rotavator

[Elaine]

I've just moved to a garden that had a veg. plot but to sell the house they grass seeded it all. Should I kill it all first or just rotavate it in?
Is the Mantis worth buying?

[nick the grief]

I've just moved to a garden that had a veg. plot but to sell the house they grass seeded it all. Should I kill it all first or just rotavate it in?
Is the Mantis worth buying?

Hi Elaine,

I guess it depends on how good the grass is. If it looks like a lawn, I'd skim it off & stack it for a year upside down to break down (if you stack it with alternate layers of Farm yard muck it will be superb in a years time and will do no end of good.

If it's still whispy you could try digging it in but i guess the unsprouted seed will try & grow thru so you'll have to keep on top of it.

As to the Mantis, If I could get one second hand at a good price I mght consider it. It depeds on the size of the plot & how fit you are. If it's a small plot I wouldn't bother as it will be just as easy to dig by hand. If it's a larger plot (around allotment plot size) well if you really think you need one I'd buy a good 2nd hand rotavator. The mantis isn't very big in either engine or rotor width so whilst it looks good in the advert's I'd think log & hard before I parted with £300. Once you've reclaimed the plot it won't take much work to maintain it & you may not use it again. Try hiring a rotavator first & see how you get on

[Jaxom]

Just dig it over as normal. The grass will die when it is upside down. The grass will also rot and provide some organic matter to help retain moisture when you are back growing your vegetables.
Jax

[Elaine]

thanks for the advice, I'll try it over easter, hope my back and arms will last!

[Lesley Jay]

The Mantis is very good once you get the knack of how to use it. If you just let it go across the plot it only moves the top bit of soil but if you stand still with the motor running and keep it in one place it digs right down. We have clay soil so we use a big rotavator first at the end of the year and then before I am going to plant my husband goes over the plot with the Mantis digging right down. It's expensive but we like it.

[NOG]

DO NOT dig or rotovate the grass in....I did that on one of my allotment plots. "Oh cant be assed to shim it off if I frotovate it in it will die". on no it wont you will have grass springing up for ever more. I would get a sharp shovel (not a spade) and cut off the top 2in and do as the others say pile it grass to grass soil to soil and in a year or tow you will have lovely loam. If that is too much light a bonfire and when it has burnt down but the embers are still glowing rake them over the plot to burn off the grass. This will help the soil if it is clay.

[Peter]

The eighty year old young man next to me at the allotments uses a Mantis.
Reckon he would be sunk without it.

I use bigger kit.

Merry Tiller (Major) and Howard 350.
I'd be sunk without them due to back problems.

Makes your choices and pays for them.

[poultrychat]

Hi Elaine,

I once hired a big rotavator and it was knackering, I couldn't control it for very long so had to get someone to help me and my arms were still shaking 2 days later. I've been curious about the mantis too and would love to have a go at using one to see if it would be any good. On the turf side maybe it depends on what's underneath the grass, I dug up 12x3 beds here 2 years ago - I made 1foot wide squares with an edger and then used my spade to turn them over and it has worked really well, the last 2 beds I did in the autumn and out of both beds I maybe only have 4 squares with any grass still alive - the rest is dead and on the other beds done the year before I have no grass coming up at all, even in their first year I didn't have a problem which is why I say maybe it depends on the soil the grass is growing in.

[smallblueplanet]

I'm not asking this to be shot down in flames - but don't some folk say continually rotavating can be bad for the structure of the soil? You get a 'pan' forming at the depth of the blades?

So please don't shout at me cos its only something I heard, and not something I know, because I'm an advocate of the 'no dig' method of gardening.

[Lesley Jay]

We don't have much choice. With being on clay soil as soon as it rains the ground turns like a brick. The only way I can plant is for my husband to go over the ground with the Mantis beforehand.

[Nicos]

We wouldn't have been able to tame our heavy clay plot without the rotavator (and tynes attatchments). An old ,reliable Briggs and Stratton . Even with that,it was hard work. Sometimes you've got to do what is easiest for you. They do chop up and spread some weeds, but it's far easier to dig by hand afterwards (well spade actually! ) and then the weeds can be picked out. Digging tends to be deeper than rotavating,so you'd tend not to get that 'pan' effect.
I would cerainly agree with nick to remove the top 2" of turf/grass with a spade first and stack it before rotavating though (bit like un-laying a lawn) rather than poisoning it off. It's actually easier in the long run and you won't have to wait a few weeks for it to die . Most of us are so far behind ,due to the weather, you'll really want to get on with the preparation now rather than sitting back and watching the grass die .
Have a fun weekend!

[ric]

you only get a pan with a rotovator if uve got wet clay soil , so the blades are smearing the surface of the subsoil under the tilled bit. ive used a howard e70 today on the main veg plot , 70 inches wide on the back of a tractor, problem is it wont fit on the raised beds!! perhaps i need a mantis aswell?

[nick the grief]

Nahh ric, just wider beds

[NOG]

I have a 5hp rotovator and a mantis. and use both all the time. My plots are clay to a spades depth and then yellow sub soil/clay. My new plot haddent been worked for 5 years and was chest hight in brambles. One we had choppe and burnt them off it looked like good top soil so I went over it with the mantis and it was like I was rotovating tescos car park. It did nothing so I have it a go with the Big one and it cut throught it like well clay.

When I dug my trenches ofr my potatoes onthe other plot I used the manis and it dug the trenches no probelm .

Horses for Courses. I would say the maintis is a bit flmisy. Buying now I would buy the Honda F500

[Peter]

I use rotovators because I have two ruptured discs in my lower back and digging implements as designed and used in the UK are such that you HAVE to bend to dig, usually at the lifting point.

So I use an "American" style spade to roughly turn over a least five rod each autumn, ten if I can manage it with the weather. As rotovators do not go down as far as a spade can, I reckon I break any pan with that. Mind you I could be wrong.

All other serious digging I rotovate.