Scotch bottoms for plowing.......

[MiCarl]

Long story short: I volunteer at an educational farm that does not own its own plow. The plowing has been done by another volunteer with a two bottom Ferguson plow with Scotch bottoms. A hay field he did before I started has weed problems.

The current situation: there is a field that was in soybeans that has been fallow so far this year. It's got some beans, timothy and weeds I cannot identify growing in it. The leadership has decided to plow it under and plant a cover crop (TBD).

I've arranged with some guys from my club to help plow it under. We all have general purpose bottoms in the 12-16 inch range. The guy with the Ferguson plow wants to help.

I've not been able to find much on Scotch Bottoms other than they are designed to turn the soil less than 180 and they're great in sod. My concern is the Scotch bottoms won't roll the soil enough to bury the weeds and expose the roots. On the other hand it seems some people successfully use them for that.

Who is familiar with Scotch bottoms? Will they adequately roll the soil to knock the weeds back?

[Don McCombs]

* Can't help with the Scotch Bottoms.
* Can you post a photo of the unidentified weeds?
* Is it financially/environmentally feasible to spray the field before plowing?
* I have experience with rye, winter wheat, triticale and oats as cover crops. I would recommend triticale (cross between wheat and rye).

[MiCarl]

* Can't help with the Scotch Bottoms.
* Can you post a photo of the unidentified weeds?
* Is it financially/environmentally feasible to spray the field before plowing?
* I have experience with rye, winter wheat, triticale and oats as cover crops. I would recommend triticale (cross between wheat and rye).

All of the answers other than a picture of the weeds is above my pay grade.

I'll try and get a picture. I believe there is some thistle and a lot of wild mustard. It's sparse, about knee high.

[Scrivet]

Thought #1
Does he have a different plow he can use? Can one of your members loan him a different plow?

Thought #2
Worst case scenario if he uses the Scotch Bottom, how many members are you going to have? The more you have the fewer passes he'll make, the smaller percentage of the field he'll do. Plus if you have a few bigger plows he'll do even less percentage wise.

Thought #3
How about trying an experiment? Give him, and anybody else with a Scotch Bottom, a section of their own, then after it's plowed prepare it the same way and monitor to see which one has more weeds. You did say this is an educational farm. If there is a difference MR Scotch Bottom should realize the only difference was the plow type and he should help in a different way next time.

[MiCarl]

We plowed it last week. I was not able to discourage MR Scotch Bottom. In addition to other issues the plow mount is too narrow for his tractor (or any tractor that was there) and there is no way his 11.4 tires were going to ride in a 10" furrow. He said the narrow wasn't a problem because his hitch is adjustable side to side and proceeded to force it right with the sway control arms <sigh>.

It took a lot of adjusting to get him plowing 5" deep, less if his tractor wasn't in someone else's furrow. He did end the day convinced he's got the wrong type/size plow and is searching for something more appropriate.

One of the club members that has lots of equipment told him to borrow one of his plows next time saying he could only pull one at a time anyhow.

[Urbish]

This might be helpful regarding Scotch Bottom plows:

[Urbish]

More good info on plow types here: http://www.ntractorclub.com/cgi/viewit.cgi?fb=manuals&th=3834