1 Row Culitivator

[theboman]

After of two years of wanting one I just went and got one... a Landpride 1 Row Cultivator from TSC.

I messed with it a bit, my garden is laid out not exactly up to using it...this year, however I can fix a couple of things until the beans and maters get bigger.

It'll save time between the hoes and help lay out the garden in future years with rows 5' apart as .... I think Bird does his.

 

[JerryG]

I lay my garden out wide also. I also use a one row cultivator. Having said that, it misses a strip in the middle. Or I should say did miss a strip. I bolted a 1/2" x 6" plate between the two middle shanks. Then I put another shank in the middle. It now has 7 shanks instead of 6.

 

[Laminarman]

Without sounding ignorant, what does a cultivator do? I assume you drive over your garden and let it rip out weeds? How do you avoid crushing your tomatoes? Is your tractor jacked up like a monster truck??

 

[JerryG]

A one row cultivator is actually made to straddle the row. But after the crop get about a foot or so tall, you can't. That is why I spread my rows apart and plow in between them.

 

[theboman]

If you knock off tomato you then use tomato paste to reattach. I went thru a couple of gallons....it don't really stick.

It's a fast way to cultivate bewteen the rows. As long as there's clearance you can straddle the plants. I caught an occasional greenbean .... but nothing to worry myself about.

Hoeing ain't bad, but it ain't fun and is very time consuming and my time is valuable...so a cultivator will help a lot, but more in the future...

On a sidebar, hmmm thinkin' about gettin' some 'Boat orange paint and give my cultivator and box blade a 'Bota look...that Landpride color is nasty..it's snot yellow...I don't know what color it is.

 

[PineRidge]

<font color="blue"> that Landpride color is nasty..it's snot yellow...I don't know what color it is.
</font>

I have a Landpride boxblade. I think the color is called "baby poop yellow" yuch! /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[AMP762]

This is the first year I've used mine to lay-off the garden.
it sure is better than by hand,now the rows are evenly spaced.I skipped every 2nd row when I planted so now I can straddle the rows until they get to big,then I can run the cultervator through the middles or I can use my 48in tiller.Better then a hoe /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[nomad]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( How do you avoid crushing your tomatoes? )</font>

There are "interrow" cultivators for that. Its tine spaces can be adjusted according to the crop row spaces. Even you can do this youself on a simple garden cultivator (see pictures I posted in "garden implements" thread)

 

[Libertine]

Laminarman:

<font color="blue">I assume you drive over your garden and let it rip out weeds? </font>

The problem is that CUT's are not very good at "gardening" - other than initial ground preparation. Some of the posts about 5' row spacing proves the point. Adjusting the garden to the equipment. Wider row spacing takes up more space, greatly increases the cost of improving the soil (adding humus, liming, changing clay soil by adding sand, etc, etc) because you are improving ground that is "wasted" and unproductive.

The main reason the old tricycle tractors (such as the Farmall of 1925 and later) were so flexible is that, in addition to their PTO & belt pulley, they had high ground clearance and could straddle the rows for cultivation. (They were the first tractors designed to replace the horse entirely). With the increases use of chemical weed killers in the 1950s this configuration went out of favor. The very best tractor for gardening is the old Allis Chalmer G model (made in the late 1940s). Small, engine in back, good ground clearance & visibility, good wheel spacing adjustment. Many of these have been restored and are still being used. There is a tractor called Saukville (I think they have a wed site) being manufactured today that copies the Allis G. They can even use the old G implements. The second best tractor for gardening is something like the BCS 2 wheel tractors (or, the old Gravelies). These are real tractors and have dozens of implements (just like your CUT) and can do everything from running rotary plows, tillers, mowers, chippers, snow blowers, etc. etc. (just as flexible as a CUT) but on a smaller scale. The old Gravelies even had a backhoe attachment!

Going over the top (required when row spacing is reasonable) to cut weeds limits cultivation because of the 12" or so ground clearance on the average CUT. With 20" or more clearance (such as the Allis G and older tricyle tractors had), the crop can be cultivated (weeded) until the plants are pretty high. And, by then, the plants are well established and shading out the weeds to a large extent. Of course, the 2 wheel tractors are narrow enough to go between reasonably spaced rows.

JEH

 

[timb]

Have some fun and compliment your CUT with something like an old Farmall Cub (but not a 'low-boy" version), or for a little larger critter, an "A", or "B". The Cub and A are wide front, the B is a narrow front (tricycle style). If I recall, they've got on the order of 24"-25" crop clearance and tread width is adjustable front and rear to fit your rows . I often see them listed for sale with mid-mount 1 and 2 row cultivator sets. Great little old tractors - just not as flexible as today's CUTs.

Tim