Any modern cultivating tractors?
marylandmojo
15 years ago
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sergeant
15 years agoRelated Discussions
Anyone ever try dry apple cultivation?
Comments (10)Dry Apple farming is totally doable and is in fact practiced in Coastal Central California. One fellow in the CRFG here in Santa Cruz only waters his trees three times a year. Another fellow I know of down in the San Lorenzo river basin dry farms his entire orchard, no added water to any of the mature fruit trees. To do this, I recommend the following: 1) Stay away from standard rootstock, just because it's big doesn't mean it's drought tolerant. Stick with MM111, for some reason, this rootstock is incredibly tolerant of dry soils, so it's the way to go. I did some Summer grafting this year and discovered that many trees on Anknova had bark that was very difficult to peel, whereas MM111 bark peeled really well, indicating that the MM111 trees continue to grow in the driest conditions. 2) Start the trees with drip irrigation that you run for a couple of hours once a month so that the roots go very deep. 3) If you're on a hillside, terrace the hillside so that the locations where you plant the trees are flat. Now I speak from experience here, my orchard is on a hillside, and without terracing, I had a very tough time getting trees going even with regular watering. 4) Get bare root trees with the graft union done high so that you can plant the roots extra deep and bury part of the trunk. It will slow down the trees for the first year or two, but you will have stronger, deeper rooted trees in the long run. You will have to call around to find trees that are grafted a little higher, it's not so easy, because most commercial propagators start with 1/2 inch MM111 sticks that are short, and they bud graft them when they are less than a foot long. 5) Finally, mulch with mulched tree branches - the cheapest is to get tree cutting companies to deliver the branches to you. You do not want to let anything else grow, just mulch everything, because anything that is left to grow will suck the moisture out of the ground. You can use weed barrier under the mulch, or you can go the cheap way and use cardboard and thick layers of newspaper, which is even better than the plastic weed barrier. That's about it. In the third year, you should be able to switch to 2-3 deep waterings for the entire year, and then, you can slowly withdraw watering alltogether. Note, if your water table is below 20 feet, you'll always have to water some....See MoreGarden tractor not Lawn tractor.
Comments (7)If you are like most of us, you have a beer budget. A new machine that is truly capable of doing all the things on your wish list will cost you ten to twenty grand. Deere only makes one garden tractor series and that's the X-700's. Go to Deere.com and look at the MRSP's for the BASIC models and then add on the cost for a loader, hitch and all the implements you desire. The top Sears tractor is over seven grand and the costs to fit it out will mount equally as fast. According to you, the property is ONE ACRE TOTAL in size. Subtract the foot print for the driveways and buildings plus any planted areas and you likely have a half acre of grass to cut. To use a garden tractor in your garden effectively, you need lots of open area on all four sides of the garden so that the tractor can leave the garden area on each pass and turn around on the lawn for the next pass. Most of the experienced gardeners cross-till the soil and some take it further by finishing on the bias. I think that your needs would be better served in the garden by way of a quality walk-behind, rear-tine tiller from Honda or BCS from the used market. After all, most people only conduct a full-till once or twice per growing season and then spot-till during the season for weed control and re-seeding of fast growing crops such as radishes, onions, lettuce etc. You already own a Mantis and those are perfect for spot-tilling. I think that your other needs would be well-served by way of a quality, used garden tractor that is simple for you to maintain. A Case 444 would fit that bill. As good as Deere and Simplicity tractors are, they are also a royal PITA to work on. Do some research by visiting the site below and learning more about what a Case can do for you. Here is a link that might be useful: link...See MoreCultivators, Breast Plows, Hand Tillers, Man Pulled Plows
Comments (8)Those stories are so sweet! I have a tall hill, and I don't think I can get a 200 pound tiller up there. I have a digging fork, shovel, even a 2 and 1/2 pound pick mattock. The soil is soft mostly because I pile leaves on it at the end of the year, if wet, it is soft enough probably for the cultivator, but because it's mostly hardpan, if dry, it's solid. I was just thinking what the best option would be, I see I may be doing it already. I even did the double dig method on one of the 10x10 areas, it grew the worst. I didn't even get a beet out of it, so I guess I'll just do as normal, turning it with a digging fork. Thanks for the advice. I dreamed of the 8 horsepower rear tine for forward and back, it will even cut through tree root, but really it won't make it up the hill. If I can't get 20 gallons of water up there on a wheelbarrow, a tiller won't make it up there. I got the most of 15 gallons, weighing 8 pounds per gallon, 120 pounds, it was a killer, I won't try a plow. I think I'm moving anyways, but wanted to check the options out....See MoreNewer Lawn Tractors vs Old Lawn Tractors
Comments (39)reply by theodocus struck me as coming from the desk of the ad agency of MTD. No mention of the actual operation that involves rolling over uneven terrain and jarring action from bumps and uneven spots and the fragile fabricated axles that bend and crack easily. Oh, there is also the bushings used in place of ball bearings: bushing use requires higher horsepower to move the newer units. The Deere has points and condenser; cost $5.00 and 9.00 respectively and the sears is a solid state igntion. Newer technology is wonderful as long as it is coupled with quality assemblage in a product. I have a 1968 Sears GARDEN tractor with a 12HP Tecumseh Heavy duty cast iron engine with ball bearings and cut with a 42 inch deck and also have a 1976 John Deere GARDEN tractor with a cast iron 10 HP engine with ball bearings and cut with a 42" deck and use both alternately for mowing two acres and for tilling and moving earth, etc.. Each has cast iron axles and mutli-speed hi-lo transmissions and EACH is used for plowing, snowblowing, tilling earth, hauling 1100 lb loads in attached large carts. EACH will run circles around the new 20 plus HP light LAWN tractors made today. Spend 5,000.00 and you will have a comparable heavy duty GARDEN tractor. By the way, good luck on getting even 10 years of use with the new wonders....See Moresergeant
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