How to cultivate virgin soil after plowing. How do you plow the ground with a walk-behind tractor? How to properly plow a plow on a walk-behind tractor? After plowing with a walk-behind tractor or

A walk-behind tractor is a universal equipment with which you can plow the land, plant root crops, hill up potatoes and harvest. Such dacha equipment today is not particularly expensive, which determines its extraordinary popularity. Most often, walk-behind tractors are used specifically for plowing land for planting potatoes. The technique of loosening soil using a walk-behind tractor is not particularly complicated. However, it is still necessary to know some features of this operation.

Wheel installation

So let's see the ground right. Before starting the operation, the equipment, of course, needs to be prepared. Wheels are attached to the walk-behind tractor, then the plow is installed. As for the first ones, their diameter should be at least 50-60 cm, and their width - 18-20 cm. Otherwise, high-quality plowing will not work. If the wheels are too narrow, the walk-behind tractor will start to shake from side to side. If their diameter is small, it will be impossible to provide a sufficient distance between the soil surface and the gearbox.

When choosing, you should also pay attention to the rim. It is desirable that it is not continuous. Otherwise, earth will accumulate between the lug ribs.

Plow hitching

This operation is quite complicated - it is best performed with an assistant. To hang the plow, the walk-behind tractor is slightly raised above the ground. To do this, it is driven onto some stands with a height of at least 15 cm. It is with this procedure that preparation for the operation of small-scale mechanization equipment intended for plowing land, of any brand, should begin. Including such a popular one as, for example, the Neva walk-behind tractor. How to properly plow the land using this brand of equipment will be discussed below.

The hitch itself is made according to the instructions of the walk-behind tractor and plow manufacturers. When performing this operation, you need to ensure that the entire surface of the edge of the plowshare touches the ground. The plow stand should be positioned strictly vertically, and the beam should be positioned horizontally.

Of course, the equipment should also be adjusted according to the track width. To do this, you need to pay attention to how the plow share is located. Its right edge should be in line with the inner edge of the right wheel. In this case, the plow will cut the soil evenly and roll it off easily. The walk-behind tractor itself will go easier.

Preparatory activities

We’ll talk about how to plow the ground with a walk-behind tractor a little lower. First, let's find out what other preparatory activities, in addition to hanging the wheels and plow, need to be done.

Before starting the operation of loosening the soil, it is worth stretching an orientation cord along the first row of the plot. Experienced plowmen may well skip this step. Beginners should definitely perform this operation. The fact is that during the plowing process, any plow moves slightly to the right. And therefore it is very difficult to make a row perfectly even. The cord will help you not to deviate from the “course”.

Starting from the second, all rows can be done without the use of additional guides, since the wheel of the walk-behind tractor will follow the furrow.

How to plow?

So, the walk-behind tractor is prepared. Now you can begin the actual procedure of loosening the soil on the site. To make fewer turns, plow the ground with a walk-behind tractor along the long side of the plot.

The handle of the walk-behind tractor should be turned slightly to the left at the base. In this case, it will be possible to walk along a strip that has not yet been plowed, which, of course, is much more convenient.

Well, now let's figure out how to plow the ground correctly with a walk-behind tractor. This procedure is performed as follows:

Preface

To plow virgin soil, or simply land that has not been maintained for a long time, today it is not necessary to break your back; everything is done using convenient special equipment - a walk-behind tractor or a cultivator. What are these devices, and how to use them correctly?

Ensuring a high level of productivity largely depends on the quality of the work carried out on plowing the land. In previous times, this procedure was extremely labor-intensive and took more than one week. Now the work of business executives has been greatly simplified, since with the help of a walk-behind tractor or a motor-cultivator, you can plow a large area in just a few hours. Working with this technique has its own rules and features.

Plowing a large area with a motor cultivator

Many novice farmers wonder what is the difference between? According to knowledgeable people, there are no fundamental differences between these two agricultural devices. However, some features can be highlighted. A cultivator is a mechanism for cultivating land for subsequent crops, improving the soil structure and ensuring an optimal level of mixing of soil with fertilizers applied to it. In addition to tillage, walk-behind tractors can perform a number of additional tasks such as mowing grass, planting, hilling a vegetable garden, harvesting crops, or clearing an area of ​​dried leaves.

