Grow Your Own Magazine

It has taken my fancy to get one of these......am at the pondering stage. I wondered if anyone has one and what their thoughts/advice would be. I have backbreakingly heavy clay soil and I'm not getting any younger or fitter!

Thanks Lesley Jay....so is it not up to the initial job then?

Hi,

I've got a Mantis too, and I did the same as Lesley Jay, used a big rotovator once a couple of years ago (on a virgin allotment plot) and now I only use the Mantis. Its too small (and too expensive) to risk damaging it in unbroken soil. But I have successfully used the plough attachment to plant my potatoes in nice straight rows, as well as weeding and breaking down lumpy soil.

I'd recommend one, but its worth hiring a bigger rotovator for a day or 2 first if you've never rotovated the soil before.

Hope that helps,

Clareg

IS your the 2 stroke version LJ or one of the 4 stroke ones? (serious question honest)

__________________
ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

The allotment chairman has the 4 stroke version, it is a very quiet machine you wouldn't know it was running on tick over.


LJ "how on earth would I know? It's red!" Typical womans answer
I am now bracing myself waiting for the swish of the pea stick.

Hi all,
I have just bought a Honda mini tiller from the ads in the local paper. It is 4 stroke and very quiet. Also it is easy to start so I would seriously consider the extra expense to buy a 4 stroke. Have a look on ebay to gain some ideas of price etc. I paid £190 for mine, it still has 2 years on the warrenty and came with all the extra bits and pieces.

__________________
May all our seeds germinate and grow

Helen

Thanks Helenclare...I'll consider it.

I would say buy a 4 stroke if you can.

and I would buy a honda over a mantis any day.

I am on clay and unless I use the 5hp Rotovator first the mantis will just scratch the surface. The mantis also has the feel that it was made in someones garage.

I have got the 2 stoke and in the garden at home its great, to crumble the surface to plant great,,,,but to turn over clay..na,

__________________
My phone has more Processing power than the Computers NASA used to fake the Moon Landings

If its to be used on un dug soil I'd look at hiring a bigger machine first. I've just hired a Camon c8 to rotovate my plot and even that was hard work. It took several hours to complete as each area needed to be gone over repeatedly. The first pass was really tough as the tines struggled to dig in deep enough and occasionaily it would lurch forward as the tines propelled it along. Once the soil was broken it did a fantastic job of tilling but I'm sure a smaller machine could do that as well. It was worth the expense rather than digging and I can highly recommend.

__________________
http://plot62.blogspot.com/

I have a Mantis with the hedge trimmer bar attachment. The tiller is fine on pre-dug or rotovated/worked ground but won't break 'virgin ground' - at least here, where I am on clay. At Dad's lottie, 10 miles away, which is much more aluvial (sorry - sand and grit maskarading as soil!) it cuts and fluffs and the main problem is recompacting the stuff so the brassicas won't bolt!

If you are over 5'5" you will get back ache using it - it was designed for ladies (by a short a*se) but I can recommend the hedge cutter bar - brill! We had over two hundred foot of hedge before the neighbours got bored of cutting their side - got the job done in half a day!

Oh good....I'm 5'2" Have got an Azada to do the initial breaking up....it is very good but the plot is too big for me to do the whole thing.