Our machine will need a minimum of a 5 foot opening in any fences to access your property. Please remove any objects or items in the location where the plowing will take place before we arrive.
Graystone Tractor Services offers field plowing services. Our moldboard plow is designed to plough deeply and turn over the earth as it goes, which uproots vegetation, while also aerating the soil to improve drainage. If you have a larger area that you would like to plant this spring, we can help.
Plowing is the first stage in preparing the ground for planting. If the ground is firm and compact and has not been cultivated before or not within a year, ploughing will break up the ground substantially. It will leave the ground rough, with broken up clumps of soil. After plowing, it is usually recommended that you leave it for 2-4 weeks, to allow the uprooted vegetation to die off. Once this has occured, the ground can then be rototilled, which will break up the clumps of dirt into fine, loose dirt.
If your soil has a lot of clay contents and tend to drain poorly, we recommend that you ammend the soil by adding compost to the ploughed ground and then rototilling it in together. The compost will improve the soil to allow it to drain better, which is essential for growing.
Please reach out to us to talk about your field plowing project. We can be contacted via phone, text message
at (360) 542-6460 or email at graystonesolutionsllc@gmail.com.
We offer Washington State field plowing services in Arlington, Stanwood, Camano Island, Oak Harbor, Whidbey Island, Conway, Darrington, Granite Falls, Lake Stevens, Marysville, Everett, Snohomish, Monroe, Mount Vernon, Burlington, Bellingham, Ferndale and areas in-between in Island County, Skagit County and Snohomish County.
Frequently asked questions:
Required time is greatly dependent on the quality of the soil. Very densely compacted virgin ground will take longer to plow, typically 1/3 acre per hour. If the area has previously been plowed, it will go faster, usually 1/2 acre per hour.
The best time to plow for spring planting is the winter before you plan to plant, which allows the winter to improve drainage and soften the ground and kill unwanted vegetation. You would then want to rototill the area smooth around April. So if you are wanting to plant in May, the best time would be October/November the previous year.
The second best time would be to plow between January and March, allowing a least 2 weeks before rototilling.
Plowing the area will help aerate the soil and break up the soil. However if your area has poor drainage, your soil composition likely has clay content. In such cases, we generally recommend a couple inches of compost material spread over the area after plowing. The compost will then be mixed into the soil once it is rototilled.