# tips on rototilling



## L S G (Dec 30, 2008)

I am getting ready to perform my first shot at rototilling. My tractors a Kubota B7800 30 HP 4WD

Any tips before I start ripping up stuff. Good news is I am practicing on my buddies garden first. 

I have never used a rototiller on a tractor before so I am green here. 

And I have another question about this I also have a box scraper. Would it be better if I scrape the grass and weeds away first and not till them in. He has plenty of area for me to get rid of the top layer. 

Thanks in advance


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## grassdigger104 (Mar 18, 2009)

I just mowed the area for tilling with mulcher blades, then rented a small Ford 4x4 tractor with a 4' tiller. I tilled first a shallow pass to get the grass and weeds, then raked the weeds and grass off, and then made 3 or 4 passes with the tiller N to S then S to N and E to W and W to E. The soil was very fluffy.. I didn't have a box blade, I wished that I had of had one and scrapped the grass and weeds off before doing the tilling for planting. I used my Troy Bilt walk behind tomake furrows and push the soil up in raised beds to plant, then I tilled in several bags of cow manure in the raised beds left from the furrowing.:tractorsm


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## Live Oak (Dec 22, 2003)

I set my tiller to dig as deep as possible. I chop up grass and all. I go over the garden lengthwise and let it set for a few days and then go over it 90 degrees the other way. It is best to do it like this a few times over a month or so before the planting season gets started on a new garden plot so you can chop up and take out as many of the weeds and grass as it possible with the tiller. The grass and weeds will grow back no matter what so leave enough space between rows to get a smaller manual rototiller in to chop up weeds as you go through the season. That way the tiller will lesson the manual weed pulling by hand to a minimum. Through out the lifetime of the garden (at least in my part of TN) expect to have a hearty crop of rocks each year.  Seems like no matter how many I pick out of the garden, they show up again the next year. :argh:


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## Frank865 (Apr 12, 2009)

I'd just till the grass into the garden... You WANT organic stuff in the ground. It would have been better to have started a few weeks ago... but it's still good just till it in, give a a few days & till it again.
As for the rocks, my theory is... Rocks float in the dirt, much like ice floats in water. They don't move as fast, but every time you work the ground, a few more will float to the top.


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## rdbrumfield (Apr 23, 2009)

I am with Frank, till the grass in, just be sure it is mowed before tilling.

Go as slow as possible on the first pass to really chop the sod. That is slow with ground speed, fast on the tiller.


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