HP, plowing depth, and soil

A lot of talk on here about HP and the plows it will pull. How deep do you guys plow and what type of soil do you have? I used to pull 3X14 mounted plow with a Case 630 in clay, loam soil. Probably plowing too deep but in an old sod I had to take a bottom off. I had the plow deep enough to turn up a little of the yellow subsoil, maybe 12+". Now I pull 3X16 with a CaseIH 885. Could probably add another bottom without any trouble. Still plowing deep. Case 630 ~ 50 hp, 885 ~ 70hp (pto)

While I'm asking, for you guys that chisel plow how deep do you go with them and what type of soils do they do the best? How many shanks do you think I could pull with an 885 and at what depth? I've been told 5 maybe 6 at the most.

Thanks,

Phil

Chisel plow you want to go deeper than the plow does, to break up that plow pan the plow created in your fields. So, 8-12 inches deep.

I pulled a 10 shank chisel plow with 2" wide points with 85 hp. That was not enough hp, I was not happy with the results. Now I have 12 shanks with a 140 hp tractor, works much better. You want to have some speed with the chiesel plow, so the springs are working & shattering the soil. Drive fasted, go deeper, better chisel job. Can't do that if you are under-powered.

You will do a better chisel job with 5-6 shanks.

--->Paul

Rod

Rule of thumb around here is usually that a 10" cresent will stand upright in the furrow. Usually pull between 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 mph to feather it out and make it lay like a tabletop.

Everybody does it different tho; I sometimes see guys plowing around 5" deep. Don't know why, as they just pull that trash right back on top at the second tillage pass.

Allan