Brillion cultimulcher plugging - are S tines better?

[cact34r]

I posted last year about using a cultimulcher in stony ground.
I ended up finding a nice 23' older model Brillion with the normal C shape teeth. I was able to use it over the year to see how it worked. It does a really nice job in plowed ground but is unusable in chiseled corn or soybean ground due to trash plugging the teeth
Would S-tine teeth perform better, or is this just the way this tool works?

 

[David from Kansas]

Not for sure an S tine would work any better. They are not real popular around here. My theory is that they usually have
smaller shovels on them but more of them closer together and are not nearly as strong as the curved spring type shanks with 10-11
inch shovels. Looks to me like they would be best for shallow cultivation but I have never owned one so can't speak from
experience.

 

[paul]

A machine with a bigger frame, more rows of shanks, so the shovels are spaced farther from each other is the only real good answer.

The oldest field cultivators were 3 rows of gangs with one row a couple feet form the next.

Newest machines are 5 rows of gangs, and each row is 4 feet + apart. This makes the same number of shovels but each shovel is over twice as far from a neighbor.

Then the trash can flow through.

Or you need blades in front to cut up the trash - which doesnt work so well in a wet spring in my clay soils.

Paul

 

[Timmycornpicker]

No, they're not. In cornstalks, you either need to shred them before chiseling or disk after chiseling, before using the cultimulcher. If you're having
trouble in soybean ground, either the combine doesn't have a chopper or the chopper isn't spreading the residue out far enough.

 

[Bob Bancroft]

Since going to a disc-chisel and leaving lots of residue on and near the surface, I have given up on anything with teeth. Even
what you've got partially buried is pulled back up, and makes a mess. After chiseling, I typically hit my ground once with a disc
harrow w/rolling basket and then plant. We always used to pull a cultipacker behind a drag or disc, but with all the residue mixed in with
this sticky ground, I've given up on that too.

 

[DeltaRed]

The only way to prevent plugging is to raise the teeth out of the ground. S tines vs C tines makes little to no difference.Disk first,then roll if you have trash issues.They are not made for trash,only clean
dirt.Mulcher user for 50 years,and current owner of both 10 ft and 16 ft 'camelback' Brillions,

 

[Leroy]

Anything that stickes down into the ground is going to catch
on anything laying there and hold it untill it does that
often enough it is pluged.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Nothing will work with the teeth as close as those in a cultimulcher like that in trash. Just raise the teeth to not dig and problem solved or don't use it on corn stalk ground. Most just pull a packer behind the field cultivator or egg beater deal of some sort now because of the trash. I like a packer better and my brother likes the egg beater deals. I'd sell the mulchers and just use a single packer behind the field cultivator they fold and lift on the one circuit so only need 3 remotes to lift and fold all of it.

 

[cact34r]

Thank you for all the information - this is very helpful and confirms what I was thinking, while saving me some money testing S tines. It makes sense - I've been using disk and packer for secondary tillage for years and prior to that when we used drags we did not have a chisel plow, just moldboard. My combine doesn't have a chopper but I'm going to find one because I like the single pass with the cultimulcher and it would be nice to have that option on soybean stubble.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Chopper doesn't make much difference.

There are still dumptruck loads of cornstalks in piles around my fields from using a "drag" two years ago.

Initially I tried to clear the drag every time it plugged up but I eventually gave up. I just pulled a 32' wide pile of corn stalks around the field to smooth it out. Worked pretty good.

Last year I bought a heavier disc. It didn't plug but it also didn't do much to smooth out the field or chop up the stalks.

This year I have no idea what I'm going to do. The combine with the chopper broke down so they picked my corn with a conventional head last fall. Now I have 40 acres of full length corn stalks that I can't do anything with.

 

[Timmycornpicker]

Can you rent a flail shredder?

 

[lugnuts2030]

Try using it with the teeth Up. You might
be surprised how little they really do.
This might solve your problem.

 

[cact34r]

(quoted from post at 07:25:23 02/23/23) Chopper doesn't make much difference.

There are still dumptruck loads of cornstalks in piles around my fields from using a "drag" two years ago.

