Sub soiler

gazza1980

Just wondering does many people use sub soilers? never used it before but need to as ground is compacted in some areas. how close should i use this machine?

Muckit

I am seriously thinking about getting one 2, as I've alot of problems with water lodging and ground compaction.

Is it a single leg one you bought? I see there are ones with a hoppper for putting down chips aswel.

Talking to a few lads, if ground is very bad you want to be driving with the wheel of the tractor over the previous ridge you ripped (so basically half the width of the tractor or every 3' to 4'.

Your supposed to go move slow with it too, so I hope you've a good radio in the tractor!!

Hopefully a few contractors will start buying bigger ones (like 'panbuster'), afterall they are the ones causing alot of the trouble!!:mad:

Let us know how you get on with it!

gazza1980

Actually didnt buy 1 but going to borrow 1 from a neighbour, going to use it at the weekend. land has dryed up well, its just a few patches where the dairy cows pouched it heavily with water lying last few weeks. Same areas damaged last year as well. the sub soiler with hopper and chips sounds a great job.

the al kid

Gazza 1980,

be very careful of subsoiling so soon after a very wet time.Ground might be drying on top-but I think you would be doing harm especially as you sound as if you are going to go 15 inches or so.For subsoiling to be effective the machine has to shatter the ground to full depth.However this is just my opinion maybe some one else might think differently

bbam

Looks like we're all thinking the same way...
I was looking at these today, mole plough with gravel hopper...

http://www.oke.ie/gravelmole_plough.html



Might be a bit of a pull for our Case-IH 885XL

We have some low lying fields and the last two years have lquified them..Need shores cleaned in a bad way...

reilig

bbam wrote: »

Looks like we're all thinking the same way...
I was looking at these today, mole plough with gravel hopper...

http://www.oke.ie/gravelmole_plough.html



Might be a bit of a pull for our Case-IH 885XL

We have some low lying fields and the last two years have lquified them..Need shores cleaned in a bad way...

To be honest, that picture is of a gravel mole. They are mainly used in the construction of sports pitches that have sand bases. The gravel allows the water to flow through it to the shore. They are normally placed 3ft apart. They are hungry for gravel - you need a stoneing cart running alongside it all the time to keep it filled. I don't know if it would be practical for farming.

I have an ordinary mole plough with a chain and ball on the rear of it. The ball makes the drain for the water to flow through. It works quite well.

gazza1980

the al kid

You were right about it being too wet, it worked in the dry areas but in the places where water was lying last week it was still too wet and made no impact at all.
did 2 runs but stopped, maybe after this week it mite be dry enough!

bbam

reilig wrote: »

To be honest, that picture is of a gravel mole. They are mainly used in the construction of sports pitches that have sand bases. The gravel allows the water to flow through it to the shore. They are normally placed 3ft apart. They are hungry for gravel - you need a stoneing cart running alongside it all the time to keep it filled. I don't know if it would be practical for farming.

I have an ordinary mole plough with a chain and ball on the rear of it. The ball makes the drain for the water to flow through. It works quite well.

I get your point..
We're waiting on a machine to come at the moment but the problem with "mates rates" is that the full paying customers get done first...
Once this is done we'll be looking into a mole plough..

Colmm23

I was looking at the possiblity of buying one of these machines for contracting, have the spaldings 3 leg one on demo at the moment, impressive job!
Would you guys reckon most farmers would go for it and how much would you think is good value for the work? I have a price in my head but want to see if I'm in the ballpark.

Muckit

I definitely reckon that there's a market for every contractor to have one and it's a job that could ber done in quiet lull periods (so long as ground is dry)

Wel it'd have to be a rate per hour, as it'd depend on how stoney land was on amount you'd get done per hr. Would €50/hr in or around right? It'd really depend on results and how whether farmer reckoned he was getting value for the time you spent at it.

I think don't go too mad with price to start with but suit yourself when you get around to lads (ie fit it in between other main contracting jobs)

Once lads see the benefit, they'I be your best advertisement and then you can put price up if necessary. In fairness I suppose in contrst to other machines a subsoiler isn't massive big investment if your getting the work

reilig

Muckit wrote: »

I definitely reckon that there's a market for every contractor to have one and it's a job that could ber done in quiet lull periods (so long as ground is dry)

Wel it'd have to be a rate per hour, as it'd depend on how stoney land was on amount you'd get done per hr. Would €50/hr in or around right? It'd really depend on results and how whether farmer reckoned he was getting value for the time you spent at it.

I think don't go too mad with price to start with but suit yourself when you get around to lads (ie fit it in between other main contracting jobs)

Once lads see the benefit, they'I be your best advertisement and then you can put price up if necessary. In fairness I suppose in contrst to other machines a subsoiler isn't massive big investment if your getting the work

Personally I think that €50 per hour would be about right for a 3 leg machine. You will need good few HP to pull it. And you will cover a good bit of ground with a 3 leg machine. I think there's a market for it. It might be good to advertise your services by doing a demo at farm open evenings etc.

Colmm23

That would sound similar to what I was thinking. I reckoned around €20-25 per acre and you'd do 2 to 2.5 acres per hour in proper conditions. Although I have heard of lads charging up on €50 per acre:eek:
Spaldings say you need 150hp to work the 3 leg machine and their right!

be very careful of subsoiling so soon after a very wet time.Ground might be drying on top-but I think you would be doing harm especially as you sound as if you are going to go 15 inches or so

I understand you do a better job in dry ground but what harm can you do with wet ground?

nilhg

Colmm23 wrote: »

Spaldings say you need 150hp to work the 3 leg machine and their right!



I understand you do a better job in dry ground but what harm can you do with wet ground?

That 150 HP tractor won't be floating.........It will do much more harm than you are repairing with the subsoiler. Just because you can pull it, doesn't mean you should.

D.Watson

Colmm23 wrote: »

I understand you do a better job in dry ground but what harm can you do with wet ground?

Subsoiling will cause more harm than good in wet ground.
The ground needs to shatter for it to work correctly.
Subsoiling in wet conditions will only cause the tines to smear and leave a compacted layer below.

Mole draining on the other hand needs the soil to be damp to allow the drain to form.