Tiller How often do you clean roots from tiller tines?

[J_J]

IslandTractor.

Just a steel tool that looks something like the martial arts blade with a handle, called Kama's. Stick the pointed blade in sideways, rotate up and tilt the handle to the side. I haven't had any roots like you have, but it works on grape vines and long weeds, etc. You might also consider a set of pruners for roots that size. Sawzall should work. I think I would bring that mess on your tiller back to a hose and wash as much dirt off before any attempt at cutting roots.

I used to clean the vines off with a pocket knife. Took forever.

 

[Egon]

Lino knife works.

 

[California]

I tried tilling where I had just bladed off massive blackberry bushes, and got roots jamming the tiller like in that photo. A curved pruning saw helped to cut them out. If I had a drywall saw with a sharp point, that would be easier to jam in next to the axle. A cordless sawzall sounds like a better idea.

HF had curved linoleum knives on sale recently. I got one to weld to a piece of conduit, to reach in from the side and cut roots out of the tiller. Also, the local hardware store has grape-harvest knives that look like a linoleum knife but including fine teeth. I'll try one of those if the plain knife won't do the job.

 

[allen in texas]

Holy crap!!

That's all I got to say.

 

[Bird]

I kept a putty knife in my little tool box just for cleaning off the tines on the tiller. Ground that was too wet would result in something similar to what you have although I never got roots that big. Mine was just mud with grass and weed roots.

 

[jjlanotte]

I know this is an old post but im glad i found it. I've been having difficult trying to make an old wooded and weeded plot plantable. I subsoiled everything in rows about 3 ft apart. I have a somewhat clay type soil and my problem has been mud and thin woody type roots making a cake inside my tiller. I read this thread and grabbed my ryobi sawzall and holy smokes. It works wonders. Cuts right thru the mud and even all the roots. Pieces now fall out in big blocks and i can get back to tilling. Thanks guys, I hope this helps someone else out.

 

[IslandTractor]

Just a follow up. My original experience was doing springtime tilling in a field that had years of old wild grape vines. I learned from that experience and advice here to do initial tilling in the late summer and fall when the soil was dry. With dry soil the tiller breaks the roots so the tiller doesn't get clogged and needs only occasional cleaning. I never tried the battery sawzall but instead used a lopper that I kept on the tractor. It was only the first pass in moist conditions that caused the problem.

 

[jjlanotte]

Thats my thinking and experience too. I've just been tight on time going to school full time, and oppurtunity with the crazy amount of rain we've had here in Ohio, to do the tilling in ideal soil moisture levels. That and my fields are still in an amending phase. I've been working on clearing these 3 acres for the past year that was full of trees, tall brush, and weeds. Its been a nightmare. I tried my lopper and it worked fine but i was at a point where i had the every **** tine full of mud and veiny roots. That sawzall zipped thru them like nothing. I was very giddy haha. Everything fell apart in lumps. Did all your vines eventually rot away? I have a seriously problem with roots and i just pray they go away next season.

 

[IslandTractor]

The roots were only a problem with the initial sod busting. After that occasional tilling has been easy.

 

[jjlanotte]

Good, thats the life im waiting for.