Tiller Tiller for Gardening (Walk behind vs. PTO)

coobie · Feb 19, 2013

CentralNC said:
I thought I would ask some advice on garden tilling. I am planting a garden this year for the first time in many years. I grew up with a garden, but this is "my" first family sized garden. It is currently 50' x ~100". I have a New Holland TC35A tractor and several implements for gardening (plow, disc harrow, cultivator, bedder), but not a tiller. I do have a nice (older model) Troy Bilt Horse tiller. It is a rear tine tiller that I bought last Fall. I think it would do well in ground that was previously plowed and then hit with the harrows.

Question: Would a PTO powered tiller make gardening much easier vs. the Troy Bilt horse? Is it worth the extra expense?

It would be nice to have a PTO tiller to use around our property planting grass. I am sure that I will find many uses for it. It is hard to justify another $2K for an implement, but it would be nice.

My plan now is to use the tractor and implements to plant the garden. I might till the entire garden with the horse once and then use it to till in between the rows. I will use the bedder to lay off the rows and the cultivator for weed control until the plants get too tall.

Does anyone have experience with a Horse vs. a PTO tiller under similar circumstances? Any advice or comments would be appreciated.

Had to make the same choice as you about 3 years ago.I priced high end walk behind tillers (troy built and BCS)I found a King kutter 5 ft 3 point was cheaper to buy.I do have a smaller rear tine troy built the I have to till between the rows once planted.coobie

Botabill · Feb 19, 2013

I gardened with a BCS walk behind tiller for 25 years. That worked well enough in my 30 X 50 foot garden. Then I got into cover crop / green manure use and increased the size of the garden considerably. New ground and cover crops made in necessary to plow. New hard rocky clay is rough to till even with a 3 PTH tiller and cover crops and garden debris get wrapped up in the tines. Tilling plowed land with a walk behind is horrible when you get to 60+ as others have stated. You have implements that can knock down the furrows and make it easier to till with the walk behind. The down side to a pto tiller is the width prevents you from tilling up one row at a time. That is very important in gardening as all crops don't go in nor are they harvested at the same time. Also as stated tilling between rows is a great way to weed control. Bottom line for me is... I would let my 3 pth tiller go before the walk behind but having both is the sweet spot, that is if you have a big garden. Since buying my 3 PTH I've also made a few bucks tilling gardens for other folks. I charge $60 an hour and have probably earned about $600 in 2 years. I can till a garden in an hour and if these folks were to rent a tiller it would have cost them $100 to rent and several hours doing the job.

bilrus61 · Feb 19, 2013

Garden one year to decide yourself. If your young and don't mind walking behind it the Troy bilt will do the job. We wore out two sets of tines on our 8 HP horse here on our farm/garden plots. I'm disabled and mom got bad ankles so we moved to a Kubota 3030 and a 42 inch PTO tiller. Does great and you can work around some of the tilling between rows if you get a tiller that isn't too wide. We have unlimited garden space here and just make our rows wide enough for her 3030 to till down them. We grow corn this way: We triple till it....first in late march......two weeks later......two weeks later then plant the corn. Usually one tilling or just one hoeing will take care of the weeds when the corn is about 2 feet tall. Our potatos, onions, melons (try ambrosia cantalope!) are planted in rows wide enough for the little Kubota to get down them. Works great for us but we are old and crippled up bad. If your young and vigorous just try it a year with your walk behind. They will still be making PTO tillers next year if you decide AFTER a years experiance that you need one. Happy Gardening!

PandDLong · Feb 19, 2013

I have both and, as others have stated, both can find a unique spot in your work plans. I use the PTO tiller at each end of the growing season - this is also when I may add significant soil amendments. It works great - fast, easy and effective. One spring it was in for repairs and I used my Troy-Bilt - I got the job done but it took a lot longer and left the garden quite choppy so I needed to get out the rake and smooth out the bumps and valleys - overall a busy, hardworking afternoon. I typically use the walk-behind along the edges, pathways and other spots in my garden/fruit bushes where it is not practical to get the tractor into position - then it is indispensible.

I also use the PTO tiller when I set aside an area to lie fallow and work in lots of amendments - I keep it tilled-up and weed free through the season. I also use it when landscaping if I need to put in or re-arrange an area of lawn/grass. Having both tillers, I also use the walk-behind in landscaping for tilling up planting beds or edges where I can't afford the mess if the tractor strays a couple of inches. They'll often be parked out in the yard together at a project "site".

It is more money to have both but if you plan to have the garden for years (and may expand to other growing habits), then it can be well spent. The advice to wait a year is also a good one, I have had a few "country" neighbours who had ambitous gardens that lasted one year as they learned it just wasn't something they enjoyed.

