ROTOVATOR

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My Dad retires at Christmas and hes going to start a garden for veg etc.. which I plan on helping out at.I was going to get him a rotovator but have no idea what kind of one to get or how much I should expect to spend. Any suggestions? thanks.

Corsendonk

You have to ask yourself does he really need it? How big of a plot of land has he? Buying a rotovator only makes practical sense if you have a large area that digging using a fork is too time consuming and back breaking.

Rotovators break up the soil before planting and after harvest so for most reasonable sized gardens that most likely 4 hours work a year then you got it clogging up the garage or the garden shed so easier to hire or borrow one.

Sonnenblumen

Would it not make more sense to hire one for the occasional use?

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Thanks for the replys and some good points. Its about a quarter of an acre and I don't know how much he will plant.I still think its better to buy one as this ground has never had a garden and I don't want him breaking his back digging it up.Also, its in the middle of nowwhere so trailer required to hire one from local city and it would be a bit of an ordeal and it would be better to be able to make new drills at different times of the year for different crops rather than do it all together. The ads that interested me were ...
http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/machinery/1193770

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/gardening/1602157

Any thoughts on them?

bmaxi

Quarter acre is not huge and you would certainly rotovate it in a weekend.
If you are intent on buying, then, by the specs, either of the two you mention would do the job, Apache being a more recognisable brand. Bear in mind, most of the hire companies will deliver.

Wally Runs

You should also bear in mind that a rotovator and tiller are two different things. What you have linked to are tillers. A rotovator is more like this: http://www.azhire.ie/equipment.hire.products.dublin.ireland.php?sectionnumber=113&number=316 and is a very different beast. More powerful and a bugger to use. It requires a lot of effort.

You may find that if there has not been much work done on the soil that he will have to employ a RV anyway, as it has a mass that allows the blades (tines, I think is the correct term) to dig into the earth and rip it up. A tiller will tend to hop along the top of the soil unless it is already been broken up. It can be done with a tiller, but it will just take more time and more effort. All hire compaines will deliver for a fee.

If it is to be a relaxing hobby, you might be better building a series of raised beds. You can get second hand ex-hire scaffold boards, clean and paint/stain them up and lay out a series of raised beds, ether use soil from the site with compost added or buy in some top soil, again it can be delivered.

Finally, if you are still mad keen you could buy one of these : http://readeroffers.irishtimes.com/i-cc-gf741-nbc-1/ELECTRIC-GARDEN-TILLER-and-CULTIVATOR-/. They can be got at B&Q and Homebase too and guess most DIY places. They are ideal for raised beds and are light to carry and move about.

To be fair if you have good soil and plenty of compost mixed in turning it is not hard work.

Best of luck.

Corsendonk

Wally Runs wrote: »

You should also bear in mind that a rotovator and tiller are two different things. What you have linked to are tillers. A rotovator is more like this: http://www.azhire.ie/equipment.hire.products.dublin.ireland.php?sectionnumber=113&number=316 and is a very different beast. More powerful and a bugger to use. It requires a lot of effort.

You may find that if there has not been much work done on the soil that he will have to employ a RV anyway, as it has a mass that allows the blades (tines, I think is the correct term) to dig into the earth and rip it up. A tiller will tend to hop along the top of the soil unless it is already been broken up. It can be done with a tiller, but it will just take more time and more effort. All hire compaines will deliver for a fee.

If it is to be a relaxing hobby, you might be better building a series of raised beds. You can get second hand ex-hire scaffold boards, clean and paint/stain them up and lay out a series of raised beds, ether use soil from the site with compost added or buy in some top soil, again it can be delivered.

Finally, if you are still mad keen you could buy one of these : http://readeroffers.irishtimes.com/i-cc-gf741-nbc-1/ELECTRIC-GARDEN-TILLER-and-CULTIVATOR-/. They can be got at B&Q and Homebase too and guess most DIY places. They are ideal for raised beds and are light to carry and move about.

To be fair if you have good soil and plenty of compost mixed in turning it is not hard work.

Best of luck.

Does that actually work? I would break that after 10 mins on my soil. I have clay on one site and sand(seriously think it would struggle on that) It looks like one of those tools that looks good but makes no practical sense to a pro. Extension cable, safety switch not to mention the stop starting with overheating when it finds the going tough.

I have two petrol rotovators and a tractor one. I use the two small rotovators for the headland that the tractor can't get to. 1/4 of an acre with a smaller rotovator would take me 2 hours to rotovate twice over so if anyone took a week there fired

As I said an expensive luxury for a small garden even if your staggering your planting. Surely staggering makes it easier to prep the soil as you only need to prep small sections of the 1/4 of an acre. I know he is retiring but part of the appeal of gardening is that its a fun way to provide exercise, a little healthy digging and forking is a great way to maintain your exercise. When a person retires you don't wrap him up in cotton wool and gardening is good family fun so nothing preventing other members of the family joining in when he needs a dig out !

Wally Runs

Sure enough, but I have the feeling that the OP wants to buy a gaget! Maybe there might be better things to buy? Good set of forks, spades and the like?