[AT] spring tooth harrows

[Richard Walker]

> For you "older" guys, why did you run spring tooth harrows? What 
> implement replaced/obsoleted them? I've got one, haven't used it in 20 
> years. Not sure it ever did anything but burn fuel.  When I was a 
> teenager we would run a section harrow behind the offset disc harrow 
> if we were trying to break up clods, level furrows, knock the dirt off 
> roots, etc. Just wondering what good a spring tooth harrow was/is. Yes 
> I know it will choke up in trashy ground, and pull hard if you set the 
> teeth way down. 


For many citrus groves in Southern CA spring tooths were a vital 
implement.  They were widely used from the '30's up until the late 
'50's, when non-cultivation practices employing permanent furrows and 
herbicides sounded the death knell for tractor cultivation.

The repetitive cultivation cycle for citrus orchards was disk or harrow; 
furrow; irrigate; let weeds grow for several weeks; disk or harrow; 
furrow; irrigate, and repeat on up until the winter rains start.  The 
first cultivation in spring was always done by disking, since winter 
weeds could be 3' tall.  Subsequent weed growth between monthly 
irrigations usually was low enough, a few inches, for springtoothing.  
You could run a gear higher pulling a wider springtooth than a disk, 
plus it left the surface much smoother.

Top photo a Caterpillar brochure from the '40's showing a typical citrus 
grove disc and below a springtooth.  Bottom photo a 4' springtooth I 
shopbuilt for my Cub LowBoy that I used many years for working up my 
vegetable garden plot.

Bottom line - springtooths have very limited applications, but when you 
hit all their requirements they are invaluable.  Lacking that, you'll 
see them rusted and unused along fence rows.


- Richard




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