There are some lucky ones for whom spring seedbed preparation is not a particular problem. It’s not a question of getting the job done in one pass; rather, finer details such as durability, ease of adjustment, or cost determine the choice of machinery. And then there are those who have difficult-to-cultivate clay soils. These high-clay-content soils demand contradictory properties in both machinery selection and seedbed preparation.

The characteristic of clay soils is that they dry out slowly, but once they do, their surface quickly becomes very hard. However, the deeper layers or the centers of larger clods remain wet and plastic for a long time. This briefly means that the soil should have been sown long ago, but it will still be a while before it can be worked. The lower wet layer cannot yet support heavier machinery, and using heavy equipment can easily cause harmful compaction. However, a more serious tool is needed to properly work the hard upper crust.

One compromise is to wait until the soil is completely dry and then attempt to work it with some brutal machine, hoping for rain to replenish what has evaporated so that the seeds can germinate. Another option is to believe that a weaker clod-crushing cultivator provides good erosion protection when it doesn’t perform its task.

The BUSA-developed rotary hoe seedbed cultivator has long been successful in the Transdanubian regions for crushing hard clods, but the floodplain soils of the Transtisza have posed significant problems for its crushing rollers. On uniformly drying soil, it is sufficient to precisely set the working depth with the adjustable-angle rotors of the Rotary Hoe, avoiding the wet layers, not forming wet clods, and preventing the slatted roller from clogging—problem solved. However, on clay soils, an uneven surface must be left for winter, otherwise, they can become waterlogged. When we close this uneven, hard-to-dry soil, the Rotary Hoe excellently smooths the surface, but the wet center of the clods would immediately clog the breaker roller upon surfacing. It is important to note that at this point, the surface will be patchy, wet where there were clods, and dry where depressions were filled.

If we do not create a moisture-stable structure here (a shallow loose layer on the surface, with a seedbed base underneath), the dry part will remain dry, and the uneven moisture will result in uneven seed germination.

BUSA has two solutions for the clogging finishers. One is the rubber roller, which sheds wet soil through the flexible deformation of the profile developed by BUSA.

The other patented solution makes the dreaded and avoidable lattice breaker roller an excellent tool in such areas. Inside the breaker roller, there is a stationary, spring-loaded mud scraper around which the roller rotates.

An experienced eye will notice the small dry soil particles stuck to the wet clod, which is characteristic of vertisols. The lattice roller is not clogged.

How is it that the BUSA Rotor is an excellent clod crusher, yet does not compact the soil? The key is the operation of the Rotor. It does not press down by weight like a large roller, but the rotors strike vertically while rotating, then break up the clods. The clods cannot roll away from the vertical movement as they are understandably supported from below.

Therefore, the solution to the problem of hard-to-cultivate vertisols is BUSA’s Rotary Seedbed Maker equipped with one of the special breaker rollers.

If we abstract from vertisols, similar challenges are posed by super-early seedbed preparation when we need to create a moisture-stable seedbed, for example, in a rainy spring. With continuous development and patented solutions, BUSA is capable of solving even the most difficult tasks.