disc harrow or rototiller

[jyoutz]

What is LARGE in terms of square feet or acres? Is this a kitchen garden?

Assuming your garden is less than five acres, a Roto-tiller is simpler mixing soil than a Disc Harrow.

With a Roto-tiller on previously tilled ground it is usually once and done. You can till slowly.

A Disc Harrow has to be pulled at a brisk pace in order to mix soil, hence it is not as good for relatively small areas.

What size is my garden? About 1/4 acre. I'm not buying a tractor sized for my garden, other wise I'd keep the one I have. I need a larger, more stable tractor for utility chores on my 20 acres,

 

[jyoutz]

And there lies the problem, more weight and more trips over the soil!

That's called compaction, I'd either offset the tiller you have to cover one track, or get a bigger tiller.

SR

I wished that my current 54" tiller was offsetable. But it's not.

 

[TheMadOne]

OK, that sounds fairly well thought out. I tend to ask for reasoning from people who say they want the L4701 because it's an orphan and a lot of the time their only reasoning is that it's the biggest "standard" L. With both the MX4800 and L4060 hitting within $1000 or so of the same price there's quite a bit of personal choice to be had.

That said, a friendly reminder that the MXs are II/I, meaning you don't have to pay for CAT II if you don't want to.

 

[Egon]

1/4 of an acre. Think rotatiller.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

I may be confused and probably am but under the situation that you already have a tiller which isn't as wide as your tractor tires wouldn't it work with walking rows (The row where your tires is rolling on) between your tilled rows and be OK? With 20 acres you seem to have plenty of land to still have a half acre of tilled ground. My tiller is wider than my BX and narrower than my L and I use it on both tractors.

 

[TheMadOne]

I may be confused and probably am but under the situation that you already have a tiller which isn't as wide as your tractor tires wouldn't it work with walking rows (The row where your tires is rolling on) between your tilled rows and be OK? With 20 acres you seem to have plenty of land to still have a half acre of tilled ground. My tiller is wider than my BX and narrower than my L and I use it on both tractors.

That's not a bad idea at all. Walking rows are more of a southern thing, I think. Most gardens here in the Northeast are fully tilled, so the idea never crossed my mind.

 

[Fallon]

I upgraded from a 60" L3200 to a 72" L4060HSTC. I havent yet upgraded my 60 or 62" King Kutter tiller. It works fine for the arena maintnance side work I do. Upgrading to a 72" would be nice, but not worth the cost at the moment. I'd see how poorly your current tiller works before upgrading. I have a feeling it might be a bit small (unlike mine), but it cant hurt to try.

As far as disk vs tiller... do you have room to maneuver & get up to speed? A disk needs to run at the proper speed to properly throw & mix dirt. If you dont have room to get up to speed, a disk is the wrong tool. A disk may be faster in some conditions, but often struggle in others. A tiller will get the job done in pretty much all conditions.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I till the whole garden, (this is the front garden)

but I do put in walking rows after,

One note on tractors, The "M" series are heavier duty tractors over the "L's", and I prefer to have the stronger built tractor here on my place!

SR

 

[jyoutz]

I may be confused and probably am but under the situation that you already have a tiller which isn't as wide as your tractor tires wouldn't it work with walking rows (The row where your tires is rolling on) between your tilled rows and be OK? With 20 acres you seem to have plenty of land to still have a half acre of tilled ground. My tiller is wider than my BX and narrower than my L and I use it on both tractors.

Yes, I used to have a 1 acre garden that fed our family plus allowed us to sell at the weekly farmer's market. But our boys are grown now and it's just the wife and I. I converted 3/4 acre of the garden to a dwarf fruit tree orchard and raspberries, leaving 1/4 acre for annual vegetables. I do like the idea of keeping my tiller and doing walking rows. I would probably need to buy a longer driveshaft because mine is cut for my current small frame tractor. I'm wondering about the 38 HP tractor PTO being too much torque for my small 54 inch chain driven tiller (It's a 20 year old Woods brand tiller, chain-driven)? It I can make this tiller work with a much larger tractor, I will keep it.

 

[Fallon]

If the slip clutch is in good shape it will protect things. You should be loosening it up & making sure it slips properly. The clutch on mine is locked up tight every spring. Even when the springs are completely loose it will cut half way through a 2x4 jammed in the tines before the clutch let's loose.