according to john deeres books,the PURPOSE of a disc harrow is to close air spaces after plowing,and to provide a loose but COMPACT seedbed with a good dust mulch.In other words it is designed specifically to pack the ground but leave it loose on top to stop moisture loss to the air from subsoil.What happens is this basicaly,moisture your plants need come to a large extent from subsoil moisture that has soaked into the ground.When you make your seedbed have good contact with the subsoil this moisture can travel up to where it can be used by plants roots, but by leaveing it loose on top(the dust mulch)it stops there for the most part simply because the dirt particles are so far apart water cannot wick away.Cultivating your crops when the soil gets compacted or crusted over after a rain does the same thing.Its a very effective moisture saver.Now ,anything ,any implement you till the soil with compacts it to a certain extent under where plow shares,disc blades,even cultivator shovels and rototiller tines run to a lesser or greater extent.A disc in all reality is made to do that to a greater extent than most,thats exactly what it was developed to do.That being said, some soils never will make a plow sole or hardpan,others are really bad to do it.Most will to certain extent but it could take years of farming to make it.This is why chisel plowing or subsoiling has caught on so much in recent years.Since both have a very narrow tooth they compact the soil far less than say a moldboard plow or disc that has its full weight accross the whole width of the implement,and every bit of soil is subjected to this. When you do get this hard pan two bad things happen,first the ground itself gets so hard and tight that subsoil moisture cannot rise through it.(think of it as burying a glazed clay pot in the ground).Another thing is roots cannot penetrate it so plants suffer either from really dry soil in a drought or a hot summer,or they simply drown from too much rainfall because water cannot get through to subsoil to be stored.Subsoiling or to a lesser depth chisel plowing, breaks up this compaction by lifting the ground from underneath. The small flat blade on a subsoiler for instance pushes up on the soil instead of simply turning it over and fracturing it like a regular plow will.This all sounds like thats the only thing to use but theres another fly in the ointment.First,subsoiling works best when done in the driest part of the year.If its done too wet subsoiler simply cuts a groove that seals back up with mud and you gain nothing from it because water still cannot run down grooves,this IN FACT can dry out your feild even more. Many folks run a subsoiler with mole ball attatched,the pupose of this is to leave a opening TO dry out soil.Sort of like tiling a feild. Bottom line, is you need to figure out what you need for your farm ,your crop,and your style of farming for yourself.We could recommend something we do but that could cost you quite honestly your whole crop and your farm. The place to start is NOT with a plow,subsoiler,disc, whatever.THE place to begin is with a plain old spade. Take a day, go to as many places as you can in a day and simply start digging holes.IF you can dig down 18-24 " easily you have no hardpan and subsoiling and things probably wont show you much gain.If however you can stick your spade in the ground only 6-7 " and hit a area of dry hard soil you probably would benifit greatly by subsoiling or deep chisel plowing.Do this all accross your feilds. The more times the better , make you a rough map and keep notes. You may find you need to take one end of your feild and treat its as a totally seperate farm,or you may find you have a strip right accross your best field that would really be improved by subsoiling.Heres the thing now days, subsoiling,ripping,deep plowing whatever you prefer to call it takes a lot of hp,and its a notorious consumer of fuel.If you find you can get by with just subsoiling one part of feild,or something you probably could increase your yeild and bottom line very much,while doing only whats needed and burning a lot of high priced fuel.The real answer is YOU need to decide whats the best implement to use on YOUR feild.Your neighbor cant do it,we cant, no one else can except the man on that ground.Folks on these forums almost always think that a disc harrow is the solution to any problem ,and it IS a very good tool.But take this to the bank,IF you get good results with a spike harrow THATS your tool because it compacts the soil less,IF a springtooth works for you THATS your best bet simply because it compacts the soil less,IF in fact you need the disc then thats your best bet! I farmed most of my life starting with horses, i personally never owned ANY disc,until just maybe 10 years ago.I bought it then because one farm showed the need of it.Let the soil be your guide ,err on the side of less soil compaction...MY opinion of course ( disclaimer before the argument starts)LOL
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - A Lifetime of David Brown - by Samuel Kennedy. I was born in 1950 and reared on my family’s 100 acre farm. It was a fairly typical Northern Ireland farm where the main enterprise was dairying but some pigs, poultry and sheep were also kept. Potatoes were grown for sale and oats were grown to be used for cattle and horse feeding. Up to about 1958 the dairy cows were fed hay with some turnips and after that grass silage was the main winter feed. That same year was the last in which flax was grown on the farm. Flax provided the fibre which w
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
1964 I-H 140 tractor with cultivators and sidedresser. Starts and runs good. Asking 2650. CALL RON AT 502-319-1952
[More Ads]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.
