Whats the best all around plow?

[BIGGKIDD]

I need to get a plow for my tractor.(35hp diesel 4x4) But I would love to hear from those who have used them. I have never used a plow. My little 28" tiller behind a garden tractor has taken care of my needs in the past. But starting with raw land thats covered in trees I think I am going to need more. I think a plow will help to get some of the roots out also.

EDIT: I just wanted to add that we are finding quite a few large rocks as we go. From double fist up to boulder in size. More in some areas than others. So what ever plow I get it needs to be able to handle hitting rock.

Thanks Larry

[DM]

I've done a lot of plowing in the "old" days (i still own a couple) and i think a HD 3 point rototiller is a lot better tool. I like and own Howard brand "garden" and "field" tillers. Howard calls there's "rotovators", they are the toughest of the tough!

I've made a lot of money rotavateing new ground for folks that own plows, as nothing works up new root infested ground better than a good 3 point tiller and someone who knows how to use it.

Here's an overgrown field i reclaimed for a customer...

This field had a lot of trees and brush that was taller than my tractor...

http://www.fototime.com/946ACC4528E707B/standard.jpg

First thing i do is rotary cut (brush hog) the field untill everything is chopped up...

http://www.fototime.com/B01671C660E779E/standard.jpg

I go over it untill "everything" is chopped up... Then it's time to let what you chop down sit in the sun and dry up...

http://www.fototime.com/7A926850212DC49/standard.jpg

After about 10 days it's time to rotavate the field...

http://www.fototime.com/2A422438EAB2247/standard.jpg

I then like to let the field set a couple weeks and rotavate it a second time... This allows time for much of the green sod ect.. to die and start breaking down. It also allows the seeds you tilled under to germinate so you can kill those weeds too...

http://www.fototime.com/6067340DF524700/standard.jpg

Here's the field... Flat, level and ready to plant!

http://www.fototime.com/354C5138C74EC99/standard.jpg

You don't need big equipment to do this, all you need is good equipment, and to take the time to do it right...

DM

[BIGGKIDD]

Hey DM,

Great pics and lots of detail. Thank you. A three point tiller is a great tool. Not really in my price range at this time. At least to buy & break. ;) The areas I need to work are covered in trees right now. So I have to get past all the tree roots. I am worried about the roots that get left behind in clearing. I am afraid they would get caught up in a tiller and cost a bunch in repairs. You think a tiller could handle this ok? I was thinking that a good plow would help to pull some of these larger roots out at the same time. A TPH tiller is on my list but a little farther down the line. Please let me know what you think would be best. If you still think a tiller would be best to do this I may have to change plans.

Thanks
Larry 8)

[Deberosa]

Hi Larry,

I had the same concern as you breaking new ground. Plus I was worried about other burried stuff I might hit since there was quite a bit of that around here.

So I got a 6 tooth ripper to simply unearth that kind of thing. Used it a couple of times... After that I just used the tiller from the start once I became more confident with it. It has a slip differential that causes it to simply stop if it hangs up on something. THen I just shut off the PTO and have found it easy to unstick the problem - usually a big root or rock.

It makes a heck of a racket!!! But I've been turning up roots and rocks all over the place with no problems. Some rocks I hit I have to dig out around with the loader but the tiller just ran over the top with alot of noise.

Hope that helps.

Debbie

[WRTN]

The areas I need to work are covered in trees right now. So I have to get past all the tree roots. I am worried about the roots that get left behind in clearing. I am afraid they would get caught up in a tiller and cost a bunch in repairs. You think a tiller could handle this ok? I was thinking that a good plow would help to pull some of these larger roots out at the same time.

Larry,

If the land you want to till is covered with trees, I think you will very likely have to either rent or contract a bull dozer equipped with ripper plow to push the trees down and rip the soil with ripper plow to pull up any remaining roots and or rocks. The roots, trees and stumps can be either burned or chipped once any marketable logs or pulp wood has been removed. The chips can be spread on the soil and chopped in with a tiller or plow.

Once the soil has been broke in this fashion you will be able to till it with a pto tiller or plow. Now would be a good time to take soil samples and determine if any lime or fertilizer would be recommended.

Tilling land that has grown over in trees is never an easy task to restore to crop land.

[DM]

Hey DM,

*Great pics and lots of detail. Thank you. A three point tiller is a great tool. Not really in my price range at this time. At least to buy & break. ;) The areas I need to work are covered in trees right now. So I have to get past all the tree roots. I am worried about the roots that get left behind in clearing. I am afraid they would get caught up in a tiller and cost a bunch in repairs. You think a tiller could handle this ok? I was thinking that a good plow would help to pull some of these larger roots out at the same time. A TPH tiller is on my list but a little farther down the line. Please let me know what you think would be best. If you still think a tiller would be best to do this I may have to change plans.

Thanks
Larry 8)

I do this for a living, and when i get to a job, roots and rocks never stop me... They may bust a cheapo tiller, but they won't hurt a quality tool... This is why i buy quality tools in the first place...

If i have big trees, i use my dozer to clear them out... Then i pull any big roots, and start rotavateing...

All a plow does is make a mess, plug up and leave you needing another tool to clean up the mess...

DM

[BIGGKIDD]

Thanks For All The Help.

A load of good info. Sounds like I just need to bite the bullet and get a good tiller. I have plans to build a heavy duty ripper. I plan to build one heavier than I have seen for sale.