Thus, the walk-behind tractor is characterized by wider functionality compared to a motor-cultivator, and it also has more power, which is important when developing virgin lands, for example. But the weight of the cultivator is much less than that of a walk-behind tractor, and working with this type of equipment is much easier and requires less physical effort. This device also costs much less. Therefore, if we are talking about carrying out exclusively arable work on a relatively small area, then many business owners, choosing between two types of equipment, give preference to a motor cultivator.

The method of mechanical tillage has a number of undeniable advantages compared to traditional manual tillage. First of all, plowing with a walk-behind tractor or cultivator requires significantly less physical and time expenditure, which increases the productivity of agricultural workers tens of times. Also, thanks to this technique, it becomes possible to carry out a number of additional works in parallel with plowing. For example, you can simultaneously loosen the soil and also add the necessary fertilizers to the soil. In addition, tillage with a walk-behind tractor or a walk-behind cultivator ensures more uniform and deep plowing of the land, improves its condition and structural quality.

The soil is saturated with a sufficient amount of oxygen and reaches the optimal degree of moisture. In addition, the soil is cultivated, which slows down the growth and development of weeds. According to statistical data, when plowing is carried out mechanically, the yield indicators in the cultivated area almost double. You can also plow the land using a tractor. However, this is not available to everyone due to the high cost of this type of equipment. In addition, arable work with a tractor can only be carried out on large and open plots of land, near which there are no trees, bushes or buildings.

Plowing land with a tractor

Despite all the advantages of walk-behind tractors and walk-behind cultivators, these mechanisms also have certain disadvantages. For example, mechanical tillage is contraindicated in areas filled with weeds with a deep root system. This is due to the fact that during arable work using walk-behind tractors, the surface soil layer falls off to the side, and this contributes to the proliferation of weeds.

In addition, the soil plowed with a walk-behind tractor requires additional treatment - clogging. This problem is especially relevant when working on hard soils. Also, with regular mechanical tillage, damage to the fertile soil layer may occur. The situation can be improved by parallel application of mineral and organic fertilizers to the soil.

To get the most favorable results when carrying out arable work using a walk-behind tractor, it is recommended to follow. First of all, it is necessary to correctly configure the mechanism by adjusting the width and depth of plowing. These indicators largely depend on the area of ​​the cultivated area and the quality characteristics of the soil. However, according to knowledgeable people, there are adjustments that are considered optimal in most cases.

Carrying out arable work using a walk-behind tractor

The width of the plowed furrow should be no more than 50–60 cm. As for the plowing depth, its ideal indicators are 10–15 cm.

When cultivating hard soils, the depth of the furrow can be increased to 20–25 cm. To do this, you need to achieve such a position of the apparatus so that the plow rests on the ground with its entire base. Otherwise, it will either go too deep into the soil or, on the contrary, be pushed out of it. To attach the plow itself to the mechanism, it must be raised approximately 15 cm above ground level. Usually special stands are used for these purposes. It should be emphasized that the quality of subsequent arable work largely depends on the correct settings of the walk-behind tractor or cultivator before its operation!

First of all, the site must be properly prepared by clearing it of weeds, stones and various types of debris. After this, stretch the so-called orientation cord along the first row of the site. This manipulation is necessary in order to make the arable row as even as possible. Then prepare the device. To check how correctly the adjustments have been made, it is recommended to plow a test plot of a minimum area. Moving to the main area, place the walk-behind tractor or cultivator at the beginning of the furrow.

Cultivator treatment of a trial plot of minimal area

When starting arable work, slightly deepen the device into the soil, lightly pressing it downwards. Next, follow the walk-behind tractor along the guide cord, holding the handles of the walk-behind tractor. Make sure that the mechanism runs in a straight line and do not allow it to sink excessively into the soil. When the length of the furrow comes to an end, you need to make a U-turn and continue plowing in the opposite direction. To cultivate the land as uniformly as possible, it is necessary to ensure that the speed of movement of the mechanism is low, and the rotation speed of its cutters, on the contrary, is quite high.

