Tiller depth accessories

[NibbanaFarm]

Here are two tiller depth accessories I made for my tiller. They are made to be used separately.

The first picture shows the depth roller I made. I copied the idea from BCS and Earth Tools. The roller is a piece of plastic pipe. I removed the rubber tire and cut down some heavy aluminum caster wheels to fit inside the pipe and screwed the pipe to the wheels with 4 flat head , stainless screws. The bearings have zercs for grease. The first iteration I made very short and it fit under the tiller hood. It just got berried in dirt and acted like a bulldozer. This one works nicely. I had to bend the factory tiller depth handle a little to clear the roller mount.

I also wanted a way to do shallow cultivation without rolling. The roller will tend to replant weeds. I made a depth wheel to fit in the back of the tiller similar to the ones Earth Tools sells. But it leaves 2 wheel furrows in the cultivated soil making it difficult to plant in if that's what I want to do. So the rollers really had to be in front of the tiller. I shimmed the two pieces of telescoping square tubing to make a nice sliding fit. At the highest setting they are transport wheels and at the lowest they are about the level of the tractor. It was a tight fit to get them in and clear the tiller and the tires.

 

[Marketmaster]

You really hit on something important having the roller in front of the tiller to avoid packing in weed seeds. I think a pto extension would give more space to fit a set of rollers in if needed but looks like you nailed it!

 

[NibbanaFarm]

You really hit on something important having the roller in front of the tiller to avoid packing in weed seeds. I think a pto extension would give more space to fit a set of rollers in if needed but looks like you nailed it!

Yes, I should have said that those wheels replant weeds if you're cultivating. Just like the roller.

I have a quick connect hitch on there that I think gives a little more space. And I have the wheels set at the widest setting. You could fit something in a tighter setup but you'd have to use narrower wheels I think. These are 2 inch wide, 4 inch diameter, so pretty big. Also needed to be able to operate the quick hitch and wanted to be able to mount and remove the wheels with the tiller attached. I think they will also work with the rotary plow but haven't tried it yet.

The depth roller sticks out the back a ways so it might be a problem using that with a pto extension. Wanted to swap implement and accessories with as few tools as possible.

 

[DJ54]

I built this for my Honda Tillers. First the FR600, then picked up the 800,and had to modify it making it longer, to keep from catching the drag pan.

Originally built to till through the very top surface of leaves I mulch around plants with. Leaves work great, but in a wet year, some seeds will germinate that were in the leaves while in the storage pile. In dry years, don't have much of a problem.

Compaction of packing in weed seeds hasn't seemed to be a problem. Way less compaction than a foot print left. I do walk off to the side, but at some point, up against taller plants, a person does need to walk in tilled dirt.

I tend to fight weeds in the thread stage, tilling/cultivating only the top 2" of dirt. The tiller is only used when plants grow large enough, my David Bradley garden tractors won't straddle, or fit between the rows anymore. As long as I keep that 2"of top soil dry and loose, very few weeds can germinate in it. If we get a shower of rain, you can almost count on weeds starting to pop up within 3 days. And really prefer the cultivator over the tiller, it's a lot easier on soil structure.

 

[NibbanaFarm]

I built this for my Honda Tillers. First the FR600, then picked up the 800,and had to modify it making it longer, to keep from catching the drag pan.

Originally built to till through the very top surface of leaves I mulch around plants with. Leaves work great, but in a wet year, some seeds will germinate that were in the leaves while in the storage pile. In dry years, don't have much of a problem.

Compaction of packing in weed seeds hasn't seemed to be a problem. Way less compaction than a foot print left. I do walk off to the side, but at some point, up against taller plants, a person does need to walk in tilled dirt.

I tend to fight weeds in the thread stage, tilling/cultivating only the top 2" of dirt. The tiller is only used when plants grow large enough, my David Bradley garden tractors won't straddle, or fit between the rows anymore. As long as I keep that 2"of top soil dry and loose, very few weeds can germinate in it. If we get a shower of rain, you can almost count on weeds starting to pop up within 3 days. And really prefer the cultivator over the tiller, it's a lot easier on soil structure.

The BCS has a mount under the tiller hood for a transport wheel. EarthTools sells, and I made adjustable height wheels to fit that mount. It didn't work all that well for me.

If I used it for cultivation, it would leave the wheel furrows and replant weeds. If I wanted to plant, it would be very difficult because of the furrows. I specifically made the roller to compact the soil a little bit before planting. So I don't plan on using the depth wheels for anything other than cultivation. But if I did it would be a lot easier to get the correct planting depth without the wheel furrows right where I'm trying to plant.

I put down manure every year, plow it under and then disk it smooth. I'll till full depth where I'm going to plant root crops but other than that just do shallow cultivation. Once the plants get big enough that I can't get the tiller through to cultivate, I hoe out occasionally and finally just give up.