Rototiller Information

Starting a garden means preparing the soil first.

Anyone who loves gardening or is a homeowner who wants to landscape her yard, the thought of working the soil by hand is probably quite overwhelming. Thankfully, there are tools available that make the job easy and fast. A rototiller is one garden tool that is indispensable for preparing the soil for planting and reducing the back-breaking labor that comes along with gardening. There are a variety of different rototillers that are each designed for particular needs, so deciding which type to buy or rent is your first job.

Function

A tiller, or rototiller, is used to break up compacted soil either for installing a new lawn or for starting a flower or vegetable garden. By cutting through the soil, a tiller gets rid of clumps of soil and allows water to soak down rather than run off the surface of the soil. Plants need oxygen around their roots, so tilling the soil before planting will also provide the needed oxygen to the soil since the oxygen can collect in the gaps formed in the tilled soil.

Types

The types of rototillers include the hand rototiller, the mini rototiller, the front-tine rototiller and the rear-tine rototiller. A hand rototiller is used for smaller garden areas. Its purpose is to mix and aerate the soil, and also to add in fertilizer or compost. Since hand tillers are generally fairly small, you can use them to weed between vegetable rows or in between flower plots. The small size allows you to easily maneuver and get rid of soil or aerate the soil without disturbing your garden. Some types have a single set of spikes while others may have two or even three sets of spikes positioned side by side.

A mini tiller is a lightweight tool used for cultivating small or narrow areas because they are easy to maneuver around obstacles or confined areas. Mini tillers are used as aerators and can be used to mix compost into gardens and around plants and to weed in between plants. They are also relatively inexpensive and easy to maintain since they do not have an engine.

Front-tine rototillers have the tines in front of the wheels and are not as strong or powerful as rear-tine tillers. They are used in garden areas that are not too small or too large. They work well for soil that is somewhat hard, but not too hard because the wheels behind the tines do not provide the strongest grip on the soil. These tillers are cheaper than the larger rear-tine tillers.

The rear-tine rototiller has tines that are positioned at the back of the tiller. This tiller is a powered machine with the engine at the front. Since it is powered, it is easier to use and is similar to pushing a lawn mower. The tines can be made to move in a forward direction or a backward direction, known as counter rotation. These tillers are used for large areas and are good for cultivating very hard soil because by having the tines positioned behind the wheels, it allows the wheels to get a better grip on the soil as the tines dig in.

Cost

You have the option of either renting or buying a rototiller. If you plan on only using it once, renting is probably the best option. Rentals can run between about $60 and $70 a day as of March 2010. If, however, you plan on maintaining your garden or landscape, you would need to rent a tiller several times a season. This may not be cost effective and it would make more sense in that case to buy a rototiller. The costs for the various rototillers varies between stores and manufacturers, but on average, the rear-tined tillers can cost between $500 all the way up to nearly $3,000 for the largest and most powerful. Front-tined tillers cost from around $300 up to almost $2,000, while mini-tillers cost between $200 and $400, and hand-tillers can be as inexpensive as $30 up to around $100 for a model with two or three sets of spikes. All prices are valid as of March 2010.

Benefits

There are several somewhat obvious benefits to using a rototiller, the first of which is that you will not have to manually dig up your garden with a shovel. Another benefit of a rototiller is that many enable you to stand and not bend over when using them, saving your back and muscles. Rototillers are also fast, so tilling the soil can be accomplished in a short amount of time. It is also easy to condition or amend soil by spreading mulch or compost over the soil and then working it in with the rototiller.

History

A man named C.W. Kelsey invented the very first rototiller in America back in 1937. He used a German-made machine called the Earth Grinder as his inspiration. It took him about 20 years to develop a tiller that could plow through the hard American soil. He made it in Troy, New York, where it got its name, Troy-Bilt. The first model weighed 400 lbs. and had a 4 1/4 horsepower engine. The wheels were steel and had cleats on them to dig into the soil as the rear-mounted tines tilled. When Kelsey decided to retire, his chief engineer, a man named George Done, took over and developed a larger and more powerful rear-tined rototiller called the Trojan Horse. These men made a once-agricultural machine into a household gardening tool.

References

• Troy Bilt:History of the First American-Made Rototiller
• Rear Tine Tiller:Rear Tine Tillers
• Minitillers.net:Mini Tillers and Cultivators

Resources

• MTD Products Support Center:Rear and Front Tine Tillers
• Dark Dirt:Hand Tiller