3pt tiller, walk behind tiller, or disc harrow?

[motownbrowne]

You don't have to run the tractor at PTO speed for the tiller to work. Slow the PTO down and move to a higher gear if you are overworking the soil.

Agreed. Over-tillage can be achieved with any tillage equipment. That's one thing I love about the tiller behind a tractor with an HST, infinitely variable ground speed relative to PTO RPM.

 

[nickc]

the 3 point tiller sure does make short work of a tough job. it works so fast that most of the time the better half doesn't notice the garden growing

 

[piercedtiger]

My wife and I have a 25x75ft garden. Before we bought the house in 2006 it was an overgrown yard, 3ft tall grass. I got the grass under control mowing it regularly, but we could never break up the sod for a garden! The 30-ish year old Ariens walk behind just didn't cut it, and was too difficult for my wife to wrestle with. She has a bad back, kids have no upper body strength, so that leaves me to do it. I did not want to spend all day for more than 1 weekend tilling before we could plant. We had a friend come with a 3 bottom plow one year, but couldn't break up the furrows with our remaining 10" tiller (older one finally died). Another year a neighbor with a 3pt tilled it for us. We could have kept having him do it after I bought our tractor, but I preferred being able to do it on my own schedule as we raked leaves into it, or use the loader to dump compost. I also got a trailer shortly after the tractor so I could transport it, and ended up breaking ground for gardens for 4 friends and 1 neighbor of a friend. He saw me out there and threw $20 at me to do an 8x20 or so strip for tomatoes. That netted me 2 paid jobs, 2 free for close friends, and 1 in exchange for hay for our animals.

So I guess the questions are:
1. do you have the time, strength, stamina to wrestle with a walk behind to break ground on a new garden? We simply could not overcome the grass with manual tillers. Even if we turned the soil the grass would be 2 ft tall before the crops sprouted. The 3pt lets me sit there while the tractor crawls digging up the grass and roots.
2. will you make it bigger soon? (My wife has had ours extended twice since I first did it.)
3. can you charge friends, family, or neighbors for using it? Or barter for goods or services? A 54" makes quick work of small gardens. I knocked out 4 of those in one day.
4. is there anyone near that could do it for you for now to get started?

 

[piercedtiger]

the 3 point tiller sure does make short work of a tough job. it works so fast that most of the time the better half doesn't notice the garden growing

^^This! One of the jobs I did was for a buddy like a brother to me. He took his mower and outlined where he wanted tilled. Once he saw how easily my tiller chewed through the dirt, he had me extend it out twice! :laughing: The whole family stood outside watching it, sipping cold beverages, with no one breaking a sweat bucking a walk behind tiller every time it hit a rock.

It was a good feeling for me too, knowing people I cared about would have an easier time growing food for themselves.

 

[tcreeley]

Saw this:

Rotary Tiller RTA56 | Accubic

 

[TomSeller]

I think the ideal arrangement is to look for a used 3 point tiller, no wider than your tractor and use it at the start and finish of the season. It does not need to be new, it won't be used that often. Then get a larger walk behind for right after planting while the crops are small, you can keep the weeds under control very quickly. Then a small Honda to use after the crops are spreading into the rows. Alternately, you can use WIDE fabric and burn holes in it for spacing you want on pumpkins, squash, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, etc. You can use it year after year and keep your rototilling to a minimum on just the vertical tight crops like onions, carrots, etc.

 

[oldballs]

I've never tried that fabric method. I've been using wheat straw as a mulch for weed control and to retain moisture. At the end of the season it is burned off then tilled in.... that is, after the big dead stuff is hauled off or burned. But straw is getting more and more expensive. The fabric method might be more cost effective, especially for larger operations.

 

[piercedtiger]

The fabric idea might be better. I know we tried plastic one year, and what a pain. We couldn't roll it up to reuse because the sun weakened it and caused it to crack. I was pulling bits of it out for years. :mur: I would love a mantis-type tiller to go between the rows during the season. Maybe this year. :laughing: At least the 3pt gets the garden ready and has hopefully finally broken through the grass root.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I have a 25 x 75 foot garden that needs a load of compost.
In lieu of a 3 point tiller, I hook up my boxblade with scarifers. I literally drag about 8" of soil off the garden all to 1 end, then pull it back with the blade back into the garden. It is cheap and I can do it in about an hour. The scarifers dig an additional 6" deeper than the 8" I pull off temporarily. I plant my rows about 2-3 feet apart and use a walk behind to till and weed. I have a buddy that is going to give me a cheap small weed tiller I think its a copy of a Mantis. I tried landscape cloth. Tried to use potato sized rocks to keep it down but the wind blew it off anyway. If I put mulch or soil on it, weeds use that for a foothold.

 

[piercedtiger]

I have a 25 x 75 foot garden that needs a load of compost.
In lieu of a 3 point tiller, I hook up my boxblade with scarifers. I literally drag about 8" of soil off the garden all to 1 end, then pull it back with the blade back into the garden. It is cheap and I can do it in about an hour. The scarifers dig an additional 6" deeper than the 8" I pull off temporarily. I plant my rows about 2-3 feet apart and use a walk behind to till and weed. I have a buddy that is going to give me a cheap small weed tiller I think its a copy of a Mantis. I tried landscape cloth. Tried to use potato sized rocks to keep it down but the wind blew it off anyway. If I put mulch or soil on it, weeds use that for a foothold.

I've thought of doing the exact same thing with my loader! I want a box blade, but don't have one yet. Cutting through the grass mat so it doesn't grow back in a few days has been frustrating me for years! With the tractor I thought about saying "screw it!" and scraping it all off to one end like you to let it compost, and push it back later. I raised the feet on the tiller before doing a once over this fall, and then covered the whole thing with a few inches of leaves so I'm hoping it'll be better this spring. So far no signs of grass, and the soil is still soft like it was just tilled. I plan to till the leaves in before planting, but I want to leave them on as long as possible to keep weeds from growing.