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Virginia Veg.

Posted 7/31/2010 20:08 (#1295615)
Subject: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

Eastern VA. No such thing as too many Magnums.

I had a bunch of requests for pictures of the Lilliston Cultivators. I finally took some while we were plowing the weeds out of the fall broccoli this week. This one is a hodge-podge of a bunch of different old used units I put on an old IH 800 planter toolbar. This is now a ten row 36" machine. Had to adapt it because original 4 and 6 row machines were on 3 1/2" diamond bars. Newer ones would have fit the 7x7 bar. They are the cats meow for working beds on sandy ground. I think they would build good strips too. It's a very adaptable machine with pretty much infinite adjustment. These things are everywhere in the southeast. They were really popular in tobacco, peanuts, and cotton. KMC and Lilliston offer them. You can get 4 row machines at auctions for $50, but then usually need to go to Agri-Supply and buy new spider gangs. Here are some pics.

Edited by Virginia Veg. 7/31/2010 20:22

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nwksmilo

Posted 7/31/2010 20:17 (#1295638 - in reply to #1295615)
Subject: Re: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

Colby, KS

Hey I've ran one of those! Still have it sitting out in the tree row but haven't used it for probably close to 20 years. Best machine ever made for cultivating milo. Always adjusted the spider gangs to throw soil into the row to hill it up a little. Could pretty much bury small weeds in between the plants. Used to use our 8 row on a JD 4430. Had a full front weight rack and it still was a little light on the nose.

BSchroeder

Posted 7/31/2010 20:54 (#1295669 - in reply to #1295615)
Subject: Re: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

Devils Lake, ND

I have logged a few hours pulling one of those things as well. They work well for specialty crops because you never have to worry about rolling slabs into the row. Ours had a disk blade in place of the inner spider wheel for cutting right up to the row.

Deadduck

Posted 7/31/2010 20:54 (#1295670 - in reply to #1295615)
Subject: Re: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

Northeast Louisiana

Nice pictures. I see you're 10 row, what spacing you on? 38"? We've got a 6-row one out in the weeds from when we used to use them in cotton. Sweet potato farmers around here sometimes use them still. Set it right and you can dang near bed up with them.

Edited by Deadduck 7/31/2010 21:00

Virginia Veg.

Posted 7/31/2010 21:11 (#1295691 - in reply to #1295670)
Subject: 10 row 36"

Eastern VA. No such thing as too many Magnums.

It's easier to make a good bed on wide rows vs. 30" It was an 8 row 36" first, but with a 90 ft boom on the sprayer, 10 rows is so much nicer since it makes 30 foot swath. Now I can spray 3 planter widths. No counting rows, no thinking, just skip 3 planters and push the hydro forward. There are piles of them not being used in the VA/Carolina region as well. Tobacco and tater guys use them still.

JoshuaGA

Posted 7/31/2010 21:11 (#1295689 - in reply to #1295615)
Subject: RE: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

Sumner GA, Located in southwest GA,

Have a pair of 4 rows with the diamond bar. One is now less spiders and just sweeps. Want to put coulters on that one and make me a poor man's hi residue cultivator. Other one has the gangs but needs rebuilding, bearings mostly. Had a Lilliston Rip Bed N Plant that used the spiders to hill up, works good clean, didn't like much trash. Also have a Lilliston Rolling Harrow, basically a disc harrow with spiders replacing the discs. Makes an awfully nice seedbed in clean land, can take some trash as well. Thing is stupidly heavy though, 8 foot and must weigh about 3000 pounds, it is heavy.

Virginia Veg.

Posted 7/31/2010 21:14 (#1295695 - in reply to #1295689)
Subject: Darn heavy for sure.

Eastern VA. No such thing as too many Magnums.

Heavy is the general consensus. NWKSmilo says his was heavy too. This 10 row I have just about ate the 18.4-38s off a 7410 hi-crop in 3 months. I decided to just run it on a tractor with duals now. 4630 Deere won't even lift it off the ground.

TJG in MS

Posted 7/31/2010 22:38 (#1295805 - in reply to #1295695)
Subject: Re: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

Itta Bena Mississippi

Mine has 5 spider gangs, 12r40 on Orthman bar and it takes an 8000 to lift it. Tom

Sprout

Posted 7/31/2010 23:07 (#1295853 - in reply to #1295615)
Subject: RE: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

I've been thinking of doing that for some years now. I have a couple 6 row Lillistons that I would like to mount on a folding 12 row toolbar. Do you have a pic showing how you attached the diamond bar to the 7x7?

rdpwr

Posted 7/31/2010 23:22 (#1295879 - in reply to #1295853)
Subject: Re: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

