Bought cultivator

I got tired of waiting for spraying and bought a real nice used 6 row JD mounted cultivator tonight. I tried it out a little and only wiped out portions of a few rows. It will take a little practice.

First time I ever cultivated was with a JD 50 tractor and a 2 row mounted cultivator. I was so concerned with tearing out corn, I was in low gear at an idle. It got to where I was actually using the brakes to help me steer I was correcting the tractor so much. Dad came along, made me put it in 4th gear. I thought he was crazy to make me go so fast. What I found though, at that speed a gentle correction worked much better than going so terribly slow and steering so much!

my neighbor in pa cultivates with a 3 pt hitch 2 row,he does a good job,I asked him what is the secret ? He said ,, dont look back!

Now you just gotta get your own sprayer and you'll really be set!

Donovan from Wisconsin

And when you do take your hand off the steering wheel.

Did that for many yrs as Dad didn't believe in weed spray. Can't blame him as back then it was anything but foolproof. 50% chance that all conditions were perfect to make it effective. Anyone can get the weeds between the rows , hard part is getting the weeds IN the row itself. Timing of soil condition , moisture , height of plants and cult settings all had to be correct. Shields just give you a false sense you are doing a good job and let you go faster first time over. You need to roll dirt in under those leaves and around those stalks as soon as possible to bury those small "two leafers" before they get 4 leaves. They get away from ya yur screwed. On beans , cultivate when the sun is out and the leaves are pointing up. If set right you can roll soil in under the leaves and in the evening you can see the leaves lay right down on the new soil and NO weeds. Corn , just hill it in there deep enough to cover weeds and bank up the stalk a little. Timing is critical. A rain right after planting is your worst enemy! Those weeds will germinate instantly while your crop will take 4-6 days to get up. If you do get rain right after planting then your best tool is a rotary hoe in road gear at the two day mark and then cultivate as normal. Ya need to keep that top 1/2" of soil DRY if at all possible until after first cultivating for then the crop grows but the 2 leafers don't. You can even rotary hoe right after the crop is up if need be. It'll tear out those two leafers and leave them on top to dry up. If they get away from ya and get 4 leaves then good luck! Needless to say , in those days a clean field was something to brag about and made for a proud farmer. They got the best of my Grandpa's soys one year and they looked so bad he plowed them under at one and a half feet tall. I thought he was crazy but it was that pride thing. Sure had a nice crop of wheat that next summer though!

Mount a guide rod on the tractor, right over the row. Then don"t look back. Cultivator should have a stabilizing coulter as well. I put two on my 8r30.