Mantis Tiller

[Gem99ultra]

Any one have one of those little 'tillers'? I bought one a few years ago to churn up a little flower bed. While yes, it did do the job, it'll work you pretty good, but do-able.

Today I have a little garden about 20' x 40' that has been neglected for at least the 10 years that I've lived here. The area had grown over pretty good with Wisteria vines, roots of unknown source, and two or three rotted out tree stumps. The area is fenced in with chain link fence so it's not possible to get my Kubota with a 5' tiller in there. Thinking that I'd just cut off the vines, chop out the rotted tree stumps, and run the little Mantis tiller over it would be good enough to plant some flowers or vegetables in there.

Bonk! I got about 4' of one pass done with the Mantis and I was totally worn out. Not only me, but the Mantis was also ready for a break. Vines wound up on the shaft in prompt order to the point that the tiller couldn't even turn the blades. The short and long of it all is that the little Mantis tiller is fine for churning up a bag of factory packed top soil. But don't expect it to do any heavy lifting; that's just not going to happen.

I'm kinda thinking that some grass seed sprinkled out there would make a nice looking spot. The flowers and/or vegetables need to be planted elsewhere.

 

[ChuckT]

Chain link fence, did you say? And it's 10 yrs old? I'd pull the fabric off, run your Kobota with tiller between the posts, then use the Mantis around the posts.
Hardest part is (re) stretching new fabric. Tie it to corner posts, stretch with come-a-long and 2 pc 2x4 clamp using the Kobota as an end anchor. Crank away on the ratchet, you ain't gonna move that K unless you're Popeye.

 

[Bird]

Vines wound up on the shaft in prompt order to the point that the tiller couldn't even turn the blades.

I gave my first Mantis tiller to my grandson a couple of years ago and bought myself a new one with their "fast starting engine option"; just pull the starter rope slow and easy, requires much less energy.:laughing: It sounds to me as if your problem is that you didn't mow or chop up the vines before trying to till that land. I have the "lawn dethatcher" attachment and I used it last year on some old thatched St. Augustine and had the same problem you had. That St. Augustine has runners that wrap around the tines just as your vines did. So I had a job of removing the tines and cleaning the thatch off a few times. It can be a bit slow and tedious, but in the end does a good job. Now I'll have to admit that the Mantis tiller instructions say that dethatcher isn't for use on St. Augustine, but I figure it was better than using a manual rake.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I too have a little used two stroke one. That's the biggest pain, the stuff getting wrapped up. I did some work around roots on the weekend and found that sharpening a spade, made short work of them. Maybe try and sharpen the tines on the Mantis.