I'm glad someone found a use for those cultivators. Up here we have one that we use for a ditcher (hiller), and there has been many an occasion that I would like to unhook that thing on the side of a cliff, turn the tractor around and push it over the side with the front weights. If the ground is a slight bit dry and hard, you might as well pour that diesel fuel you are planning on using out on the groud and light it on fire. And forget about putting pressure on the units to push them in, all it will do is lift the ditcher, or duck foot out of the ground that is on the back and make it shallower. We finally broke down and mounted solid shanks on the front of the 5x7 bar with 12" duck feet to break up the ground ahead of the spiders so they might have a chance of going in.

tater1086

Posted 7/31/2010 23:14 (#1295868 - in reply to #1295615)
Subject: Re: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

Snipesville, GA

My daddy bought our first one in the 70's. My granddaddy worked with him to set it up the ole timer's way and it just wouldn't work to his standards. He finally told my daddy to set it up like he wanted and to haul a$$ because that is the only way that plow would work. We officially named it the Haul A$$ Plow because you could cover some ground. We plowed corn and soybeans with ours.

dutch

Posted 7/31/2010 23:40 (#1295900 - in reply to #1295615)
Subject: Re: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

West Texas

That brings back lots of memories Rafe. When my Dad and me farmed we use to run one in all our row crops. From corn, cotton to flower seeds and sugar beets. Except ours had barrowing off disks and crop shields. When set right you could run 6 mph and really tear some weeds out if you had a big enough tractor to pull it. We didn't. Had an IH 1086 that we pulled it with. Could only get it to pull it at about 5 mph or 5.5 if going shallow. Needed more weights on front to keep the wheels on the ground too when turning.

Here we have 2 of them and use them to incorporate yellow herbicide in strip till. That's about all we use them for. We don't plow cotton and when we do plow peanuts they are too big to use the rolling cultivator.

As a matter of fact, got one new last year built by Bigham Brothers out of Lubbock.

chirpfarm

Posted 8/1/2010 00:13 (#1295934 - in reply to #1295615)
Subject: RE: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

South Central MN

How fast do you run with that? We run a Meridian, and if we had the spiders set at the angle that you have yours, I think we'd be able to bury full grown corn at about 4mph... We're on 30" rows, so maybe the extra 6" gives you a little more leeway for throwing the dirt. It worked pretty well for us this year to throw dirt up under our beans. Those suckers are heavy, if we didn't have list assist on our 16R30, our 8300 would struggle to keep the front down. Any tips for setting them? We're trying to use ours more after never having had one before.

Adam Suess

Posted 8/1/2010 01:26 (#1295989 - in reply to #1295934)
Subject: RE: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

Hanska, Minnesota

I have a 16-30 littleston on orthaman bar. I use it in small crop set to throw the soil to the center of the row. I set the spiders at vering angles depending on how hard the ground is, but generally not too steep. Makes a small mound that is usially not noticeable in fall. Works great on small weeds pulled at speeds up to 7 mph. In tall crop I have had trouble with the spiders riping down corn or pulling leaves off the beans. I only tried to throw soil on the row once. The ground was too hard and weeds too big, it did not work too well. I have a IH 153 that works better for that. I usially pull mine with a 2255 Oliver no lift assist not sure how heavy it is. The Oliver 3pt is rated 6,000# 24" behind the lift arms its maxed out on the littleston. Dads 8100 pickes it up with ease. A Meridian must be real heavy? Spent thousands of hrs pulling littlestons. Use to have 2 12-30's one with 3 spider gangs the other was a 4 gang unit. We would start in late may and cultivate almost every day it was fit untill mid july. still my favorite feild work but only did 100 acres this year.

Clay-All-Over

Posted 8/1/2010 05:54 (#1296019 - in reply to #1295934)
Subject: RE: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

Eastern Ontario

I don't know why you guys think the Lillistons are heavy. We have two 8 row machines. They seem like a feather compared to the 8 row Buffalos we have.

We did get a Meridian this year and yes the parallel linkage does add a good amount of weight. I think I like it better on our heavy ground.

I think Lillistons are a good tool in a sandier/looser type soil, but they don't all the weeds on heavy ground. It looks like they do when you pass, but wait a few days and your weeds come right back up. My experience.

chirpfarm

Posted 8/1/2010 10:45 (#1296266 - in reply to #1296019)
Subject: RE: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

South Central MN

We run a 16R B&H, and I thought that the Meridian looked light compared to it, but those spiders must add a ton of weight. Our 8300 lifts both of them pretty much the same. How long have you had the meridian? We really like ours except that it gets so aggressive if you pitch the spiders at all that we have to travel very slowcompared to how fast you should be able to go with this tool - we've got pretty heavy soils too. We're contemplating putting on some big rolling shields like what they used for sugarbeets, but can't find enough of them. We did end up adding tractor weights to the rows right behind the tires to help them penetrate, but now I'm nervous if I'm making it harder for the spiders to jump over rocks.

