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| I still have three plows but I haven't plowed in more than 16 years.
A standard way for setting a three point mounted plow starts by running the tractor left wheels up on blocks or wooden beams the height of the planned plowing depth otherwise on level ground. Then adjust the plow hitch so the plow bottoms sit flat on the ground both side to side and front to rear. That puts in the tilt of the tractor when the right wheels are in the previously cut furrow. The first pass through field will not plow full depth. I generally drove close to the fence and so tossed minimal dirt towards the fence, when I got to the end of the field I lifted the plow turned 90 degrees left and dropped the plow to plow ends, and drove in those rectangles getting smaller each time around the field until I overlapped at the middle. There I lifted the plow with the three point hitch for a final leveling pass. Disking at an angle helped level that final set of furrows too. The next year I'd start filling that center furrow and work my way out. You don't really want to toss a lot of dirt to the fence or plow a lot away from the fence because those accusing you of wasting soil by erosion will use the dirt level at the fence as reference soil height.
When I went to a larger tractor and semimounted plow I was able to lift the rear of the plow for the final center field passes to level that last deep furrow.
Plowing does make killing some weeds easy without chemicals, but leaves the field with loose soil that erodes easily when a hard rain hits.
I started doing three passes with my disk to get a nice level seed bed, but some weeds that had survived plowing also survived disking especially grass patches. So I made one diagonal pass with the field cultivator to clean up the grass and tall weeds. I mounted a row of spring tooth harrows on the back of the disk and the field cultivator and got a nice seed bed with two disk passes and one FC pass.
Eventually I went no till and it was great for the soil, but hard to be timely with all the corn stover that protected the soil from rain erosion slowing the warming and drying of the place. My tenant is strip till and the fall made strips take care of warming and drying and so far in 9 years have not had any erosion.
Gerald J. | |
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Moldboard plowing
