Here, the issue with hard-panning is the clay substrate slowly absorbs the topsoil, sand, etc. but if you are finding looser soil 6-7 inches down, that's probably not your issue. Personally, I don't till that deep - 4 inches max. - mix in the new compost and chew up the weeds before planting and some years after harvesting to mix in the left-over vines and such.
The hard-as-rock tires may reduce the tire area in contact with the ground, increasing the psi over what I have witnessed.
If you have the time and energy, it probably can't hurt to till the yard periodically. The ET and tiller make a formidable sod-buster. I will probably do a neighbour's yard this fall as a weed-fighting strategy. I'll try to remember to see how that goes in terms of reducing hard-panning and report back a few months from now. I don't have enough lawn left at this point to be worth the effort in my own yard.
Darryl McMahon Tilling Quoting Christopher Zach <czach computer org>:
Got a question: I've noticed that over the years since getting my E20 that the grass quality has slowly gone down. Digging with the tiller I have also noticed that my soil is hard as a rock up top, getting better about 6-7 inches down. Is the tractor causing my soil to "hard pan"? If so, what can be done about this? My tires are original, and are hard as rocks. Would putting new tires on fix the problem? Or should I till my yard every year or so? Chris _______________________________________________ Elec-trak mailing list Elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu https://cosmos.phy.tufts.edu/mailman/listinfo/elec-trak