Tilther Followup and carrot germ tips

[Martin Vandepas]

I received a couple responses about the tilther and a few people that said they wanted to hear more, so I figured I'd send this out to everyone.

Alanah suggested I reach out to Space Twins Provisions on the Olympic Peninsula and they said:

Happy to share my thoughts on the tilther. Full disclaimer: we have the Iconoclast from Neversink Farm, which is just their version of the Johnny's tilther. They are supposed to be very comparable. I think we went with the Iconoclast because there was a sale on it a couple years ago. At any rate, my honest opinion is that it's not really worth the money. I use it in the spring to incorporate amendments during our initial bed prep, but I end up going back over the beds one last time with the 30" rake to shape and fluff the beds (I'm fairly meticulous about the shape of our beds though lol so you may not find this to be an issue).

 

What I've found is that it is a fairly finicky tool to operate in terms of getting the speed right so as to get a mostly even effect on the bed. Sometimes it just looks dibbled by the prongs and amendments don't actually look that well incorporated. I've found that running it faster gets a better effect, but honestly still not as good as a 30" rake in my opinion. There is also frequent need for adjustment with the drill or the stap, etc. and I just think it's more cumbersome and not that immensely effective to warrant using it all the time. Basically, I use the tool in the spring because I have it, but I'm rarely inclined to bust it back out throughout the season as we flip beds. I just rely on the 30" rake. I'd say I spend more time fussing with the tilther than using it and being pleased with its results.

Those are my honest thoughts, because it is an expensive tool and I don't want to mislead you about how useful I've found it to be (not that useful). Thanks for reaching out and wishing you a successful season ahead! Best, Jules

I also searched online and found a good thread here, and my favorite youtube review here working with pretty heavy soil. He compared the johnny's tilther to a much more expensive tilther from austrailia. That farmer preferred the Tilther and thought the times were better designed and did a better job of making a fine, even seedbed. 

What I've heard online is that the Neversink Iconoclast version seems a little less solidly built than the Johnny's version and also the new version of the Iconoclast has trouble fitting some drills and many people have to buy a new drill to get it to fit.  Johnny's new version "Tilther XT" has a new gearbox instead of a chain drive.

We still haven't decided if we want to get a tilther, but if we do I think we're leaning toward the Tilther XT. We're planning 1-2" of compost this spring (thanks WSDA!) And want a Tilther to mix it with a little soil so it makes a firmer seedbed that will hold moisture better for germinating carrots.

On that note, I have heard from a couple whidbey farmers that they are thinking of dabbling with notill this season so I wanted to share some thoughts on notill carrots since that's probably the most difficult crop to get good germination and germination is so critical for carrots. This season we had great carrots in our plot that never got tilled deeply with a tractor or BCS. 

Details of our notill process for nerds: That block was pasture through 2020, cover crop in 2021, winter squash in 2022. Before we planted the squash in 2022, we broadforked, added compost, and strip tilled with a mantis. In 2023, we added compost again and broadforked again before raking to a fine seedbed and seeding with a Jang. Total compost added was 2 Wheelbarrow loads per 75ft bed in 2022 and 3 loads in 2023. That works out to about 1" of compost total.

For getting good germination on carrots, it's all about keeping the seeds moist. With a lot of compost, this can be a challenge since it's so fluffy and porous. So we water heavily right after seeding and then cover the whole bed with a black tarp in the spring until germination is expected. Then we pull the tarp and flame it and retarp another few days until we see the first seedling emerge. Then we switch the tarp out for remay and keep the irrigation timer set to run every day in the early afternoon. For summer plantings, we just use remay instead of the silage tarp and sometimes we even irrigate twice every day for the first few weeks after seeding if it's hot. 

If anyone else has carrot germination tips or other tilther thoughts please keep the conversation going. Thanks!