fractal
Gold Member
Today marked a number of firsts.
It was the first mow of the new year so my grass looks a little less ragged and the leaves got vacumed up and added to the compost pile.
It is also the first time I used the tiller on my kubota other than the initial checkout when I bought it. Most of what I learned today is probably old news to anyone who has used a tractor tiller before but may be of interest to those considering buying one.
The area I tilled is a 50 x 100 garden. I tried tilling it last year with my 5hp front tine tiller and gave up. I then rented a 10hp rear tine tiller. That thing bounced me around the garden even worse than the front tine tiller and I am not a small person. You had to take multiple passes increasing the depth each pass, till subsequent passes at 90 degrees to the previous one. All in all, I spent 100 bucks for a half day rental, got beat up and did not get a decent till. So, when I went looking for a tractor for some yard work, a tiller was high on my list of "must have"'s.
The ground today was a little too wet for tilling. I am sure my small gas tiller would have clogged and quit. The following picture shows what the tractor did in 5 minutes contrasting the 'old' with the 'new'.
From this experience I have learned the following:
1. You are not going to win any land speed records when tilling. I was going as slow as the tractor possibly could go. The tiller never really bogged down (except when hitting rocks) but a slow crawl speed let the unit do a good job and was gentler on the poor little 7200hst.
2. Hydrostat transmission is a godsend for tilling. I honestly can not imagine having my tire speed tied to my pto speed when tilling. I would feather the hydro to move an inch or two and wait, then feather it again when working tough spots. It handled both without blinking.
3. You don't need multiple passes when using a tractor tiller. The first pass does a great job all by itself when breaking ground. I will make more passes after the ground drys out a bit more and I add my soil ammendments.
4. Tracter tillers can handle ground conditions that a walk behind can't. My tryout when I bought the tractor was on bone dry clay and todays work was on ground that was still too wet.
5 The only thing chickens like better than freshly mowed lawn is freshly tilled garden
I put just over an hour on the clock including the time to drop the box and hook up the tiller. Compared to 4 hrs with a rear tine walkbehind for the same area, and I got much better results.
I put in two lawns as well as worked my garden every year with my 5hp front tine tiller at the old house and it was hard work. I would recommend the extra to rent a tractor tiller to anyone doing a large amount of tilling. You will get a better till and probably save money as well. The extra cost per hour will easily be made up for many fewer hours. I consider the $500.00 I spent on the tiller money well spent.
About the only thing I keep the old 5hp front tine tiller for is doing raised beds. I can heft the walkbehind tiller into the beds. Don't think I would try them with the tractor
It was the first mow of the new year so my grass looks a little less ragged and the leaves got vacumed up and added to the compost pile.
It is also the first time I used the tiller on my kubota other than the initial checkout when I bought it. Most of what I learned today is probably old news to anyone who has used a tractor tiller before but may be of interest to those considering buying one.
The area I tilled is a 50 x 100 garden. I tried tilling it last year with my 5hp front tine tiller and gave up. I then rented a 10hp rear tine tiller. That thing bounced me around the garden even worse than the front tine tiller and I am not a small person. You had to take multiple passes increasing the depth each pass, till subsequent passes at 90 degrees to the previous one. All in all, I spent 100 bucks for a half day rental, got beat up and did not get a decent till. So, when I went looking for a tractor for some yard work, a tiller was high on my list of "must have"'s.
The ground today was a little too wet for tilling. I am sure my small gas tiller would have clogged and quit. The following picture shows what the tractor did in 5 minutes contrasting the 'old' with the 'new'.
From this experience I have learned the following:
1. You are not going to win any land speed records when tilling. I was going as slow as the tractor possibly could go. The tiller never really bogged down (except when hitting rocks) but a slow crawl speed let the unit do a good job and was gentler on the poor little 7200hst.
2. Hydrostat transmission is a godsend for tilling. I honestly can not imagine having my tire speed tied to my pto speed when tilling. I would feather the hydro to move an inch or two and wait, then feather it again when working tough spots. It handled both without blinking.
3. You don't need multiple passes when using a tractor tiller. The first pass does a great job all by itself when breaking ground. I will make more passes after the ground drys out a bit more and I add my soil ammendments.
4. Tracter tillers can handle ground conditions that a walk behind can't. My tryout when I bought the tractor was on bone dry clay and todays work was on ground that was still too wet.
5 The only thing chickens like better than freshly mowed lawn is freshly tilled garden
I put just over an hour on the clock including the time to drop the box and hook up the tiller. Compared to 4 hrs with a rear tine walkbehind for the same area, and I got much better results.
I put in two lawns as well as worked my garden every year with my 5hp front tine tiller at the old house and it was hard work. I would recommend the extra to rent a tractor tiller to anyone doing a large amount of tilling. You will get a better till and probably save money as well. The extra cost per hour will easily be made up for many fewer hours. I consider the $500.00 I spent on the tiller money well spent.
About the only thing I keep the old 5hp front tine tiller for is doing raised beds. I can heft the walkbehind tiller into the beds. Don't think I would try them with the tractor
