Advice Tiller vs Disc

[jeff in pa]

I am looking for some advice on what I should buy. I plan to plant a garden of 600 sq feet and a few food plots of 1/4 acre each.
I was looking at a PTO driven tiller or a 3pt disc harrow of the 5 to 6 foot size.
I have a 60hp tractor with no down pressure on the 3pt.
Thanks

 

[Wesley Stephens]

Either will work, but a tiller does a nice job, they are just more expensive and slower to use than a disc.

 

[paul]

The tiller will make a nicer garden.

The disk will make a quicker food plot.

Neither will break up deep sod very well, but you have a better chance with the tiller, but it is slower.

Depends where you start from, & where you want to end up.

--->Paul

 

[Hootie]

Tiller is much better I pull my 6' on a 60 hp tractor with no down pressure works great.

 

[maxwell99]

Jeff:

Get both, tiller for the garden and disc for the food plots, also need a plow to turn up the food plots,

how about a 2 row drill to plant the food plots and lay off the rows for the garden.

man you need to get busy!! got a lot of stuff to buy.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Most tillers need a creeper gear that most farm tractors don't have. Else they break things, like PTO shafts. And they don't work well because their bites are too big a 1.5 mph when they want 0.5 mph.

Three passes with a disk after plowing will make a decent seed bed. Two passes if the disk has a couple rows of spring tooth on the back.

Gerald J.

 

[supergrumpy]

if your soil has lots of rocks, tiller will take a beating

 

[supergrumpy]

if your soil has lots of rocks, tiller will take a beating

 

[Hugh MacKay]

jeff: Tiller will cost twice as much to buy as a disk and plow, will cost three times as much to maintain.

In most hands, tillers completely destroy soil structure. Most folks pulverize the soil so fine with tillers, soon as rain hits, it creates a concrete like surface. If the soil looks like concrete, it usually produces like concrete.

If your going to buy a tiller, buy a 18" walk behind, than maybe you'll get tired of walking before you turn soil into concrete.

 

[johns48jdb]

you shouldn't expect to use a tiller for first pass work on solid ground. you need to break the ground first wirh a turning plow and then disk it and make a drag to go behind the disk. the garden places i work i always run a tiller over them and then if and when it does pack down run a rowed-e-hoe (spelling) over it to losen the ground back up where the seed can come up ease. trick here is to watch the weather forecast and plant the seed at the correct depth according to rain forecast in the next week.

 

[RodinNS]

Well... if you go with a disc, you'll need a plow.
I tend to think that for a small area a tiller is more effective.
Any piece of gear can be used improperly with bad results. For simplicity's sake I think most would be better off with a tiller unless they simply like playing with a plow and disc.

Rod

 

[Colin King]

I think you'd find that putting a tractor in a yard with a 600 sqf garden is awkward at best. I'd stick with a walk behind tiller (I prefer rear tines) for your garden.

Colin, MN

 

[Anonymous-0]

When it comes to tillers, 9 times in 10, the negative talk comes from people who haven't actually owned one.

60hp will enable you to run a 6' or 7'er at a fair ground speed. (faster than "creeper" speed anyway) Faster ground speed results in a better seed bed in most cases (doesn't pulverize the dirt quite as much) Also, tilling, like any other tillage method requires proper conditions. You need a little soil moisture. Too dry tyrns into talcum powder.

With adaquate power, you can till in existing sod ground with good results.

I've used a cheap King Kutter II 6' tiller for 8 years with nothing more than an occasional greasing. It's worked quite a few acres every year. (Many more than you're talking about) NO mechanical issues. (5 to 7 acres sweet corn plot every year, 2-1/2 acres of popcorn ground every year, 2 big gardens every year, used it to work 22 acres of old pasture into hay ground, ect....)

You won't find ground anywhere that's much rockier than what we have around here. Not so much of a problem as some people think.

There's a good reason why you'll find dozens of brands and thousands of tillers sold every year. They're simply the best tool for many applications. I wouldn't want to till a hundred acres at once, but if I was going to be working 2 acres a year for the next 50 years, I'd want to do it with a tiller.

 

[Farmall Bob]

Hi Jeff,

I have used a Troy-Bilt for years. The first 6 inches are nice, but you have about 3 inches of hard packed soil below that 6 inches by using a tiller. It ruins the soil structer faster than plow and disc. Chisel plow is best if you have the tractor as it requires about 10 HP pre shank. Most plants need deep soil for their roots. Though if you are growing lettuce it may not matter. You have to think soil, micro-herd, air, water, fertilizer, compost. Hope this helps.

Bob

 

[Rick Kr]

You"ll spend more time turning around a 60hp tractor for 600 sq. ft. BUT, I do same thing.

It will work nice on the 1/4 acre plots.

That said, it is easier just to back up for the next pass on my garden instead of turning around.

This tiller gets about 15 acres of use per year.

I agree with everyone that you can pulverize the soil and polish the sub-soil. I will take my 2 bottom plow and break up the soil deep before I till each spring. I try not to build a perfectly smooth sed bed or it does turn to concrete after.

Once over with the plow, then 1 or 2 times over with the tiller depending on the conditions.

Rick

 

[jeff in pa]

Thanks everyone for your reply's.
I already own a troy-bilt walk behind tiller that works okay for the garden which I would sell if I decide to buy a PTO model.
If a pto tiller works as well as I think then my garden would likely become much larger plus I have neighbors with gardens that I owe favors to.