When carrying out arable work, you can move both in a circle and in a zigzag manner. We can say that it all depends on your personal preferences; only experienced specialists advise taking into account the shape of the treated area. If the site has a rectangular shape, then circular plowing would be the ideal option. Owners of a square plot are recommended to give preference to zigzag digging. When cultivating a vegetable garden, it is best to create beds along the perimeter of the plot and place them parallel to each other. This will facilitate the process of plowing and subsequent planting work.

In addition, many business owners are faced with the problem of excessively hard soil, which cannot be processed even with the help of special equipment; this is often typical for virgin soil. What can be done in this case? Knowledgeable people advise adhering to a system of stage-by-stage tillage. The soil also becomes softer and more pliable when wet. Therefore, carry out arable work either after heavy rainfall, or after preliminary intensive watering. In addition, you can try to develop a virgin soil layer using a walk-behind mill. To do this, you should walk along the same strip several times in a row, gradually deepening the device into the soil.

When the work is completed, take care to clear the mechanism of soil, grass and other debris. Then rinse it with water and dry thoroughly. This is necessary to ensure the longest and most reliable operation of the walk-behind tractor or cultivator!

Virgin land is an uncultivated plot of land that has not been plowed for more than 20 years. Such soil is rested and maximally full of nutrients necessary for plants. However, summer residents are more concerned about the possibility of using such a plot for a vegetable garden.

The better way to process virgin soil

It is quite possible to turn virgin soil into fertile soil for growing garden crops. The first stage is plowing the land. It is best to use a tractor, but this is quite expensive and is not possible in small areas.

It is possible to process virgin soil with a walk-behind tractor, but its power may not be enough for areas that are too hard. In this case, the procedure must be repeated several times (first superficially, then deeper), or in a wet state, so that the equipment does not slip. The advantage of using any technique is less labor costs and faster results.

Processing small areas is carried out manually only with a shovel, but this is quite hard work. Mechanical devices and hand plows are not used for plowing virgin soil, since the strength of one person is not enough.

If digging with machinery is not possible, the soil is dug up manually with a shovel, lifting it to a depth of 15 cm. The lumps are not broken, but left to dry, after which the turf is shaken off the soil, helping with a hand ripper. Plant rhizomes are placed in a compost pit to rot.

How to prepare the soil for planting vegetables

After the first processing of virgin soil, you cannot immediately begin cultivation. It is necessary to further prepare the land. If the soil was processed using machinery, then weeds are not selected from it, as with manual digging, but are plowed up along with the soil.

After plowing with a walk-behind tractor or

To improve the structure of the soil and saturate it with useful microelements, green manure plants (mustard, lupine, oats, rye, alfalfa) are planted. When the greenery grows, it is mowed and additional digging is carried out using machinery or manually.

Winter crops are planted in winter. In early spring, after the snow melts, the third plowing is carried out and the plot is planted with garden crops for the first time.

After manual digging

When cultivating the land manually, you can use the previous method, but more often they do it differently. The land freed from turf is treated with herbicides to kill weeds. Then sprinkle with peat, humus or sawdust and dig, mixing everything.

A week later, the soil is fertilized with complex mineral fertilizers: potassium sulfate, ammonium nitrate, nitrophoska, superphosphate and dug up a second time. The land becomes suitable for use as a vegetable garden.

What to do if you need to process a large area manually

When processing a large area of ​​virgin soil by hand, a popular method is dividing the area into small segments, which are covered with a double layer of dense material at least 5 cm thick. You can use cardboard, straw, black film or spandbond, and press down with bricks.

The ground overgrown with grass is left covered until autumn, when the greenery under such dense mulch has time to rot and rot. Thanks to humus, many earthworms will appear, which will loosen the soil, and the soil will be easier to work with. The disadvantage of this method is that the beds are ready for planting only at the beginning of the next season.

It is possible to prepare the land using inverted turf. Areas overgrown with grass are dug up manually with a shovel. Potatoes are planted in the resulting holes, which are covered with dug up turf, turning it over with the grass part down.

The grass in the ground rots, thereby fertilizing the potatoes and promoting their growth. This method allows you to harvest the crop the first time you plant it. But the timing of planting potatoes must be observed.

