Thinking about vertical tillage equipment?

Question

I’ve been looking at vertical tillage equipment for two years now and I’m thinking about purchasing the great plains turbo max.   I believe I would use it one pass in the fall over corn stocks and then in the spring  before planting.     Any input?

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We used the Turbo Till then Turbo Max. We felt it really didn’t do much for corn stalks especially if trying to do corn after corn. We also had washboarding issues with them in looser soils. We later moved to an Excellerator which was slightly more aggressive and didn’t washboard.  They were all great for one pass on bean stubble in the spring, but we moved back to disk rippers in the fall for heavy stalks. We just weren’t getting good stands with soybeans after two pass vertical tillage corn stalks. Corn after corn the residue would blow back on top of the corn rows the row cleaners would make and then we would have uneven stands. We just moved to a Pro-Till to fill the gap between a disk ripper and nothing. I know it’s not “vertical tillage” but I think it will do the job we want.

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Turbo max right ahead of the planter for both corn and beans. Stands are better than they were with no-till. Planter maintenance is less now too because the units don’t bounce as much.

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I have a Kuhn Excelerator 30’ and it does a good job and wears well.  We have also ran a Great Plains Turbo Max, it also does a good job. Blades seem to have wore faster on the Turbo Max.  Both are very nice pieces of equipment.

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*************** *******....or a joker. But seriously a Salford.....or a joker.

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Sunflower 6630 does good job for me on everything

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We run the 24' Turbo Max over all cornstalks and seed a rye cover crop on the same pass with a 3 pt. mount Herd seeder.  You can adjust the turbo max to either turn up a little more dirt, or not.  We turn up very little dirt and like the job it does pulverizing root balls and generally helping speed up decomp of the stalks a bit.  Best part about the turbo max is how low maintenance it is.  Only a few zerks on the entire machine and those are on the wheels.  We pull it with a 210 horse tractor about 8.5 MPH so it's not like it requires a lot of power.

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I’ve been doing a lot of research and talking to quite a few local farmers I respect also about vertical tillage. This is what I’ve come up with. You need to figure out if you want to use it knock stalks down in the fall or try to plant behind it in the spring. Around here the tool of choice for the fall is the Landoll or the case 335. Spring use is either the Excellartor or the turbo max. I was leaning toward the excellartor and went to the local dealer and he told me they were having some issues with dealer support from the factory and actually talked me out of buying one. The other options I looked at was the Versitill and the new Deere both have highly adjustable Ganges. A lot of the new Deere’s were sold this winter according to the dealer. I’m going to buy a turbo max. One of my main goals is to be able to air wet ground and the turbo max is a little lighter than the other's. Most of the guys around here that run one also like the seedbed it leaves. Just my two cents.

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I had leased a turbo till max, worked good for seed bed prep ahead of no till beans. Unit is extremely heavy and blades seem to wear quick. If in burned down rye cover crop the finger rollers would wrap with grass. Bought a 6630 sunflower  and does a awesome job in just one pass. Used it to till in milo stalks and decomposition seems to be doing better than the great plains which doesn't incorporate soil with the residue. Fuel consumption is way better with the sunflower unit using the same tractor (challenger 575b).  Also with the saber blades concavity they constantly sharpen themselves. Pitch adjustments from front to back gangs along with roller basket down pressure adjustments allow the sunflower to meet about any tillage condition.  Both the great plains and sunflower are 24 ft. units. The sunflower using this same tractor is allowed to be pulled at faster speeds ,which in turn in my opinion is needed for optimal tillage. Hope this helps.

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I've been looking hard at the Mcfarlane Incite.

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Any thoughts on a mcfarlane reel disc?  Only have 200hp currently.

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**** have ran the GP turbo till max,  it was ok for beans, but not deep enough for corn.   spring tillage.

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We’ve used a Horsch Anderson Joker RT37 for almost 10 years, still original disks, probably need changing soon (2000-2500 ac per year). Haven’t had to change a single bearing, only thing is the spring packers have had to be changed every so often. Mostly because it was reversed while packers in the mud and that can bust them. Changed a 3 plastic bushings on the pivot for the packer rockers.
Been a very durable unit. Used mainly for incorporating manure but have broke hay/pasture. Also to fix ruts.
Good luck with your purchase!

