Problems plowing

[drglinski]

Another thing you may not have considered is weight on the wheels.


I've seen plowing done by farmers who plow a lot that makes yours look great. Plowing is an art and it takes practice IMO.

[bocephus1991]

Yeah looks alittle wet to me too. Extra weight wouldn't hurt once it's dryer. I know from experience from plowing with full size tractors on sod it will pull hard and if you have any clay it's that much harder of a pull.

[o---o]

Originally Posted by Vin122

Next you get to disk this breaking up the clumps smoothening it off. best to wait a few days before you disk.

A quick question about the disc - I noticed the discs are adjustable for more angle. Should I use more angle or less angle? What are the effects of more or less angle?


And thanks to everyone for the comments and opinions, they've all been very helpful and appriciated.




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[J-Mech]

The cutter disk is only adjustable up and down. In sod you want it to run deep. Deep as it can. You weren't going deep enough, plus it was too wet and the plow isn't shined up. Let the ground dry more. I always have people calling me too early to come plow their garden. I'm already getting calls. Waaaaayyyyyy to wet here in south east Illinois to be breaking ground. Sod takes the longest to dry. You probably have a dull share too. Point looks decent, but the share may be a sled runner on bottom. A 12" plow is pretty large for a GT in my opinion. I think the 10 is better.

[SGragg]

Can't speak to your setup, but I've plowed with its big brother, a Farmall Cub and a 193 plow. First time I did it was in the Fall of the year, with sod fighting me all the way. Looked a lot like yours. Over winter, the high clay content broke down and I pulled a Cub-23A two-gang disk harrow over it and was ready to plant seed. The following year was a snap plowing once the sod was turned.

Give yours some daylight and drying out time. Borrow a disk if you can and work through it several times. The fact that you've just turned the sod over and it's still green will make it more of a challenge.

[IliketheRedcubs]

I agree with all the posts so far with regards to plowing sod... If what you are plowing has been sod for a number of years it tends to be hard packed as well as some "hard-pan". The clay leaches down a little and causes a layer of very hard, heavy ground, difficult to break through. Having plowed with the large farm tractors for years we used a couple different methods to break up hard plowing ground. One was the use of a sub-soiler... these implements went down below what a plow does and really breaks up the ground. The other was a chisel plow. We used these in the fall and by spring the ground plowed really nice. This is more than what most of us need cause it's only a garden but there are ways to make it plow easier! Now if I could get a hold a category 0 sub-soiler! Next year, it will be easier!

[o---o]

Originally Posted by Vin122

3rd - your set up looks maybe a bit more point on the plow, the landslide seems to be right on the ground, in a perfect world you should be able to put your fingers under it in a furrow.

Does this mean the rear of the plow should be up higher?

Originally Posted by J-Mech

The cutter disk is only adjustable up and down. In sod you want it to run deep. Deep as it can. You weren't going deep enough, plus it was too wet and the plow isn't shined up. Let the ground dry more. I always have people calling me too early to come plow their garden. I'm already getting calls. Waaaaayyyyyy to wet here in south east Illinois to be breaking ground. Sod takes the longest to dry. You probably have a dull share too. Point looks decent, but the share may be a sled runner on bottom. A 12" plow is pretty large for a GT in my opinion. I think the 10 is better.

If the share is dull, do I just sharpen it with an angle grinder? I think the plow I was using is a 10" according to how google said to measure it, and my other plow is an 8". I was wanting to get the ground opened up, but sounds like I was impatient lol. Sorry for the confusion, see below for the "disc angle" I was asking about.

Originally Posted by SGragg

Borrow a disk if you can and work through it several times. The fact that you've just turned the sod over and it's still green will make it more of a challenge.

Here is the disc I have. I plan to add some weight to it yet. This is the one I was wondering if it's better to run the gangs with more angle or more parallel?

[J-Mech]

I think the plow is a 12" because it has a brace on the back from the moldboard to the tail. Pretty sure only the 12" plows had the brace.

I'm sorry, you switched to the disk in your conversation. On that, I'd reverse the gangs and set them to kick out instead of in. Put the gangs so that they are as close together in the center as possible with as much angle as possible. I really don't like single gang disks, they leave the dirt unlevel. If your going to till after you get it leveled out that will help. FWIW I have a Brinly disk (double gang) and they really don't do much. Just not heavy enough. From what I see the 3pt ones are a lot better in that they weigh more and can be better adjusted.

Oh, and that sod will be hard to disk. REALLY hard. Do you have a tiller for back of the cub?

In your pic above, the plow on the RH side looks like a 12" and the other looks like a 10" to me.

[o---o]

I wish I had a tiller for the Cub, but I don't. I have an old 5 hp front tine tiller on loan from my Dad, Simplicity brand if I remember correctly. It's slow, but easy to use if used properly and does a decent job. And I'll take your advice on disc and switch them to kick out instead. I've thought about buying another identical disc and bolt them together to have the out/in configuration.

[Vin122]

Yes the rear should be just off the bottom of the furrow you've just plowed.

As others said turn the disk around. I'd keep it rather straight versus very angled to help cutup the sod clumps. Weight on the disk will help.

Have fun.