What is the largest food plot you use your tiller on before you switch to a plow or disc? This will be the first year we plant a larger plot it will be 1.5 acres. To big for our 60" RTT? I know it is gonna take awhile to get done probably.
I till 3.5 acres in one plot with my 60" tiller. Takes some time, but I've had great luck with my soybean plantings in this plot. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
Yeah I followed your food plot thread last year and loved it! I mowed the plot this weekend and I am probably going to spray it the first weeekend in May and try to have it planted by 3rd the weekend. I am also looking at soybeans. I know I may not have enough acres but this being my first larger plot that isn't clover I just want to see what happens so I know moving forward.
I think I can till about 1 acre per hour with my tractor and tiller. I have a 30hp tractor and till in low gear for the first pass. I will generally let it dry then come back and hit it with a second pass, sometimes I will do that pass in mid gear. Last season I tilled close to 10 acres with my tiller. It's slow work, but I can get a better seed bed with one pass of the tiller than 3 or 4 passes with my disk.
We've used a little rear tine garden tiller on a plot as large as 1.5 however we had two running so it helped but still long time from beginning to end :D Was worth it though, as the buck I shot last year was heading right for it...
You can keep your garden tillers! LOL!!!!! We have a 50hp kabota with a 60" RRT. I just wanted to get an idea of what some of you more seasoned guys do.
With a 50hp, it should be like cutting warm butter. Just make sure that the ground is not wet. When it's wet, the mud and clay get stuck inside the tiller, making it work much harder.(I've learned this the hard way with broken drive shafts on the tiller). We have lots of clay around here, and if it's wet I'm leaving it alone from now on. Replacing the drive shaft is a real PITA, not to mention expensive.
What exactly does that mean? Seasoned? I do over probably 4 total acres of plots in a year, spanning over 16+ micro plots on all the properties we hunt. Just because someone uses a garden tiller doesn't make them any less seasoned haha...sweaty yes but not less seasoned. Shoot I've done a 1/16th acre plot with elbow grease, a rake and weed killer....tough but works. *Take Sky's advice on when to do it...man knows what he is talking about!
By seasoned I meant people who have been food plotting for awhile now with more than a year or two of expierience. So you would fall into that catagory as seasoned. I was not trying to say your way of doing it was bad. But since you like working hard your more then welcome to come down and pick up a hand sprayer and do the entire field for me! As of now the most I have done is a few throw and grow plots and reseeding a clover plot that was already established. So as much as I hate this term I am a Newbie to this.
no offense was taken just razzing ya a bit. Also nah I'm good...believe me I don't enjoy doing how we do, but it is what we have and save money over buying any big equipment. We may be getting one of those ground hog attachments for a friend's Qaud...which seems small to most, but would be huge for our smaller set ups. Little sweat will take ya from Newb to seasoned in no time Welcome to the addiction that is food plotting, it catches ya almost (for some more) than buck fever.
Ripper? I have a ripper both on the back of a dozer (3 shank) and a pull type for the tractors....good luck getting any kind of a seed bed with a ripper without also disking it. I have a 72" and a 60" RRT tiller for the tractors. The new little 27hp Kubota with the 60" tiller will cover ground pretty darn fast. I wouldn't mind a bit driving into a 3 acre food plot with it. Any larger and I'd use the 18' disk first. I only ever work my food plots when they are newly broken out, after that it's all no-till drill.
It really does take hold of you. When we first got the property we talked about planting some plots eventually but no big rush. Once we got the tractor and tiller is was like my mind went into overdrive and all I have been doing is researching and planning. Property improvment is not only a good thing but it also acts as a nice filler for your time until deer season.
I got a 4 foot king kutter tiller on the back of a subcompact Yanmar. Slow process, but after a few years of building up the soil/picking rocks, it is getting easier and little faster to till. Picture 1 is the first time breaking ground, and picture two is from last year. I break the one acre plot into sections instead of doing the whole deal at once. Like a buffet for deer. I also use a walk behind tiller by the house for my micro plots. Lots of work, but I dont mind it.
