IN THE FIELD
The basics of preparing for planting
I
f you have just bought a
small tractor and a plough
with which to prepare
your plot for planting,
chances are you are going to
be disappointed in your first
efforts as a newbie plough-
man. And the reason, almost
inevitably, is that you will be
asking too much of your
tractor and plough: asking too
much because you will be
attempting to plough too
deep, thereby causing your
plough to hook up in the
heavy soil, and your tractor to
dig in as a result.
For what beginner ploughmen
fail to appreciate is that the
art of ploughing is not to
attempt to excavate the earth
to a great depth, but merely
to turn over the top few
centimetres of soil, in order to
turn existing vegetation
upside-down, burying the
How to set up, and use, a small
plough ~ arguably the most
difficult implement to master
exposed leaves and stems and
exposing the roots to sunlight
so that the plants die. Nothing
more.
For, digging around at great
depth to loosen compacted
subsoil is not the job of the
plough. Rather, that should be
left to a single-tine (for a small
tractor) ripper or subsoiler.
Of all the ground-engaging
implements you can use to
prepare your soil, the plough
is the one that requires the
most skill, both in set up and
in use.
But first, let's choose the right
plough for your soil condi-
tions. If you soil is light and
sandy a disc plough
(“skottelploeg”), will do a
grand job. If, however, your
soil is heavy or clayey a disc
plough will merely bounce
along the surface. For such
soils you need a share plough,
where the points of the shares
will dig into the soil to
achieve the desired effect.
With a single-share plough
much of the adjustment work
described below is unneces-
Alternative method of adjusting
hitch pins to swing rear of plough
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