Topic: Rotavator advice

[captainhastings]

Hi does any one have advice on a rotavator I have a budget roughly 200. I have nearly finished digging over my new allotment by hand. In patches I have done a good job in others still more grass to be picked out.
But I am not sure about getting a cheap new one like this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130952410422 ( this is just an example carriage is 150 dollars )
or getting a more heavy duty old one. Trying to find one locally though is proving a bit tricky they soon get snapped up. Plus they tend to be a bit bulky for transporting but over all might be better suited ?

[gavinjconway]

Take a serious think first...

How big is your plot and do you really need to rotavate? A good digging, left over winter will break down with the weather and in Spring just sprinkle fertilizer, fork it in and plant..   Then every now and then you can double dig and add loads of manure etc..

Honestly If I was to get a machine it must be big enough to do the digging work for me... not just to break the clods as the small Mantis will do. But they also cut and spreads pirennial weeds...

Allotments are to grow cheap veg instead of buying so £200 is an expense worth saving. Dig by spade a few meters a time and it soon gets done and you can take out any bad weeds and roots etc!!

[captainhastings]

That does make a lot of sense and yes the economics do need to be considered. I have done the hard part which was the first dig over but some times the constant lump bashing is a bit tedious but as you say I can let the winter do a lot for me
I did splash out on a couple of rolls of netting which I begrudged buying but really glad I did so my stuff can grow in safety. Should last few years to. That cost me 60 quid and I have bought few seeds. So I am quite sure I can recoup a 100 quid in veg but 300 maybe not. I think I skip it
Thanks for the advice

[gavinjconway]

Good thinking Batman!!  You can do a better job yourself and it is more rewarding as well..

[gazza1960]

We were fortunate to get one of the mantis models from another plot holder for £130 and for us its money well spent as a bad back doesn't lend itself to
digging...."period" and although recouping cash is difficult our machine has been borrowed by some other allotmenteers for a price.....a few veggies of varieties that we don't normally grow....so it is a good trade,and the Honda 2 stroke lump is a fantastic unit and has not let us down in 3 seasons.

There are pros and cons for machinery on plots but in our case its been a proper bonus and well worth buying.

GazNjude

[peanuts]

It also depends on soil type, surely. We struggled, manfully and womanfully for a year on our newly  made large veg plot (five years ago), which is light clay.  It breaks up OK when damp, but is impossible to break when dry.  We borrowed a neighbour's rotavator one day, and were totally amazed at the difference, and went out and bought one the same day, with money I'de been given and kept for a long while until there was something special to spend it on.  Since then we have been able to achieve a tilth that it was impossible to obtain before.  So for us a rotavator is doing the job  much much better than we could ever have done.  Before we had always done the 'dig over two rows a day and it will get done'.  Now it is done in one or two days max.  The only challenge is for the soil to be dry enough in our wet springs, particularly this year.

[davyw1]

Using a rotivator does not replace the use of a spade, a marvelous machine for breaking up the soil but its no good for getting any depth.
You should really get that spade in first and get the bottom soil to the top and remove the weeds as you go, the rotavator wont do that and will only go the the depth of the tynes which is not really all that deep.
Dig first rotavate second

[gavinjconway]

Using a rotivator does not replace the use of a spade, a marvelous machine for breaking up the soil but its no good for getting any depth.
You should really get that spade in first and get the bottom soil to the top and remove the weeds as you go, the rotavator wont do that and will only go the the depth of the tynes which is not really all that deep.
Dig first rotavate second

Yep Davy I wholeheartedly agree but...... GYO is meant to be a cheap way of GYO veg... so if the machine comes free then go for it... but i'd rather not spend £200+ on one as it defeats the object. (It does make for a fine tilth AFTER digging but weathering and a fork works wonders..)

When I look back at our farming methods on our hard cloddy red soils in Zimbabwe we sometimes used to only "rip and roam" the lands before planting.. Ripping was a tractor drawn implement with 3 foot long tynes a couple of inches wide that would be pulled through the soil to rip a groove/slit through the soil to break the pan effect of continious ploughing to the same depth.. (This would open up the soil and let our precious rain through deep down into the ground.) Then we would follow that with a harrow to break up any clods and dig in any trash left over on the top.

[French-Dream]

There's an old adage "ask 10 folks a question, and you'll get 11 answers" I've got the 4 stroke Honda Mantis and wouldn't be without it. Like Gazza I have to be careful when digging with my back, I will dig our plot over this winter, but will then use the Mantis in the Spring. As it's been pointed out in other posts the Mantis is only a tiller, not a rotavator, ok for making a seed bed, and weeding.  Have you thought about hiring one for a day??.

[chriscross1966]

I wouldn't be without my Howard for all its interesting operating habits... 2 poles of potatoes went in in two evenings without my back feeling sore, and because I power-ridged them in I haven't had to worry about earthing up...a heavy-duty one (the bigger old Howards and something around 13HP or more these days) will go to digging depths (not double-digging depths  and although the hay-sayers will point out the weed-root problem, I woul d also point out that you can pretty much hoe or pull weeds in rotavated soil, taake them as they come up adn you will stay on top of them....  that said for me allotmetning is more than a way to get some cheap food, it's a hobby that keeps me away from drinking too much, the more hobbies I have the less I sit around idly  boozing.... believe me you can keep yourself sober of a Saturday night if you know you'll be using a rotavator the next day.....my Howards entertaining ability to jump into reverse with the tines engaged means you have to be compos mentis when dealing with it, not mental compost, that's for sure...