Using a Disk for Soil Preparation

Using a Disc for Soil Preparation. On our farm, we do not own a plow for soil preparation. Due to our way of clearing land, by cutting trees very close to the ground and leaving the stumps, it would not be practical to use a plow anyway. Once the trees are cleared, we spray any vegetation with glyphosate to kill it. When the vegetation is dead and preferably dry, we use the disc to till the soil, going slowly over the stumps. Initially this land is used for whitetail deer food plots and is planted with either annual brassicas or annual sweet oats. Because fields initially need to have their perennial weed populations controlled, annual crops are grown for the first year or two. To help accomplish this, glyphosate is used in between spring and fall annual cropping. Once the perennial weeds are controlled, we start planting perennial crops of Whitetail Institute, Whitetail Clover, Clover and Chicory and or Clover, Chicory and Sanfoin. After growing the perennial crops for 3 to 5 years and some of the stumps start to decompose, we can start to plant row crops like corn. In between each crop, we use glyphosate and the disc to control the weeds and prepare the seedbed for planting. One caution about using this practice is that a hardpan will develop about 4-6 inches down in the soil due to the repeated pressure of the disc. If you have the ability to chisel plow or moldboard plow every few years, this will help with internal soil drainage.

Using a Disc for Soil Preparation