3. Run a harrow disc over it in direction of furrows in Spring to work it down.
4. Spread fertilizer in direction of furrows
5. Incorporate fertilizer with harrow disc at a 45* angle to furrows.
6. Springtooth it in opposite 45* angle to level the bed, and pack the bed.
7. Drill it.
A disc does absolutely nothing for leveling. It merely breaks stuff up, and will incorporate your fertilizer. Only reason for crosshatching is to spread your wheel compaction. Don't want to keep running over the same track.
All leveling is done with the springtooth. Because you're running at an angle to your plow furrows, it acts as a series of shovels, dragging soil into the low spots, and depositing it. This is your final seedbed, and suitable for most field crops.
On the subject of compaction, and firming:
Any cultivating tool will compact at its maximum SET depth. You plow down 8", and the soil will be compacted at 8", and below.
If you disc down full depth on your work down pass, the soil will be loose to the depth of the original plow profile. 8".
If you work you fertilizer in at around 6", the compaction depth will be 6", just below the disc blades as set.
Spring tooth will compact the ground almost immediately below the top of the ground. This gives you about a 2" working depth for your seed drill. Anything below that 2" will be compacted ground. This is a desirable seedbed for most drilled crops. How deep you drill your seed in, is up to you. I use a hoe drill, and run it down to moisture at a full 2" or better, if conditions warrant.
It looks to me like you got a mess there. You'll have loose soil directly below the pass you made with the rotary tool. You do not want loose soil in the root zone. Can't have oxygen touching roots.
Conventional, old school, clean till is a series of loosen/pack cycles. You can't do it all at once with older type tillage tools.
Weather plays a part in the last tillage operation. Once you've springtoothed, you're committed. If it rains hard, you gotta disc it all up again, and re springtooth it. Same can go for the last pass with the disc. If the ground forms a crust, the springtooth might not be able to break the crust, and you gotta disc it again.
Once you're planted, then ya can take the dog, go up and sit on the tailgate, pop a beer, and wait for the seed to pop. AND HOPE YOU DON'T GET HEAVY RAIN BEFORE YOU GOT A FEW INCHES ABOVE GROUND, AND SOME ROOTS TO HOLD IT FROM WASHING OUT.
Upload one or more videos to your post. Photo and video filesizes should be less than 5MB. Formats allowed are gif, jpg, png, ogg, mp4, mov, and avi. Be sure to use filenames without spaces or special characters, and filetypes of 3 digits lower case.
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 - Old Time Threshing - by Anthony West. A lovely harvest evening late September 1947, I was a school boy, like all school boys I loved harvest time. The golden corn ripens well and early, the stoking, stacking,.... the drawing in with the tractors and trailers and a few buck rakes thrown in, and possibly a heavy horse. It would be a great day for the collies and the terrier dogs, rats and mice would be at the bottom of the stacks so the dogs, would have a busy time hunting and killing, all the corn was gathered and ricked in what we c
... [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.
