mantis cultivator

Cleaning, fixing, using, repairing, best and worst of your mechanical aids in the garden...

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peter
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Allan, leave the toys for the boys and get a proper rotovator, try a Howard 350. :P

It will pull itself from job to job as fast as you please and dig for hours without complaint, even reverses out of trouble.

Only downside is size, if you have to travel any distance from home to plot you'll need a trailer.
OH has a GEM and they are even better when in good nick, but much heavier. There was one on e-bay the other day with big diesel engine, double wheels and an extra wide digging width.

Failing that, what do you use the tractor for? Do you not have a pto powered rotovator on it? Plough etc?
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Allan
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Peter I already have several options on the big stuff. I specifically wanted something small, in particular for working in confined spaces such as my 7 polytunnels and it had to be easy to use and instantly available. I will never want it to go 10-12 inches deep. The Honda machine I bought is to replace the Mantis but it is slightly bigger and above all reliable and STARTS FIRST PULL, which my Mantis never did.
I Have a Benassi wheeled cultivator which converts to a sickle mower but that changeover takes about half an hour each way and it is somewhat big for the polytunnels.
I also have a compact tractor with a range of attachments. That is good on the large spaces but the cultivator won't go really deep and the single furrowed plough goes too deep and gets stuck in all but the wellworked ground where it is never needed.
I can assure you that this Honda is no toy. If you look at the list of sizes avaible there is a wide choice of powers, I chose the next to smallest.
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