mini tiller advice

   / mini tiller advice #1  

mathey

Platinum Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2002
Messages
626
Location
MD
Tractor
NH TC33D
My mother-in-law (who lives with us) has a good size garden she likes to keep...in the beginning of the season I'm able to work the ground up pretty well with a 36" tiller that is pulled behind my Craftsman garden tractor. Now that things are growing in there, she needs something to fit down the rows that is small enough for her to handle. She has a large walk-behind tiller, but that thing is like trying to wrestle a bear...even for me. She's afraid however that the mini-tillers are too "bouncy" and that she won't be able to control it...What i'd like her to do is sell the big walk-behind tiller and buy a mini unit...

Anyone out there have any opinion on the mini tillers?
 
   / mini tiller advice #2  
mathey,I use a sears cultivator (mini tiller) to keep the rows clean they sell for $219.00 easy to handle especially if you do it fairly often
 

Attachments

  • 440592-cultivator (190 x 190).jpg
    440592-cultivator (190 x 190).jpg
    4.5 KB · Views: 236
   / mini tiller advice #3  
Has anyone ever tried the trimmer attachment (really) mini-tillers? I have an old Troy-Bilt horse (well named) for the heavier work but I know Stihl makes a culivator head that fits my trimmer/brushcutter. Just the other day (while hand cultivating all my corn) I was thinking that wouldn't be such a terrible thing to have around if it worked for close in work.

Tim
 
   / mini tiller advice #4  
I have used a tiller attachment to my old Ryobi line trimmer. I got it to use in small flower beds arround the pool. I paid about $79 for it when I bought it about five years ago. It has been worth every penny. It wouldn't be worth a hoot in a "real" garden but works great for what it was intended.
 
   / mini tiller advice #5  
I have the exact same situation!

I too am selling a Craftsman WB Tiller since I now have a KK 60" PTO tiller and I already owned a mini-tiller. The mini-tiller is small and light enough for my 79 year old mother to use to weed and break up the top soil a little. They can be "bouncy" but only if you are really digging in.

I strongly recommend the Honda. I have had it for over a year w/ no problems. I use the aerator and de-thatching attachments almost as much as the tiller.

Good luck!

JP
 
   / mini tiller advice #6  
I've had a Mantis mini-tiller for years. I use it on my wife's raised beds in "her" vegetable garden and it works great. It's so much more convenient than wrestling with a big walk behind tiller. This year I've used it to weed between the rows of my garden and when the ground gets hard and crusted, it can get bouncy.

What I might suggest, since you have a 36" tow behind tiller, is that you get your M-I-L to plant her rows 4' apart. You might have to till up a little more garden for her to get the same production but it'll be a lot easier. Until this year, I always planted mine just over 5' apart so I could get between the rows with my PTO tiller. I then used the Mantis to run between the plants. Doing it that way saves a lot of backbreaking work. I didn't do that this year because I have access to my S-I-L's 14" walk behind tiller to get between the rows so I planted them closer together. I can't wait to see what my wife is going to do with all the extra produce. She's going to be canning and dehydrating all summer long.
 
   / mini tiller advice #7  
Curious if others have problems with stones/rocks getting jammed between the tines. That may be a consideration. My little sears 2-stroke mini tiller works great as long as the soil if free of many rock.
 
   / mini tiller advice #8  
puttputt, Well to be honest YES i got a rock JAMBED /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gifone time between the tines and the sheild and being a worm gear drive there is no play in tine shaft, I had to break the rock with a chisel to free it up...Rocks will make it jump too, But overall I like it. I don't have many rocks to worry about a steady diet of grief from them,Also I installed a zerk fitting in the case where the lower plug is so I can take out the upper plug and pump grease in until it comes out the top to help insure longevity /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
 
Top