Seldom are planting conditions ever "perfect", and even if they seem perfect the day you plant, the unforeseen weather can contradict what you thought was a great seedbed.

We v-ripped in the fall and have done anhydrous and field cultivated a few days later. With all the rain we had a month or two ago, and now dry conditions, there is a substantial amount of dirt clods. These clods aren't extremely hard, but they are getting that way. We all know not many tillage tools reduce or eliminate clods, but instead, the tractor tires end up doing more than what is being pulled behind.

Most dirt clods seem to come from the topsoil. In other words, part of the clod was the top of the soil profile before it got tilled up. This got me thinking about a tool with many coulters, like a salford rts. Coulters don't produce, or bring clods up if I had to guess. On the other hand, they don't level very well either.

What tools do you use to make your "ideal" seedbed under less than ideal conditions? For some I know it will simply be no-till, others a one-pass tool.

I would like to see what a propane tank on its side would do for breaking up clods behind a cultivator. Maybe weld some very heavy expanded metal around it to give it texture to help crumble the clods and fill it half full of water.

I should add that we use the Phillips rotary harrow with the harrows reversed it it breaks the clods up pretty good. Often, we don't have enough drivers to run this in front of the planter. The 980 f.c. we use now with 7" JD shovels (poor quality) has the factory three bar coil tine that does nothing for breaking clods, just puts them in nice tight rows. A double row mounted basket would be nice on this cultivator, like the one pictured this morning made by unverferth.