3pt tiller vs vines?

[ovrszd]

I had more trouble clearing all the netting & twine from round bales the previous owners left to their horses than vines. I spend days cutting that stuff out of my tines.

Yep. I run a road grader on country roads. I'm constantly stopping and picking up bundles of that stuff that blows off the farmers flatbed trucks. I hate that stuff!!!

 

[California]

To clear a path through blackberry jungle I waded in with the loader high & crushed it down to where the rotary mower could shred it. First pass with the mower held high then back over it with the mower at normal height. Getting most of the roots out is going to take some sort of subsurface gouging - buy a subsoiler if you have use for it later or just back blade tines if that's all you have.

Here's where I grubbed out a row of old apple orchard trees using the backhoe, that had been abandoned to the blackberries. Their roots are needed to prevent erosion here. So after I revealed the trees, I now pull down the above-ground canes like this every couple of years to make harvest access.

Don't go in with a rototiller before the vines are dragged out (ideally) or at least shredded into short pieces. The rototiller will load up immediately with above-ground vines or a little more slowly as it pulls up these long underground runners. I made a tiller cleanout tool from a cheap linoleum knife (hook shaped, HF) jammed into a piece of conduit. I reach in from either side and clear the snarl using it.

 

[ovrszd]

I was hoping SawyerRob would come back with pics of his Howard Tiller and the results it gets. I'd like to look at it's design to figure out why it never gets tangled up with things like this.

 

[spruce Deere]

I was hoping SawyerRob would come back with pics of his Howard Tiller and the results it gets. I'd like to look at it's design to figure out why it never gets tangled up with things like this.

Me too Granted, good prep before tilling saves alot of pains but a tiller always seems to find stuffs you missed....regardless of Brand or $$ you spent on the tiller

I am curious about the trash guards on your KK tiller. Mine is not a KK II but is less than one year old and sported no trash guards.

 

[ovrszd]

Me too Granted, good prep before tilling saves alot of pains but a tiller always seems to find stuffs you missed....regardless of Brand or $$ you spent on the tiller

I am curious about the trash guards on your KK tiller. Mine is not a KK II but is less than one year old and sported no trash guards.

Crap, I was just at the farm and could have taken pics. I gotta go back this afternoon. I'll try to remember. Sorry.

 

[/pine]

FWIW...The best tool I've found to remove wound up debris etc. from my tiller is a honed flooring knife with an exaggerated hook...

 

[California]

The best tool I've found to remove wound up debris etc. from my tiller is a honed flooring knife with an exaggerated hook...

Yes. I have a linoleum knife jammed into a piece of conduit, to make a long handle to reach way in from either side. I should weld it to a scrap of 3/4" water pipe for the additional inertia that weight would provide when I tug on it.

Some kind of prybar to get under the nearest canes and lift them off the axle helps break them up, too.

But for me the best way to reduce these snarls is to mow as week before tilling.

 

[ovrszd]

Me too Granted, good prep before tilling saves alot of pains but a tiller always seems to find stuffs you missed....regardless of Brand or $$ you spent on the tiller

I am curious about the trash guards on your KK tiller. Mine is not a KK II but is less than one year old and sported no trash guards.

Here ya go. 2"x1/4" L shaped with the short end welded to the rotating teeth shaft and the long end hanging over the fixed bearing housing. Two on each end 180 degrees apart. I can't say how well they work because I've never used one without them. They still wrap up when trying to till tall, tough grass or vines.

 

[ovrszd]

Forgot to add, mine was manufactured in December 2005, if that matters.