Tiller Should I buy a tiller?

herbenus · May 27, 2003

I was going to buy a 3pt tiller and finally backed off. This year I bought a Sears tiller, 6-1/2 hp I think. My rational: the vegetable garden is raised beds so harder to get tractor in. Plus I want to till up new flower beds and very difficult to do with tractor. When we did vegetable beds this year I don't think it took but a couple hours, and some of that was clean up. I can get to more places with this tiller, so for me it was a good choice.

I know 3pt would till deeper, but 6-8 inches is enough for my purposes. And I wanted a Toro but at $1000 versus $600, I went with the Sears.

My 2 cents worth.

Trev · May 27, 2003

I'm really happy with my PTO tiller.. JD550. It seems to be bullet-proof.. doesn't mind rocks, sticks, etc. And it's heavy enough to just rip the snot out of anything I go over with it. My buddy next door has a rear tiller on an old Wheel Horse, and it isn't heavy enough.. you have to run in creeper gear, till a few inches, stop, let it grind away for a while, then inch forward again, repeat endlessly. With the 550 tiller I can do all four of our gardens plus his two in less time than it used to take to do one of his.

About the manure, etc.. seems to me it would be good to mix that down into the soil.. rather than just scoop it away? Isn't it great fertilizer?

Bob

Mrwurm · May 27, 2003

Gary, the thoughts expressed by MLB are interesting and worthy of consideration. I was considering doing the very same thing this year. I have about two acres of old farm land that was never graded. The original owner bought the land and put up a house. That was it, no grading or raking. I am left with a rolling, bumpy, hole riddled mess. I was thinking that I could till it all and then blade, and finish rake it untill reasonable smooth. I can see what MLB is trying to tell us, but where will I put 2 acres worth of sod. I have no place to dump it. Not sure what the solution is here. I had a contractor look at running a big roller compactor across it to try to smooth it out. He said I need to have the whole thing buldozed. Big sod turds instead of small sod turds. Back to the problem of getting rid of the sod. I'm confused. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Trev · May 27, 2003

( Back to the problem of getting rid of the sod. I'm confused. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif )

I'm not sure why you need to get rid of the sod? Just till it under, let it rot, and you have good fertilzer.. no? I've always just tilled up the sod and never had any problems (although I may be having problems I'm too dumb to recognize!) /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Bob

BrettW · May 27, 2003

You could use the "diaster lawn" theory and hit everything with RoundUp. Let it die. Mow it low and then till it, smooth it out and start over. Kills all the weeds too. Just not the weed seeds /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Anonymous Poster · May 27, 2003

Re: Scale

( A FEL is fine for small areas. But it isn't going to do anything about leveling the bare spot. Pretty hard to make it perfectly smooth too. That's what a box blade is FOR. Does it better and much faster too. (MO)
I am a lawn installer and its no comparison (to me). But then time is money to me. If time wasn't a factor I'm sure you could do fine with a FEL> )

I happily defer to your expertise . I have never used a box blade so it is hard for me to picture how it handles the turf removed. Does it fill the box and then have to be emptied or does it push the sod to one side or the other? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

gws · May 28, 2003

I have a yanmar and I think its required by law to sell a yanmar with a tiller, Or at least it seems that way.

I love my tiller, I use it to turn the garden each year, Even help turn the neighbors gardens. I also use it to help stir the compost pile. I however doubt I would buy one if I didnt have one. The tiller gets to little use at my place to justify going out and buying new. I dont see to many used one around my area to get a good idea of used price.

If rental is and option, (I dont have that option around me)
it might be a better choice to rent a tiller for the few times you might use it.

MLB · May 29, 2003

Re: Scale

( ( A FEL is fine for small areas. But it isn't going to do anything about leveling the bare spot. Pretty hard to make it perfectly smooth too. That's what a box blade is FOR. Does it better and much faster too. (MO)
I am a lawn installer and its no comparison (to me). But then time is money to me. If time wasn't a factor I'm sure you could do fine with a FEL> )

I happily defer to your expertise . I have never used a box blade so it is hard for me to picture how it handles the turf removed. Does it fill the box and then have to be emptied or does it push the sod to one side or the other? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif )

I'm no expert, it's my first year doing it commercially /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Yes, it fills the box and has to be emptied. I decide where I'm going to stack it (2 acres would be a pile as big as a garage!) then just drag towards the pile, lifting as it gets close, then use the FEL to move onto the pile (as it grows).
I DEFINATELY need to say that I've NOT used a 3 pt tiller. Just lots of use of walker types. Maybe 3 pts do a better job of burying the turf completely????????????????
I'll be buying a sod cutter by next season. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Anonymous Poster · May 29, 2003

Re: Scale

[quoteI happily defer to your expertise . I have never used a box blade so it is hard for me to picture how it handles the turf removed. Does it fill the box and then have to be emptied or does it push the sod to one side or the other?

I'm no expert, it's my first year doing it commercially /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Yes, it fills the box and has to be emptied. I decide where I'm going to stack it (2 acres would be a pile as big as a garage!) then just drag towards the pile, lifting as it gets close, then use the FEL to move onto the pile (as it grows).
)

Okay, so the box blade removes the turf and smooths as it goes along making for a one step operation. Of course, then you have to scoop up the sod with the FEL to haul it away after you empty the box.

Chuck52 · May 30, 2003

Re: Scale

Bob,

As Trev said, you can use a tiller to effectively till sod into the soil. I've tilled several sod areas with my KK 60". It typically takes two to three passes to end up with something that looks like garden soil with a lot of mulch in it. Because the turf grasses will indeed come back on you, if that is a problem first kill the grass and everything else with RoundUp. When it's dead, till it under. The dead stuff just serves as added organic matter. When I made my strawberry bed last year, I just tilled in the sod. The grass came back so heavily that I couldn't keep up with it, so late in the summer I used RoundUp on the whole area and then tilled it under. This year I have much less grass to contend with, and the stuff I tilled under has become compost in place.

Chuck