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Tillage Equipment

Tillage Equipment Conservation Practice Information Sheet (IS-MO344)

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Tillage Equipment (PDF, 644 KB)

Primary Tillage

Moldboard Plow – One of the oldest primary tillage tools

Purpose – lifts, fractures, and inverts the soil; buries residue
Plow depth - generally ½ of width of bottoms
Number of bottoms – 1 to 12 generally
Note spacing and size of bottoms on the plow
Plow Parts –plowshare, shin, moldboard, trash boards (covering blades), frog (attaching structure), landside, and frame
Residue burial – 90 to 100 percent

Subsoilers – Primary tillage tool

Purpose – to shatter compacted subsurface layers
Operating Depth – 12 to 30 inches, locate compaction layer and set shank depth 1.5 times as deep
Shanks – straight, parabolic, or bent leg (slant shank)
Tillage Speed – under 4 mph
Power requirement – 30 to 50 HP per shank
Common Subsoilers –

Rigid, wide spaced shanks
Inline or v-shaped frame (more energy efficient)
Normally, 3 to 13 shanks
Shank paths correspond to subsequent crop rows
Requires a strong frame and stout shanks
Requires dry soil to be effective
Visible surface and residue disturbance, residue burial 20 to 60 percent

Paraplows (not so common)-

Narrow rigid, slant shank (bent-leg) subsoiler
Fractures and loosens soil from 12 to 16 inch depth
Little surface disturbance, residue burial 10 to 40 percent

Bedder Shaper

Purpose – implement that flattens ridges and shapes the bed in preparation for planting
Types of bedder shapers:

Middlebuster – two lister bottoms (similar to moldboard plows) working to build a ridge or eventual planting bed, usually allows planting 2 rows between furrows

Disk Hipper – disk blades are used to build the ridges

Ripper Hipper – any type of bedder attached to subsoil shanks

Residue – 70 to 95 percent buried

Disk Harrows: concave cutting blades mounted on a common shaft to form a gang; leveling tillage tool while sizing and burying residue; surface is smooth and runoff is likely to occur; may have primary tillage gang (front) and secondary tillage gang (rear) on the same frame

Types - Offset disks, tandem disks, single gang disks, and plowing disk

Size and weight are important to use
Operating speed – 4 to 6 miles per hour
Operating depth – four to six inches (generally ¼ of disk diameter), depth controlled by gauge wheels
Power requirement – 14 HP per foot of working width
Smaller disks often on outside end of gangs to feather soil movement

Primary Tillage Disk (look at spacing and size of disks)

9 to 11 inch disk spacing
Disks 24 to 26 inch diameter
Gangs of disks at more aggressive tilt angle of 20 to 25 degrees
Heavier frame and more residue clearance (more weight per disk)

Secondary Tillage Disk (narrower spacing and smaller disks)

7 to 9 inch disk spacing
Disks 20 to 24 inch diameter
Gangs of disks set at tilt angle of 15 to 20 degrees
Lighter frame and lower profile

Plowing Disk (usually a single gang disk)

11 to 12 inch disk spacing
Disks 30 to 32 inch diameter
Monstrous frame with lots of clearance and weight

Disk shapes – cone or spherical; solid or notched

Cone shaped disks – deep cups; cut and invert soil with little mixing while burying significant surface residue
Spherical disks – shallower cups; cut, invert and mix soils leaving more surface residue than cone shaped disks
Notched disk edges penetrate better than solid disk edges

Common disks

Offset disks – Frame with two gangs of disks working the full width; the front gang throws soil to the right, the second gang throws soil to the left; usually a primary tillage implement

Tandem disk – Frame with four gangs of disks with two in front and two in the rear, gangs are mounted opposed to each other; both front gangs throw soil to the outside of the implement while the rear gangs throw soil to the center; may be a primary or secondary tillage implement

Both offset and tandem disks till the soil twice with each pass

Generally, the offset disk is built heavier than a tandem disk

Single gang disks – May be a stand alone implement but usually mounted on a combination tillage implement to cut residue and move some soil

Chisel Plows – Primary tillage often as a combination tool

Chisel points – spike, straight, twisted shovels, and sweeps in a variety of widths; points do wear out and need to be changed

Straight and spike points – narrow points (2" to 3") used to loosen soil, kill weeds, and remove surface compaction; usually reversible merely by unbolting from chisel shank and turned upside down; field is left in a ridged condition

Twisted points or shovels – narrow (3" to 5") points with either a right or left-hand twist (equal number on implement; used to loosen soil, kill weeds, remove surface compaction, and cover residue; field is left in a ridged condition

Sweeps – broad (5" to 20") low crowned points with wings that lift and loosen soil, undercut weeds and residue, and cover minimal residue; field may be relatively smooth

High frame clearance and stout C-shaped shanks
Shanks may be spring-mounted to vibrate and shed residue
Shank spacing - usually 12 to 16 inches in a staggered pattern
Tillage speed – 5 to 7 miles per hour
Tillage depth – 4 to 8 inches
Power Requirement – 15 to 20 HP per shank
Soil must be dry for the working depth for best results

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