BCS Rear Tine Tiller
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Faster Tine
Rotation for finer soils
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Exclusive
planar wedge design
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Adjustable
tiller widths
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Breaks
new ground for planting and seeding
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Prepares
seed beds in Spring
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Cultivates
between rows in Summer
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Power
composts in Summer and Fall
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Rear
Tine Tiller Specifications/Compatibility Guide
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Width
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710
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712
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718
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722
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732
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852/
853
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948
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18"
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20"
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26"
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30"
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34"
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Depth
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8"
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Tine Rotation
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Rotation
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20 times for every turn of the drive wheels in
1st gear
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Direction
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Forward (down into soil at the front - up at
the back)
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Tine Speed
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290 RPM
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Weight (attachment only)
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18"
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64 lbs.
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20"
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86 lbs.
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26"
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90 lbs.
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30"
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96 lbs
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Adjustable
Tiller Widths
BCS
Tillers are adjustable in width allowing the tiller attachment to be wider
when tilling large open areas and to be narrower for cultivating between rows
of crops. The 26” tiller can be narrowed
to 20” wide, the 30” tiller can be narrowed to 26” wide and the 34” tiller
can be narrowed to 27” wide. Conversely the 20” wide tiller can be expanded
to 26” wide by adding tine holders and tines. The 18” wide tiller is fixed width matched to the power of
the smaller BCS tractors.
Another example to BCS versatility!
Understanding Tillers*
To get the most out of
any tiller, use it for:
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1.
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See bed Preparation (Spring): Tillers are used in the spring to prepare the garden
seed bed. Tilling the ground until you have an 8" deep seed bed of
well tilled soil produces the proper growing environment for young plants
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2.
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Cultivation (Summer): It is important to cultivate between the rows of
plants during the growing season. Tilling only 1" to 2"
eliminates weeds and loosens the soil surface. This allows moisture to
penetrate the soil, controls the weeds and provides more moisture for your
crops.
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3.
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Power Composting (Fall): Tilling garden plant remains into the soil,
chopping them into small pieces and burying them in the garden soil
promotes rapid decomposition of the plant material, adding more organic
matter to the soil.
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In selecting a tiller, gardeners have several choices: front tine tillers,
counter-rotating rear tine tillers, dedicated tillers, and attachment rear
tine tillers. The words "front" and "rear" refer to the
location of the tiller box and it's tooth-like rotating tines in relation to
the machine's engine.
Front Tine Tillers
Front tillers are
designed to be inexpensive, so naturally, they have several limitations.
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1.
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The forward motion of the machine relies on your
shoulders to tip the tines into the soil since the tines drive the machine
forward. It is more physically strenuous and difficult to operate a front
tine tiller.
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2.
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It is difficult to till at a consistent depth
with a font tine tiller. You must hold back on the machine to control the tilling
depth while pushing forward to propel the machine itself forward.
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3.
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Front tine tillers cultivate too deeply and prune
lateral roots of the plants you are growing. The tines chop off the tomato
and corn lateral roots that grow 3" below the soil surface.
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4.
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Front tine tiller tines rotate very slowly,
making power composting impossible. The plant material winds around the
tines, leaving the gardener with a ball of material to unwind. Returning the
chopped garden material into the garden is essential to build healthy soil
in organic gardening.
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5.
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The slower tine speed also produces a rougher
seed bed for spring planting.
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Counter-rotating Rear Tine Tillers
A few manufacturers
offer counter-rotating rear tine tillers. These tillers aggressively dig the
soil, but they have several important limitations:
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1.
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Counter-rotating rear tine tillers do not till at
a consistent depth for seedbed preparation. They till at 8" in some areas
and 5" in others because the counter-rotation of the tines is fighting
the forward rotation of the drive wheels. This results in unevenly tilled
seedbed.
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2.
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These tillers cannot cultivate properly. The
aggressive digging action of the counter-rotating tines cause the tiller to
dig down more than the desired 2" cultivating depth. Cultivating at
depths of 4", 6" or 8" prunes off the lateral roots of your
crops that grow only 3" below the surface.
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3.
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Power composting with a counter-rotating tiller
is not possible. The tines enter the soil at the back of the tiller box and
come up from under the soil surface to the garden material. Instead of
chopping it, the material is wrapped over the top of the tines to the back
of the tiller box.
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4.
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Traction is a problem in the well-tilled gardens
of serious gardeners. In soft soil, the counter-rotation of the tines pulls
the machine back as the wheels try to drive the machine forward. The result
is poor forward traction as the tiller tines work against the shell drive.
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Rear Tine Tillers
Rear Tine tillers with
forward rotating tines have several advantages over front tine tillers.
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1.
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You can till at a consistent depth for the seedbed
preparation. Both the tines and the drive wheels turn in a forward
direction. However, rear tine tiller drive wheels only allow the machine to
be propelled forward slowly despite the forward action of the tines, so the
drive wheels actually hold the machine in place so that the tines can dig
the seed bed to the desired depth. On the BCS tiller, the tilling depth is
controlled by the depth gauge on the tiller box.
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2.
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Using a BCS rear tine tiller, cultivating at a
consistent 2" depth is a snap with the depth gauge set at 2". The
adjustable width tiller boxes offered by BCS get your tiller into the
narrow aisles between rows.
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3.
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Power Composting is efficient because rear tine
tillers tines can rotate much faster than front tine tiller tines. The
forward rotation of the fast turning tines come down on the plant material,
chopping and tilling it into the soil, and then the tines come around to
chop the plant material again.
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Dedicated Tillers
Dedicated tillers (either
front or rear) are specialized machines that may not be used for other
applications. Owners of dedicated tillers typically own one or more other
pieces of gardening or grounds-keeping equipment, such as a mower or snow
thrower. This type of owner is required to undergo the expense of maintaining
each of the several engines and drive trains on these machines separately.
BCS Versatility
BCS Tillers (and many
other BCS attachments) are bolted directly to the PTO of BCS tractors or are
quickly snapped-on with the optional quick hitch accessory. BCS attachments
are not driven with belts or chains, but with an all gear transmission using
an automotive-style clutch. This arrangement transfers all but 3% of the
engine's power to the tiller or other attachment, compared to 15% on
belt-driven machinery.
* This
text was taken from BCS-America
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