Tiller Tiller for Gardening (Walk behind vs. PTO)

[CentralNC]

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.

 

[L355SS]

It is all about convenience and time saving as you will likely not recover the expense of a tiller with just a family garden unless you have many years of gardening ahead of you. Your tractor will need a tiller gear or hydro-static transmission for best results from the pto tiller. As you stated, a new tiller is quite expensive so look for a used one.
Dennis

 

[Ted Summey]

Once I turned my garden in the fall a couple of years ago, the 72" PTO tiller has been my main garden prep tool. One pass with the tiller and it is ready for lists and plants or seed. It also is great for mixing amendments like compost and manure into the soil. It is worth the time savings, fuel savings and ability to properly prepare the soil.

I use the cultivating tractor to make my lists and to cultivate until the plants get too big. Then I switch to my walk behind rear tine tiller to help control weeds between rows and around the ends. My turning plow and disc harrow sit idle now.

Once a row of plants has produced all it can, the pto tiller makes short work of grinding the residue and preparing the soil for a second crop.

 

[oldballs]

I have used a front tine 8 HP tiller for 38 years with happy results. But now with the Kubota, I too am considering a PTO tiller.
In a 50 x 100 garden The tractor tiller would make things go faster...including your money. I found that first using a middle buster or my 12 inch mold board plow makes tilling by foot really difficult. Thus, I need a PTO tiller or at least a set of discs to level it down a bit if I use the walk behind. My walk behind has been quite useful for many projects, especially due to it's manuverability and small projects. My 50 x 100 garden is deer/critter fenced, has a mulched path surrounding the perimeter and down the middle that allows my grandkids/moms access to the many different veggies. Fencing complicates using a PTO tiller. Well, so much for rambling....my coffee hasn't sunk in yet. Cheers, Mike

 

[radioman]

It's all depends on your soil, your desired outcome of soil and time. I too, grew up with gardens and now I am having garden of my own. When I first started my garden here, I didnt have my kubota. I was using a brand new craftsman rear tiller on virgin ground with wild vines. Mind you- the vines are long gone, but the vine roots has remained causing me grief. My garden is also on a slight hill, and its a pain to get the tiller to "walk" it self up the hill. Needless to say, The craftsman tiller due to today's design did not last long.

Now I have a kubota with 3 pt tiller for over 5 years I think. I will NEVER go back to walk behinds for prepping gardens. even with a 40" narrow tiller, it was a time saver. It produced really nice,deep fluffy soil, and it made it easy on hills too. The only reason to keep your walk behind is once the plants are established, you can use it between rows to keep weedsdown and easier to hoe out weeds so you can have more plants in less space then spacing for your tractor. I use my tiller to prep gardeen in spring and fall and borrow a walk behind during summer. I let my father use my pto tiller for prepping his garden as well. So much easier.

I admit - I used my pto tiller for other projects to break the soil , but again its a time saver.

 

[jenkinsph]

I think I would go for it, a good tiller on the 3PH sure makes life easier. You might wan't to check with Ted at Everything Attachments for pricing on a King Kutter for your tractor. I did check and since you have a 12 speed tranny or hydro transmission either one should be suitable for tiller operation.

 

[Egon]

You really need the two tillers. The PTO for the main cultivation. Then the small walk behind for weed control between the rows.

 

[gwdixon]

I have 6' and 4' tractor rototillers. They are great for soil preparation. The ground comes out baby butt smooth - even fairly gravelly ground.

Depending on what you plant, the walk-behind tiller is much more useful in an existing garden. I have two of those that get much more use than the tractor models as they go around plants and between rows.

Plant rows in anticipation of using the walk-behind to weed. The two outer sets of tines can be removed to make a narrow swath with the two inner sets of tines. I haven't used a rear-tined walk-behind but the front tined ones are easy to turn around planting mounds.

Edit: Whoops, posted at the same time as Egon.

 

[leonz]

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.

I can tell you as an owner of an Original Troy Built Horse with
commercial grade tines the Troy Built will be superior as the
more you work the soil the better it becomes to till.

Adding sand and gypsum is always a blessing to break up and destroy clay in the soils.

The other issue is bedding where the troy built can quickly make high narrow beds
to ai in seed germanation and this also blocks out weeds very quickly if no round up
is used.

If sand is added back every year and tilled in it will prevent the garden from becoming a
a large depression in the soil as the rocks are removed as they are found. This also aids in heating up the
soil too as it is higher than the surrounding soil and would recieve sunlight before the rest of the area.

I would load the tires with windshield washer fuid as it aids in traction and
reduces the bounce too.

By overlapping in 6 inch increments you will bring up all the rocks and break the hardpan
down to 8 inches or more if the ground is loaded with organic matter and the hiller bedder attachment-
if you own one also aids in breaking up the soils at a deeper depth.

 

[paulemar]

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.

