Tell me about reverse rototillers...

[sixdogs]

Reading about reverse rototillers has me thinking I might need one. I used to think it was a marketing scam but now think I was wrong.
I use a six ft Maschio HD chain drive tiller on a 50 HP Kubota and it gets used pretty hard doing construction sites and larger areas for new lawns, fields and such. It's a heavy duty tiller meant for a degree of abuse and I till my share of big rocks, hard clay and such. One problem is tilling grass since the tiller puts it back on top of the surface and when I seed it the dead brown grass makes it difficult for me to see the planter marks. The reverse tiller, I have read, seems to bury this grassy trash and would make seeding easier. Is this correct?

Does anyone have experience with these reverse tillers that can offer an opinion on how well they work and how they handle rocks and grass? If I got one it would need to be six ft wide, maybe gear drive and for sure heavy duty. Thanks in advance.

 

[bigtiller]

I have tilled up a lot of sod with both kind of tillers but my experiences are with a 50 inch tiller behind a garden tractor. I don't think the reverse tine tiller is going to be your salvation. It leaves SOME sod on the surface but not nearly as much as a forward tine tiller. But the reverse tiller can do in one pass what will take the forward tiller three passes to accomplish.

Reverse tillers really suck at burring compost such as freshly applied leaves or straw. It wants to push it all forward into a big pile forcing you to stop and spread it around by hand. One way to get around that is to make a pass at 2 inches deep to mix some soil into the refuge making it heaver or less fluffy.

Rocks like to get pushed forward the same way but if you are not watching they will either get pushed to the side or get sucked into the machine.

 

[hosspuller]

I missed getting one of these at an auction. I have seen it work on rocks & grass as shown in the video.
Expensive for a part-timer but cost effective if you have the jobs for it.

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