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Post by johninfla on Nov 1, 2012 11:08:57 GMT -5
I love my rear tine tiller...but I've never had a front tine one. The only problem I see with the tillers in my price range (cheap) is the transmissions. They don't seem to last.
I LOVE SWEET SWEET CORN!!!! Hawaiian Supersweet is my absolute favorite! I have tried some of the older corns like Country Gentleman and it is ok but doesn't knock my socks off. Now I used to grow Silver Queen and I really like that but I'm saving my own seed now and that's not an option. A lot of old timers around here don't care for sweet corn but prefer field corn. (Usually they make creamed corn with it.)
John
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Post by steev on Nov 1, 2012 11:30:07 GMT -5
Having used various tillers, I find rear-tine best-balanced weight-wise, but my Mantis is just right for small jobs, like working up a single row for planting.
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James
grub
Greetings from Utah -- James
Posts: 93
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Post by James on Nov 1, 2012 13:09:51 GMT -5
Get a Troybilt Horse and never look back. Yes, they may be expensive, but the quality can't be beat.
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Post by circumspice on Nov 1, 2012 14:19:01 GMT -5
Get a Troybilt Horse and never look back. Yes, they may be expensive, but the quality can't be beat. Very true. I nearly had a stroke when my mom traded my dad's Troybilt for a cruddy, beat up, used riding lawnmower that only lasted for a year before going belly up.  |
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Post by littleminnie on Nov 1, 2012 14:39:56 GMT -5
So do you think I should call on it and have it brought over to try or should I stick with what I got?
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Post by circumspice on Nov 1, 2012 17:00:51 GMT -5
So do you think I should call on it and have it brought over to try or should I stick with what I got? Minnie, why don't you give it a trial? Maybe for 1 week, if the owner agrees. Then you can make an informed decision. |
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Post by ogeechee on Nov 1, 2012 23:03:15 GMT -5
Minnie, I have used many front tillers and what they are sayiing is true. They often have to be man handled to keep them going in a straight line. When they hit a hard spot they jump and kick and toss you around...I think you get the idea. I also recently purchased an old (1987) Troy-Bilt Horse. Once cleaned up and the carb cleaned it runs like new. When plowing you walk beside it. It goes straight and leaves soil like flour or meal...very fine. It plows smoothly and straight without stress on the operator. They are very heavy and have drive wheels that pull the tiller forward in a straight line. I am sold on the Troy-Bilt and would not try to garden without one. That being said if you bought the front tiller and had your garden plowed and you used the tiller after the garden was plowed the wear and tear on your body would not be as bad. Also if you purchased it for $75 and it runs fine you could probably sell it in the spring for what you paid or a wee bit more.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Nov 1, 2012 23:43:17 GMT -5
I also recently purchased an old (1987) Troy-Bilt Horse. ... When plowing you walk beside it. It goes straight and leaves soil like flour or meal...very fine. It plows smoothly and straight without stress on the operator. They are very heavy and have drive wheels that pull the tiller forward in a straight line. I am sold on the Troy-Bilt and would not try to garden without one. Without stress on the operator? Straight lines? My Troy-Bilt Horse is even older and even heavier. Maybe I don't know how to use it, cause it beats the hell of me, and no matter how careful I am the rows are astoundingly crooked. I can attribute the lack of flour-like soil to the rocks, the clay-like soil, and worn out tines. It's a great tiller, but using it ain't no hike in the park. |
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Post by johninfla on Nov 2, 2012 8:30:16 GMT -5
I don't have a Troy bilt BUT I do have a cheaper rear-tine tiller (Husqvarna) and in my soil (sand and more sand and a little beach sand thrown in for good measure) it does leave the soil like flour, and if there isn't much grass in it, I can walk beside it. The first several go overs on a new garden I do with the disc on the tractor, but after that I prefer the tiller. I have never gardened anywhere with rocks and clay so I have no idea what that would be like. I am always struck by the idea that whatever situation we find ourselves in there is always a trade off.  John |
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Post by circumspice on Nov 2, 2012 9:16:47 GMT -5
My dad had an '87 Troybilt rear tine tiller. He bought it new. I don't remember the model. He was able to till a 25'x75' garden in about 4 hours. He got a big kick out of the fact that he could guide it with one hand while walking beside it. He would first till the garden across the 25' width, then till it again along the 75' length. Then he would put an attachment on it & make his rows. Altogether, that would take him about 4 hours in the sandy soil of that garden. He loved that tiller, it made his time & effort much more productive. He would also till between the rows for weed suppression.
