RotoTiller - Clods - Cleanup?

[MattBeef]

I rototilled the wife's garden several weeks ago.

It was really cold and damp. But, thought I needed to get it done then.

As a result, there were clods - LOTS of clods. Follow that with the biggest rain-month in recent history -- mess. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Unhappy spouse. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Things (finally) dried out. Had the buddy stop out last week with his rototiller -- redo the whole job.

STILL lots of clods. Still unhappy spouse. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

What can you guys suggest to clean up this mess?

Is there some sort of clod-breaker / cultivator attachment that I can run over the ground?

This is a relatively small garden -- about 50 X 100 feet.

HELP...!?! /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Matt

 

[MattBeef]

I rototilled the wife's garden several weeks ago.

It was really cold and damp. But, thought I needed to get it done then.

As a result, there were clods - LOTS of clods. Follow that with the biggest rain-month in recent history -- mess. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Unhappy spouse. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Things (finally) dried out. Had the buddy stop out last week with his rototiller -- redo the whole job.

STILL lots of clods. Still unhappy spouse. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

What can you guys suggest to clean up this mess?

Is there some sort of clod-breaker / cultivator attachment that I can run over the ground?

This is a relatively small garden -- about 50 X 100 feet.

HELP...!?! /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Matt

 

[KiotiJohn]

The only thing I can suggest is that you do the tilling over, and from different angles. I haven't had this problem as my tiller has broken up everything just fine. You must have a lot of clay in your soil. Possibly pulling a drag of some sort, such as chain link or an old chain link gate over the garden will do it.

It works for large areas, but will be a little harder to do in a small garden.

John

 

[KiotiJohn]

The only thing I can suggest is that you do the tilling over, and from different angles. I haven't had this problem as my tiller has broken up everything just fine. You must have a lot of clay in your soil. Possibly pulling a drag of some sort, such as chain link or an old chain link gate over the garden will do it.

It works for large areas, but will be a little harder to do in a small garden.

John

 

[JJT]

It sounds like the garden was still too wet. Let it dry out and till it up again. I'd add as much organic matter as possible, (compost, aged manure, leaves, etc). I did that with my garden a few years ago, the change is dramatic.

 

[JJT]

It sounds like the garden was still too wet. Let it dry out and till it up again. I'd add as much organic matter as possible, (compost, aged manure, leaves, etc). I did that with my garden a few years ago, the change is dramatic.

 

[Gator6x4]

Let the ground dry to where a hand full will just stay compressed when squeezed, lower the flapper gate on the rear of the tiller to it lowest setting. Decrease travel speed. The dirt should turn to powder.

 

[Gator6x4]

Let the ground dry to where a hand full will just stay compressed when squeezed, lower the flapper gate on the rear of the tiller to it lowest setting. Decrease travel speed. The dirt should turn to powder.

 

[jbrumberg]

MattBeef:
Welcome to TBN! No good deed goes unpunished /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif I agree with JJT. You will need to till your garden again. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Heavy clay soil will clump when wet. In addition to adding a lot more organic material (N) I would also add finely ground rock, gravel dust, etc. for remineraliztion of your garden (~200#'s/1000 sq ft). I do a "mix" of rock phosphate (P), granite dust and/or greensand (K). The improvements in your garden may turn /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif to /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif and /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif to /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif. It does not always work for me though /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif Good luck! Jay

 

[jbrumberg]

MattBeef:
Welcome to TBN! No good deed goes unpunished /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif I agree with JJT. You will need to till your garden again. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Heavy clay soil will clump when wet. In addition to adding a lot more organic material (N) I would also add finely ground rock, gravel dust, etc. for remineraliztion of your garden (~200#'s/1000 sq ft). I do a "mix" of rock phosphate (P), granite dust and/or greensand (K). The improvements in your garden may turn /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif to /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif and /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif to /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif. It does not always work for me though /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif Good luck! Jay

 

[MattBeef]

The buddy is scheduled to come back out this weekend. We'll see how that goes...

In the mean time, the spouse raked up all the surface clods (with a hand-held garden rake) into piles, loaded 'em in the FEL and hauled 'em out behind the barn. YIKES!

mlg

 

[MattBeef]

The buddy is scheduled to come back out this weekend. We'll see how that goes...

