Tilling under trellis

[czechsonofagun]

I maintain the dirt directly under grape trellis wires tilled most of the year. I have regular front tine tiller and it takes a lot of my back to get it tilled let me tell you I basically come from the side and till that foot or so, than yank it back and move to the side and do it again. My lower back is getting the best of it.
I was thinking to remove half of the tines on the left side and go front and back the row in two passes - does it make sense? I feel I should alternate the tiller somehow but I am still in process of problem solving.
And no, there is no room for tractor with a tiller sideways - like to back it under the wire and till.
The hand hoe is the best tool for this but I am too lazy to do it by hand - and proud of it too

 

[galen1115]

Prokop, from what I have seen around here is the row is treated with roundup and just around the vine the soil is loosened, about a foot either side, but not the entire row (between the vines). I think your going to a lot of extra work.

 

[kyspartan]

get a little mantis like tiller, or one with reverse.i had a front tine tiller with reverse it was alot better than dragging it backwards. bought all i know to tell ya. maybe someone will pop in with a good idea.

 

[Chuck52]

I've been tempted to use roundup around my grapes, but I've got a row of muscadines and a row of Concords separated by about 6-8 feet and one of the big muscadine sites seemed to really warn against roundup use. I think I damaged some blueberries with roundup drift even though I sprayed real close to the ground on a windless day. That stuff works! So, I'm thinking I'm going to use cardboard and mulch to keep the weeds down around the vines. If I can't find enough cardboard, I have an unlimited supply of newspaper, and I've used that to very effectively keep weeds down around the vegetable plants. Cardboard doesn't blow so much as you put it down before you can get the mulch on it, but that's about the only advantage it has over the newspaper.

Chuck

 

[kyspartan]

just had a thought till it then scoop out the dirt you tilled and replace with good potting soil, then cover the groud with landscape fabric and mulch, no more weeds and the potting soil will stay loose.

 

[czechsonofagun]

Well I don't have 100% proof of course, but seems like tillers don't take tilling with half of tins very well. The chain cover - that holds also the tins axle - is cracked and busted beyond repair. I didn't take it apart yet, but I suspect something about one side only tilling prying the tins axle out and eventually braking the housing.

The good news? The tiller is ready for complete rebuild to fit my needs better:thumbsup:

 

[2manyrocks]

The front tine tillers I am familiar with usually came with a pair of tines on each side. You could remove one set on each side, but not both sets on a side because it wouldn't be balanced. Maybe that's what cracked your housing.

Short of avoiding the weeding with landscaping, some sort of offset plow might work? People have been weeding grapes for a long time. How do they do it?

 

[czechsonofagun]

Here is the damage. Gotta say that the tiller is not build very well - but it was most likely me who killed it.

 

[Greenmountain Farmer]

My dad used to take the two tines which pointed out on each side and swap them left side to right side so all the outside tines pointed to center of tiller, could till closer and less side kick

Tom in Vermont