Plowing advice
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Category: Allis Chalmers
Forum Name: Farm Equipment
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URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=27597
Printed Date: 28 Feb 2025 at 4:18am
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Topic: Plowing advice
Posted By: Roddo
Subject: Plowing advice
Date Posted: 19 Mar 2011 at 9:20pm
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I'm just wondering what the best way to go about plowing under corn stalks is? I have a few small fields (1 acre and 3 acres in corn stalks)? Would it be best to run over the field once with a disk to chop everything up a bit first? The field was harvested with a corn picker last year so there are some variances in stalk height here and there if that matters. I will be using a #73 semi mount SC plow hitched to my WD45. Also I acquired another field for next year that is about 3 acres as well. It is pretty heavy grass and hasn't been tilled in years. Once again I was thinking of mowing it down and hitting it with the disk first then plowing it under. Any advice on this type of ground? Pretty much all of my experience back home was chisel plowing corn stalks in the fall and disking in the spring so I am new to the moldboard plowing game. I wish we still had the chisel but it got sold at Grandpa's sale. We bought a combine last year and mom would kill dad if he bought anything else for a while, ha ha. Thanks for any and all help. I'm pretty excited, considering I pay 150$ for renting all of it, I think I can have a good year next year. Its not a lot of acreage but I have fun with it. |
Replies:
Posted By: Dipstick In
Date Posted: 19 Mar 2011 at 9:39pm
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I'm going to disk my stalks again before plowing, they were disked last fall but with the amount of trash on the field it will plow easier if I disk again. That would be my suggestion to you for your first question. As for the grass, I would wire some No. 9, or good strong fence wire to the shanks of the coulters letting the wire trail back behind the moldboard and share. Maybe even 5 or 6 feet behind each bottom.That is how we used to plow down standing rye for green manure. Some years when it was wet and we couldn't get in the fields the rye would be 3-4 feet tall. Be sure the wires hold the grass down until the furrow slice can roll over it. It works like a champ and is easy. If you mow it, you will have to fight all the loose crap and probably will use unchristian verbage!!! BTDT too many times. I first learned to plow about 1951 or 52, so I might know what I know!! ------------- You don't really have to be smart if you know who is! |
Posted By: Eric[IL]
Date Posted: 19 Mar 2011 at 9:41pm
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On the corn stalks, you could take a bushhog or batwing blade type mower or a flail type stalk chopper to size all the material, then plow it. If you disc them first, you will need a heavy-good cutting disc to do a decent job. Once disked, you have loose soil which gives less traction for out of the furrow drive wheel. On the grass land, call your local fire department and schedule a controlled burn-off of the grass. Local fire fighters usually like the chance to help out. You could then just no-til it without having to plow & work the ground?
Come to think of it, you may want to try control burning both the corn stubble & grass? Call your local fire fighters and ask some questions.
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Posted By: Jim seIl
Date Posted: 19 Mar 2011 at 10:06pm
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Corn stalks if corn was cultivated last year disk with the rows if not cultivated disk at a slight angle
sod what worked best for me on 20 year crp ground last year mowed with batwing the length of feild then 2-3 days later mowed again cornerwise cause mower will leave little windrows and lengtwise you would have all the way across the feild to plow under crosswise you would have wads at a time corner wise would go right through
notill buy LOTS of insurance is the only way to break even
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Posted By: Steve M C/IL
Date Posted: 19 Mar 2011 at 11:25pm
| discing stalks ain't so bad if you got time for a few rains to settle the dirt.as said the loose soil don't help traction plowing but if it's a 3 bttm behind a 45 it shouldn't pull so hard as to cause much trouble.if the ground is dry it won't make that much difference whether it's disced or not for traction.back in the day we used to disc standin stalks and plow.this was all spring work. |
Posted By: Dans 7080
Date Posted: 20 Mar 2011 at 3:09am
| I have plowed sod and stalks, The best thing to do is leave it alone and just plow it. I bought a disc a few years ago and was "playing" with it in a field I was plowing anyway. It made a mess where I had disked. Everything else plowed great. |
Posted By: Dipstick In
Date Posted: 20 Mar 2011 at 8:31am
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I guess you could burn it off like Eric said, we never did because of fire maybe jumping to other fields, and DO NOT disc sod before plowing because it will be harder to do a nice job. We always disced stalks in the spring before plowing and did not have traction problems except if it rained and was too wet anyway. With a #73 plow and your traction booster set right, that should not be an issue anyway. I still recomend the wires or the burndown for the sod. Fifty years of moldboarding has to count for something!!!! But as Dan7080 said if you have to disc something, do it somewhere other than on the sod. Have fun, and learn, that's what it's all about!! ------------- You don't really have to be smart if you know who is! |
Posted By: Roddo
Date Posted: 20 Mar 2011 at 8:36pm
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Thanks guys. I've only ever plowed ground that was wheat stubble and light weeds. I'll definately try the wire to lay the grass down. That's a good idea! I also forgot to add that the corn ground is badly rutted from it being a swamp when I picked it. Will this screw me up alot? |
Posted By: Dipstick In
Date Posted: 20 Mar 2011 at 9:39pm
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Nope, now, before you plow is the time to level the ground. Just disc the ground on a 45 degree, more or less, doesn't matter, to fill in the ruts. I would probably do it two ways to get them leveled out. Shoot, you keep on you're going to be a plowman yet! ------------- You don't really have to be smart if you know who is! |
Posted By: TexasAllis
Date Posted: 21 Mar 2011 at 7:37am
If you have or can get your hands on a good heavy offset disc run that over your field. It will pull down the high spots and fill in the low spots. If you have some type of harrow or heavy pipe/railroad track pull that behind the offset to smooth it even more.
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Roddo wrote:Posted By: Roddo
Date Posted: 21 Mar 2011 at 9:52am
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Only disk I have is a 12ft tandem. I suppose it will have to do. Dad said it was a good disk for filling in deadfurrows, maybe it will work as good on ruts. I think my Uncle has an offset, but its probably way too big to even get into my tiny fields. I have to go through a gate to get to one field and the markers scrape either side on my old IH 56 corn planter. That's why I rent it so cheap, all the big farmers around here can't even get in! |
Posted By: Rawleigh
Date Posted: 21 Mar 2011 at 11:21am
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I just did a small field for a customer on Saturday the was heavy sage brush and weed with small pines and larger gum trees (up to 3") in it. i chained out a few of the bigger gums and bushhogged the rest close to the ground. I then plowed it with an IH 710 4-18 semi mount plow. I disced it with my Burch 14.5 foot finish disc. I had no trouble covering the debris, although a few of the rootballs were a little slow going through the plow. Everything covered well. No major plugs and no trips. I would say chop it and plow it if the plow is big enough to handle it. |
Posted By: 427435
Date Posted: 21 Mar 2011 at 11:03pm
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I wouldn't burn either the grass or stalks first------they will add to the tilth of the soil. Before you get carried away spending time and fuel disking the fields, I would try the plow first. If the stalks give problems, see if you can find a small stalk chopper or rotary mower to run over the field with first. ------------- Mark B10 Allis, 917 Allis, 7116 Simplicity, 7790 Simplicity Diesel, GTH-L Simplicity Ignorance is curable-----stupidity is not. |
Posted By: Bill Long
Date Posted: 22 Mar 2011 at 12:46am
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I remember using an offset coulter - similar to the one of the G plow. Don't know if they make them any more but they worked fine for us.
In fact if we had really trashy plowing in a small field we used the G. That offset coulter was great for trash - actually it was designed to keep the front of the G, which had no weight, plowing in a straight line. Worked fine.
Good Luck!
Bill Long
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