan grass is only for a few select areas where I need more OM. Mostly I will be planting soy beans, sunflower, milo, and occasionally corn with the drill. First time using the grain drill so there will be a learning curve there.

 

[yoderjac]

Spud,

I've far from an expert on soil science, but I'm happy to share what I've learned about OM. The best thing one can do is to avoid burning existing OM by introducing O2 into the soil through deeper tillage. As far as building it, the concept is similar to composting with browns and greens. It is the right mix of carbon and nitrogen. The grasses like sudan grass or corn or sorghum ... provide the carbon component. Legumes like soybeans, clover, cowpeas, ... provide the nitrogen component. You can mix them or rotate them, but you need both. If you are rotating milo/corn/sunflowers with soybeans you may be fine without the sudan grass. OM is really short-hand for having a healthy microbiology in the soil which requires OM. That microbiology helps with nutrient cycling.

If your drill is not a no-till drill, you may need some tillage to get proper seed depth with larger seed like corn and beans. A no-till drill solves this but they are expensive. A lot depends on your soils and soil conditions. I could not use a grain drill for beans in my clay soils and get good depth. However, with sandy loam, your grain drill may work much better. Trial and error will be needed to match your equipment with your methods, soils, and conditions.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Tree Spud]

Spud,

I've far from an expert on soil science, but I'm happy to share what I've learned about OM. The best thing one can do is to avoid burning existing OM by introducing O2 into the soil through deeper tillage. As far as building it, the concept is similar to composting with browns and greens. It is the right mix of carbon and nitrogen. The grasses like sudan grass or corn or sorghum ... provide the carbon component. Legumes like soybeans, clover, cowpeas, ... provide the nitrogen component. You can mix them or rotate them, but you need both. If you are rotating milo/corn/sunflowers with soybeans you may be fine without the sudan grass. OM is really short-hand for having a healthy microbiology in the soil which requires OM. That microbiology helps with nutrient cycling.

If your drill is not a no-till drill, you may need some tillage to get proper seed depth with larger seed like corn and beans. A no-till drill solves this but they are expensive. A lot depends on your soils and soil conditions. I could not use a grain drill for beans in my clay soils and get good depth. However, with sandy loam, your grain drill may work much better. Trial and error will be needed to match your equipment with your methods, soils, and conditions.

Thanks,

Jack

Jack ... thanks, that is the best and most easy to understand explanation for the OM & soil moisture issue I have seen. The light bulb just went on ...

Last year I did soy beans & milo, then over seeded with red clover & winter rye.

My drill is a no till, see below, so i have probably been over working the soil. Last year both my tractor & Kawi Mule went down so I did not cultipack. This year I will.

 

[yoderjac]

Very nice.

 

[j-bird]

I use (borrow) a King Kutter brand tiller now for the past few years and have never had an issue with it. I have not used any other brand....but if I was to buy one for myself.....I would go with a KK. I till just enough of the soil to be able to achieve the planting depth I am after and not much more......to help retain soil moisture.