Disc Harrow First pass plowed field

[560Dennis]

I tried this last night .

plots are 40 foot wide by 100 and 200 hundred feet long estimate 

I wasn’t to happy with the first pass of the second forty foot wide plot ,with the disc . The pitch of the disc  and it then  left a slice of sod furrow untouched. 
So I went diagonal , in figure eight with disc on 40 foot wide plot on second plot . 
 

Any thoughts about diagonal first pass or second pass for example. 
 

soil is sand gravel  sod top , left a a beautiful ribbon of furrow . My first experience with is farm garden field , which is reason for questions.

[brahamfireman]

A disc is not a primary tillage tool. If your trying to bury grass you need a field cultivator or chisel plow.

[Ihfan4life]

9 hours ago, brahamfireman said:

A disc is not a primary tillage tool. If your trying to bury grass you need a field cultivator or chisel plow.

Be careful with a field cultivator, you’ll pull all that grass back to the top if you’ve gotten any of it buried 🤕

[Rawleigh99]

1 hour ago, Ihfan4life said:

Be careful with a field cultivator, you’ll pull all that grass back to the top if you’ve gotten any of it buried 🤕

Been there, done that!  Like a dump rake that doesn't dump! Sometimes I have to learn the hard way.🤪

[Ihfan4life]

1 hour ago, Rawleigh99 said:

Been there, done that!  Like a dump rake that doesn't dump! Sometimes I have to learn the hard way.🤪

Same here! Made a heck of a mess😱

[Sledgehammer]

Pics might help. A figure eight pattern might work dirt to the outside more than you want. Hard to say. 

[MT Matt]

I have a 10’ disk and I pull a 15’ 3 section drag behind it. I like to half pass while disking. I try to run the end of the disk in the middle of the previous pass so any ridges are smoothed out by the disk and then also the drag (spike toothed harrow). So when done, you’ve covered the field twice.

What are you starting with?  Plowed field?  Just disking an untouched field?

[TroyDairy]

23 hours ago, brahamfireman said:

A disc is not a primary tillage tool. If your trying to bury grass you need a field cultivator or chisel plow.

Yeah here if you cultivated after plowing it would be a huge mess.  Pull everything up you flipped under.

In my sandy, gravel soil.  We heavy 3900 disc, plow, disc/basket roller, plant corn

Heavy 3900 Disc, plow, disc/basket roller, cultipack, plant grass, cultipack again.

 

IMHO @560Dennis disc at a angle from corner to corner since it pretty slim at 40'.  By the time you do turn arounds and passes on that you've dbl disc it and knocked it smooth.  Ill assume the disc isn't very heavy?  Pick disc up a tick on turn around or you will be pushing a mound up on end fyi.  I think the figure 8 is not going to result in nice "level" patch and may actually cause the field to be dished a bit.

[brahamfireman]

3 hours ago, TroyDairy said:

Yeah here if you cultivated after plowing it would be a huge mess.  Pull everything up you flipped under.

Hence why I said primary tillage tool. I've disced hundred of times after a moldboard but it sounded to me like the OP was discing standing sod. 

[ray54]

There are discs, discs, and DISCS. With rocks, stumps, and steep hillsides that have been farmed a 100 years here, and still never once been plowed with a moldboard type plow. There were disc plows back in the day, but by the time I can remember in the 1960's the offset disc heavy to real heavy has been the tool for tillage. Most have field cultivators, but some do 99% of all tillage with a offset disc.

Because of the weight pre foot that is wanted here there are no tandem discs to be seen out here ether. Most pull about the same size chisel plow as heavy offset disc.

A little extra bagage but thread from here with a few pictures of some of IH finest heavy offset till

age disc harrows. 

[560Dennis]

14 hours ago, Sledgehammer said:

Pics might help. A figure eight pattern might work dirt to the outside more than you want. Hard to say.

dint take any photos ,ran out daylight. 

I’ve got the David Bradley parts manual luckily so I’m going to repair the rear gangs to a new so they penetrate as designed , I’m doing on the on short notice , didn’t have this thought out before hand. After sitting ten years and pressing into service is not going to work to well . 

[acem]

14 hours ago, MT Matt said:

I have a 10’ disk and I pull a 15’ 3 section drag behind it. I like to half pass while disking. I try to run the end of the disk in the middle of the previous pass so any ridges are smoothed out by the disk and then also the drag (spike toothed harrow). So when done, you’ve covered the field twice.

What are you starting with?  Plowed field?  Just disking an untouched field?

I like to half pass with a disk as well.  It seems to work good for me.  

I don't think you going to get much of an angle at 40' wide...

Maybe use a Chisel Plow to get more dirt?  Or just wait a couple days and hit it again.

[Binderoid]

On 5/30/2026 at 8:43 PM, Rawleigh99 said:

Been there, done that!  Like a dump rake that doesn't dump! Sometimes I have to learn the hard way.🤪

I chiseled a ragweed infested abandoned  bean field  June 1st one season.... clumps of ragweed  couldn't  be disked down.... harrowgator out of the question.  And ROUGH..... 

I love my Conser-Till 6000, but that was NOT  the job for it . 

Yes, bouncing my guts out for 6 hours,  I learned the hard way.

[nepoweshiekfarmalls]

Back when we still did some tillage, I would often disk plowed ground the same direction it was plowed on the first pass.  Then I would disk diagonally from one corner to another,splitting the field into 2 triangles.  Seemed to level the furrows nicely.   Then, when you planted, the marker track was easily visible against the tillage pass.