Allotments 4 All
Allotment Stuff => The Basics => Topic started by: Cool Carrot on August 11, 2004, 15:59:51
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Hi
Does anyone know where I can get a rotovator / cultivator from been looking on ebay but they all tend to be for sale down south & I live up in West Yorkshire, Ive been to my local garden centers & they don't stock them. I am after one of them 6 geared one the heavy duty type.
Regards
CC ???
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Hi CC
I managed to hire one for the weekend - not the cheepest way to do it but it was the easiest they dropped it off on the Friday Morning and picked it up sometime on the Monday. I think it was about £30.00 for the whole weekend - if there are others who need it on your lottie site you could always split the cost and have it for a day each :)
Easy peasey
Sam
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Hi Pixie
I was looking to buy one as I got quoted £50 for the weekend that inc delivery, hire one 3 or 4 times & you could buy one.
CC ???
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By the time you've serviced a 2nd hand one, had it fail, & had to order spare parts at ? price ?? Difficult choice! = Tim
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I know they are not cheap.
I don't know if you have a lottie, but try the local allotment groups to see if they would be interested in all clubbing together to buy one if they are working out pricey or if they already have one would they be interested in hiring one to you.
Other idea is put an ad in the local free paper in the wanted section - some people have them just rotting away in the shed and don't realise that they are wanted.
Hope this helps
Sam
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Do any of the other lottie holders have a rotovator/cultivator?
Several of the older hands on my plot do and for the price of a can of petrol & a couple of pints they'll turn over my plot for me.
Far cheaper than the £55 I saw in one garden centre for a new one.
CC
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Just saw an interesting thing about rotovating - did I say this elsewhere? - that worms don't like it. Not hard to understand!
No wonder that we're short of them. But too old to dig. = Tim
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If only you and I had been around two months ago CC. I dismantled a petrol cultivator for a gennie I was building. I picked my one up for free at the local tip. It needed a little work but I goes like a gooden. Got the rest of the parts somewhere, lying in the workshops junk pile.
TrailRat
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Just my 2p worth of rotovatars. (Bear in mind I am a farmers son and hold a degree an Agricultural Technology Management).
They can do a good job when used correctly but please do not over do it. Soil needs structure, plants need soil structure even more.
A fine tilth is the not the be all and end all choice. Soil needs a structure to offer the plants the best growing environment. Too much rotovating can beat the hell out of the soil. It may look great, no lumps or clods and smooth as a billiard table but the plants wont thank you for it. Too fine and the soil dries out very quickly, heavy rain followed by sun can create a very hard surface layer that seedlings cannot break through.
I use a rotovator from time to time, mainly if the weather is making me get behind schedule other wise I would far rather use a fork and dig. Better exercise, better control. You get to see what your soil looks like and you can control the weeds far better.
The mechanical means are great but please do not rely on them.
HTH
Jerry
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I love to dig, me and my fork are chums, but the chaps at the plot, one in particlar, rotovates ever visit! His soil is now like sand and it does actually blow in the wind! :o I agree with Jerry, don't over do it or you will end up with a dust bowl full of stones and not much else!
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Okay, so I'm hearing that rotovating is not a good idea, but I've just started my (very overgrown) plot and could do with some advice on this! We're marking the plot into beds and using the existing grass as pathways (3m by 2m beds). So far we've taken the turf off two beds, and that nearly killed us. We have another 12 to do. After that we'll have to dig over the beds - would using a rotovator here be okay do you think?
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I'm not & I don't, 89, but I do agree.
Pity is that I relied on a machine when I was away all weekdays for 14 years, & then was too lazy & later too old to dig. = Tim
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So far we've taken the turf off two beds, and that nearly killed us. We have another 12 to do. After that we'll have to dig over the beds - would using a rotovator here be okay do you think?
Yes, that will be fine. It gets you over the hump of the work. All I am saying is do not over do it. Fine tilth may look wonderful but can be a nightmare to manage and the plants won't love you for it.
Tim, No worries. I can see a time when a machine will be needed by myself. At the moment though I try and stick to a good fork. My garden is my gymn. Digging has also helped my bad back no end after I messed it up big time 2 years ago, ambulance and sirens involved!
Jerry
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Gymn? My ambulance came when I had been forking stuff onto the compost heap, at 40!! Sadly, digging doesn't help - just aggravates. Excuses, excuses!
Actually, it's the angle at which you wash up that is a real killer. = Tim
SORRY - 24/8 - GYM!!!
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HI,
Here is the way I would clear a neglected plot and rotovate it..
Firstly I would spray plot with glyphosphate or roundup etc,,.
Leave till all vegetation has died back.at least a few weeks..
Then clear it off ..
I would then rotovate the plot ...Here is where a lot make the mistake .It looks all nice and soft then..So they plant on it..
Don't be tempted leave for another 2 to 3 weeks and You will see a lot of seedlings appear as in annual weeds etc...
Rotovate again turning these in, this is the time to set it..
Just to skim weeds off etc in a neglected plot and then rotovate is a mistake as all couch root, docs,bindweed root etc wil be broken up and eventually you will have a lot more growing than you started with.
I also find that rotavators with the tines at front dig a lot deeper than the rear ones. A reverse gear also makes life a lot easier.
Jim.
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On a lighter vein - & strictly for those over a certain age :
Rotovator/ Cultivator - what comes next? - 'The Ink Spots' - the early 40s? - "waiter, waiter, per-co-lator - I love coffee, I love tea". = Tim
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Hmmm ? ???
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Too young!! = Tim
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something like "I love the Java Jive and it loves me".
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tim, let`s really fox them. Do you remember (1940s) that little ditty..
Mairsy dotes and dozy dotes and little lambsy tivy;
A kiddly tivy too wooden chew.
(Translation for the younger members will be supplied on request)
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Indeed! = Tim
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Give them the money Barney>> :) Jim
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Tee Hee ;D I know the words to that one Hugh,Oops! I must be catching you up :o
Roy ;D
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You must be older than you look!
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Don't want to age prematurely so should I pretend not to know the answers then? ;D
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Toi return to rotavators : If overused, they can cause an impervious pan to be created at the depth they dig to, but occasional use (particularly if used to created no-dig beds) is fine. If you get a 2nd hand one, try to get one with a furriower - furrow the ground in autumn, fill the furrows with manure, turn in in spring.