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Bruce's food plots planted

A couple of things might be worth mentioning on this subject. Most people, myself included would consider this plot fairly small. Last year was my first attempt in this area for any type of plot at all and I used a lawn tractor and a walk behind tiller to do all of the work. The last week of October and the first in November, the deer were thick every night in this small 1/3 acre area....It was really amazing to me that you could do something like this and totally change the habits of a deer herd in one quick year. My point to all of this, is to let others know that you really don't need a large area to make a huge difference in your hunting area. A fairly small investment in seed, fertilizer and time is very well spent, and made a believer of me in the effectiveness of any foodplot....large or small.
 
I'd love to get a tiller & a JD utility tractor (I work for Deere too but we don't get EE discounts on anything but the smallest consumer models : (

I plant about 5-6 acres of plots each year - how much is too much to tackle with a tiller vs larger pull behind equipment? How does the tiller work on sod busting which I normally use a moldboard plow?

I know my current practice takes way too many trips across the field. For example, I put in a new 1.5 acre plot this year (had been grass/legume hayground) It took the following trips:

- Plow (3 bottom Ford plow)
- Disc (3 trips with 9' wheel disc to get a decent seed bed)
- Broadcast RR beans (with 4-wheeler & pull behind spreader)
- Broadcast fertilizer (again with 4-wheeler)
- Lightly disc in seed/fertilizer

Seven passes is way too many! Takes nearly an entire afternoon to get a couple of acres planted. I currently have a '63 Allis Chalmers D-17 (~55HP).
 
Sod busting is no problem at all with the tiller...there might be times where you need to go over an area twice, but not very often. As far as how much you could do with the tiller, I'd say the 5-6 acres that you have wouldn't be a problem at all. It really is a huge time saver.
 
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