Cultivators Reviews

When I first borrowed a friend's mini cultivator a few years ago, I was in heaven. Finally, something I could use to till my soil that was light enough for me to handle and easy enough for me to start, yet tough enough to really churn up the dirt. Unfortunately, when I got around to buying one of my own, I didn't buy the same brand. Instead, I bought a Ryobi. Since I also needed a weed eater, I figured that going with the attachment plan would save me money.

Although I like the trimmer very much, I'm not as impressed as the other reviewers with the cultivator attachment. It just doesn't feel very powerful. I attempted to use the Ryobi cultivator to work an established herb garden, and am about to give up and rent a more powerful cultivator. Perhaps my soil was too hard and compacted to work well with a mini cultivator. The Ryobi barely dug into the ground, turning up only the surface soil. I was extremely disappointed.

I do think that once I work up the soil with something stronger, the Ryobi cultivator will work well for maintenance tilling. I was impressed with how maneuverable the cultivator was. I could work around fairly densely planted herbs and perennials without destroying any desirable plants.

Based on my initial use, the blades seem quite durable and don't seem to get tangled with weeds very easily. Switching the attachments works well, too.

One design aspect that I expect to remain a drawback is the handle style. I found the handle bars on the other cultivator (unfortunately, the brand name escapes me--Stihl, I think) much easier to handle than the one-long-handle arrangement on the Ryobi.

For looser soil, the Ryobi should work fine for you, but unfortunately, my yard just isn't as cooperative as the other reviewers.

I've never touched a lawnmower, weedeater, or any other garden tool up until 2 months ago when I bought my first home. The landscaping needs a complete overhaul, and thanks to this cultivator, I think I'll be able to do it myself. I've already redone the rock-hard old raised beds in the front of the house. Now if only I could buy an Add-On Handyperson attachment!

You can't hurt this thing. It tears through ANY soil, roots etc and does so as well as the big tillers that don't fit in a household garden. This is useful for small vegetable gardens, but the best use is refreshing the soil around shrubs in your foundation beds. Its litle head gets in tight spaces, and you can drop it straight down into a spot you couldn't wheel a big tiller into. It gets roots tangled around it, but clears easily. The tines are indestructible, as is all the rest. I'm glad I got the 4-cycle 875R trimmer, because this thing uses all the torque it puts out. A very good investment. Saves a whale of a lot of storage in the garage, too!!!

As simplistic as the tool is it is hard to imagine surviving a day in the garden without the Hori-Hori. Solidly constructed it will withstand any punishment you deliver. With its slightly concave blade it will penetrate the most stubborn soils and pry up the most tenacious weeds with ease. The serrated edge cuts any roots blocking its path. The opposite edge is smooth but not sharp which allows carefree handling. The sheath has a belt loop for convienent carrying. I have also uncovered a larger version of the Hori-Hori with a total length of 14 inches. However this 11 inch model has performed quite nicely in my garden. Perhaps a bit overpriced considering the inexpensive vinyl sheath provided to house the Hori-Hori but overall a worthwhile investment.

When I'm in the Garden wielding my hari hari knife I feel like a super hero in an action movie.

Digs any kind of holes in any kind of soil easily. Best dandelion digger in the world. I've lost two and replaced them as soon as I finished searching. Paint the handle red!

I sure do love my E-Z hoe. A fella normally shouldn't get too worked up about his hoes, but this is one hard working hoe, fo shizzle. Why just the other day, I worked my hoe all day out in the hot sun and didn't hear even one squeek of complaint. If you're looking for a good, dependable, hoe that doesn't mind getting a little dirty, then this is the hoe for you.

This product is wonderful! I love the weight of the tools (heavy enough for serious gardening). Tote is strong and large enough to carry many items. This will save me trips back and forth to the greenhouse or storage shed. I'm looking forward to the spring thaw so I can really get out and use it.

