Ripping ground with a JD 4430 and Paulk 3 Shank ripper

I am going to start ripping some ground for the spring I know I am a little late but gotta work with what Ive got. I am in central Kentucky. What are some techniques to ripping? I have never done it before and am looking for advice. Anything you can help me with would be appreciated. Thank you

Nothing to it, drop it in the ground as deep as you want to go and make sure the engine stays running. Start slow and see how much power it takes.

Should I alternate every other pass or go pass for pass?

I would say no on the alternating. I think you will be very surprised how much this will help your ground. I ripped my farm in 08, and between that and going to in row fert. I gained right at 30bu per acre. I live in SE Ky, London to be exact, and work in the Cynthiana, Paris, Winchester area, where exactly are you at?

Garrett open your email with a reply and Ill shoot you an email

Try her now

Just like the others said drop in and go, but make sure you have extra shear bolts. Always helps to make sure you don't have any underground gas lines or utilities. If you have a gas line in field can cause problems. They regulate how close you can get to them. Just my 2 cents.

Thank you for the reply

Here in Iowa spring ripping is a no-no unless it's done in Feb-March and the opportunity to rip in those two months comes once in a blue moon. Spring ripping dries out the soil and leaves it too loose for good seed-to-soil contact. I don't know what the conditions are like in Kentucky, but for spring ripping, I wouldn't go very deep, maybe six or seven inches max. Rip it deep in the fall. The soil will settle over the winter and the soil will have a chance to build up moisture. Jim

Do you have any tile lines, those don't get along with deep ripping, esp old tile like I have in some places.

--->Paul

No tile lines that I know of Paul. Thanks!

We have gotten a lot of moisture this winter, so I think I should be ok but thats why I ask here because you guys have done it. Thank you

Sent

I rip about a 1/3 of my ground each year. It really should be done in the fall. If it is not dry then you will not be breaking the hard pan you will just be cutting slots into the ground. Here are some things to do/consider when ripping.

1) Find out if you have a hard pan. To do this all you need to do is push a small diameter rod into the ground. It will push easy until you hit the hard pan. Than it will push hard until you are through the hard pan. They make fancy rods with a tee handle on it just for this. I have a long small diameter screw driver I use. When you find out how deep you hard pan is you want to set your ripper to go a few inches under the hard pan.

2) You did not say what type of ripper you have. I do not recognize the brand name of Paulk. There are two different types of rippers. A) in line ripper with fairly straight shanks B) Parabolic Vee rippers with big curved shanks.

They work in two different ways:

The inline rippers depend on a shock way effect to shatter the ground. All the shanks lift the ground in a line. These inline rippers require speed to generate a good shock wave. If you can't pull them fast enough then you will not do much good. The inline rippers usually do not disturb the surface as much as a parabolic ripper.

Parabolic rippers ( I think this is what you have) they can be used at a slower speed than the in line rippers. They usually have the shanks staggered or in a "V" shape. They will penetrate harder soils than an inline ripper. The parabolic rippers do disturb the surface more. The ground will many times almost look like you worked it with a chisel plow.

Either of these type of rippers may have coulters or not. It depends on how much residue you have if you need coulters or not.

3) You need to consider how your soil and fields drain. If you have good internal drainage then you can rip the field just like you would plant it. If surface drainage is a big part of how your fields drain then you need to rip the fields to enable surface drainage to work.

To do that you will have to look at how your land lays as far as drainage is concerned. Then think about each pass of the ripped making drainage ditches the way you are running and dams opposite the way you run. So if you have natural slope/ditch you need to rip toward that ditch and then up or down it. So you are allowing the water to drain out the ripper channels.

I have seen where guys did not do this in more level ground. The fields where wetter after they ripped the field because the water would not run off them along the natural drainage lines.

So if you have wet spots then rip them to drain away from that spot.

The timing of ripping can make or break a crop. If you spring rip, and it is dry, you will get good shatter but you will dry the ground out and create air pockets that will affect seed germination and seedling survivability. You can get these pockets that are under the seed zone. So when the seedling gets taller it hit this open/dry spot and root development may stop or be held back. IF the subsoil is wet then you will cause sidewall compaction in your field. The roots will go out laterally and hit one of the shank slots and stop or be hindered.

So have good conditions for spring subsoiling can be a challenge. The subsoil needs to be dry but you need enough moisture for the field to not dry out. That is hard to get many years.

Also you may not be able to get under the hard pan the first year or pass. Some time you will have to hit the field several years in a row gaining a few inches at a time until you get the hard pan out. This is really true on haul paths or end rows.

Very good advice JDSeller. Thank you very much, I have the parabloic type ripper and most of my ground is surface drainage type thats why I want to rip mostly.

Reid1650: Since your ground is surface drained then just make sure you use your ripper like you would run tile lines. This way the water will drain out the ripper lines under the ground.

If your water ways are steep then you will run the passes that run with the water way first. Then just rip across them when you do the rest of the field. This way they will drain in the sub soil but the surface will be worked in a way that erosion will not be as bad.

If you have a hard pan then ripping the ground should make it drain better. IF you have been using a disk for tillage then I will just about bet that you will have a hard pan.

The guys that talk about ripping 14-18 inches deep are many times wasting fuel. Most of the time I find the hard pan to be just under the tillage depth. Usually at about 8-10 inches. So you would usually rip 10-12 inches. Any deeper and you are just wasting fuel. You may even make your ground worse if you have a yellow clay base. The ripper will bring more clay to the top layer of your soil if you run it deep.

Adjustment of the top link will vary the finished work from three slits to three rows of heaved and shattered soil.

In too wet ground it WILL NOT make one bit of difference how you set the top link!!!!

Put er in the ground

Pic