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Post by littleminnie on Nov 2, 2012 21:43:53 GMT -5
Well I should say that I am an almost no-till gardener actually but I need a tiller for working in manure that is chunky, working in cover crops and prepping a bed for another crop. I do not till everything over in fall or spring as most people do. I have permanent beds and permanent paths for most of the garden. I am having the two edges disced but the main rectangle has plastic on the paths and heaped up composted beds.
So maybe I just need my little tiller. I can lift it with one hand and move it all over. It takes 3 passes minimum to do a bed and it only goes a couple inches deep really. The only thing it cannot do that I need is till in last year's corn stumps in spring. I do have a friend with a wonderful tiller I can borrow whenever but I hate getting it in and out of my truck on the ramps.
I didn't have time to try out the tiller today but maybe will Sunday. I don't know if anyone else is interested. If it jumps around or seems to not be very straight or is too much to hold on to I don't want it. Being I have plastic paths I absolutely need a tiller that is very steerable!
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Post by DarJones on Nov 3, 2012 0:54:29 GMT -5
RE tillers, I have both rear tine Troybilt Horse and a front tine Tillsmith. You can't find a good Tillsmith any more and the old style heavy duty Horse is a dying breed too. I have a new motor for the Tillsmith, the old one is 40 years old and just too worn out to keep messing with.
Planting carrots and making a crop is a bit difficult eh Joseph. Try this. Get some good radishes of different colors and maturity that will grow as spring radishes. Use the carrot seed you prefer though I would point out that your soil needs a heavy chantenay type to perform well. Till the soil to a powder. Get a 10 ft long piece of galvanized pipe 1.5 to 2 inches diameter. Drop the pipe where you want a row so it forms a trench about 1/2 to 3/4 inch deep. Carefully sow carrot seed and then radish seed in the row. The carrot seed should be at a rate of 20 or 30 seed per foot of row and the radishes at 5 to 10 seed per foot. Use a bag of peat moss crumbled very fine to cover the seed about 3/8 inch deep. Do not put anything else on top of the seed. Planting time is just as early as possible in the spring, carrots and radishes enjoy cool weather. Harvest the radishes as they mature. Let the carrots grow.
You may not be able to do this, it is primarily a heat management option. When the carrots are about 3 or 4 inches tall weed carefully, then cover the sides of the rows with peat moss about 1/2 inch deep.
I grow my radishes and carrots in a bed 3 feet wide by about 30 feet long. This is the equivalent of roughly 90 row feet in a straight row. Weeding is easy with a garden fork. Since the soil has plenty of added organics, it does not harden up in the heat.
DarJones
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Post by steev on Nov 3, 2012 0:59:30 GMT -5
I started in '79 with a Troybilt Horse; it was good, being heavy and rear-tined. I'm not as impressed with their more recent products, although I use them.
On the farm, I now use a BCS732, which is a beast much too big for the work I do in town, but I'm liking it as more suitable for my fiddly purposes than the 40HP John Deere I was using.
Steerable is not an adjective I've ever thought of in connection to front-tine tillers.
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Post by oxbowfarm on Nov 4, 2012 7:38:06 GMT -5
According to my small engine/machine mechanic the Troybilt Horse WAS a great machine before Troybilt went bankrupt and the name/badgeing was purchased by MTD. After that MTD began economizing on the quality of parts and design. If you buy a Horse buy one that predates 2001.
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Post by Drahkk on Nov 4, 2012 9:31:08 GMT -5
So THAT'S how Lowes got exclusivity on the Troybilt name. They used to be independent, selling to whoever would buy. But MTD just divvies out their various labels to the major retailers, so each chain can claim certain famous name brands as "store exclusive" products. And yes, many things with their stamp on it tend to be cheaper, in both senses of the word.
MB
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