Troy-Bilt 8 HP - Manual (Page 29)

TILLIIG iff.
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SPECIAL TROY-BiLT GAROENIRG TECHNIQUE
How to till under standing
cornstalks
As soon as your corn has been
harvested, the stalks should be
turned into the soil while they are
still green. Don’t wait until the stalks
are dried out, they are tougher to
handle and the roots pull out more
easily. YOU DON’T WANT TO PULL
THE ROOTS OUT BY HAND, OR CUT
THE STALKS, BEFORE TILLING. It is
the action of the stalk (held in place
by its root structure), being chopped
against the soil that makes it so
easy for your tiller to cut it down
and chop it up, partially burying
much of the cornstalk material in
the first pass.
Knocking down cornstalks and
(1) Make first pass alongside first row
with RIGHT wheel up close to, but not
touching any cornstalk. The purpose of
this pass is to loosen up soil in prepa­
ration for next pass.
tilling them under is not difficult once
you understand three basic princi­
ples. First, the stalks should go in
between the left wheel and the trans­
mission case, as shown in Photo 2.
(The right wheel will not work be­
cause the stalks might interfere with
the carburetor, air cleaner, or throt­
tle linkage.)
Second, each pass should over­
lap one-half a tiller width over the
ground tilled on the previous pass.
And third, till just as deeply as you
did when preparing the ground for
planting. This usually means that
the depth regulator is pulled all the
way UP to the deepest setting pos­
sible, depending upon the condition
of the soil. Generally, the “LOW”
or “HIGH” belt range and “SLOW”
wheel speed gear will be best for
tilling under cornstalks. However,
some folks will even be able to use
the “LOW” belt range and “FAST”
wheel speed gear, depending upon
the size of the stalks and the condi­
tion of the soil.
Allow the tilled-in cornstalks to
lay in the ground undisturbed for a
week to give the active soil life a
chance to start decomposition and
digestion of the stalks. Then, till in
the residue as deeply as possible.
This will probably take only one
overlapping pasis through the gar­
den. Four or five days after this final
tilling, you can sow a cover crop,
such as annual rye grass.
(2) Make second pass with stalks in
between
LEFT
wheel and transmission
case (overlap first pass by one-half tiller
width). This pass will knock down stalks
and cut some into one or two-foot
lenoihs. partially burying them
(4) The fourth pass will be back down
between rows, overlapping one-half the
No. 3 pass. (6) Make fifth pass alongside next row
of cornstalks, with right wheel up close
to, but not touching stalks.
(3) On third pass, go back over stalks
that are lying down, but this time from
opposite direction. This will bury much
of the residue 3 or 4 inches under the
soil.
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(S) ~he sixth pass will start to knock
down the next row of stalks. Repeat
previous steps until all rows are down
and buried.
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