Cub #3 spring tooth cultivator

[Mac AR]

Ya, I read that, and I think you've got a good plan. But, I really think either one of your tractors are gonna struggle with more than a single shank ripper. My 300 dynos 47 horsepower at the pto (lots of M&W goodies), and it had all it wanted in 2nd gear with my single shank ripper running two foot in the ground and even then the TA got a workout. Your SA from factory has ~15 horse on the drawbar; the Cub only has 10, and that's assuming both are in tip-top mechanical shape. Which leads me to believe that you're gonna have a rough time using a ripper. Not saying it can't be done, just that it'll be hard on them to do it. You can just about figure 1st gear, wide open throttle and hope you don't hit anything solid.

Now all that being said, let me ask you a question: do you really need to subsoil? I've never done any until this year, and only did this field because it was new ground and I wasn't sure how tight it was. Our ground here drains pretty well, even along the creeks. I guess if you're in heavy clay or gumbo you might need to rip it. And I do understand the concept of raised beds. We grew strawberries and watermelons on plastic for several years, not organic mind you, but the principal is the same. We just mold-boarded the field in the fall and then disked, harrowed, and bedded it in the spring. The old beds were busted out ahead of the plow, and we rotated crops to try and stay ahead of root fungus (common in berries). I guess I just can't grasp the need to subsoil when you're planting on raised beds. By all means, correct my mis-understanding. Maybe I've just gotten to the age where I'm set in my ways in regards to farming methods.

Mac

 

[BullDAWG]

Well Mac, my neighbor with a 6 series JD (130ish HP pre-Obama so it blows black smoke) pulled a 8-10 foot chisel plow in my fields at about 18" deep. It helped drainage and before then when I disked my 18" 6' disk only went about 6-8" deep even after I used my cub 193 and A-295 2 bottom turning plow. But those plows only could go about 6-8" deep. Once those fields were chiseled I then disked and it went deeper than the axles over 9" deep. And besides drainage it also seemed to help with roots as plants did better. But in regards to "IF a cub or SA" can pull 1 or more chisel plows, I must keep reminding that I am NOT talking about going 18" deep, just 12" and even then its actually only 4-6" that will be hard ground. 6-9" will already be loose, disked, broken up and hilled up ground so it will not be that hard to pull even 4 shanks IMHO, but if wrong I'll reduce shanks till it can work, and if none of my plans work with that then I'm also looking for a 400-560 Hi-Crop and will use that to pull the chisel plows I built. I can also borrow neighbors JD and his plow but I'll have to do some horse tradin for that. But I honestly think that soft disked ground that hilled up and packed ground (between raised bed rows) for traction should allow me to rip the raised beds fine. But time and after some trial and error I'll be able to say for sure. But I do have back-up plans if it doesn't work. I'll just need bigger equipment to pull it. But to also answer your question of do I really need to subsoil ? Answer is depends but yes, as the raised beds are only 4" tall so roots go deeper than that, but that said, I'll only do it every other year as it shouldn't pack up too bad and my beds will be permanent so once all is set up I'll only be adding organic matter, manure and worm castings to top of beds and minimally till that in but mostly will keep beds alone and only rebuild them when needed and thats when I'll chisel them too so most of the ground the chisel will be in will already be worked, loose soil just the last 4-6" will be what I would call hardpan, but even that shouldn't even be hard as between all the amendments added and worms in the castings should make the beds loose even past plow depth. But till I actually do and see all this is theoretical. As any farmer knows all plans go out the window as weather, soil, unforeseen things like tree roots just happen and plans change to adapt to situation at hand not what was planed.

 

[outdoors4evr]

I can't seem to wrap my head around not trying. Seems to me I'd give it a try with one point the first year, take the extra time to run up and down the rows multiple times. If that goes well and the cub is handling it well, then add another point next year, knowing that it was chiseled last year. I have often wondered if my little loboy would pull this type of implement. It does say Cat1 3-point which is on my numbered loboy. It also says max of 35HP. Definitely fall under that requirement.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...j6srq_9q_47OKYMG5ZKGz61SpQR03y_waAg_-EALw_wcB

 

[welderrx]

Forage radish, read up on the benefits. It's a great subsoiler, inexpensive, saves fuel, dies out in winter to form a fall/winter cover crop, humus, inexpensive implements to sow.

A local guy to me has a You Tube Channel "Timmy Cornpicker" and I was thinking about tillage radishes after seeing a booth about them at Horse Progress Days a few years ago, until I saw some of the problems he was having with them wintering over and spreading on their own, I think a harsh enough winter might kill them but they still make me a little nervous. TJ

 

[BullDAWG]

Forage radish, read up on the benefits. It's a great subsoiler, inexpensive, saves fuel, dies out in winter to form a fall/winter cover crop, humus, inexpensive implements to sow.

A local guy to me has a You Tube Channel "Timmy Cornpicker" and I was thinking about tillage radishes after seeing a booth about them at Horse Progress Days a few years ago, until I saw some of the problems he was having with them wintering over and spreading on their own, I think a harsh enough winter might kill them but they still make me a little nervous. TJ

That was a concern here too, we have mild winters (zone 8b) so usually in December I'm in short sleeves, so those radishes probably wouldn't die here and may cause more harm than good come spring. Also see what they smell like when they do rot. Makes my chicken manure smell good LOL

 

[Mac AR]

Well, all I can say is good luck and I hope it works for you. Do let us know how it works, I look forward to the results.

Mac

 

[Nelson 634]

As any farmer knows all plans go out the window as weather, soil, unforeseen things like tree roots just happen and plans change to adapt to situation at hand not what was planed.

Large rocks would be my worry. And by large rocks I mean 6" or larger. Maybe you have good clean soil. That's something I rarely see here in Virginia. " Mountains+rivers=Rocks. I wish you the best. This is how mankind learns. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out for you. Walter

 

[BullDAWG]

Rocks here ain't the problem, but I do have trees on fence rows and spanish oak roots are just as bad as bolders if not careful. The closer I get to trees the slower and more cautious I'll be but I'm also planing on adding sheer bolts to any deep tillage tools just to be on safe side... But thanks for weighing in Nelson, some others reading this may not have thought about things underground causing problems (out of sight, out of mind).