Initially I tried to clear the drag every time it plugged up but I eventually gave up. I just pulled a 32' wide pile of corn stalks around the field to smooth it out. Worked pretty good.

Last year I bought a heavier disc. It didn't plug but it also didn't do much to smooth out the field or chop up the stalks.

This year I have no idea what I'm going to do. The combine with the chopper broke down so they picked my corn with a conventional head last fall. Now I have 40 acres of full length corn stalks that I can't do anything with.

Is moldboard plowing an option? That's the only way I would be able to use my cultimulcher on corn stubble, but I didn't get it for that. I use disk/packer after chisel.

 

[DeltaRed]

Allthat trash is going to plug up an implement,no matter how fine it is chopped.Wheather chopper on combine or flail.So disk,or use a wide spaced chisel plow. Then drag a pile of cornstalks or an old fashioned drag harrow to smooth.You need 'clean' dirt(moldboard plow) to use a pulvimulcher,or other of fine,close spaced tooth finishing tool.

 

[cact34r]

(quoted from post at 10:11:31 02/23/23) Allthat trash is going to plug up an implement,no matter how fine it is chopped.Wheather chopper on combine or flail.So disk,or use a wide spaced chisel plow. Then drag a pile of cornstalks or an old fashioned drag harrow to smooth.You need 'clean' dirt(moldboard plow) to use a pulvimulcher,or other of fine,close spaced tooth finishing tool.

This is the truth.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

(quoted from post at 09:47:56 02/23/23)

(quoted from post at 07:25:23 02/23/23) Chopper doesn't make much difference.

There are still dumptruck loads of cornstalks in piles around my fields from using a "drag" two years ago.

Initially I tried to clear the drag every time it plugged up but I eventually gave up. I just pulled a 32' wide pile of corn stalks around the field to smooth it out. Worked pretty good.

Last year I bought a heavier disc. It didn't plug but it also didn't do much to smooth out the field or chop up the stalks.

This year I have no idea what I'm going to do. The combine with the chopper broke down so they picked my corn with a conventional head last fall. Now I have 40 acres of full length corn stalks that I can't do anything with.

Is moldboard plowing an option? That's the only way I would be able to use my cultimulcher on corn stubble, but I didn't get it for that. I use disk/packer after chisel.

I don't want to, but I might have to. I hate moldboard plowing. It just seems like it's 4 minutes of sheer terror charging across the field at full throttle with dirt flying everywhere, followed by 30 seconds of panic thrashing on the headlands, and all I seem to do is make a mess. I can never get depth and draft set so the front of the plow is always sinking to China or it's not even touching the ground.

This post was edited by BarnyardEngineering on 02/23/2023 at 11:19 am.

 

[paul]

Here I use a modern (1980s or newer...) coulter chisel plow in fall. Sometimes I need to chop the stalks first, sometimes it works without.

In spring I use a modern ((1990s) field cultivator with good frame spacing. It has a Summers brand time harrow behind it the times are bent a bit so if trash builds up it
releases the trash more easily. Because of the bend.

Sometimes in a tough spring the field cultivator wont handle the trash if I didnt chop the corn stalks. I have a modern (1990s) disk that rarely gets used for these
conditions.

This fall a couple combine break downs and an early winter and I didnt get 40 acres of corn stalks worked in fall. I will disk them at a bit of an angle, let it dry a few
days, and field cultivate them. They will go through the machinery just fine and make a good seedbed for beans.

It sounds like your machinery just doesnt handle the trashy ways we Farm now, without moldboard plowing it black. Im guessing on the ages of my equipment,
Farmhand/ Glencoe Soil Saver, IHC 4800 field cultivator, and ihc 490 disk.

Paul

 

[cact34r]

That doesn't sound like much fun. Is there anyone in your area that can help you learn how to setup your tractor and plow? When the tractor and plow are setup correctly and the draft is working properly I find plowing to be a very relaxing experience, but it does make a terrible mess if things aren't working right. Definitely helps to have someone show you. I went to a plow clinic a long time ago at a dealer and learned things that I still use.