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Scottville, 49454 Northwest Michigan | We've got quite a bit of sod to plow this spring. I'm considering the purchase of a plow to help us with this task that does not have any coulters with it. I've never plowed sod without coulters. Can it be done? Will it do a satisfactory job or will I have problems trying to plow sod without coulters? I've plowed corn stalks without coulters and actually found it to be easier to do the job. One year we were having problems with the corn stalks plugging up the plow, so we tried taking off the coulters and without the coulters the plowed plugged up much less. But, like I said, we have never tried plowing sod without coulters. Just wondering if any of you might be able to tell me if I will be satisfied trying to plow sod without coulters on my plow.
thank you, gordon |
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Lewisburg, PA | why do you want to plow it? Why not no till!! |
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| because his map dot shows Mi.
ground is more than likely "rough"
cold dirt cold lake Mi.
west winds cold lake
a"red" plow will work |
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SE South Dakota | I'm thinking you need coulters.
Jim |
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Northern Indiana | Agree with Hillfarmer, you need a red plow. Dont remember the No. of the IH plow. 510 mabe? The white is 588 or 589.
We never took the colters off of the 588 White. Almost never plugged with them on.
My thoughts are to buy one of these Whites, or IH. Or you will forever be wishing you did.
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Southeast MN | Here, SE MN, we didn't really need them in sod. I would base the decision more on the condition of the bottoms than if it has coulters.
Up until the late 80's we ran IH low clearance, semi mount moldboard plows. I think they were 510 series. One had "cover boards" and one didn't. Anyway, we ran without coulters in sod or corn. In sod it was a piece of cake, the deadfurrow might not have a nice clean edge but if you can pull the plow fast enough (5 mph) in dry ground it would roll and shatter the soil. The mulcher would level any high spots and it would be ready to plant. Then I found a white 548 at a sale for scrap price and with more underframe clearance and good coulters it would run right behind the combine in corn stubble. It was a real treat to run that compared to the IH. Finally sold the white a few years back after a long retirement in the shed. |
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East Palestine, Ohio (Columbiana Co.) | The coulters will let the plow pull a little easier...The shins won't wear out as fast.........But you could probably get by without them, if the plow doesn't have any on it now.....However, if I was going to buy one, I'd want the coulters on it. What kind of sod we talking about here........close cropped or tractor hood high?
And, I'd definitely want auto reset bottoms, prefer spring over hydr., but they both work, "here", anyways......
Good Luck........ The Dumb Farmer
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Little Egypt Southern Illinory | Had one ended up getting an old Oliver plow from neighbor to do the job.
Tom |
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| you`ve got alot of small trees I`d want coulters to save shins. Wheres Pokey on this one, here we go again. |
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NNY | Kneverland makes a knife that bolt to plow point that replaces coulters. Much cheaper than mantaining coulters in rockie ground. |
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Pasco WA. | What you wnat is a Kuhn plow with the skimmer bottom. The only reason we ever plow anything in this area is to get rid of sod. The Kuhn plow has taken over as the plow of choice here. Notice the small skimmer bottom in front of the regular bottom. Thats the secret to why this plow works so well.
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| Jus reading with my safetly glasses on, waiting for the sparks.:-)
But if it were me here in my soil type, I'd be doing the majority of my heavy finish work before I plowed. Then coulters, and coverboards, etc. are'nt so critical and the plow will pull easier. Not to mention the time it will buy you after plowing before the boulders setup in the sun. Takes a while to plow an acre. If you have a second tractor, with a roller, plow a few hours, then roll it down, plow a few hours, roll it down, etc. Or have someone run the roller. But if you rip it up ahead of the plow, it seems to buy some time, especially in the spring when the sun gets pretty powerfull pretty quick. The other thing tilling ahead of the plow does is eliminate so many air pockets. This will save a lot of moisture. Just my opinion.
Here's a pic of plowing out some strawberry ground in the fall. It was so heavily compacted from the berry tractors etc., I ripped and disked, then rolled ahead of the plow. Still, look at the boulders.:-( If I had'nt done that, I'd never be able to run a wheeled tractor over the boulders. You can see the soil really laid out nice even taking into consideration the large size of the clods.