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depends on what your looking for. I've had an Excelerator since fall of '13. Used it in the fall and thought it was great till the winds came and filled the ditches and groves with trash. It left the field too smooth and not enough dirt on top. Now I wait till spring and use if I need to dry it out some. Mostly use on corn stalks in front of beans. If your looking to move alot of dirt in the fall look for heavy and more angle. If want spring I'd look for a lighter one to get through if its wet. My opinion if your worried about airing it out in the spring if its WET look at the Salford. I have been happy with the Excelerator so far. No issues and does a great finishing job.

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Make sure you have enough horsepower to pull at optimal speeds!  That is one problem that we are having. We were told 10hp per foot and we have found that is far from realistic unless youre on flat perfect condition fields.  Possibly look into a high speed disc to help manage residue and turn soil. More aggressive than a VT. We wish we would have looked into them before we bought our Excellerator.

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10hp per ft is not enough for sure, a 35ft machine takes at least 500 hp, and more is better. Spring use is different though as less depth is needed. Figure 10 mph in Fall and 12 or more in Spring.

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We’ve run a Turbomax for 4 years now like the job it does and has been durable like the adjust ability on the gangs to match what you are trying to accomplish

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I’ve ran both a GP turbo till and a GP turbo chopper liked both of them.  Ran the turbo in both fall residue and spring to help dry ground out to plant.  Turbo till is most common some Case ih 335 but most of them have just called a glorified disc.

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GP Turbomax with turbo seeder... Chase combines, size residue, plant cover crops in a single pass. It’s a pretty efficient tool having the ability to accomplish multiple task.

Would like to know if the new DEERE can be retro fitted with a seeder box?

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I doubt it because of the way it folds but look at one yourself folded up and determine

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Great responses and information.
What about land with rocks and heavier soils?

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The ************* does a great job airing ground and preparing a seed bed

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I like the GP turbo chopper for cornstalks in the fall. Sizes stalks better and doesn’t leave any standing.  But GP has discontinued the turbo chopper unfortunately.

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Have a 570 Salford, really like it but is there a better blade that will throw more dirt for seeding cover crops in the fall than the Salford blades

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I also looked for a couple years and talked with other people before I bought one. A couple things I learned and I see some others above had said the same thing and I think we all need to ask ourselves this question before doing any tillage. What’s your the purpose of the tillage? We are not no-till but we do try and limit tillage if we can. We use our VT just as you hope to. We run it in corn stalks in the fall and seed cover crop. Than in the spring plant beans right into the cover crop. We in-line rip most of our bean stubble in the fall also and run the Salford across that in the spring pulling a double rolling basket before planting corn and it works great! The tool takes a good amount of grease but there is very little maintenance required and it takes a beating! 
 I love our Salford 570!

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Kwik Till or John Deere speed disc. Best implement made. Have had one with basket and now one with roller. Just try one and sell yourself.

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The new Landoll 7500 VT plus is the best we have found.  With the adjustable gangs we run it aggressive in the fall and then straighten it out for the spring.  The blades are a lot less upkeep than the Case 330 turbo. (Spent hours sharpening)

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Just purchased  mcfarlane incite after doing research and talking with dealer. Very excited to see how it performs dealer said he had some farms where this was there only tillage tool. Universal tillage??

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Which ever way you go and what ever you end up with remember you are getting opinions from the big I states to ohio to ga and missouri. I have no idea what type soil you are working with but that will matter alot! I am EC Illinois and farm silty loam, clay loam , timber soil and every farm and soil type works different. you are getting answers, (I find them all interesting nobody's wrong) from every conceivable operation. You might want to  specify what type ground you got? I mean is it HEL mandated surface residue or ready for a moldboard plow. I run the gamut of soils and I only farm in a 20 mile by 20 mile square area. I think you're thinking right but it cost a lot to be wrong.  Good luck

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I have a sunflower 6630 that I like in the fall.  We have a Valmar air cart we pull behind and blow cover crop seed between the front and rear gangs.  I like it because we got a better stand of cover crop growing than with a Salford that we tried and it seems to pin down more of the trash with less of it blowing into the ditch.  I don't like it for a spring tool because it can make some mud balls.  I am in Minnesota with fairly heavy soils so it might work where there are dryer conditions.

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Here’s the update, first thanks for all the responses and input.  We ended up purchasing a Lightly used  Excelerator.   This past fall we rented a great plains turbo till and a Landoll VT to experiment with.  This spring the Excelerator was used on this ground prior to planting.   We don’t usually run tillage on bean stubble but given the wet year last year we needed to level it a little bit, the Excelerator did a fantastic job.  We then went to corn on corn , again exceeded my expectations on tillage and left the perfect amount of residue on top.  Year one very pleased with the purchase

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