mini tillers anyone using these ?
 

Have a chance to buy a Honda mini tiller cheap. The wife and I are planning on planting a small garden maybe 10 x 30. Rather than turn this Georgia red clay by hand thought I'd try one of these mini tillers. Anyone using these ?

They are good for scratching the surface to get rid of small weeds. They aren't any good for turning soil or preparing a seedbed unless the soil has already been worked and loosened.

I used a little mantis in the past and it was great at mixing in compost. It was useless at tearing up turf.

Rent a rear tine tiller for a few hours if you need to establish new beds/garden.

The small ones are better IMO.
First time around you'll spend many extra hours getting through the top baked layer.

It'll bounce and skip.
Sharpen them blades and take 'er slow and easy.

When it comes time for piecework and small sections, that little machine is easy to carry around. or throw it in back of the car.

I would do the soil prep before anything, even water lines. Use a tractor and work in some turf buster and soil amendments. Maybe even try to auger some drain holes through any hardpan.

I've had a Mantis tiller for 25 years now and it is still going. It is great for raised beds and small plots but the soil needs to be loosened first. I usually double dig my beds and then do a final mixing of the top layer with the tiller. I'll occasionally use it on our hillside to scuff the surface layer before direct seeding wildflowers. It won't bite through hard soil or sod very far.

I own a Mantis 2 stroke - and two other larger tillers.
As others have stated, the Mantis is great for already prepped beds to mix in more compost, etc. but all it's going to do with red clay is scratch the surface (literally!) I use it occasionally when I've dug a hole and am mixing in compost or mulch when planting trees or shrubs.
I use my Husqvarna 6 HP rear tine for the real work - tilling my 2400 sq ft garden annually. You will probably need to rent/buy something along that size for such a size plot (300 sq ft.)

Look around on the local listings or maybe Craigslist for someone who does custom rototilling. My Dad used to till about 100-150 gardens a year with his Cub Cadet 1650 Hydrostat that had a rear mounted 36" wide rototiller. On hard Ohio clay, he could run through a new sod plot about 3 or 4 times, each time going a little deeper and knocking down the dirt clods a little finer each time. It would take him about an hour to do a 10x30 new garden, and he would charge less than $50. The soil would be broken down to the point you could sift it between your fingers, and easily keep it tilled with a small Mantis or Honda. You don't want to try breaking ground with one of those small units. That is a good way to become familiar with your local Chiropractor.

I had a 2 stroke Echo mini for years.
I soaked a sock with WD-40 and secured it around the carb to keep the dust out of the butterfly shaft...that's what usually wears out first.
Never a down day...ran until I sold it...sold my business.
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They'll cut decently into hard soil if you water a day or so in advance.

If the soil is really bad...hire someone. Much less drudgery.
Buy one if you plan on years of gardening.
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Or hire someone the first time.......then buy.

Those Cubs were made by International Harvester. My dad bought one back in the day from Montgomery Ward. Those were built like a tank!!! We still have it in back of his house. I sometimes wonder if it would be worth restoring, but man -- the parts are all probably long NLA. It definitely would break up hard pan and would loosen the first 6" of soil, the length of the tines.

I was thinking more like a springtooth or ripper on a diesel tractor, but then again, I think more like a commercial builder or farmer than a home DIYer.

I picked up a 2 stroke Mantis off of Craig's list last year for $120.00 Just needed an new $2 diaphragm for the carb. (Corn fuel effects) Looked like new and hardly used and came with a brand new never used edger. I use if for weeding in our 35'X35' garden, but would never try to break up any soil. I have a 50" tiller that fits on the 3pt. hitch on the back of the Kubota. Every spring I like to brake up the soil to a depth of 8"-10" before planting. The Mantis would never be able to do this on virgin ground. If I don't keep up with the weeding, it will bounce on the packed soil between the rows in the garden where we walk.

I just picked up a pretty nice old John Deere 214 (another well built beast) that I would like to find a rear rototiller for. I already have a John Deere 955 4x4 diesel, but to buy a 3 point rototiller for that is $2000.

As suggested, for any significant work you want to rent one of those bigger, rear tine jobs. Dad has one of those mantis tillers that is pretty handy for my purposes though. Used it to till in bags and bags of various manures, horse, steer, chicken. I also like that garden weasel claw thing for planting. I buy vegetable plants and take them from the little tiny containers and put them in bigger ones for a while before I put them in the ground. I do the beds with the tiller in the fall, then use the hand tools to break up the spot when I go to plant.

What, are you kidding? The 955 is probably big enough to pull a small offset disc, a spring tooth, or a ripper. You have enough tractor to work some gypsum or sand into your soil. And you can get an auger too. I'd go with a 6" bit. And used farm tools are cheap.

There are two Honda min-tiller models, the FG100 and FG110.

The FG100 has a slightly larger engine (35cc) but the 25cc FG110 has a much more robust gearbox. The FG110 has been in production longer (it is the most current version).

FYI, both are 4-stroke engines and quite reliable. Pay particular attention to the air filter and and air cleaner. Due to the typical operating environment for a tiller, it won't take very long for a filter to clog, tear, or otherwise allow gritty, scratchy dirt to enter the engine and causing rapid wear.

If it matters, the engines are cast and partially assembled in Japan, but the rest of the tiller and final assembly happens at the Honda plant in Swepsonville, NC.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1429988143.jpg


Dad gave me his Troybilt about 12 years ago. Troybilt was the gold standard for rototillers in the 60s and 70s. The company sold the name to MTD a few years ago and now Troybilt means junk. This is a pretty hefty tiller, but it won't cut sod unless it has been killed with Roundup and left to decay for a couple of weeks.

I purchased the mini tiller today knowing that it hadn't run in two years. It is a FG110 and when I got it home I put some fuel in it, checked the oil level and checked the air cleaner. All looked good until I went to prime the carb and the primer bulb fell apart. So even with marginal prime and not run for two years with a couple of pulls on the starter rope she sputtered to life. Wouldn't run very long but at least I know it has spark. I will either rebuild the carb or just buy a new carb as they can be found for about 25.00............which is what I paid for the tiller :D .

I have a John Deere 317 with hydraulics but don't have a tiller attachment and don't plan on getting one can't justify the price. If this mini tiller won't do what I want then I'll rig up a small drag plow for our little garden.

Just ordered a brand new carburetor from Amazon for 12.50 and free shipping ! It was cheaper than a rebuild kit.