Thoughts on rolling basket Speed

[indypower13]

Was just thinking about adding rolling baskets to our current field cultivator or upgrading to a different field cultivator with rolling baskets. We have (rocks, Sand, clay, peat ground all in the same fields) Southeast Minnesota still mostly flat ground.
1) Anyone with experience on use of baskets as to minimum ground speed to make them beneficial in seed bed prep?
2) We currently pull a 24' field cultivator with a Magnum 8930 2wd it pulls it with ease (most the time)

Any thoughts or valuable info greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[DeltaRed]

Baskets help at any speed.Biggest issue is rocks.Some rocks just fit between the wires and stay there all day.Smaller ones fall through.Others bend the wires.For Rocky ground,harrow type is best.

 

[830]

We bought a 4800 24 pulled by a 3788 no problem it has a sallford on the back . I run at about 5 mph . It does a very nice job especially when soil is at nice working conditions. Ya do get in it . Be prepared to add some weight to the front of the digger

 

[SVcummins]

I have a rolling basket on my power Harrow I run it anywhere from 2 mph to 4 it does a neat

 

[paul]

In the south central part where wet clay and peat ground is the norm, I often see neighbors try them for 2 years, then they rarely come out again only in very dry springs.

You are a tad lighter ground over there, so they might work better for you.

Its interesting to see folk unplug them on gravel roads here from time to time. Road gear lower slowly and hope the dirt flies out before anything busts seems to be an option. Maybe its just hired help driving tho?

Paul

 

[flying belgian]

My thoughts are they pack the ground to much. Walk behind one of them and then walk behind a tine harrow. You will notice a definite difference. Weather that equates to more or less yield, I don't know.

 

[crsutton81]

We have Unverferth Perfecta field cultivators and really like them. Usually run about 6 mph. It has a metal board with angled teeth to level it ahead of 1 single row of baskets. These baskets are the scalloped blade type, not a round rod style. You can turn the baskets in one direction to pack it, or flip them around to fluff up the top. It will mulch up the clods good and leave a good seed bed.

 

[SVcummins]

They do pack the ground but a firm seeebed is a good thing . If you dont do it to wet the top should be firm where the seed is and the soil beneath should still be softer

 

[caterpillar guy]

We have a 29 foot 1225 egg beater with the bars of flat stock on it. They collect stones terrible. If the ground is a bit wet it will fill up with dirt. And worse if you get a stone in them. I would rather have a regular packer if working on heavy clay for clods and sand. It does leave a nice looking surface to plant in when things are correct moisture and pull easier than a regular packer I think. If you get one like the Unverferth plan on putting bearings in on a seasonal basis if you don't want to fool with them in the field. They suck to get off unless you grind or cut them off the shaft. Unverferth only has sense enough to put one hole to drive the bearing off with. As I replace bearings I'm drilling a second hole to get a punch through. Don't always have a grinder or torch in the field with you Or a plug on the fence post.

 

[caterpillar guy]

For got to say folding is also fun if you don't have at least 2500 PSI hydraulics. Our Stieger will fold it if there is no stones in it and you can help it. The 7140 or our 574 will fold it right up. Both have 2500 PSI or more pressure. Might be the Stieger is low on pressure from 30-40 years of use. Need to check that and then fix.

 

[SVcummins]

Steiger didnt have good hydraulics when then came out the plant in Fargo and they still dont

 

[Leroy]

I haven't farmed for several years now and never used one. But I know the Amish use them with their horse drawn implements and they are putting them on both front and back of the new cultimulchers and the horse walking speed is about 2 1/2 MPH so if they work for them speed or lack of speed should not be a problem. I know the Amish owner of the factory that is making them.

 

[Bill(Wis)]

I have a J&M pull behind soil conditioner with rolling baskets similar to the one pictured below. My rolling baskets are exactly as pictured below and I bought the saw tooth type rather than the round bar type. I have many different types of soil on my farms ranging from sandy loam thru red clay all the way to heavy black soils that get mucky when wet. The only time I can pull those rolling baskets directly behind a field cultivator or disc is in extremely dry soil conditions which rarely happens. Otherwise, I have to either disc or field cultivate and then wait a day or so to go over the fields with the rolling baskets. They do a nice job of creating a seedbed that way. Too wet and the centers of the baskets will fill up with wet soil and make the baskets look like logs. If you let that harden, you'll have a devil of a time getting the basket centers cleaned out even with a power washer. Also, if you have potato size rocks they will enter the centers of the baskets and be difficult to get out due to the spring action of the sawtooth blades. I've had to pull a few out with another tractor and chain. Be careful doing that. Otherwise a good big crowbar usually does the trick. It's not all it's cracked up to be. Would I buy another one. I don't know. Probably not. Just my 2c worth.