CentralNC · Feb 19, 2013

I sure do appreciate all the good advice. I had a feeling that many of you had dealt with this same issue. Everyone had some good comments and the ways that you solved your own problems were insightful. I think a large PTO tiller would be very helpful around our property. I am going to keep my eyes open for a good deal, but I might just use the Horse this year. My neighbor has a smaller Kubota with a 4' PTO tiller. I might ask him to till the entire garden for me one time after I disc it. I can always add a PTO tiller later. I just turned 40 and I try to stay in good shape, so I should be able to handle using the Horse.

I grew up on a small farm with a large garden that fed our entire family for most of the year. My Dad would disc the garden, but he used a front tine tiller to plow and lay off the rows. I want my 3 sons to know how to plant a garden, work it during the growing season and then freeze and store food. You never know when they might need that knowledge. There is a sense of satisfaction from knowing that your labor put food on the table. Tomatoes, corn and potatoes taste better when they came from your own garden.

I actually have about $1000 set aside for a PTO tiller. I have been saving for about 1 1/2 years. When I started saving a 6' KK Tiller was about $1549. They are almost $1900 now. I am going to do my best with the Horse this year and save another $1000 to buy one. Who knows ... they might cost $3000 12 months from now.

Thanks again for all the good insight and advice. Look for picture of my sons sweating under the NC sun as they pull weeds. That brings back memories of child hood.

cmhyland · Feb 20, 2013

CentralNC said:
I sure do appreciate all the good advice. I had a feeling that many of you had dealt with this same issue. Everyone had some good comments and the ways that you solved your own problems were insightful. I think a large PTO tiller would be very helpful around our property. I am going to keep my eyes open for a good deal, but I might just use the Horse this year. My neighbor has a smaller Kubota with a 4' PTO tiller. I might ask him to till the entire garden for me one time after I disc it. I can always add a PTO tiller later. I just turned 40 and I try to stay in good shape, so I should be able to handle using the Horse.

I grew up on a small farm with a large garden that fed our entire family for most of the year. My Dad would disc the garden, but he used a front tine tiller to plow and lay off the rows. I want my 3 sons to know how to plant a garden, work it during the growing season and then freeze and store food. You never know when they might need that knowledge. There is a sense of satisfaction from knowing that your labor put food on the table. Tomatoes, corn and potatoes taste better when they came from your own garden.

I actually have about $1000 set aside for a PTO tiller. I have been saving for about 1 1/2 years. When I started saving a 6' KK Tiller was about $1549. They are almost $1900 now. I am going to do my best with the Horse this year and save another $1000 to buy one. Who knows ... they might cost $3000 12 months from now.

Thanks again for all the good insight and advice. Look for picture of my sons sweating under the NC sun as they pull weeds. That brings back memories of child hood.

You may want to look and purchasing or building a hiller / row builder. Take a look at this link.

Heavy Duty Row Builder - YouTube

Regards,
Chris

cmhyland · Feb 20, 2013

cmhyland said:
You may want to look and purchasing or building a hiller / row builder. Take a look at this link.

Heavy Duty Row Builder - YouTube

Regards,
Chris

Here is another example....

How to Use a Garden Bedder - The Gardening Series - YouTube

Regards,
Chris

wcampbell47 · Mar 23, 2013

I knew I had read this thread about a month ago - but here goes even though it is a month old. I just put in two large gardens for residents in my area. They both work full time and are 40 and 60 years of age. Last year the older put in a large garden with a front tine tiller. He was just not physically able to do it this year. In an hour and a half I plowed, tilled, and bedded his rows. He is now ready to go.

His neighbor the younger of the two had a similar plot of ground that has just been cleared of trees. Had I snapped to the situation I would have used my root rake to root out all the limbs and roots but alas did not. I plowed for a little over an hour in this new ground. I tilled for about 2 hours going over the ground twice as this is clay gumbo land. In about half an hour I bedded his garden.

I will be 66 this year. I did all this with a County Line middle buster (not the best I know), a King Kutter 4 foot tiller, and a tool bar with two disc hillers attached. Hands down I would buy a pto tiller if I had it all to do over again.

Code54 · Mar 23, 2013

Last year I had my friends PTO tiller at my house when I tiller our garden - took me about 15 minutes to fully till it twice. Made the dirt super fine and perfect. Today I did the same garden with my walk behind rear tine tiller - two hours and a workout. It looks decent and turned everything in pretty well but still not as nice as the PTO tiller. As others have said, it is about time savings VS cost more than anything.