Vegetable
Garden Vegetable
GardenMost longtime owners of rear tine rototillers know that these tillers can leap like jackrabbits. This is not something that tiller manufacturers advertise. In fact, their ads typically show a demure gardener guiding a well behaved tiller with one hand. There is no indication of just how frisky these tillers can be.
To be fair to the manufacturers, leaping is much less likely if the tillers are properly restrained. That this is not always the case is evident in Release # 84-021, April 4, 1984, from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC): Ferrari Recalls Rototillers.
Ferrari-Maschio Inc., of Madison, Wisconsin, today announced a voluntary corrective action program for its model 71 and 72 Ferrari rotary tillers. Approximately 450 of the rear tine tillers were sold to rental companies or to professionals since 1973. Though most sales were in California, a few units were sold in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, Texas, New Mexico, and Oregon.
Ferrari is aware of six consumer accidents involving the forward operation of these tillers, resulting in severe leg lacerations and one leg amputation. Ferrari believes that all tiller accidents occurred when the center hoe attachment to these machines was missing.
The design of the Ferrari tillers is similar to that of another Italian tiller, BCS, which was originally imported into North America under the name Mainline. My first rear tine tiller was a Mainline (my second was also a BCS). I chose this tiller over the more common Troy-Bilt because the Mainline had a sickle bar attachment.
I love my tiller. It is, for me, the single most useful tool in my vegetable garden. It is a power tool, however, and like all power tools must be used with care.
The wheels of rear tine tillers are powered and the wheels usually
determine the forward speed of the tiller — just under one mile per hour.
The tines which are chewing up the soil are travelling much faster — something
on the order of 20 MPH — but they are slipping through the soil so don't
usually affect the forward movement of the machine.
But sometimes the tines bite into a solid chunk of sod and intead of slipping
through the sod as they are supposed to, they take over from the wheels in
moving the machine forward. The grab of the tines produces an effect similar
to a motorcycle taking off so fast that the front wheel lifts off the ground. When
the tines of the tiller take hold, they tend to lift the wheels off the ground.
If the conditions are just right the machine will become airborne and leap
forward about five feet. Usually the tiller travels in an arc and lands wheels
first. For a moment the tiller seems to stop dead as it comes down on wheels
travelling at less than 1 MPH. Then the (still rotating) tines slam down, dig
in, and the tiller takes another leap. This may be repeated several times until
a racing operator catches up on one of its hesitations and lifts the handlebar
so the tines can't dig in again.
This assumes, of course, that the operator let it go on its first leap. Suppose
he holds on? You might think the operator could hold back the tiller. Not a
chance. If he hangs on, the machine and operator will leap together and for
one brief moment the operator looks like a leaping ballet dancer with one leg
stretched out in front and the other leg stretched out behind.
Whether there is an injury depends on where that lead foot comes
down. If it is in amongst the tines, the prognosis will not be good.
An experienced operator becomes good at sensing when the machine is getting
restless and usually manages to lift the handlebar in time to turn the leap
into a short scramble.
But you may ask, what about the center hoe attachment? The difficulty is that the center hoe is a nuisance — it keeps picking up material — this impedes progress, and sometimes stops it entirely. In soil with lots of sod (the kind where leaping is most likely), there will be many annoying stops to clear the hoe. An experienced gardener, wearing steel-toed boots, may opt to put up with an occasional leap. This is not a wise choice — experience with leaping just makes an accident less likely.
If you have an unrestrained tiller it should be a one-person machine. Don't lend it! You know how to prevent most leaps and you think you know how to leap safely. Your neighbour doesn't. If you must help him out, you go with the tiller.
Better yet, put up with the inconvenience of the center hoe and make it a safer machine. Be mindful, however, that a machine with tines powerful enough to mangle a foot is never completely safe. And the center hoe prevents most leaps but, under certain conditions, unruly behaviour is still possible.
Furthermore, it isn't just leaping you have to be concerned about. There is a hood over the tines and under most circumstances the hood will prevent you from doing something foolish. But there will be exceptions from time to time. Consider just one of many possibilities:
You till into a narrow corner of the garden and must turn around. You can't make a wide turn because of a perennial bed (which you do not wish to step on). You get up close and personal with the tiller. You lose your balance.
Where did your feet go? In circumstances like this, feet seem to have a mind of their own. It helps if you have programmed your feet in advance — Under no circumstances do you go anywhere near the rotating tines! In this case, of course, it would be better not to rely on programmed feet; disengage the power to the tines before doing the turn maneuver.
Wearing steel-toed boots is a good practice but doesn't guarantee safety. If your whole foot gets in among the tines, steel toes will not prevent injury.
So what about the Troy-Bilt? It is a heavier machine than the BCS and the tine speed is slower — about 2/3 that of BCS. One spring, when my BCS was out of commission, I rented an 8 HP Troy-Bilt for a few days. This felt like driving a big lumbering sedan compared with my sporty BCS. And it felt stable. So I was shocked when it took a large leap. Soaring through the air with that big machine, I gained a new respect for the beast. And I was just a little shaken. Because of good luck and my experience with my BCS, I landed safely. But when I think of novice gardeners handling the same machine, often breaking new sod (where leaping is most likely), I get nervous.
Every five to ten years the tines on the rototiller wear down to the point where they are not doing much work anymore and have to be replaced. New tines make for a much friskier tiller. Extra care is advised.