brownew304
New member
Just curious if anyone has suggestions for the best size / type tiller for a Branson 4720. I'm new to large scale gardening and I plan to garden approx 80'X100' plot. Any suggestions are appreciated.
Tiller Tiller Size?
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taborekle
Gold Member
You should be able to do 60 inches at least to cover you're wheel tracks.
I'd look at the Land Pride RTR20, which comes in either 64 inch or 72 inch and is rated for tractors 23 to 40hp (according to the specs I'm looking at, you're at 47) or the RTR25. These are reversing tillers.
I have the RTR05 at 50 inches and really like it. My Father-in-law caught sight of it and asked me to use it for his garden last year. He's really loved what it can do to the soil.
I've had to upgrade my tiller from a shear bolt to a slip clutch. I suggest that when you buy it, go for a slip clutch.
I'd look at the Land Pride RTR20, which comes in either 64 inch or 72 inch and is rated for tractors 23 to 40hp (according to the specs I'm looking at, you're at 47) or the RTR25. These are reversing tillers.
I have the RTR05 at 50 inches and really like it. My Father-in-law caught sight of it and asked me to use it for his garden last year. He's really loved what it can do to the soil.
I've had to upgrade my tiller from a shear bolt to a slip clutch. I suggest that when you buy it, go for a slip clutch.
Bird
Rest in Peace
I'd prefer a tiller just a very little bit wider than the outside of my rear tires, which was the case when I used a Bush Hog RTS40 with my little B7100 Kubota, but when I traded the B7100 for a B2710, I offset the tiller so it covered the tracks on one side. That works pretty well, too.
The attached photo is from 4/16/02 with my approx. 4' x 50' row of blackberries in the foreground and the 103' x 83' vegetable garden in the background. The 83' x 15' melon patch was out of the sight to the left of the garden.
The attached photo is from 4/16/02 with my approx. 4' x 50' row of blackberries in the foreground and the 103' x 83' vegetable garden in the background. The 83' x 15' melon patch was out of the sight to the left of the garden.
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brownew304
New member
Thanks much for the suggestions - greatly appreciated.
Bird - that's an impression garden to say the least. How long did it take for you blackberries to come up? I'll be settling in Colorado and want to plant a row approx 150 feet of blackberries / raspberries as well.
Thanks again.
Bird - that's an impression garden to say the least. How long did it take for you blackberries to come up? I'll be settling in Colorado and want to plant a row approx 150 feet of blackberries / raspberries as well.
Thanks again.
Bird
Rest in Peace
I fenced off and started the garden in a part of the pasture, but the blackberry patch was there when I bought the place the end of 1994. If you didn't know it, blackberries produce berries on stalks grown last year, then those stalks die. The new stalks that grow this year will produce berries next year. To reduce the liklihood of disease, it's recommended that when production is done for the year, prune out all the old stalks (which would be a monstrous job) OR mow everything down, fertilize and water one time. The stalks that grow back will produce next year. In this part of the country, they would be through producing about the middle of June, so I'd run over the patch with the brush hog, and then with the finish mower, before applying a granular general purpose fertilizer. To start a new blackberry patch, you can buy clippings that are 6" roots which you plant horizontally 2" to 4" deep depending on the kind of soil you have. So I dug up some of my roots, cut them to 6" lengths, and gave them to a neighbor. Two years later he had his first berries. Incidentally, the patch will try to just keep spreading, so I kept it to about 4' wide by simply mowing down everything outside that distance when I mowed the yard.
ModMech
Platinum Member
I have found that a reverse rotation tiller to be 100% superior to the standard forward rotation models (almost all PTO tillers are forward rotation).
Bird
Rest in Peace
Can you tell us why you think the reverse rotation is superior? I had the biggest Craftsman walk behind rear tine tiller (17") with the reverse rotation (counter rotating, they called it) and it did a fine job. But when I bought the tractor and got a PTO powered Bush Hog RTS40 tiller (forward rotating) I thought it worked just as well. What makes one better than the other?
Spudland_Dave
Veteran Member
I agree..
BUT, I also think its 100% superior to have cash in my wallet...
I'd love to have one but the price killed it. I was sold on a 72" KKII until I found a sweetheart deal on a 72" Sovema.
Why they charge more for the same tiller minus the gearbox config is beyond me...
Maybe I'll get one if they release a KKII-R
Bird said:
Seriously, depends on your application. If you're just tilling your garden, your fine with a normal one, and probably wont notice a difference...I find the biggest difference is in "trash burial"...Example, if you till in a grassed in area.. with a normal tiller you end up with alot of residue showing on top. With a reverse rotation, all the sod/trash/etc.. gets burried and all you see on top is "brand new dirt".