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| the freshly plowed soil in that pic, I can only dream right now about getting out with the snow and rain we are receiving now. Thank you , I must stop now my eyes are watering. |
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| I would get a newer style plow vrs an older due to higher trash clearance spring resets and spring coulters If over 5 bottoms go with a on land hitch |
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Northeast, PA | Boulders? Is this the right picture to go with your post? I must me missing something here. This looks like beautiful ground! |
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Northeast, PA | We have no problems plowing sod with JD350 5 bottom plows here in very hilly, rocky Pennsylvania soil. As someone else said the furrow my not be the cleanest, but it gets the job done and though older, these plows still do a great job for us. Good luck. |
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West Texas | Those are typical on all European plows.
When I first saw an American plow I was scratching my head. How was that thing going to plow without the skimmers and coulters? Ended up working ok but will never turn the dirt completely over like it would with skimmers. |
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Woodbury county | I think you would be much more satisfied with coulters on your plow. Plows around here are so cheap occasionally on sales they can't even get a bid. Way back when I use to plow, and that seems like a long time ago, I had a JD 5-18 plow and just never did care for it. Traded it for an IH 710 model 6-18 and that plow seemed not only to pull easier, but it did a perfect job of turning over the furrow. If you are going to anything over 5 bottoms, you need an on-land hitch......
Edited by nwiafmr 4/15/2007 11:27
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| IH 720 works real good,Bob.  |
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Pasco WA. | The skimmers are what makes that plow work so well. They actually turn the sod over and bury it. I have never seen one plowing anything other than sod. How do they work in wheat stubble or corn stalks? |
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Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot | Guys around here have been using them in wheat and barley stubble ahead of onions. They really like it as it buries all of the trash and leaves the top completely black. Then they can rototill it a couple of times and still not have trash at all in the seedbed. Works good if it doesn't blow. Those skimmers really make them work well to bury it all. |
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Pasco WA. | The onion guys close to me either use some kind of strip tillage or minimum till and plant a cover crop. The dirt here likes to blow. In the areas where the dirt dosen't blow they will clean till. |
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southern MN | IH 720 plow.
--->Paul |
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sw corner ia. | . |
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West Union, Illinois | We have a couple old IH 720's in the shed, and they are worth more to me just in case I need them someday than I could get for both of them
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Oskaloosa, Iowa 52577 | Thanks. |
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Pasco WA. | This picture shows them fairly well. http://www.abcgroff.com/ag/kuhn5.htm They are the small bottoms that are in front of the main bottom. |
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West Texas | shows the skimmers better.
Skimmers take the top layer and place it down in the bottom of the furrow.
I've never really plowed with one in a lot of trash or tall stubble. Have plowed short stubble and they will not leave any stubble showing, they burry it |
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| coulters, is lot of the ground damper type of ground, Also a lot autum olives might influence your deceision, dont know if you have any ground to plow with them. |
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| If you're only going to be plowing a few acres you can do it without coulters but I would recomend them if you're going to be plowing several acres. Like others have said they will save the shins. We always set the coulters about 1" above the point of the share & slightly to the land side.
Agree with others, IH 710/720 plows are the best. 720 has a little more clearance as the trip mechanism was moved to the top of the beam on them compared to below the beam on the 710s.
Severak years ago I plowed up an old pasture. Even with a 710 there was more pieces of sod left on top than I cared for. I took a disc & disced the sod then plowed it. Turned over like a garden with no chunks of sod on top. |
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Palestine Illinois | I tried plowing once. It was not preaty. I thought plowing would be about like disking, boy was I wrong. My first through I ended up in the trees, then did not get lined back up untill I was half way across the field. Lets just say it was a good thing that the field was way off the road.
Kurt |
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| Here in north Idaho we grow bluegrass in normal rotation so we take alot out every year. Some is no till (spring). Most of its is fall work before wheat. In this case most guys will lightly chisel (some disc) then molboard plow. Usually takes a few passes in the field to smooth it in our area. |
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Ripley, Ontario Canada | The plow is a great way to get rid of sod. You should have coulters. It will cut down on wear on the plow and allow you to make a much better job. The coulters should be about 1 inch wider than the bottom, but can be adjusted to make all the furrows even. You can tell if you have the coulters too narrow by looking at the ground behind each furrow. If the furrow wall is nice and clean you are wide enough and can maybe go narrower. If you are ripping the edge of the furrow wall and leaving dirt along the edge you need to widen the coulter out a little (1/2 inch at a time). You will really be happier buying a european plow, konsgilde (sp) overum, Kuhn, kneverland (sp) salford (with kv bottoms) or jd or caseIH with Kv bottoms. They just work better. If you have more questions email me |
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plowing sod
