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Electric Tiller

Darren49Darren49 Posts: 8
in Tools and techniques

hi all

im looking at creating some new borders but under the turf the soil is quite hard, I was looking at electric tillers as before I found it hard going with fork and spade

what are your opinions on tillers?

Posts

  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016

    I use a Mantis petrol tiller and think that is great.  My concerns around electric ones are their lack of weight makes them more likely just to bounce across the surface, and I have doubt about the power of the electric motor in heavier ground.

  • Darren49Darren49 Posts: 8

    Many thanks kt53, that is my concern too how well it would cope if lacking a bit of punch

  • Bee witchedBee witched Posts: 1,295

    Hi Darren,

    I've also got a mantis petrol tiller .... and it has done some serious work over the years.

    I garden on heavy clay soil / stones. In winter it's very sticky .... in summer it's hard baked. The mantis has coped well.

    It can be adjusted to till at a shallower / deeper level which is useful. 

    I also use it in my leaf mold pen to chop everything up and speed up the transition to a lovely, crumbly tilth.

    Whatever you buy needs to be heavy enough so that it doesn't just "bounce" over a hard surface .... but also not too heavy for you to be able to manoeuvre. 

    Hope this is helpful.

    Bee

    image

    Gardener and beekeeper in beautiful Scottish Borders  

    A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
  • Dave HedgehogDave Hedgehog Posts: 377

    Electric tillers will do the job for small areas but are relatively feeble compared to petrol machines. In my experience, beacuase of their light weight, they tend to leap and bounce around a lot unless the soil moisture content is to their liking.

    But whichever rotorvating device you use, it's ideal to make sure the soil is damp enough for the blades/tines to penetrate. If your soil is clay-based, it's trickier for the first tilling as it can be as hard as concrete when dry and incredibly tough to churn up when saturated; a balance between the two is needed and can be achieved by doing test digs with a spade and watering areas accordingly.

    Last edited: 16 April 2017 17:52:08

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