I have a Troy-Bilt horse 6hp original 4 speed bought new I believe in 1976. I am currently researching the purchase of a 3 point tiller for my BX25 Kubota. I just don't like tilling the garden anymore. While I'm 6'2" at 250 lbs, I can handle it OK, but at 65 if I hit a rock or root I can twist something that shouldn't be twisted, pull something that shouldn't be pulled. And, it seems to take much longer to heal than when I was younger. As mentioned earlier, I will use the Troy-Bilt for smaller areas and for tilling between rows of the corn. I received a hiller/ furrower for free at time of purchase, so I will use that too. I bought the BX25 last February with the idea that it would make it possible for me to continue to do what I need to do. The new tiller will be another piece to that puzzle. If you get a PTO tiller, you can sell the plow and disc, if you wish, to reduce the overall cost of the tiller.

 

[Ed of all trades]

We wore out an Arens rear tine over the years and when we got the Massey we got a 60" KK and are so glad we did. It is much better at working in cover crops and mulch. One year we mulched oak leaves and then bagged them and dumped them on the garden about a foot deep, the first pass with the KK and I could still not see any dirt, a couple more passes and we left them for a while. mid winter I tilled once more and we had wonderful black dirt instead of light color dirt. I could not have done that with a rear tine. We are adding veg. matter every year and the gardens get better every year. Buy a KK or = and you wont regret it. I just planted a 20' x 40' pea patch and the soil was partly frozen, it was 16 deg. here last night and I could not have worked it up today with a rear tine.

 

[timinsanborn]

for many years i tilled my garden with a troybilt tiller, then 3 years ago i bought my tractor and 60" 3 point tiller for it .i have not regreted it once.
for spring set up or taking down in the fall what once took 4-6 hours is now done in an hour,the big 3 point tiller makes quick easy work of the garden.
then i use the troybilt in between the rows to keep the weeds down. hope this helps and good luck with y

 

[hunterridgefarm]

I have both the PTO tiller and the Troy horse. I plant about 2-3 acres of produce and use both. However I also have turning plow, disc, and one row cultivator. Depending on time and the condition of the soil I may only use the plow and disc before planting. Both have a need in my operation. I will run the cultivators for weeds until the plants are too high, then use the troy horse between rows. I used this method for many years until I bought the PTO tiller.

Since this is your "first" family size garden you could put the garden in this year with the equipment you have. Use the money for the tiller to maybe help with irrigation or fencing if needed to keep deer, rabbit, etc out of your garden. Also this being the first family size garden you could also decide it will be your last, depending on how much help you have.:thumbsup:

Just another option to think about. The PTO tiller is nice but $1800-2000 is nice to have for extra things you may need for the garden this year.

 

[wcampbell47]

Well I lot of us that are 65 try to act 35 - I have a picture to prove it. If you are 35 and in good shape and want to prove something then stick with the walk behind. If you are closer to retirement age and don't want to go to the house too tired to eat supper or go boot scootn with the honey then go for the PTO tiller. The older you get the more you will realize how smart you were in getting the tiller. I have had my 48" PTO tiller since 2008 and don't own a walk behind. You can take some of the time you save with the PTO tiller and go till a neighbors garden. Mine are more than willing to buy me a tank of fuel to do so.

 

[oldballs]

I don't know about the OP, but you guys are talking me into that PTO tiller......at 80 years old, maybe it ain't too late.:drink:

 

[Ted Summey]

I bought my PTO tiller and new tractor when I was 49 so that I hopefully will make it to 80 or better. If both last for me like the tractors my FIL bought (1962 and 1972) then I can give them to my children when I am 90. He would be 92 now - may he rest in peace.

 

[rmk700]

My pto tiller takes me about 3 minutes vs 1 hr with the walk behind. It's just a 15' X 15' garden.

 

[Ted Summey]

Rmk700 - there's nothing like having plenty of machine to do a big job like that:laughing:! No reason to mess around if you don't have too:laughing:

 

[traveling fisher]

You could try by renting a PTO tiller and then make your decision. Seems like a good idea to try before buying.

 

[Bartcephus]

I am amazed at how much "better" the tractor PTO tiller seems to prepare the soil and leave the bed. Perhaps I overtill a bit, but the garden just looks so nice and clean after it is tilled up with the tractor.... no foot prints .... until I start planting. The ease of use of the tractor PTO tiller is so awesome that you don't mind having to climb down to hook up the PTO shaft or 3PH. Certainly easier than pulling the starter rope on a 5hp Briggs and Stratton or bigger engine. And with my tiller, a 60" Howse unit, tilling up a 60" path at a time compared to the 24" width of the walk behind is simply breathtaking.

That said, with a tractor drawn PTO powered tiller, expect your garden to grow, both in length and width. You will not regret spending the extra money on the tiller, and if it wasn't for the tiller, I wouldn't enjoy gardening near as much. I still have my middlebuster, and disk harrow. and use them for food plots where I am not going in and out for a harvest of veggies. A walk behind tiller is nice to keep the weeds down between rows, but if I can get out there a little each week, I don't even need to do that as my Curvex Hoe, all nice and sharp, cleans up the rows pretty darn good. If I ever miss a week though.... whew....

I have a pending offer on a new homestead. Hopefully going from 0.5 acres with a 1110 acre farm/hunting lease 8 miles away to a 10 acre homestead.... can't wait to get all my toys in one spot and plot my shop out on some new turf. It is messing up with my gardening. But a neighbor and I went in together to build a greenhouse a couple of weeks ago... we should have a good start on some plants. My 60" Howse PTO Tiller will prepare another garden area.... right in my own backyard.