 Funny you should mention diagonal. While I have never plowed diagonally I recently disked a 50 acre field diagonally. For plowing I do a series of left hand turns at each corner only initially plowing a furrow on all 4 sides of the field (headland and sideland). Mind you, my current efforts are done in square fields. When entering the field I drop my plow just as the left rear tire comes up on the unplowed ground inside the previously plowed perimeter furrows. When exiting the field to make my left hand turn I raise the plow as soon as the rears tires climb up onto the headland or sideland. This way I do not tear up the field edges. I plow the headlands and sidelands last leaving enough room to get my truck in the field on unplowed ground. Now then back to the DIAGONAL aspect of field prep. Is it HERESY to disk at 45 degrees? This past weekend I disked up a 50 acre square field to level it and get it ready for planting. Seems it is unheard of to work a field diagonally. The locals must have thought I was loco as about 4 fellas came out to watch. They all waved and just sat on the road grinning and watching for nearly an hour. I have been wondering ever since if I broke some unwritten natural law of the Tractor Gods or is another case of the Color Police monitoring? Perhaps just a good chuckle watching me relentlessly bouncing over the "hills" and "valleys." The field was previously layed out for row crops and had many 'hills' and 'valleys' from the previous seasons. Over the years this square field was overtaken by volunteer pine trees and sugar cane. The field is layed out with parallel rows parallel E to W. I drove to the S side of the field. Starting at the SE corner I drove W up an existing row (LH side of the field). I then crossed the field diagonally to the NE corner. From there I drove S across the field (perpendicular to the existing rows) back to the SE corner. From there I again crossed the field diagonally to the NW corner. At the NW corner I drove E down an existing row on the N end of the field (RH side). I then crossed the field again diagonally from the NE corner to the SW corner of the field. From the SW corner I drove across the rows over to the NW corner. I continued this pattern only to stop for for refills of sweet tea. Without a doubt it was one bumpy ride all day and my back was aching. HOWEVER, I am pleased with the results. The field is now level, no 'hills' or 'valleys'. Once I was done I smoothed the entire field traveling E to W with the gangs turned straight dragging a 12' section of railroad iron behind. One of the locals stopped by today and complimented me on a really nice looking field. Perhaps what I did was unorthodox but I found it to be an effective means to reclaim and level the field regardless of the roller coaster ride. My field now looks similar to the pic in this post but without the high banks. Will be planting red spuds Feb. 15.
What say ye the Tractor Gods?
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