I hired rotovator today, for few days, had quite a large amount of land that needs turning over, started using it but it would only just turn the top of the soil over!, so told them to take it back, was an 8hp thingy , with powered wheels, ive had one before without wheels and that did a much better job, soils firm but not that hard. sooooo annoyed
Usually the soil needs to be cultivated in some way then the rotovator improves the tilth.
I have only used a Howard Gem many years ago when working for a landscaping firm. This would deal with almost anything, was self propelled and you set the depth of the blades with a sort of tiller at the back. It was a diesel engine and I gues 10 or 15 horse power.If it was tough you skimmed the surface then went deeper on each pass. It was back braking work and a devil to turn at the end of the run. I think it was many more horse power than the one you used.
It could be you will have to rough dig or find a machine to cultivate in some way then rotovate.
I wonder is the area big enough to use a mini tractor. We hired one at work last year from the local hire firm with a rotovator on the back. They are only the size of a garden tractor. We were using it to prepare for a lawn so were not rotovating deep but it had the power there to do a deep rotovate.
I think You need any rotovator with the tines at the front to dig any reasonable depth..
The ones with wheels and tines at the back seem to be limited to depth they can dig. ..Cheers ..Jim
mini tractor would fit in and plenty of land to do!
One of mine is 3hp, digs to 12inches no probs, it's all in the technique. Didn't the hire firm offer any advice?
The ones with the tines to the rear and motorised wheels are used more for landscaping as in laying lawns etc . Some of these are designed to only dig to a maximum depth of about 6inch...
So what ever technique You used they would still only dig to the maximum that they were designed for.
The ones with tines at the front are the ones designed to dig deeper, so are more suitable for veg growing as in allotment use etc... cheers Jim
Hi All, an easy way to get any tilth or any depth on the soil when using a rotovator, is to go in two different directions, meaning up and down the plot, the blades will bounce at time when finding hard spots, when that is finished side to side, raise the little back bar, or front wheel 6"-- 8" so the blades can dig into the soil,
for turning at the ends, throttle down- slow down the engine revs,
lift the handle grips up and slowly allow the unit to walk itself to the next cutting spot,
but a simple 3 -- 5 HP engine will coupe with any area given time and keeping to this way,
hope this helps
windy