Power harrow vs. tiller

[v15racer]

I'm planning to buy a Grillo G85D with a rotary plow for primary tillage and either a power harrow or tiller for secondary tillage. I will use the equipment for backyard gardening. I will offer start-up gardening tillage for friends and neighbors in our town. I expect typical gardens to be in fairly tight quarters and generally small - 400-1000sf.

Cost aside, what tool would any of you recommend? My thoughts include: the harrow does a better job with better care of the soil but due to the larger size and weight, will the harrow be more trouble than it is worth for small gardens in tight areas?

 

[wstr75]

I have a double rotary plow and a 30" tiller for my BCS 853. The rotary plow does such a fine job that not much working is needed to make a seed bed. A harrow would likely make a good looking seed bed after a rotary tiller.

However, will a harrow work-in a heavy layer of compost? I put down a 2" layer of mushroom mix and had to make repeated passes with the tiller to get it incorporated into the soil. My situation may be different as my soil is heavy red clay.

Anybody here have a harrow and can speak to how well it mixes in compost, lime, heavy clays and other things?

Bill in NC

 

[farmerboybill]

My experience with a machine similar to this is a 3 point mounted Lely Roterra here in Wisconsin and a Rabe Kreislager in Germany. We used it following the disk for a super smooth seedbed for planting hay here. In Germany, we run it behind a moldboard plow and again under a seeder planting wheat. It worked good, but was another pass across the field. According to the link provided, these machines are sold as a primary tillage device on a two wheel machine. I'm interested in seeing it in real life.

It doesn't look like it is any bigger than a tiller as far as dimensions. It is much heavier at 70 kg (150 lbs) for a 50 cm(20 inch) machine, the biggest you can buy for an 85d - but you should be able to counter balance it to the engine by weighting . Conversely, you can put a 27 inch tiller on it - 1/3 more done per pass. Also, you say cost aside, but someone here recently said these are 1500 bucks. That's 3 times the cost of a 27 inch tiller.

Have you seen the video of the power harrow in this British website?

Wood Chippers, Rotavators, Two Wheel Tractors, Power Scythes, Cultivators, Stump Grinders

 

[Udder]

v15racer: I was seriously considering opting for a power-harrow as a gentler alternative to the rotary tiller a few months ago. It was discussed on this forum a while back. A main advantage, as I saw it, was that it would never "leap" forward in hard soil. I've been told that it excels at turning in compost and ammendments and creates a nice seed bed. I was eventually turned off the idea because of the price alone. Of course, if you can spare the dough, I think you'll have an excellent machine. The Grillo 85d does have a differential, so turning with the slightly bulkier & heavier power-harrow shouldn't be too difficult.

 

[Mac624]

Iｴm no sure, if a power harrow is necessary for the work you are planning to do.

I use different walkbehinds of different systems and have not seen the need of buying such an expensive tool.

I guess, You are talking about gardens, which have been used as vegetable gardens already.

For such kind of work I use a normal plow attached to the tractor and aftzer plowing I take the tiller. The result is the same the working with tiller and harrow.

Th result of work depends of the soil, we have heavy clay here, so it is hard to get the plow working deeper then 8 inches.