RackLuster

I'm going to start on my food plot this weekend now that I have an area cleared out and I want to buy just one implement for preparing the soil. Plus, the wifey has me on a budget since I bought land and a wheeler this year .

I know people have trouble breaking ground for the first time w/ disks, moldboards are supposed to be bad for the soil and hard to turn, and the cultivator looks more like it's for cultivating between rows of plants not necessarily for soil preparation. So, I need help. Which should I get?

I should note that the soil is mostly clay w/ pockets of real nice black dirt. the plot is rather small (less than one acre) and I'm going to have some problems with roots as there are some saplings and the area had been logged about 5-6 years ago (although all the stumps are gone).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm about ready to cold call an old farmer for some advice.

Thanks

DeerHuntMO

If I had to choose between those 3 I would go with the cultivator. The only problem may be when you seed, as they could get buried to deep. To prevent this you will want to pack the seedbed until it is flat.When I smooth out the seedbed I take a pallet and staple some chain-link fencing on the bottom to break up the small clods of dirt that the cultivator won't get

DeerHuntMO

nchawkeye

2 questions...

1) What do you intend to plant

2) What do you plan to pull the implement with??

My first response would be a disc, as with a plow you will not have a smooth seed bed, plows are more for controling weeds and insects and if you plow in the late fall in northern climates and have clay the winter freezes will help break up the clay....You can also use a disc to incorporate lime, fertilizer and plant crops like wheat, rye, oats, etc...

IL-Cornfed

Those are certainly the correct questions to ask him nchawkeye.His answers to both of the above questions can seriously alter our answers. Can you give us any specifics about what your plans are RackLuster?

npaden

I would say that the disc is one of the most all around useful implements that I own. I don't own a cultivator or a plow and I've planted wheat, oats, millet, sorghum and sunflower. (I do own a 2 row planter and a spreader though)

RackLuster

I intend to plant a variety. Basically, over the next couple years I plan on experimenting with just about anything. I think this year I'm going to keep it basic w/ alfalfa, clover, and biologic full draw (or something similar).

I have an 06 polaris sportsman 700. No 3pt hitch - just 1 7/8 and sleeve hitch.

Thanks all for the input already. I wasn't sure if I'd get any responses.

nchawkeye

Alright, that helps...My brother and a buddy have the KingKutter Disc, avaliable down here in NC at Tractor Supply...Where I live is mainly clay, where I grew up and do much of my hunting is sandy/loamy soil...It does a pretty good job as a 4-wheeler disc, although we do add about 150 pounds of weight to the top of the frame in our clay land, it also helps to work the land when its moist, as our land is what they make bricks out of and it is that hard when its dry....

Now...Here's the "monkey wrench"...I also have a 4-wheeler and there are 2 tools that I will not do without, even if it makes putting off the disc for a year or two..

One is a sprayer to go on the back rack...I have one from Northern Tool, it has a wand that clips on a bracket and will spray a 14 foot pattern, no booms to hang up...The disc isn't worth a darn if the food plot is choked full of weeds in September, its just too light a disc, my local food plots are in a field that was full of Johnson Grass, to get rid of it you have to spray it 3 times...I did this in April, July and August...Planted in late September (clover) and right now its beautiful, in fact when I went in the field early Saturday morning to turkey hunt there were 7 does feeding in the clover....All you do is mix 2 ounces of Roundup (or Big-N-Tuff from TSC) and it will take care of all the weeds....

Second...A spreader...The best seed isn't any good without enough fertilizer and lime...They come in pull-type and one to hook on the back rack, I have used both and prefer the latter as the former doesn't do well on disced land....In a one acre food polt (I usually plant wheat and clover in the fall) I spread 3-50 pound bags of 17-17-17 and 10 to 12-40 pound bags of lime....I'm too old to spread all that weight with a spreader....

Clover and chickory can both be planted without discing the seeds are tiny and you do not disc after planting...Wheat/oats/rye can be braodcast and covered with a light discing, but not clover....

The good news...I have both a sprayer and spreader...When I bought them, I told the wife I needed for the yard.....Some guys pay big bucks for yard work...
In the fall, I rent an aereator to pull behind the 4-wheeler, put out the lime, fertilizer and seed with the spreader...In the Spring and early Summer I spray the yard with 2-4-D (also avaliable at TSC at $14.95 a gallon, and no, I don't work for them!!!) the 2-4-D kills the broadleafs (clover, dandelions etc)....The way I see it, you need these to keep the yard up.......

falcon

At our place we plant blackeyed peas, cowpeas, soybeans, oatsand milo. We only have the disk and a drag to work with and it works out great.

RackLuster

Thanks all for the info, it's helped a ton!!!!

I'm really worried about getting a disk, especially one of the cheapies ($160). I think the big king kutter one's would do the trick but they are too big and expensive for me right now. My wife is great, but this year I've purchased land, a trailer, a new stihl chainsaw, and a new 4-wheeler. I HAVE to go cheap on this one.

What I'm thinking is getting a cultivator ($140 at fleet farm Brinly-Hardy brand) and making a drag out of a pallet and chain link fence. I think the cutlivator will have more luck breaking ground in my clay. Am I off base in thinking that????

I'm also going to make sure that all the weeds are killed off first. That is my first task. The soil sample gets dropped off today. Unfortunately, a spreader is not in my budget either. I'll be doing that the old fashioned way. ugh!

what do you all think about the cultivator breaking ground? Will I just break the tines off?

falcon

Try to find a used one. Bought this one several years ago for $150. It looks awful but is very heavy and does a good job.