Rotovater Rampage

[Getoffmylande]

Managed finally to get a plot on our local allotments last month and luckily it was one that isn't covered with brambles and rubbish. Have managed to get hold of a greenhouse and sourced the shed(last one there had been up since the 60'S and in bad order-over 80 windows in the back under-covered area) But what i would really like is for someone with the gen to post and let us know the ins and outs of a rotovator.What should we look out for ,how old should we buy, what price should we pay.What do we use it for apart from digging up great chunks of land. I know it sound humerous but please any information on rotovators and their proper use would be appreciated
Kind Regards

Nigel & Nikki
Plot 2

[Squirrel]

Hi there Getoffmylande! Welcome aboard! I don't have the answer for you, just wanted to say hi! You can bet that you will get as much information as you need on this forum from all of the grapes! Enjoy your allotment and keep us up to date with what you are doing - oh and don't forget the pictures! We like pictures!

[poultrychat]

Hello Getoffmylande - I can't help you with the rotavator but the rotavator rampage sounded too much like good fun not to have a look, nice user name!

[Peardrops]

Welcome to the world of allotments, I have had mine for a few years now, and still have lots of weeds Rotovators are very strenuous to work, so I hope you are fit (but not as much work as digging). The only thing I would say is once you have turned over all the soil, you then need to fork through it to remove the roots from the grass and docks, else they will be back fresh and new in a few weeks.

[Getoffmylande]

Luckily when i got the allotment it was clear. it had been used by two locals who seem to have the use of 9(yes nine Allotments) and mine had been sub let from a local builder hence the window frames. when they found out that he wasn't going to continue the tenancy they kindly ploughed in a crop of potatoes, peas ,beetroot and broad beans into the land all we seem to do at the moment is weed and pick out new shoots from the potato and bean crop.

[Squirrel]

Seems a strange thing to have done! Can't you salvage the bean plants? I know pots are something else again!

[Getoffmylande]

The whole family hate broad beans

[Squirrel]

Ooops! Extract left foot insert right foot!

[Sunbeam]

I don't know anyone who does like Broad beans - you have a very stable family GOML!! Welcome!! - re the rotovator - we hired one from HHS - or is it HSS?? It cost approx £50 for day & it took all of 15 mins to mash up an area of 14'x12' - and turn in a load of compost & sharp sand (heavy clay city here!!) You can get them to hire by the hour/1/2 day - you do need to be quite strong to handle them - I let my OH do the heavy stuff!!

[Lesley Jay]

You need to grow the right variety of broad beans. Most taste horrible but Imperial Green Longpod and Masterpiece Green Longpod are lovely. They are a really nice tasty green bean. Not like those horrible grey beans that you get in the other varieties.

[Peter]

Rotovator advice.

Two main types.

No wheels.
One or two pairs or hefty digging rotors which combine digging and forward motion. Typically a rear skid which you lift out of or press into the ground to control forward progress. Lift and move, press and dig down.
Pros.
Lots of choice.
Reasonable prices.
Bigger ones will hack and slash their way into compacted soil.
Width adjustment, one or two pair of rotors.
Cons.
Some crappy ones around.
Most (Mantis a notable exception) do not produce a fine tilth, this is cos the rotors are slower then other type to make the method workable.
Near impossible to use with handle offset. i.e walk to the side of the dug soil.
Some makes.
Merry Tiller, Mantis, MTD.

Driven wheels.
Tractor wheels at the front and digging rotors at the back, these are lighter rotors which turn faster than non-wheel.Still a rear skid which you raise or lower to control depth of dig. Typically two forward speeds and a reverse.
Pros.
Finer tilth.
Easy to use with handles offset.
Easy to drive, especially manouvering
Typically more powerful engines, but they need them.
Can come with ploughs and other dragged implements.
Cons.
Bigger and heavier, Howard 200 a notable exception.
If the high speed rotors hit a solid patch or a root/flint/whatever, your digger may achieve launch velocity without you.
Not as good on compacted soil.
Much more expensive, eveb on e-bay.
Some makes.
Camon (typical hire shop models), Howard.

Personal experience.
I have both a Merry Tiller and two Howard 350's, 6.5HP and 8.5hp.
MT is nicknamed Hacken-Slash, will dig anything on single pair of rotors, all the weight comes down on one mattock style blade at a time. Bugger to control sometimes, leans, bucks and twists.
Howard nicknamed Slicen-Dice will mince anything to a seedbed, but takes a few goes on the cabbage patch. Can launch, but be wary as you always should be with potentially lethal machinery and you are ok. Where I am sowing mixed veg off scaffolding plank walks, after using offset, if I set foot I leave an eight inch depression.
Two fellow plotholders have Mantis, one has starting problems (2-stroke) eighty year old uses his on ten rod and it really minces the soil.

Tips.
Austinsooner1212 on e-bay does a steady trade in Howards, not sure how much re-conditioning each one gets, but he always has one up.
There is a Merry Tiller website, google for it.
If buying secondhand, get someone who is garden machinery competent to look it over and advise, a bargin price probably means a bumper maintenance bill.
If buying new find someone who already has one and will let you try it or give you an honest opinion.

I will continue to use both types, but I'm fortunate, mother bought the MT in the seventies, Howard 1 cost £250, Howard 2 cost £50.

Good luck, if you want any more advice PM me.

[muddy fingers]

got a mass of weeds on a pot last year it is 179sqft so we worked hard for a year and then after a ignoring the plot for 3 months due to other things i decided to choose the one weekend in july that rained and hired out on from the hire shop cost about £45-50 quid and was well worth it. speak to the guys who work at the hire shop as they where graet in telling me what was right for what i needed. we ended up with a self propelled thing and it dragged me up and down the plot for hours and it was great fun!!!!!
i wouldn't buy one as you will never use it again as you can control the area much better.. good luck

[Peter]

e-bay stuff and pics.

Try a search of e-bay with the following settings (rotovator, rotavator, rotovater, rotavater, tiller) -(novelty, helm, yacht, holt-allen, girls, laser, history, nadja, narrowboat, outboard, boat, sailing, dinghy, Nephilim,Tiller-Hand)

Also look at http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...ADME:B:EF:UK:1 for a good set of pictures of a Howard 350 and http://www.merrytiller.co.uk/ for Merry Tillers.

[Jaxom]

Peter, You are a dab hand at searching eBay I see I have one or two similar searches with more words prefixed with a minus sign than the search words themselves. Fun isn't it

[Getoffmylande]

Many thanks to all who offered advice on this subject i did manage to borrow a merry tiller yesterday afternoon and managed to break it. Well not so much as break it but managed to get it to starve itself of fuel and stop Wouldn't start again but its owner said it was temperamental at times. I have managed to get the local allotment holders to put out the feelers for me and one of them is very good as he does all the lolcals repairs and apparently offers excellent advice. All i really know is it did do the job before it stops and i would have had shoulder muscles like Arnold Swartzenager if i'd done the whole plot.

Once again many thanks
Nigel & Nikki.