Rotavator V cultivator

[vancheese]

Hi people

I need something to work the large area of my land for veggie growing. I've been tempted by a petrol powered rotorvator but my eye was recently court by a cultivator which looks like it could be towed behing my 10hp lawnmower! This second option is a lot cheaper and has less to go wrong but I was wondering if people had any advice on which one would be better/tips/knowledge

Thanks

Andy

[oldjerry]

Sorry to take so long,I saw this yesterday,then forgot about it.
I'm not sure what this towed cultivator is,some kind of glorified lawnrake? A 10 horse mower wont have a pto so before you pull your cultivator over it it will have to have been already cultivated in previous year,or ploughed up by a real tractor.
Some wheel-driven rotorvators are very good(and will even plough at a push),but they are tiring,and take a bit of getting used to.
Iguess it depends on what you call a large area.A youngish/fittish/stubborn person should be able to cultivate an area big enough to feed his/her family by hand,Anything bigger then you're into the realms of growing for profit(( I've done a fair bit of that,without the profit).If your doing the latter,I'd go for for the best rotorvator you can afford,at least 8 hp,bigger if it's Chinese(they seem to breed weak horses);Personally,now Howards are only for collectors,I like the Italian stuff with 10 or 12 hp diesels,BW.

[vancheese]

Thanks for the excellent advice :)

[grahamhobbs]

Yes how big is big? If initial work looks daunting, what about a friendly farmer with small tractor, following years, especially if you use a no-dig method where you only need, at worse, to fork the land over, you won't need a rotavator (certainly not a big one) unless of course you want to grow acres of spuds.

Charles Dowding grows vegetables commercially using a no-dig method on 1.5 acres without a rotavator or any machinery, I think he has one helper. I have 1/4 acre allotment and a full-time job, I grow around 80% of our veg and 40% of our fruit, and if it was a garden, perhaps a little bigger, without squirrels (!!!), and by our home these percentages could be increased to close on 100%. I have never used a rotavator

[vancheese]

Well our inner garden bit is about 2 acres :)
The main issue is the time for doing the work - I don't have enough to do everything by hand :)