Tiller Tiller Size?

[brownew304]

Just curious if anyone has suggestions for the best size / type tiller for a Branson 4720. I'm new to large scale gardening and I plan to garden approx 80'X100' plot. Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[taborekle]

You should be able to do 60 inches at least to cover you're wheel tracks.

I'd look at the Land Pride RTR20, which comes in either 64 inch or 72 inch and is rated for tractors 23 to 40hp (according to the specs I'm looking at, you're at 47) or the RTR25. These are reversing tillers.

I have the RTR05 at 50 inches and really like it. My Father-in-law caught sight of it and asked me to use it for his garden last year. He's really loved what it can do to the soil.

I've had to upgrade my tiller from a shear bolt to a slip clutch. I suggest that when you buy it, go for a slip clutch.

 

[Bird]

I'd prefer a tiller just a very little bit wider than the outside of my rear tires, which was the case when I used a Bush Hog RTS40 with my little B7100 Kubota, but when I traded the B7100 for a B2710, I offset the tiller so it covered the tracks on one side. That works pretty well, too.

The attached photo is from 4/16/02 with my approx. 4' x 50' row of blackberries in the foreground and the 103' x 83' vegetable garden in the background. The 83' x 15' melon patch was out of the sight to the left of the garden.

 

[brownew304]

Thanks much for the suggestions - greatly appreciated.

Bird - that's an impression garden to say the least. How long did it take for you blackberries to come up? I'll be settling in Colorado and want to plant a row approx 150 feet of blackberries / raspberries as well.

Thanks again.

 

[Bird]

How long did it take for you blackberries to come up?

I fenced off and started the garden in a part of the pasture, but the blackberry patch was there when I bought the place the end of 1994. If you didn't know it, blackberries produce berries on stalks grown last year, then those stalks die. The new stalks that grow this year will produce berries next year. To reduce the liklihood of disease, it's recommended that when production is done for the year, prune out all the old stalks (which would be a monstrous job) OR mow everything down, fertilize and water one time. The stalks that grow back will produce next year. In this part of the country, they would be through producing about the middle of June, so I'd run over the patch with the brush hog, and then with the finish mower, before applying a granular general purpose fertilizer. To start a new blackberry patch, you can buy clippings that are 6" roots which you plant horizontally 2" to 4" deep depending on the kind of soil you have. So I dug up some of my roots, cut them to 6" lengths, and gave them to a neighbor. Two years later he had his first berries. Incidentally, the patch will try to just keep spreading, so I kept it to about 4' wide by simply mowing down everything outside that distance when I mowed the yard.

 

[ModMech]

I have found that a reverse rotation tiller to be 100% superior to the standard forward rotation models (almost all PTO tillers are forward rotation).

 

[Bird]

I have found that a reverse rotation tiller to be 100% superior to the standard forward rotation models (almost all PTO tillers are forward rotation).

Can you tell us why you think the reverse rotation is superior? I had the biggest Craftsman walk behind rear tine tiller (17") with the reverse rotation (counter rotating, they called it) and it did a fine job. But when I bought the tractor and got a PTO powered Bush Hog RTS40 tiller (forward rotating) I thought it worked just as well. What makes one better than the other?

 

[Spudland_Dave]

I have found that a reverse rotation tiller to be 100% superior to the standard forward rotation models (almost all PTO tillers are forward rotation).

I agree..
BUT, I also think its 100% superior to have cash in my wallet...

I'd love to have one but the price killed it. I was sold on a 72" KKII until I found a sweetheart deal on a 72" Sovema.
Why they charge more for the same tiller minus the gearbox config is beyond me...
Maybe I'll get one if they release a KKII-R

Can you tell us why you think the reverse rotation is superior? I had the biggest Craftsman walk behind rear tine tiller (17") with the reverse rotation (counter rotating, they called it) and it did a fine job. But when I bought the tractor and got a PTO powered Bush Hog RTS40 tiller (forward rotating) I thought it worked just as well. What makes one better than the other?).

Seriously, depends on your application. If you're just tilling your garden, your fine with a normal one, and probably wont notice a difference...I find the biggest difference is in "trash burial"...Example, if you till in a grassed in area.. with a normal tiller you end up with alot of residue showing on top. With a reverse rotation, all the sod/trash/etc.. gets burried and all you see on top is "brand new dirt".

Its something to think about if you plant a cover crop in your garden, or do alot of "virgin ground" tilling.

 

[Bird]

Its something to think about if you plant a cover crop in your garden, or do alot of "virgin ground" tilling.

OK, I did do a lot of virgin ground tilling for sure. That garden was pasture grass when I started. I also used the tiller to loosen rock hard dirt on a tank dam so I could move it to fill in the tank. One neighbor wanted me to mow around a house he'd just bought that had grass and weeds grown up around it and the insurance company wouldn't insure it until the fire hazard was removed. So he wanted me to till around the house and out 10 to 15 feet from the house. I tilled up a brick sidewalk that was an inch or so under the dirt that we didn't know existed. I guess fhe forward rotation was fine for me because I tilled my garden so frequently. I also had a neighbor who hired a dozer w/operator to remove a row of cedar (actually juniper) trees from the yard because he was allergic to them. Then he hired me to till the whole yard. Of course, I tilled up a lot of tree roots in the process. That never hurt anything, but I'd be a bit afraid a reverse rotation tiller would catch under something like a big root and break something.

 

[brownew304]

Great into - thanks again. With $$'s being a big factor, I found a use KK 5' in-line not too far from my place. With my tractor at 6', how much of a factor / pain would it be having the tires wider than the tiller and not being able to offset the tiller? As I mentioned, I don't plan on doing more tilling than about 100'X80', possibly extend it a bit.