In the mean time, the spouse raked up all the surface clods (with a hand-held garden rake) into piles, loaded 'em in the FEL and hauled 'em out behind the barn. YIKES!

mlg

 

[jbrumberg]

MattBeef:
I do not know if you have been and/or are currently on "dog house" status /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif, but I get a strange feeling that your wife /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif and my wife /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif are either related and/or were related in a previous existence. At least your wife will drive the tractor! My latest faux pas was the belief that I added too much (well seasoned) manure (9 FEL's worth) to the garden prior to tilling. Follow up soil analysis I did revealed adequate P and K, but deficient N /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif. Guess what- I will be adding more manure with other nitrogen rich materials, more rock dust, and retilling the garden areas not already planted. I will have to be somewhat creative manuvering my NH TC29DA with my 58" tiller to accomplish this task; but every now and then I really do try to do the "right thing". Stay strong, keep tractoring, and focus on your "Master Plan"! Remember no good deed goes unpunished. I would not have any other way. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Jay

 

[jbrumberg]

MattBeef:
I do not know if you have been and/or are currently on "dog house" status /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif, but I get a strange feeling that your wife /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif and my wife /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif are either related and/or were related in a previous existence. At least your wife will drive the tractor! My latest faux pas was the belief that I added too much (well seasoned) manure (9 FEL's worth) to the garden prior to tilling. Follow up soil analysis I did revealed adequate P and K, but deficient N /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif. Guess what- I will be adding more manure with other nitrogen rich materials, more rock dust, and retilling the garden areas not already planted. I will have to be somewhat creative manuvering my NH TC29DA with my 58" tiller to accomplish this task; but every now and then I really do try to do the "right thing". Stay strong, keep tractoring, and focus on your "Master Plan"! Remember no good deed goes unpunished. I would not have any other way. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Jay

 

[deere755]

I made the same mistake this spring. I tilled my father in laws garden and came home and worked mine. He lives about a mile away and he had a lot less rain then I did. His worked perfect and mine was clods. I finally tried raising the tiller to about a 1 inch depth went real slow. It seemed to really help it reduced the clods to about the size of a pebble. I hope maybe this will help.

 

[deere755]

I made the same mistake this spring. I tilled my father in laws garden and came home and worked mine. He lives about a mile away and he had a lot less rain then I did. His worked perfect and mine was clods. I finally tried raising the tiller to about a 1 inch depth went real slow. It seemed to really help it reduced the clods to about the size of a pebble. I hope maybe this will help.

 

[PineRidge]

Before we built the house our property needed some serious leveling where the home was to be built. We hired a excavator that brought in a pan. He moved soil from the high part of the property and took it to the low area where it was needed for the home.

Our garden is now smack in the middle of where all the topsoil was removed. We were left with hard unproductive subsoil. The first couple of years we had clumps when tilling, poor drainage, and poor garden production overall.

Then we started tilling in all kinds of organic material, newspaper, wood chips from the utility company, bits of drywall, and you name it. One year we even had 20 dump trucks of composted horse manure brought in and tilled that in with the soil.

The garden soil is now well drained, rich and dark in color, and supports vegetable plants of all types.

The point of this post is let you know that it is possible to change your garden soil pretty effortlessly so that it tills easily and leaves a smooth seedbed when you're done tilling.

The more organic material that you can add the better....

 

[PineRidge]

Before we built the house our property needed some serious leveling where the home was to be built. We hired a excavator that brought in a pan. He moved soil from the high part of the property and took it to the low area where it was needed for the home.

Our garden is now smack in the middle of where all the topsoil was removed. We were left with hard unproductive subsoil. The first couple of years we had clumps when tilling, poor drainage, and poor garden production overall.

Then we started tilling in all kinds of organic material, newspaper, wood chips from the utility company, bits of drywall, and you name it. One year we even had 20 dump trucks of composted horse manure brought in and tilled that in with the soil.

The garden soil is now well drained, rich and dark in color, and supports vegetable plants of all types.

The point of this post is let you know that it is possible to change your garden soil pretty effortlessly so that it tills easily and leaves a smooth seedbed when you're done tilling.

The more organic material that you can add the better....

 

[Tractorganic]

The following approach is not for everyone.
You mention clods as the problem. Are these semi-chewed plants, roots and soil which the rototiller failed to break? If so you already have your organic matter! The trick is getting it submerged where it can break down over time and yield valuable nutrients and humus to your garden soil just as farmers plant and plow under cover crops such as clover, buckwheat, winter rye etc. Some of these have more immediately available Nitrogen than manure, others P and/or K. I have the same problem, even after several passes with my 14hp BCS tiller clods remain. I used to hope they would go away, but, they made lumps and holes in the black plastic IRT mulch and didn't decompose at the surface. I don't have a plow or harrows yet but hey there's that nice backhoe on my tractor. So I changed my garden plan to use long straight rows with clover borders. I dig a straight 200' row turning over each bucket carefully upside down back into the hole. I hand groom the row for rocks and the occassional archaeologic treasures. Then I rototill and mulch, ammend, and plant. I mow and blow the clover border back onto the row as needed.