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Weed Control Without Chemicals
David C. McCoy, Fredericktown, Ohio, has switched from the use of commercial fertilizers and weed control chemicals to almost total dependence on manure and mechanical weed control. In the process he's had to solve a lot of problems, including "compacted pastures, excessively cloddy fields after primary tillage, and 10
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Weed Control Without Chemicals TILLAGE EUIPMENT Miscellaneous 10-4-28 David C. McCoy, Fredericktown, Ohio, has switched from the use of commercial fertilizers and weed control chemicals to almost total dependence on manure and mechanical weed control. In the process he's had to solve a lot of problems, including "compacted pastures, excessively cloddy fields after primary tillage, and 100 times as many foxtail plants as corn plants in the row. We haven't completely solved these problems but we've come a long way," he told FARM SHOW. "I'm pretty satisfied with my primary tillage ù my subsoiler and offset disc. It's the secondary tillage I'm unhappy with. There's some new rotary equipment coming out ù such as the Dyna Drive and the Aer-way ùbut I couldn't justify the price tag," says McCoy.
McCoy finally solved the problem when he saw a Lilliston rolling harrow that looks like a disk but, in place of discs is equipped with large spider wheels. When he learned that Lillistop no longer makes the decade-old product, he decided to build his own.
"I used an old Deere BW disk and an extra set of spider wheels I had for my rolling cultivator. I modified the hubs on the spiders to fit the gangs on the disc and made the entire ærolling harrow' for about $80, plus the $450 cost of the disk which I bought 5 years ago.
"I never would have believed how well it works. It prepares a much better seedbed than a disc or field cultivator, eliminating a pass through the field. It saves one or possibly two passes in preparing corn stalk ground for oats and hay. And I think that, by changing the angle of the gangs to a less critical angle, it could also be used for pasture renovation.
"It does an unbelievable job of intermixing the crop and animal residues in the top 2¢ to 3¢ in. of topsoil. It doesn't leave ridges like a disk sometimes does and it breaks up clods much better than a cultivator. I don't use chemicals but I think it would also do an excellent job of incorporation.
"I think the Lilliston rolling harrow was an example of an excellent tool that was made before its time. Now that we're moving to conservation tillage, it's the tool we need."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, David C. McCoy, Rt. 1, Fredericktown, Ohio 43019 (ph 614 397-4664).
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