Rolling cultivator tips?

[Palmetto Bug]

After my sunflower field failure this year, I wanted a backup plan for post emergent weed control when the weather isn't cooperating. I finally found an old two row Lilliston rolling cultivator for a decent price. I cleaned it up, tightened bolts, adjusted the width and dragged it around a little. It does a good job but hills up the dirt a bit more than I was expecting. It has sweeps and I tried it with them up and down but it still hills the rows a lot. I'll do some more adjusting and tweaking but I wanted to ask if anyone has experience with them. Do you have any tips or advice that might keep me from learning the hard way? I already discovered that I need to keep it away from mature Morning Glory vines.

rolling cultivator.jpg
cultivated rows.jpg

[thunderchicken]

Have you tried running them parallel with the bar instead of turned in a little like they are now?

[Smilee]

They need to hill that dirt to cover small weeds along the row.

[SaltMuck]

Looks like you are running it in freshly disked land. It shouldn't bed quite as bad when you run it once the crop is up. But, I'd start by taking almost all of the angle out of the spider wheels. That should correct the issue.

[cooper66]

Be careful of morning glory and old plant stalks!

[Blakeley]

I use to have a 4 row Lilliston that we used when I worked at Cherokee. I loved running that machine once I got the hang of it. It takes TIME in the tractor seat to figure it out.

It is very versatile in setting it up to run properly at all early crop stages. We would run it in corn, sorghum and sunflowers for instant weed control and save one or two chemical applications if we had the time. We also used it to help "air" out the alleys after a heavy rain. As soon as a tractor could stand up and not slide around; in it went.

As mentioned above, that hilling was probably the previous owner moving dirt to cover the weeds up close to the plant. Take the angle out or lessen and make another pass to see how you want to move that dirt. It has so many adjustments it just takes time figuring it out.

You will want to make a row marker/guide for the tractor that will keep it running straight and you looking forward. Also, you will probably want to have a small impact gun with sockets and a couple of wrenches with you so you can make the adjustments faster in the field. Once it's set, you're good to go unless conditions in the field change. I seem to recall all it needed was 9/16, 5/8 and 3/4 sizes. Keep some spare bearings on the shelf bc you will need them and they always go out at bad times.

Youtube has a lot of good videos of these and other cultivators and how/why/when people run them. Good luck with it in your fields. I think you will be happy with it.

[formerly bohica]

dont look behind you

[Quackhead22]

dont look behind you

This


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[Catdaddy]

Slow down and it should make a smaller hill.

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[quack head 11]

Would hilling the base of your sunflowers actually hurt them at all? Seems like between covering the weeds in the rows, adding extra dirt to the base of the stalk will help hold moisture and help the stalk from bending or breaking if you had heavy winds


I know the old school fellars hilled about everything

[Quackhead22]

Would hilling the base of your sunflowers actually hurt them at all? Seems like between covering the weeds in the rows, adding extra dirt to the base of the stalk will help hold moisture and help the stalk from bending or breaking if you had heavy winds


I know the old school fellars hilled about everything

I ran cultivators in my flowers this year and they threw dirt up around the flowers with no issues at all


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[quack head 11]

I ran cultivators in my flowers this year and they threw dirt up around the flowers with no issues at all


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Thats what I was getting at, I believe hilling his flowers would be a non issue

[Palmetto Bug]

dont look behind you

Many years ago, I was cultivating soybeans with a four row rolling cultivator and made the mistake of looking back. That think ate a patch of beans before I could find the brakes. I have one of those wide, multi-pane golf cart mirrors on my tractor.

Won't hilled up rows be more susceptible to drought? It seems like they'd drain and dry the soil around the plants more.

[Catdaddy]

Many years ago, I was cultivating soybeans with a four row rolling cultivator and made the mistake of looking back. That think ate a patch of beans before I could find the brakes. I have one of those wide, multi-pane golf cart mirrors on my tractor.

Won't hilled up rows be more susceptible to drought? It seems like they'd drain and dry the soil around the plants more.

Nope

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