Its something to think about if you plant a cover crop in your garden, or do alot of "virgin ground" tilling.
Bird
Rest in Peace
OK, I did do a lot of virgin ground tilling for sure. That garden was pasture grass when I started. I also used the tiller to loosen rock hard dirt on a tank dam so I could move it to fill in the tank. One neighbor wanted me to mow around a house he'd just bought that had grass and weeds grown up around it and the insurance company wouldn't insure it until the fire hazard was removed. So he wanted me to till around the house and out 10 to 15 feet from the house. I tilled up a brick sidewalk that was an inch or so under the dirt that we didn't know existed. I guess fhe forward rotation was fine for me because I tilled my garden so frequently. I also had a neighbor who hired a dozer w/operator to remove a row of cedar (actually juniper) trees from the yard because he was allergic to them. Then he hired me to till the whole yard. Of course, I tilled up a lot of tree roots in the process. That never hurt anything, but I'd be a bit afraid a reverse rotation tiller would catch under something like a big root and break something.
OP
brownew304
New member
Great into - thanks again. With $$'s being a big factor, I found a use KK 5' in-line not too far from my place. With my tractor at 6', how much of a factor / pain would it be having the tires wider than the tiller and not being able to offset the tiller? As I mentioned, I don't plan on doing more tilling than about 100'X80', possibly extend it a bit.
Bird
Rest in Peace
How much trouble will it be to plant a garden in those tractor tracks? It's better than no tiller, but personally I wouldn't buy one that wouldn't cover my tracks on at least one side. Of course, I certainly understand about the money. When I traded my B7100 for the B2710, I offset the tiller to cover the track on one side because I just couldn't see spending enough to buy a wider tiller, but if I hadn't had a tiller already and was going to buy one, I wouldn't consider anything that wouldn't cover both tracks while it's centered.
ModMech
Platinum Member
We have turf tires and found that the tiller not covering either rear tire to be a HUGE pain. Even when we moved the tires in all the way and shifted the tiller we couldn't completely cover either tire and the tiller wanted to till at an angle / because the tires were rolling back and forth over the edge between tilled and untilled ground.
We have the same problem with the WheelHorse C-16 and it's 36" forward rotation tiller, you just can't cover the wheels completely but becausee neither rear wheel sticks out more than 1" past the tiller tines, it is managable.
The Kubota ~48" tiller we had was also a forward rotation tiller and it constantly tried to push the tractor forward and shook violently over hard unbroken ground. This is even with controlling the digging depth and it left clumps behind, not a nice smooth planting bed.
The new 60" reverse rotation tiller has similar tine counts and about the same number of rows for the width but doesn't shake the tractor and leaves a much more even bed without the larger clumps. It is also much easier to control ground speed because the tiller tries to hold back on the tractor and not push it forward (no forward/brake/forward pedal gymnastics).
The least expensive new tiller I could find in the area for a 5' model was $1395, I paid just under $2k for the LP with more tines, one more row of tines and reverse rotation and a 5 year gearbox warranty. For our situation, it was money well spent. We had looked at rear-tine walk-behinds and paid LESS for this PTO tiller than for a 36" rear-tine walker!
We have the same problem with the WheelHorse C-16 and it's 36" forward rotation tiller, you just can't cover the wheels completely but becausee neither rear wheel sticks out more than 1" past the tiller tines, it is managable.
The Kubota ~48" tiller we had was also a forward rotation tiller and it constantly tried to push the tractor forward and shook violently over hard unbroken ground. This is even with controlling the digging depth and it left clumps behind, not a nice smooth planting bed.
The new 60" reverse rotation tiller has similar tine counts and about the same number of rows for the width but doesn't shake the tractor and leaves a much more even bed without the larger clumps. It is also much easier to control ground speed because the tiller tries to hold back on the tractor and not push it forward (no forward/brake/forward pedal gymnastics).
The least expensive new tiller I could find in the area for a 5' model was $1395, I paid just under $2k for the LP with more tines, one more row of tines and reverse rotation and a 5 year gearbox warranty. For our situation, it was money well spent. We had looked at rear-tine walk-behinds and paid LESS for this PTO tiller than for a 36" rear-tine walker!
OP
brownew304
New member
You've convinced me to go with a 6' tiller - and hopefully be able to find a reverse at a reasonable price. Once again, you guys are a wealth of information, many thanks.
