Spring tine cultivator to create a min till.

[JackoTS90]

Hello. Would a maxitill like cultivator/ grubber work any good in a sprayed out turf? Just looking to create a 1-2 inches of tilth for turnips. Does anyone else do this? Just looking to get away from ploughing everything.

 

[Flat 10]

I think you need discs of some sort personally

 

[michael N123]

Tested my grubbers on some grassy stuff and it’s a big no

 

[JackoTS90]

Ok. What about short discs? Sort of was looking for something for a small bit of tilth that is relatively cheap. I thought as the ground is relatively open, but turfy go in real shallow with the tynes and the vibrating action would make it work. Has to be dry and hard with a crumble though. Was trying to get away from expensive wearing parts. Would a power harrow work? This may create a pan though. Would always be well sprayed out.

 

[milkloss]

Surely they'd be best direct drilled into the turf. Works well in this part of the country. Turnips then break up the ground lovely for the grass reseed after.

 

[JackoTS90]

Surely they'd be best direct drilled into the turf. Works well in this part of the country. Turnips then break up the ground lovely for the grass reseed after.

Never really tried to direct drill turnips. Have once, but failed miserably but they were on dry land that was very light soil.
possibly willing to give it a go but just thought abit of tilth would be better than no tilth at all? Have a Duncan Triple Disc so can drill into anything no bother. Is direct drilling turnips a viable option? Plenty of people obviously do it would be keen to hear people’s opinions vs a cultivated seedbed, such as bulb size etc.

 

[milkloss]

Never really tried to direct drill turnips. Have once, but failed miserably but they were on dry land that was very light soil.
possibly willing to give it a go but just thought abit of tilth would be better than no tilth at all? Have a Duncan Triple Disc so can drill into anything no bother. Is direct drilling turnips a viable option? Plenty of people obviously do it would be keen to hear people’s opinions vs a cultivated seedbed, such as bulb size etc.

pits not really my forté to be honest. I let some sheep lads plant sheep forage so we can have a break from grass. They use an aichinson drill straight into sprayed off grass and it's quite successful.

 

[solo]

Cultivation creates more poaching if wet when grazing. Weaving sub disc would be cheap to run but needs a decent size tractor to lift it. Some on here use short discs for grass reseeds so they might suit. Direct drilling would leave the ground firm and the bulbs growing above ground. Whether it works I haven’t tried but oilseed rape does into stubbles.

 

[Bobthebuilder]

Depends on your soil type I would think

 

[Exfarmer]

Another vote for the direct drill approach. If the ground is deeply compacted a subsoiler type may be the best option but it would create very wide rows.
DD will give a very good base for grazing the turnips too

 

[Rust]

Power harra

 

[serf]

Hello. Would a maxitill like cultivator/ grubber work any good in a sprayed out turf? Just looking to create a 1-2 inches of tilth for turnips. Does anyone else do this? Just looking to get away from ploughing everything.

I sprayed old turf off , worked it few times with old springtines with chain harrows on back , mucked it and repeated above, spread turnips and rolled , crows had ago at leater jacket eggs but it come well, all signs of turf have

gone now just clean soil to go again .

 

[neilo]

Ok. What about short discs? Sort of was looking for something for a small bit of tilth that is relatively cheap. I thought as the ground is relatively open, but turfy go in real shallow with the tynes and the vibrating action would make it work. Has to be dry and hard with a crumble though. Was trying to get away from expensive wearing parts. Would a power harrow work? This may create a pan though. Would always be well sprayed out.

A short disc is ideal for what you have in mind, but will need several passes to chop the turf up. Cheap & fast though. Just broadcast on and roll after, job done.

DD turnips will be the best option though imo, especially on lighter soil where you will want to conserve moisture.

 

[JackoTS90]

Cheers all. Looks like I may try and DD some ground in spring. Keep in mind this is for summer turnips. Those direct drilled turnips look great, if we get anything like that result we would be happy. I think a lot of problems with getting lots of leaf and little bulb is due to having a high sowing rate. This is half the reason we have decided to do it ourselves. What sowing rate for DD? 1-1.5kg? I think the contractor sowed our last lot at 3-4kg Ha and these were all leaf, with little bulb and as soon as it got dry the leaf burnt off and we were left with very little.