Which is better ? I wud think it wud matter what the soil conditions are (clay, rocky, shale, sandy ,etc.) but i dont know .... and also it probably matters if its virgin ground or not, too. Which do you guys have and do you wish you had the other one that you dont have instead ?
Forward or Reverse tiller ? ***129300;
- Thread starter miketrock
- Start date
GreensvilleJay
Well-known member
Equipment
BX23-S,57 A-C D-14,58 A-C D-14, 57 A-C D-14,tiller,cults,Millcreek 25G spreader,
I've used both styles ,walkbehinds and PTO driven, and prefer fwd turning as it's not fightin the tractor to go ahead.
What truly helps BIG time, is to ALWAYS add 'soil amendments' EVERY year ! Pony poop/shavings, grass clippings, leaf compost, kitchen waste, dead veggie s, potted plant remains, peatmoss,top soil, everything organic should go back into the garden. You can't add enough. I 'top dress' about 120-160 cuyds of composted ponypoop/shavings ( stable sweepings) every spring on wife's 1/3 ac garden. Also add all the grass clippings(pure nitrogen) and leaves but NOT black walnut !! There's a poison in them, kills toms and peps !!
With gardening you get what you give, so the more compost in the more veggies you get !
What truly helps BIG time, is to ALWAYS add 'soil amendments' EVERY year ! Pony poop/shavings, grass clippings, leaf compost, kitchen waste, dead veggie s, potted plant remains, peatmoss,top soil, everything organic should go back into the garden. You can't add enough. I 'top dress' about 120-160 cuyds of composted ponypoop/shavings ( stable sweepings) every spring on wife's 1/3 ac garden. Also add all the grass clippings(pure nitrogen) and leaves but NOT black walnut !! There's a poison in them, kills toms and peps !!
With gardening you get what you give, so the more compost in the more veggies you get !
typically, a tiller with reverse tine motion is more aggressive at breaking new ground. This is especially true with a walk behind tiller. I have a 17" walk behind husqvarna tiller with honda engine - it does forward or reverse. I have almost always used reverse. With forward, if the machine hits a root or something, it will surge forward and is very annoying to use. In reverse it digs in deep and cuts those roots. It digs better in reverse because it can lay back into the soil without any impedance, in forward you have the the whole machine in front of the tines so it just doesn't dig as well. Forward is good for just turning soil that has already been tilled and broken. On a tractor, I don't know if these things hold as true, but its likely not as big a difference on a tractor. If you're looking at walk behinds though I would 100% go with reverse over forward.
GreensvilleJay
Well-known member
Equipment
BX23-S,57 A-C D-14,58 A-C D-14, 57 A-C D-14,tiller,cults,Millcreek 25G spreader,
one option....
https://www.landpride.com/products/rotary-tillers/reverse-tine
others make them, it was the first 'hit' for me....
https://www.landpride.com/products/rotary-tillers/reverse-tine
others make them, it was the first 'hit' for me....
With an acre garden I never felt the need for a PTO tiller. Besides, I'd have to buy a compact tractor to run it...lol
GreensvilleJay
Well-known member
Equipment
BX23-S,57 A-C D-14,58 A-C D-14, 57 A-C D-14,tiller,cults,Millcreek 25G spreader,
Sidecar
either you're waaaaay younger and in better health than me OR you've got a LOT of time, cause even 1/3rd acre is a LOT of soil to till !!!
either you're waaaaay younger and in better health than me OR you've got a LOT of time, cause even 1/3rd acre is a LOT of soil to till !!!
Creature Meadow
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
2012 L4600, Disk, Brush Hog, GB60 Garden Bedder, GSS72 Grading Scraper
Reverse tine wants to stay in the dirt and the tractor pulls it along while it wants to pull away from the tractor thus doing a nice job turning the soil.
A forward tends to try and push the tractor and in my opinion doe not do as fine of a job.
If the soil is soft both will do fine but if you pack it riding over it alot during and after garden season the reverse should do a better job.
My $0.2 worth.
A forward tends to try and push the tractor and in my opinion doe not do as fine of a job.
If the soil is soft both will do fine but if you pack it riding over it alot during and after garden season the reverse should do a better job.
My $0.2 worth.
It all depends on your soil.
We have fairly soft soil here (not a lot of clay)... so my forward tine works well, even tilling up fresh ground (never turned over). I do have a lot of field stones though, and with those, I think the reverse tine tilling would be more of an issue. The forward tine tilling just spits the rocks out the back or jumps over the large ones. Where as the reverse tine would pull the rock up into the guard and potentially wedge it in there or keep it in front of the tines beating them up for a longer period of time until the rock can pass through.
Also, the dealer suggested staying away from reverse tine if you had rocks.
Just something to consider.
Sent from my SM-J737V using Tapatalk
We have fairly soft soil here (not a lot of clay)... so my forward tine works well, even tilling up fresh ground (never turned over). I do have a lot of field stones though, and with those, I think the reverse tine tilling would be more of an issue. The forward tine tilling just spits the rocks out the back or jumps over the large ones. Where as the reverse tine would pull the rock up into the guard and potentially wedge it in there or keep it in front of the tines beating them up for a longer period of time until the rock can pass through.
Also, the dealer suggested staying away from reverse tine if you had rocks.
Just something to consider.
Sent from my SM-J737V using Tapatalk
I have an RTR, works great. Used it to til previously unworked pasture, went through very easy. Now I have it worked up, it goes through it like butter. My soil is sandy loam, no clay, no big rocks and cut through a couple big roots easily.