From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Arcola, IL, USA

I went out to hoe a little around my plants... Possible till around the plant as well.... I just happened to start digging into the dirt 15 feet from the stump to look at the dirt and hit pumpkin roots... My longest vine at this point is 10 feet.. Good god I didn't realize how far they go.. I checked in a few other spots. Looks like there at 15 feet... checked 20 feet and nothing...... Has anyone ever checked to see how far there roots travel??????Looks like my tilling is not a good idea. May have to revert to light hoeing 2,000 square feet... Not looking forward to that!!!!! LOL

7/15/2006 9:12:49 PM

Montoursville, PA

Put the tiller away! Hoe those weeds as shallow as you can, to lay them, on their sides. A few weeds here and there do not concern me. Others may disagree. I mulch and step back for the season.

7/15/2006 9:44:06 PM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

Great advice from the good ole doc!! Those roots will cover your entire patch if you let them...

7/15/2006 9:50:51 PM

[email protected]

Sage advice here. This is why the walking boards are so important. Let the tiller collect dust.

7/15/2006 10:19:33 PM

Beach Park, IL.

What exactly do the walking boards do?? Distribute your weight?? I have this *very* old contraption my dad gave me to use and it works great for getting rid of weeds. It is not a tiller... or maybe it is? It has a long handle, with two handles on the side to grab onto, and then at the other end is this toothed cylinder thing to grind up the dirt as it rolls over it. On one side it has these forked things and the other side has an extended frame. Either side you lower it and just push forward and those things just scrape the upper surface of the loose soil and chop and rip up the weeds real nice. Just don't run it over one of your vines or feet for that matter. Speaking from experience.

7/16/2006 12:54:28 AM

ENGLAND

Tacotac. Is this old contraption you have anything like this.... http://212.9.164.213/public_uk/produkte/katalog_produkte.hbs?SKIP=50&produkt_id=a949572206&kat_name=0 4th item down on that Webpage.

7/16/2006 3:31:08 AM

Eau Claire, WI

Read this article closely. It will change everything that you do (ie. where you put your best soil, where you water and fertilize, where and how you weed, where you walk, etc.). This article helped me to picture the plant below the ground instead of where you see green.

http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010137veg.roots/010137ch33.html

The bottom line is that the tap root went 6 ft deep, the side roots went out to almost 20 ft in radius around the stump and most of the roots were in the top few inches. This was a regular pumpkin plant (not a giant pumpkin - our root systems are bigger). The interesting thing about this article is that it was written in 1927.

7/16/2006 9:57:43 AM

tacotac, I think the tool you mention was marketed by Garden Way at one time. I have one, they were called hand tiller/cultivators,,if you use the "blade side" on dry soil you can clip the small weeds off and that drum crumbles the top 3/4" of soil very nicely, the forks are used when cultivating deeper,,say between row crops.
I don't see much application with AG's except perhaps ahead of the plant. I find my old "hoop hoe" the most useful tool in the patch for weeding.

7/16/2006 11:37:38 AM

Montoursville, PA

This all comes down, to each man, having his favorite hoe. Picking it up and doing the job frequently seems, to be the challenge. :)

7/16/2006 3:43:39 PM

Decatur, IL

I believe it's the same contraption my father-in-law gave me 25 years ago. It was pretty old when he gave it to me. Works great! Not sure of the name or if it's still being made. I believe it's called a Ro-Ho Cultivator (Not sure of the spelling). Charlie

7/16/2006 5:07:46 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

Wow..>>>!<<<.. Does any one offer a masters degree on growing AG's.....This is rocket science.......

7/17/2006 9:54:40 AM

Little-TON - Colorado

Hey Tremor.....Remember the polymer.....Im liking it more and more. Perhaps next year we add it to the entire garden....Im thinking it would really effect the 100 day wilting....We had 102-104....on the south side of my house the temps have hit 110......

7/17/2006 9:57:53 AM

Beach Park, IL.

Here is a picture I took this morning. It is similiar to the one in the link above, only bigger and what not.

http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/7744/contraptionyu9.jpg

7/17/2006 12:06:00 PM

yup,,that's a ro-ho or gardenway product,,looks older than mine,,but the same tool

7/17/2006 1:04:10 PM

Lake Elmo, Minnesota

Johnny's seed company has the perfect hoe - called a stirrup hoe. Sounds like what is described above. It is made for AG's. Cuts both ways and only as deep as you want it to go. Well worth the price.

7/17/2006 11:04:57 PM