Clay-All-Over

Posted 8/1/2010 14:26 (#1296562 - in reply to #1296266)
Subject: RE: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

Eastern Ontario

We only just got a month ago. Did about 20 acres before I realized that I needed stabilizer disks. It originally came with the Orthman tracker, but I had to leave it at the dealer because of weight issues. I may need to go back and pick it up.

I think the Meridian will suffer more from stray rocks than will the Lilliston. The Meridian has both gangs on the same row unit where as the Lilliston has a seperate unit for each gang.

milofarmer1

Posted 8/1/2010 10:14 (#1296218 - in reply to #1295615)
Subject: Re: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

Texas/New Mexico Stateline

Makes me nauseous looking at those pictures. I used to run them all summer for my uncle when I was 14-15 yrs old. We would start out when the milo was about 3" and I would have to go 3 mph to keep from covering it up. Seems like by the end of summer we would go over every acre 2 - 3 times. Driving an old 1175 CASE with no a/c. Uncle loved recreational tillage, especially when he could pay me minimum wage to do it. I hated it, but liked the money.

plowboy

Posted 8/1/2010 15:01 (#1296599 - in reply to #1296218)
Subject: Re: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

Brazilton KS

If you are very old at all, cultivating was just part of growing milo back then...nothing recreational about it.

milofarmer1

Posted 8/1/2010 21:37 (#1297109 - in reply to #1296599)
Subject: Re: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

Texas/New Mexico Stateline

I'm not very old, and believe me it was recreational. You don't know my uncle......

I don't know how many times we made tillage passes because it "looked nice".

plowmaster

Posted 8/1/2010 12:09 (#1296381 - in reply to #1295615)
Subject: Re: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

Sucker brook, NY

thank you for remembering the pictures. ours are six row with just the spider gangs. clay is right, they dont do the best in heavy ground. you can go just as fast as you want with them, and the faster the better, but theres a threshold between speed and accuracy....dont look back or if you do you had better be sure of yourself, you can take out a whole swath of plants in a hurry.

Jacob Bolson

Posted 8/1/2010 16:16 (#1296677 - in reply to #1295615)
Subject: Lilliston versus Meridian

Iowa

For those of you that have run both a Lilliston and 100th Meridian row unit, does the Meridian row unit have enough benefit to justify the cost? My FIL has looked at the Meridian unit but comparied to a Lilliston, has not been able to pencil out the ROI.

Clay-All-Over

Posted 8/1/2010 18:15 (#1296839 - in reply to #1296677)
Subject: RE: Lilliston versus Meridian

Eastern Ontario

I don't think you need the meridian in lighter ground. The weight is nice on heavy ground.

I was told that 100th Meridian went belly up a few weeks ago. Any truth to that?

chirpfarm

Posted 8/2/2010 17:48 (#1298043 - in reply to #1296839)
Subject: RE: Lilliston versus Meridian

South Central MN

I know that they were having problems paying employees, so there might be some truth to it.

Virginia Veg.

Posted 8/1/2010 19:07 (#1296888 - in reply to #1296677)
Subject: Never even heard of Meridian

Eastern VA. No such thing as too many Magnums.

If I wanted another rolling cultivator, I belive I'd just get a used one. If the spiders are worn out, Agri-Supply has the assemblies pretty cheap. The rest of the cultivator should last indefinitely unless it has some physical damage. I don't know who owns Lilliston now. At one point BushHog owned them, then Bigham Brothers. Maybe BB still owns them. I know they move new ones often down in north Florida around that territory. Wasco Tillage out in California has them too. KMC still builds them.

http://www.agrisupply.com/category.asp_Q_ipp_E_0499_A_t_E_c_A_sb_E_...

http://www.ag1.net/

http://kelleymfg.com/products/tillage/row_crop_cultivator/speed_whe...

http://www.bighambrothers.com/6400.htm

http://100thmeridianmfg.farming.officelive.com/SeriesI.aspx

plowmaster

Posted 8/4/2010 16:48 (#1300956 - in reply to #1295615)
Subject: Re: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

Sucker brook, NY

i thought all 89 series magnums came with mirrors

Edited by plowmaster 8/4/2010 16:49

Life

Posted 2/14/2016 11:27 (#5110514 - in reply to #1295615)
Subject: RE: Lilliston Cultivator pics for Plowmaster and others.

Saw your pics about Lilliston on agg talk. How did you attach the diamond bar to 7x7 toolbar

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