Chisel vs. Molboard

[Cam50]

My old 5-16's is getting pretty tired and needs to be replaced. Never used a chisel and looking for advice. Pros and cons? I have sand, clay, and some muck ground. Also, what size chisel would a 100 hp. handle? (AC 200).
Thanks.

 

[Don-Wi]

In my opinion, chisel plows are great, but there are some things that a moldboard is just better for.

Our soil is really heavy, and it takes 100 HP to pull a 4-16 plow. Behind thyat same tractor we pull up to 7 shanks on a disc chisel, or a 5 shank sub soiler.

If you can pull 5-16', I'd venture to guess a 9 shank chisel would be about your limit.

Donovan from Wisconsin

 

[Chester5731]

I have light ground and have used both. The chisel leaves more on top to keep the wind from blowing the dirt around. The moldboard seems to help more with weed control.

 

[Tim(nj)]

Chisels also don't work very well in sod, so keep that in mind if you have any to work under. A coulter chisel, like a Glencoe Soil Saver, might work OK in sod that's been killed off with an herbicide.

 

[rustyfarmall]

(quoted from post at 09:38:31 05/14/10) My old 5-16's is getting pretty tired and needs to be replaced. Never used a chisel and looking for advice. Pros and cons? I have sand, clay, and some muck ground. Also, what size chisel would a 100 hp. handle? (AC 200).
Thanks.

The rule of thumb is one foot of chisel for each 10 horsepower of the tractor.
A set of dual rear tires and proper ballast will let you cheat that rule and add 2 to 3 feet to the chisel. This was my experience with a chisel in southwest Iowa, with soil conditions very similar to your description.

 

[buickanddeere]

How about adding the 3rd option of a deep V ripper?

 

[CBL95]

My 200 is turned up a little and i pull an AC 10 shank in heavy clay without duals

 

[JMS/.MN]

A chisel plow turns under about 1/3 of the residue, compared to close to 100% with one pass of a moldboard plow. With sod, usually need two passes to work up decently, if that"s all you have- moldboard is better for that. I run a 12 foot Glencoe chisel behind a 2WD 4240 with duals, clay soil. SoilSaver is nice for stalks, but doesn"t do any better in sod than a conventional chisel- had a 15 foot behind a Case 2470 4WD for years. Type of points has a big impact on power requirement- narrow straights vs twisted 4 inch wide. Run twisted now on both the chisel and 12 shank White disc chisel behind the 4450 MFWD, but years ago had the 12 foot with straights behind a dualed 4020 in bean stubble. With cornstalks, even chopped, you need a disc chisel.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Depends on how deep but my experience would estimate 7 shanks. I pulled a 11 shank with 180 hp and it was about all the tractor wanted at 9 inches deep.

 

[Mike Aylward]

Cam, I have a few chisel plows and also have a v-ripper. I used to try to run my chisel plows pretty deep (10" or so) but have found out they run better somewhere around 6 or 7. If I need to go deeper than that I hook on to the ripper. That is what it was designed for. By running shallower with the chisel plow I can do a better job and the ground still works well in the spring. They really weren't originally designed to be pulled tremendously deep. They had their start in stubble mulch farming and didn't run very deep at all there. Mike

 

[Cam50]

Thanks Guys. I'm pretty well set for this spring so now I can take my time with a decision. Sounds like solid advice. Appreciate it.

 

[JMS/.MN]

Another option for shovels are 12-16 inch sweeps, run shallow in the spring to undercut everything without bringing up a lot of cold, wet, clay.

 

[MSJ from MN]

When you say disc chisel do you mean discs that are angled or cupped in front?

We run a chisel plow with the straight discs in front. It does a good job for us in corn stalks. We are in extremely sandy soil.

 

[Don-Wi]

Either or. The ones with just the straight axels of discs don't seem to do much good at all, but we rented a Brillion soil commander once with the cupped discs each on their own arm, and those really dug in. Didn't notice much difference in how it pulled vs. the other style, but it seemed to do a better job of cutting the trash.

We just rent one once in a while when we need one, instead of buying one to sit around & rust away.

Donovan from Wisconsin