Effective Cultivation

One of the biggest game changers on the farm was when we purchased our Tilmor PowerOx walk-behind cultivation tractor. Not only did it allow us to cover more ground more quickly and with less effort than a wheel hoe but it also opened the door to various kinds of mechanical cultivation. Together, this allowed us to get a much better handle on weeds allowing us to grow more crops and lowered the chances we’d loose a crop to weed pressure.

Below are a couple photos that illustrate the impact. The first photo shows some recently planted corn with tons of weeds - mostly purslane. The second photo is after making a cultivation pass with the PowerOx. You can see uprooted weeds, soil disturbed both in the row and between the row and a marked reduction in weeds. And that is the key. The goal isn’t 100% eradication but to reduce the weed population by 80-90%. Then, we can quickly come through and hand weed to clean up the rest.

It’s possible for mechanical cultivation to truly eradicate all weeds but it requires perfect conditions, perfect tool calibration and perfect timing.

Before

After!

The PowerOx