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Believe me, the most useful tools require little maintenance, use no fuel or oil, and can be carried in one hand with 3 or four other tools.
Tillers are noisy, heavy and are hard on the body. If they are too small, you end up doing more work than it would take with a shovel. You also need almost perfect soil without rocks, sticks, vines or other debris that can jam up the works. On a real farm, soil condition vary wildly. I really don't see the need for any sort of cultivator, as it is a contraption that was developed in order to create fast food. I'm a believer in ancient systems that have been in place for 1000's of years, that have been proven to supply food with minimum inputs of labor, and or fertilizers and maintenance. You would be amazed at the systems the Islanders in the Pacific had until European Came in and turn them into Coffe, Cocoa and Sugar plantations for cash cropping. The systems were poorly documented, and many systems were detroyed before being fully understood.
Secondly, the idea of rototilling weeds directly into the soil does not give one the control of the composting process. I tend to pull up weeds when the soil moisture is right, this is called Cultivate to Moisture, which means that you avoid soil when it is too wet, and only work in it when it dries to a good consistency without clumping or compaction. Compaction will destroy the soil profile, and it is very difficult to get the air content in the soil back.
I pile up the weeds and let them compost for a bit. Usually the birds will arrive and tear the pile apart, looking for insects. After it decomposes and starts releasing Nitrogen, I spread it over the surface of the soil as a mulch and as a sort of a weed cloth, only it is manufactured for me by the weeds themselves. It will last many weeks before weeds will restablish themselves.
I also practice No till agriculture for the most part. This is the most effective and productive means for dealing with growing plants. If I must till, it is usually only when I am establishing a tree or some other perrenial in very bad soil or bedrock. I also till when I need to level ground or establih grade, which only occurs intermittently.
For many acres of land, my most important tools is a mower or a weedeater. I mow to 6 to 8 inches in height, which protects a majority of insects and other creatures, like grass snakes, lizards, turtles. Leave the clippings on the ground as cut. If I am reclaiming an area with very heavy cover, I will Weedeat from the top down to the ground, mulching everything into a fine duff. I only do this once or twice, in order to establish a consistent timeline for weed growth, and to alow me to see the drainage patterns, hidden obstacles, or the clear land.
Contrary to what Scott's Lawn and Chemical Corporation likes to say, grass will not die if you leave the clippings on the lawn or field. It actually makes it stronger due to the organic material.
Never burn debris. Compost it. Establish a compost pile and leave it alone. Give it water when dry, and turn it over to give it Oxygen when too wet. A smelly compost pile is an unhealthy, anaerobic compost pile. Compost smells good, produces energy as heat during decomposition, and in turns, kills pathogenic bacteria via oxidation and heat. Use buring only to destroy noxious weeds or to provide heat.
I have farmed in U.S Climate zone 9, and the Tropical Rainforest. Zone 9, with it's dry summers and wet winters is very different than Tropical, where we have 125 inches of rain annually, and can have up to 5 inches of rainfall in one hour. Zone 9 is all about water management, maintaining a composting process, and having correct soil moisture.
In the tropics, the average lifespan of organic material from the time it falls to the ground to disappearing into nitrogen, CO2 on base minerals is about 300 days. What people don't realize is that the rain forest is a closed system, and it replaces what disappears through decay on an equal basis.
So far, I love the tropics the most, because I don't have to deal with irrigation. My most useful tool is a machete, and I can hear the birds, listen to the tree's and breathe the cleanest air on earth. With all the rot, mold and fungus present in the forest, I have never had an allergic reaction, which is really weird. In dusty Zone 9 brething clean air meant wearing a 3M mask everytime I mowed. I still were the 3M Mask when I mow in the Tropics, because the plants are so soft and juicy that they basically vaporize when hit with a weedeater or mower.
I alsoe do not touch existing land until I am ready to replace what I have removed, otherwise you can open yourself up to worse invasives than the so called weeds that were there in the first place.
Hope this helps, as these simple rules allow me to manage over 50 acres of land by myself. I have never used pesticides, Herbicides or chemical fertilizers for the past 20 years.
Oh yeah, beware of the new shovels for sale in Home Depot. These are made in China, and really should be called "Things that look like shovels" There either have the wrong wangle on the head, or they are too heavy due to incorrect design. A good shovel these days is actually very hard to find, as they are all made in China. All of my good shovels are over 10 years old and have been re handles 2 to 3 times.
Aloha!
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