Thanks again everyone
Larry

[Drawbar]

I would not give up on the land plow just yet. I have plowed up some ground for people converting old pastures and whatnot back to tillable ground,and it worked out quite well.

I use an old Dearborn plow of the 1950's vintage. Of course it was a double bottom, 14 inch plow until I hooked it up to a 60hp John Deere tractor. The plow hit a rock that jammed just right between the plow shares. There was a puff of black smoke and then I had a single bottom plow. The beam snapped right off the plow.

In a way it made it better. It takes me twice as long to plow up ground now, but before the double bottom plow would not go as deep and get hung up on rocks. The single bottom plow drops very deep, rolls big rocks right out of the ground and is great at reclaiming old pasture ground.

By the way, if you have old ground and trees and want tillable ground you should do what the settlers did here in Maine. Clear the land of trees and then graze cattle on the ground for a few years. This lets the stumps rot down and are easier to work out of the ground. Then plow up your ground and make it tillable. This is the best way (nutrient wise and cost effective), but if you need to make tillable ground now, you are going to have to spring for the heavy equipment. (Costly when they are burning fuel at 4.50 a gallon now)

[BIGGKIDD]

Hi Guys,

*Well dumb as I am I just had to try and make something a bit cheaper to clear my land with. *Not to mention I am the ultimate cheap skate.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p213/biggkidds/rip005.jpg
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p213/biggkidds/rip006.jpg

*Heres a video of me trying it out in our yard in the city by the gardens in back.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p213/biggkidds/th_rip008.jpg (http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p213/biggkidds/?action=view¤t=rip008.flv)


http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p213/biggkidds/th_rip008.jpg (http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p213/biggkidds/?action=view¤t=rip008.flv)


*Now this ground is wet and not that hard to start with. I can't wait to see how it does with getting tree roots out and cleaning up the top layer. If it doesn't work well I'm not out two much and had a lot of fun building it. This project came in under $200 including a bottle of welding gas. I can always turn it into a HEAVYDUTY Box Blade. *;)

Let me know what you guys think.

Larry

[Deberosa]

Bummer the link only brings up the photobucket home page for me...

That is really nice work! It looks just as good as my new version, only it's definitely more solid on the cross bar part!

Thanks for sharing!

[BIGGKIDD]

Debrosa,

I don't know whats up try the second link its the same as the first but seems to work long as I leave them both.

WEIRD

Larry

[Deberosa]

Still no luck. It goes to my photobucket signon. I did try just typing in the link without the IMG tags in it and I get a still picture of the ripper, but no video.

There must be some other catch to linking to a video.

[MooseToo]

Hi Guys,

*Well dumb as I am I just had to try and make something a bit cheaper to clear my land with. *Not to mention I am the ultimate cheap skate.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p213/biggkidds/rip005.jpg
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p213/biggkidds/rip006.jpg

*Heres a video of me trying it out in our yard in the city by the gardens in back.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p213/biggkidds/th_rip008.jpg (http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p213/biggkidds/?action=view¤t=rip008.flv)


http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p213/biggkidds/th_rip008.jpg (http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p213/biggkidds/?action=view¤t=rip008.flv)


*Now this ground is wet and not that hard to start with. I can't wait to see how it does with getting tree roots out and cleaning up the top layer. If it doesn't work well I'm not out two much and had a lot of fun building it. This project came in under $200 including a bottle of welding gas. I can always turn it into a HEAVYDUTY Box Blade. *;)

Let me know what you guys think.

Larry

sure hope it works like you think it will - if not, it'll give you far more emergency stopping power than a drag chute -

[Drawbar]

You will NEVER hear me bash anyone for fabricating their own tools. Even if an implement does not work as well as you hoped, there is a lot to be said for the people that fabricate, weld up and use their own implements. Its far better to try something, then sit around and say "nahhh, that will never work."

I liked your designed and hope that it works for you.

[BIGGKIDD]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the comments. Sorry the video link didn't work. Its working eleswhare. Don't know what to try.

Next project a set of forks.

Larry

[Drawbar]

I built my own set of forks for my tractor, and I really am amazed what my little tractor can do with them. It can heft some pretty good sized logs, which is great since we have a sawmill and need to move logs around a lot.

http://www.railroadmachinist.com/images/Loading_Two_Logs2.jpg

[BIGGKIDD]

Drawbar,

Nice job on the forks and I like those Kubota tractors. I wanted one but my pockets aren't that deep. ;) Your forks look like they work well.

Larry

[Drawbar]

That is understandable. When I was out looking for a tractor I looked at Ford's, a tractor we always had. But when they wanted 5 grand more for a new Holland over a Kubota of the same size and make, I decided my pockets were not deep enough for that and went with a Kubota. I hemmed and hawed at buying it, but 9 years later I am pretty happy with it. Its been a good tractor.

As for the forks, I am a machinist by trade so I just cobbled some steel together and fabbed them up. I did not do anything fancy, just used what I had kicking around the shop. They do work good though. You'll be glad after you make yours.

[MooseToo]

You will NEVER hear me bash anyone for fabricating their own tools. Even if an implement does not work as well as you hoped, there is a lot to be said for the people that fabricate, weld up and use their own implements. Its far better to try something, then sit around and say "nahhh, that will never work."

I liked your designed and hope that it works for you.
"joshing" and "bashing" are not synonyms - lighten up already -

[Drawbar]

Whoops...my bad. In re-reading the entire thread it did sound like I was referring to something you said, but in fact I was not referring to your post in anyway, but I could see where you got the idea that I was.