OlSnakeEyes

This may sound stupid but I bought 11 acres and there are fields of native grasses that I want to "till" 24" deep to repair compacting and I don't know if I will have to use a rear tined dual rotating tiller or if I can rent or buy a tractor and attachment that will do the same thing. I don't know if plowing or discing will work well enough or go that deep. I will not be compacting it after this is done and intend to add organic materials to enrich the soil for future food plots. What are your opinions guys?

MudderChuck

I'm a long ways from being a farmer, but 24" sounds extreme. You almost have to have a multi year plan. plow it under (maybe 8-12 inches) First year plant something that is nitrogen fixing (depends on your zone, Peas maybe), maybe add some organic material, plow again. Then the next year plant Alfalfa or Rape Alfalfa mix. Both Rape and especially Alfalfa have deep roots, which will hopefully break up the hard pan.

It would take a serious tractor and an extreme chisel to get down 24". You might plow up a gas or electric line.

I usually swap labor with a Farmer and have him do my plowing for me. They know the soil and what it needs better than I do.

If you don't want hard pan, keep the tractor off it as much as possible.

Clay or sand doesn't have many nutrients in it, the good stuff is usually near the surface. Deep plowing may do more harm than good.

sconnyhunter

Snake eyes, I'm not aware of ANY implement that will till that deep.
As mudder said, you will need a plan that spans a couple years to break the roots and compaction.
To be honest the best place to start is with your local implement dealer and grain supply store. Talk to the local farmers there and the people that work there.

HDMS

There's not going to be an implement that will go that deep, even the 200 plus hp tractors and commercial farmers do not want to go that deep. There is no need to go that deep and your best bet would be to mow and spray the grasses first, wait for them to die off and then moldboard plow them under for the first time to bury the residue and relieve compaction. Then disc and harrow the plot to smooth it out and plant some a mix of a cover crop to start building the soil naturally. First I would do a soil sample and see where your at and what nutrients you would need to build up. Cover crop examples for a spring planting would include medium red clover (biennial)or crimson clover (annual) which both fixates nitrogen (100-200 units at bloom), buckwheat, (fixates phosphorus and calcium) cowpeas (nitrogen), annual rye grass, oats and many more. Mow then disc under in fall and follow up with a fall winter cover crop like crimson clover, winter rye grain which has aleopathic compounds for weed suppression and good nutrient scavenger, winter oats and a daikon, ground hog or eco till radish which will scavenge nutrients from deep in the soil and help water infiltration, reduce compaction and aerate the soil. Not to mention when the radishes rot over winter it will increase the earthworm activity in the spring which is very beneficial.
I recommend doing some research online on cover crops and see what would be best for you and your area and the goal your trying to achieve.

Note: there will be some compaction once you level out the soil after working it up but cover crops will help

alleyyooper

You will need at least a 30hp tractor with ag tires to start and a sub soiler. Then the sub soiler won't even begin to go that 24" with a 30hp tractor.



You can buy mutla tooth sub soilers but the tractor HP requirement climb higher and higher as you add teeth.

Hard pan normally is found in the first foot of soil to begin with and a sub soiler will work fine.

Al

Rob in VT

To go 24" down you better get an excavator.

alleyyooper

This 63hp Allis D 17 will pull a sub soiler 24 inches deep. But there is really no need to go that deep.




Al

North Texan

"Compaction" is caused by tillage and/or traffic across a field. If it is in native grass, and has been for a while, there shouldn't be any compaction there. It may be that particular soil type is just very compact by nature. If that's the case, it may not be suitable for tillage.

I have a subsoiler that I use every now and then, but the purpose of it is to remove the compaction caused by combine, grain cart, tractor, plow, and drill traffic. The goal is to go 1" below the hard pan. Any more, and I am wasting time and wasting money. A tiller will generally only go the depth of the tines. Go deeper than that, and you'll start wearing on the carrier bearings. Most farming practices that use a chisel or a disk will generally also focus on the top 6-8" soil. The goal is to loosen the soil enough water and roots can penetrate.

Whatever the organic matter is in your soil with grass on it now, it will decrease if you start tillage. And as long as tillage continues, you will never be able to effectively add organic matter to meet or exceed what it is now. Tillage aerates the soil and resizes the organic matter. With larger surface to volume ratios and more air infiltrating the soil, organic matter decomposes much more quickly.

My first suggestion is contact your local extension agent or NRCS conservationist and see if they have any advice. You may very well have some valuable native plant species on your acreage, and you might be better off trying to manage and help propagate some of the native species than trying to convert the native cover into cropland for a food plot. Or maybe a portion and leave a portion. They might also be able to give you good advice on what you can grow in your area.

If you do choose to grow some type of crop, your organic matter and your soil health will be better if you reduce tillage as much as possible and practice conservation tillage as much as possible. Try to keep the surface covered as much as possible, either with something growing, or with stubble. A soil test is never a bad idea. Something as simple as just not having a very small amount of one micronutrient may mean productivity is cut in half.

Ridge Runner

a cat D-9 with ripping teeth, never saw a tractor with 24"s of movement on the 3 point hitch, possibly a pull behind hydraulic assisted unit being made but I have never saw one.
RR

Mojotex

This past summer we hired a guy to sub soil four of our food plots that had been used as a log-set. These were very compacted red "Alabama" clay. It was a mess ! Looked like acres of red clay boulders !! He ripped about 8" - 10" or so deep using a HD 3 tine ripper and a 120 HP John Deere 4 wheel drive tractor. It was all this rig could manage.

Here's what I'd do. Find (if you can) a local farmer with similar HD sub-soiler set up and see if you can hire him rip the field. Probably a set-up with 2 or 3 rippers and a heavy 100+ HP. And probably in excess of $100/hr. That should get your place in plenty good shape. it will need to be harrowed back as smooth as practical for planting . A good working disc harrow or a PTO tiller type should do the trick.