mechanical cultivation
- To: s*@egroups.com
- Subject: [sibrob] mechanical cultivation
- From: c*@aol.com
- Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2000 06:35:18 EDT
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ahhhh.....rotary cultivators (or "rotovators" as they are called this side of
the pond)
words of warning: if you get hose/stones/fence/whatever caught in the tines -
stop the engine and disconnect the spark plug. Seems a bore, but you don't
want to lose your hand/arm/life in there, and talk of getting stones out from
between tines sends a chill down my spine.
the ultimate walk-behind rotovator is the Howard Gem (later built by
Dowdeswell Engineering). These bright orange monsters weigh about a quarter
ton, will chomp anything and are not useful for getting into small spaces.
But we love em! We have one here that is who-knows how old. it's on its
second engine (a 12hp Kohler - more grunt than the original) and probably
it's tenth set of tines - but it has chewed about 1000000 acres in its time!!
they aren't made any more (Honda build the biggest walk-behind rotovators
I've seen and used, but they are no match) - when one comes up for sale round
here and it's in running order, they can fetch as much as £1000 (roughly
US$1500) - not bad for a machine that is 30 years old.
For European gardeners, Howard rotovators are good value. They are sturdy and
rugged machines, and second hand machines (smaller than the Gem) can be
picked up for fair prices. Parts availability is starting to become an issue,
although Dowdeswell still support the more popular models. I'm not sure of
their availability in the US.
Graham Spencer
Croftway Nursery, UK
croftway@aol.com