This little wonder has been the envy of my neighborhood when it comes to landscaping tools. They claim it is good for mixing peat moss with soil but they fail to mention how it works with sod. I have found that this tool, with a minor amount of muscle, can transform a patch of lawn into a flower bed in no time! Pushing the cutter just under the soil surface will leave a nice strip of sod that can easily be rolled up transplanted or mulched. The tool also works great for preparing the garden for planting by tilling the soil without "moving" it down the garden.

I often use this cultivator, both on a short handle and on a long handle, to break up the soil prior to planting or to loosen tough weeds. The tines are very strong. The tool stands up very well in our soggy Pacific Northwest weather and I haven 't seen any sign of rust. I expect this cultivator to last many years. I am very hard on my tools (using them for purposes for which they weren't designed and not always cleaning them off or getting them out of the rain), but I find the Wolf-Garten system to be very well made and own more than 10 of the various tool heads and plan to buy others. The tools heads can be quickly switched between long and short handles and the place where they are joined is very strong. An additional benefit is that tools generally not available in a long-handled form can be used while standing or quickly switched to a short handle. I highly recommend these tools for the avid gardener. This is a cost effective way to assemble a great set of diverse tools.

It works best in soft soil. I am most pleased with the price.

It's a good tool. Very effective in areas where there isn't much spacing between plants. Works good with loam and sandy soil. Works in clay but it takes substantially more effort.

I had a yard full with garden areas that had about Five years of weeds to clean out. With the Garden Claw, I was able to clean up those areas in no time. It made work that would have been impossiable to do, very simple. I couldn't have done it without the Garden Claw.

Purchased in early April of 2006 due to alledged quality of brand name and it's been in the service center virtually ever since. First time after 1/2 hour of operation the starter wouldn't engage. Had it repaired (mechanic said the starter was of extemely poor design). Another 1/2 hour of operation same problem. Had it repaired ran it about 3/4 hour and it began spewing oil everywhere. It took at least 5 weeks to get the determination that it was not repairable (so much for early gardening season. Now Troy-bilt refuses to refund my money, they just want me to accept another machine.

My advice is stay away. Troy-Bilt isn't apparently what they used to be since being acquired by MTD.

It's not heavy duty enough to break through compressed sod, but it's light and maneuverable so I can lift it into a raised bed and till. It reaches down about 10-12 inches and if there's a lot of weeds, pops them loose so they are easy to remove from the soil.

I have 12 large raised beds full of winter weeds and it would take days to prepare them with a shovel. This little wiz-kid just whips through them and fluffs up the soil like it just came out of the potting soil bag. Highly recommended.

I purchased the Troy-Bilt cultivator after trying a neighbor's Mantis. The Mantis worked but was hard to start and finicky about adjustments, plus it bogged down several times. The Troy-Bilt starts very easily and just never quits. It digs in well and seems to run at a higher speed than the Mantis. It's light-weight and easy to handle, even when digging through sod. To break up a large section of lawn for a garden, a larger roto-tiller definitely is needed, but the little Troy-Bilt will dig up small strips of lawn with little difficulty. I've also noticed in some of the reviews that users complain about difficult starting and needing to empty gas that has been left in the tank for several months. Apparently, some people are not aware that gas goes "stale" after not being used for several months. The problem is that the gasoline additives now in use go bad after a period of storage and this adversely affects the volatility of the gasoline. So when any of these gas-powered tools has been out of use for several months, be sure to empty the old and replace it with fresh gas. That's one nice thing about the Troy-Bilt -- it uses straight gas, so there's no need to mix oil and gas (as in the Mantis).

This gift set is a one of a kind. It will help with all your gardening activity's. If you have large or small plants in pots or in the ground this set will do the gob.

This is a great working little tiller. Bought it a few days ago and have already run two tanks of fuel with no problems. It is a little workhorse. It just doesn't till up the ground, it pulverizes it. It is easy to start and just fun to operate. I would recommend it to anyone. My only concern is durability and will be able to comment on that at a later time.