If space for beds is needed for urgent planting, and it is not possible to wait until next year, you can use the option of bulk beds. The prepared fertile soil is poured directly onto virgin soil, and the rows are dug up and treated with targeted herbicides. Plants with a shallow root system (zucchini, cucumbers) can be planted in them.

A novice gardener who has just received a brand new plot of land that has not been cultivated for many years or has never been cultivated is usually horrified. How to turn this uneven field overgrown with weeds into a well-groomed fruit-bearing vegetable garden or garden? Where to start? What to grab onto? And first of all, of course, he grabs his head...

However, virgin soil should be perceived by gardeners not as an impending nightmare, but as a gift. Together with undeveloped virgin soil, we are given the opportunity to create fertile soil on our piece of land from the very beginning. Not to suck out of it everything that has accumulated over many years of being “fallow,” but to truly create it. Developing virgin soil without digging is the first step towards gardening in close collaboration with nature.

The first thing I would like to advise regarding the development of virgin lands on the principles of natural farming is to be patient. Did you manage to plant only three beds during the season? That’s great, next year they will already be working for you, and you will continue the gradual development of your site.

If we have firmly decided that we do not intend to dig soil in our garden, this does not mean that we will not have to work at all, and nature will do everything for us. There will be a lot of work, but it will be completely different. And the first thing that is recommended to be done on a virgin plot is to mow down all the weeds. It is advisable to mow early, before flowering.

All the cut grass can be left lying directly on the ground as food for worms and other soil inhabitants, or you can rake it into a large pile with a pitchfork and then use it as mulch when making beds.

Development of virgin soil without digging: planning and marking

The next stage of development involves not so much physical as mental labor. It is necessary to think about, plan, draw, draw, and subsequently mark out future beds and row spacing in place.

You can go the classic route and mark out meter-wide beds with 60-70 centimeters of free space between them.

Many natural farmers are now leaning in favor of . As they say, what is easier - to plant 50 plants and collect 50 kilograms of crops or to plant 10 plants and collect the same 50 kilograms from them? Narrow beds are aimed precisely at getting a larger harvest from a smaller area. In addition, wide aisles will be easier to mow in the future, and more grass will grow in them (it is the grass mowed in the aisles that will become the main mulch for our future beds).

Or you can even be original: make the beds round, triangular, asymmetrical - in this matter, everything is your will.

What else is important to pay attention to when planning beds? On the climate! If hot, dry summers are the norm for your region, don't get carried away with raised beds in boxes; organic trenches and sunken beds are better suited for you. In cool and rainy climates, the opposite is true. If there is complete uncertainty with weather conditions, if there are often sudden changes in temperature, flat beds directly on the ground are preferable.

Development of virgin soil without digging: arrangement of beds

So, the pegs are driven in, the beds are marked. It's time to get serious about them. The biggest problem of virgin lands is perennial weeds. Their roots have long gone deep into the soil, and the seeds are everywhere. Therefore, the main task of the gardener is to choke out the weeds and prevent them from germinating. And this problem is solved with the help of darkening. In this regard, no matter what type of beds you choose - boxes, trenches or flat ridges on the ground - the bed must be isolated from light so that the roots and seeds of weeds do not have the opportunity to germinate. Usually, for this purpose, the space under the garden bed is lined with several layers (3-5 layers) of cardboard or newspapers, or covered with black opaque film.

Option 1. If we are not in a hurry, we leave the bed like this for the whole season. Under the cardboard or film, soil microorganisms and worms will begin to work; in the absence of light, most of the roots of perennial weeds will begin to die, rot and eventually become fertilizer. Some particularly persistent weeds, of course, will begin to look for light and crawl into the aisles between the beds, and here we must be ready with a scythe at the ready. Just regularly mow the grass in the aisles before the weeds bloom. In the fall, you can sow in such a bed, and next spring, pull out a few “unkilled” weeds with a pitchfork and plant vegetables.

By the way, many gardeners prefer rye as a green manure for virgin soil - it is famous for its ability to suppress weeds, and it also perfectly structures the soil. Just don’t need to bury it later, just mow it and use the green mass for mulch, and leave the roots to rot in the soil.

Option 2. If you don’t want to waste time, but want to grow something right away in the first year, then top the cardboard or newspapers with a thick layer of mulching materials: rotted manure, humus, compost, algae, turf soil.

