Pull Disc vs 3-point

Which is better for the small-time guy planting food plots and why? The 3-pt is easier to manever into tight spaces, but the pull type makes turns easier. Or do I need both?

Larry in Michigan

you did not say what tractor you have but on a small one a 3pt is best and as to turning just lift it up and if you have a older fergie you will not have hyd. remotes to lift a wheel disc and a old pull type is just a pain to move around

I plant 6 different plots, on two different 1/4's, from two to four acres. I use a JD AW 15 foot tandem pull type. I no til so I make one pass at the #1 setting, and then a couple at the #3 setting. Knocks down the unharvested corn and sorgam pretty well. You should be able to get one for about 600 bucks.

Gordo

I can see advantages for both, assuming the drawbar type has a hydraulic lift and wheels. The first disks Dad used on our farm were pull type with no hyd. cylinders....we used wooden skids to get the equipement around. Raising the disk during the turn will make it easier to get around and one extra pass to clean up those areas should work fine. The drawbar disk would be easier to hookup than the 3 pt, imo. Don't know about power/gas savings...looks like the pull might be better, the 3pt will take weight off the front wheels when raised, whether thats a consideration or not.

I have both, and I prefer the pull type - wheel disk for results. It seems to level better, and cut (dig) better. With the wheels, it will also float better, keeping the depth of cut more uniform. Manuvering is not a problem, if your drawbar is far enough behind the tractor rear wheel line. I can turn awfully short with mine. If your tongue and the tractor drawbar are set properly, the disk will run pretty much level, front to back.

Three point hitch disk is heavy enough that I have a 200# rock mounted on front of tractor just to keep the front wheels on the ground in transport situations. You will need to adjust your top link just right to get even penetration front to back. I find that I want to add extra weight to the 3pt disk to keep the rear gang cutting deep enough. This just adds to the front-rear weight problem. Trying to steer the tractor when front wheels are bouncing along or off the ground can be an adventure! Haven't needed to add weight to the pull-type. Unless your 3pt has a float position, you will also experience problems when you drive over uneven hills and valleys in your fields. But if you're floating the disk, then you don't really have good control of the depth and penetration. Not all of us are blessed with table-top fields.

I have a 3 point one and sure wish I had a pull type. I have found in small places the 3 point type are a pain where as a pull type you can cress cross and cut the ground up a lot better.
Hobby farm

Exactly what Marlowe said. I do some food plots with a 6 1/2 foot disk on a 9n ford and I can drive down there, do a plot in ten minutes and buzz to the next one and hit that and so on. Did about 4 fairly large ones last year with sunflowers and corn and it didn't take us very long at all. Dad just followed me down there with a 4 row planter and we had them done very easy. The mounted disk is very heavy and aggressive and can make a great seedbed in a matter of minutes. You can turn around on a dime and get in small spots only being 6 1/2 feet wide. I have used the pull type also and the mounted was much handier for myself.

If you want to do primary tillage with it or cut up a lot of trash before sowing/planting, the 3 pt disk doesn't work very well. Isn't heavy enough. We had one and it just didn't do the job on untilled soil, and only worked marginally OK on plowed sod. If you are only scratching up some bare/nearly bare ground or running over some tilled (plowed) ground it can work OK and it definitely is convienent. For a few years we disked untilled corn stalks in the fall and planted wheat. About wore out the tractor and driver attempting to get a decent seed bed and it was a good thing that we were using a single disk rather than a double disk opener drill. Worked great in a plowed garden.

There's only a very small handful (if that many) 3-point disc's that are worth there weight in peanuts. Most are a waste of time IMHO. The ones that ARE worth having are limited to a couple older designs and a few new VERY expensive VERY heavy models. Best ever in my opinion, the model #25 Massey Ferguson disc. (Easily identifiable by the pair of gang adjustment levers near the 3-point top link hitch mast. ) Ford made a decent model back in the day (flex hitch)

A wheel disc is tough to beat IF you have remote hydraulics to run a cylinder. My favorites are IH models built in the 60's and 70's.

It's hard to beat the mobility and manueverability of a GOOD 3-point disc, especially so with smaller tractors.