Tilling Tips

[oldballs]

Being fairly new at using a tractor driven tiller, I've encountered a few problems. How about some tips from the more experienced.

My ground has been gardened 40 years with a walk behind tiller and lots of hoeing. But when I let my Kubota tractor/tiller loose in the garden some new problems arise.

1. At the start of a row (run) when I rev up to 540 PTO there is this large hump left behind that has to be hand leveled with a shovel and rake.:thumbdown:

2. At the end of a row (run) when I release the PTO and raise the tiller, there is this large hole that has to be hand leveled with a shovel and rake.:thumbdown:

Anybody got some ideas on how to feather this out without the above nuisance?

 

[jim44]

For #1, I till from the center of the garden out, then overlap a little and do the other side. This at least puts the hump in the center where it's a little easier to deal with. Also if you start moving before you drop the tiller it helps a little bit.

For #2, beats me! I've been trying to figure that one out myself. If you lift the tiller gradually as you approach the edge, it helps a little, but it's not really a solution.

 

[wmonroe]

Subscribing as I have the same issues.

 

[oldballs]

Well folks, we may not get many replies since this is the season for snow, not tilling. At least we know that we aren't alone in this dilemma. I guess after spending years on the back end of a forward tine tiller, a little raking ain't all that bad............I guess. So far, we have half of the hump figured out, and now let's go for the hole.

 

[2458n]

Back drag with your front loader.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

When you're finished tilling, you could make one pass ACROSS each end to level it out. Then you'd only have one starting and one stopping point on each end to level out by hand.

 

[oldballs]

Now there's two good tips. I can tell you all what not to do. I hooked up the back blade to try and grade the humps and holes out( no position control). I consider that a small disaster because it compacted the tilled up areas and just formed a lot of windrows of dirt ridges. But, "heck", I already admitted that I'm an amateur. I can't make a cross run on my 50 x 100 garden because the sides have the deer fence in place. Actually it felt good to know that I can still sling some dirt with a shovel.........if I have to.

 

[bigdeano]

When I till with my garden tractor I have the blade on the front to level any booboos.

 

[reddog6601]

Is your tiller offset to one side? If so, it should cover the wheel tracks on that side. Keeping the offset side to the inside if the garden when you cross till should take care of most of the low spots.

 

[oldballs]

Well I had the FEL on so I could back drag as noted above on the end run holes. Getting those start humps leveled out is a problem since that end of the garden still has the deer fence standing. Guess I could take down that fence end also. Fencing sure complicates things.
And thank you all thus far.
Cheers,
Mike

 

[bcp]

If I ever get a flat land garden I think I would use construction site panels for fencing, so it could be moved easily for equipment to work.

Bruce

 

[Jarrod32]

When you're finished tilling, you could make one pass ACROSS each end to level it out. Then you'd only have one starting and one stopping point on each end to level out by hand.

This is what I do. Raising and lowering while in motion helps as well.

 

[oldballs]

This is what I do. Raising and lowering while in motion helps as well.

The next time around, I'm going to try Jarrod's method along with a slower rpm at those ends.

 

[gwdixon]

Yes, your experience is simply the way a tiller works.

The tiller essentially moves the garden soil about a foot behind the tiller when it is lowered. Thus, at the beginning of the run there is a mound and at the end of the run there is a ditch (hole).

If you can get to your garden from all four sides, then there is a solution.

1. Till and then turn around and till the other direction. This will displace the soil a foot in the other direction and the ground will be evened out...close, but not perfectly.

2. If necessary, then till the ends peperpendicularly to the original passes. This will leave a one tiller width depression and hill at the ends. Turn around and make a pass to even that out. If this technique isn't perfect then there is only a one tiller width issue at the ends of the garden to hoe or shovel. This step can be skipped if the first "back and forth" step is done very well.

It takes a bit of practice to hit the hill/depression just right.

I have used this technique for years with quite satisfactory results. I have access to my garden area from 3 sides because of fencing. So working on the method in #1 above is worth the time and effort to become skilled at it in just two passes.

 

[brown40]

I think everyone has the same issues, regardless of what direction the tines rotate; either the humps at the start or the end.

I keep the tailgate low, try to "feather" the entrance & exit (KK 5'--throws material backwards), and alternate directions tilling, but the entry & exit are always there. All my land has slope, so I use the lower "exit" uphill to set up my irrigation in.

I think its the tradeoff of lowering a spinning cylinder into the dirt to move material; a little handwork at the end instead of long stretches...

 

[Baby Grand]

When you're finished tilling, you could make one pass ACROSS each end to level it out. Then you'd only have one starting and one stopping point on each end to level out by hand.

This is what I do. Raising and lowering while in motion helps as well.

This is also what I do, too.

If you till in alternate directions, so there are start humps next to finish troughs, then it will level out nicely.

If you till in the same direction, leaving a row of humps at one end of the garden and a row of troughs at the other, then it doesn't work so well. Sometimes I choose to till this way. To get everything even again, I use the FEL to move the hump material to the trough. Sometimes, if nobody is watching, I might even use a shovel and iron rake to get a really level surface, but that's just between us.

 

[oldballs]

This is also what I do, too.

If you till in alternate directions, so there are start humps next to finish troughs, then it will level out nicely.

If you till in the same direction, leaving a row of humps at one end of the garden and a row of troughs at the other, then it doesn't work so well. Sometimes I choose to till this way. To get everything even again, I use the FEL to move the hump material to the trough. Sometimes, if nobody is watching, I might even use a shovel and iron rake to get a really level surface, but that's just between us.

Oh Man!!! I'm getting some good ideas with this thread and maybe it is helping some others as well.

 

[Ed of all trades]

I just till from one end of the garden in the spring and in the fall I till from a other. I just live with the hole and the hump is littler because it is in last times hole. Yes I circle the garden and only till in one direction.

 

[Ford850]

When you're finished tilling, you could make one pass ACROSS each end to level it out. Then you'd only have one starting and one stopping point on each end to level out by hand.

This is what I do if I'm tilling the whole garden up first. Most time I till and plant in sections though. So I till the ends (perpendicular) full length first. Then as I till the rows I gradually lower to begin and slowing lift the tiller at the end of the row (since the soil has already been worked) and that reduces the humps and trenches quite a bit.

 

[City Farmer]

I set the position control stop on the 3ph so the tiller clears the ground about 3" or so. When I get to the end of the row, I just lift it up. Most of the time it raises fast enough to not leave a mound. I never disengage the pto while I'm tilling. I'm always moving before I drop the tiller in the ground. Like a pervious poster said, tilling perpendicular to the row ends helps a lot too.