The mulch layer should be at least 10 centimeters. In such a bed in the same season you can plant seedlings of heat-loving crops: zucchini, pumpkin, tomatoes, peppers. The procedure is as follows: we rake up the mulch layer and stick something sharp in order to punch a hole in all layers of cardboard; through this hole the roots will stretch deeper. Above the hole we place the seedlings directly in a paper or peat cup, surround this cup with a small amount of earth, and then cover it with mulch. We water the plantings. After a couple of weeks, we mulch our bed with light materials: cut grass, straw, leaves, sawdust, seed husks. The recommended layer of mulch is half the size of a shovel. A bed mulched in this way practically does not need any additional watering (unless it’s hot, of course) or fertilizing.

In the fall, this bed can be sown with green manure or more mulch can be added on top. The main thing is not to disturb the soil, there are still weed seeds in it, so let them remain there, in the depths, and from year to year we will simply sprinkle organic matter on top, forming a new fertile layer of soil.

Don’t be afraid of virgin soil, develop it correctly, make the most of its rich resources, and then the garden will feed you and your family for many years to come.

We wish you success and great harvests!

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With the acquisition of a plot of land, the owners want to develop it as quickly as possible. For this purpose, plowing, harrowing, and herbicides are used. How to properly treat the area? Find out from the article.

Tilling large areas

If the area is large enough, then they resort to a proven method: in the winter, the area needs to be plowed as deeply as possible so that the weeds freeze out over the winter. In the spring, when the earth dries out a little, the area is harrowed, leveling it and breaking up clods of earth. Further cultivation of the land requires careful care. To create a beautiful lawn, you must remove the weed roots manually, otherwise the ubiquitous wheatgrass, quinoa, woodlice, and dandelions will ruin the appearance of the lawn.

If you use herbicides, you will have to remove the weed roots two weeks after spraying and compact the soil. After spraying again, you need to wait for the weeds to sprout, which are again spilled with a herbicide solution. You can sow grass seeds no earlier than a month after the last treatment. These two methods - manual weed removal and using herbicides - are quite labor-intensive.

You can plant vegetables on the site after autumn plowing and spring harrowing. The land must be leveled and ridges formed, while weed roots are removed, after which fertilizers are applied and seeds are sown. It is recommended to plant corn, potatoes, and beans, which will help cope with weeds, because caring for them involves repeated weeding and hilling. Mulching will make work easier by minimizing the growth of annual weeds.

These methods of tillage are suitable for large areas and require considerable physical strength to turn uncultivated virgin soil into fertile beds.

Cultivation of land in small areas

First of all, you need to mark the area for the beds and mow the grass. A small area of ​​land is covered with thick cardboard or plain paper, newspapers in several layers. Mown grass is evenly laid on top, organic fertilizers are applied and fertile soil or compost is evenly distributed (at least 10 cm). Vegetables that do not require deep planting grow well in such a bed: zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkin, beets, carrots, beans and others. You can plant seedlings in a garden bed, covering it with agrofibre, in which cross-shaped cuts are made. Plants are planted in holes, adding soil or compost if necessary, not forgetting to generously water them. Peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, and cabbage will grow well, because agrofibre not only protects against weeds, but also against cold and overheating, retaining moisture in the ground.

In the fall, it is enough to dig up such a ridge; the unrotted remains of paper and grass will completely decompose over the winter. Next year the soil will be fluffy, light, perennial weeds will not grow in this place, and you will be able to grow your favorite crops.

Using this method, it is possible to develop not such a large plot of land, but the beds are high, and thanks to the layer of grass and organic fertilizers, the plants receive enough nutrition for the entire season. This method is convenient for low areas, because by forming raised rows, it is possible to level the area.

In the absence of fertile soil or compost for the top layer of raised beds, weeds are often used after weeding. Weeded out weeds, which always have a little soil on their roots, are placed on a bed of cardboard, grass clippings, and organic fertilizers. Having covered the bed with agrofibre and made holes for planting seedlings or seeds, you need to add a little soil in the places where the film is cut so that the plant takes root and begins to grow. The weeds under the agrofibre will rot, the planted crops will have good conditions for development and fruiting, you just need to water them regularly.

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