| Wheel Cultivator Reviews |
| Please click here for more info on our Wheel Hoe Cultivator |
| EasyDigging.com Your source for the Hoss wheel hoe cultivator. A faithful reproduction of the classic Planet Jr wheel cultivator. |
 |  |  |  |  |
Excerpt from Countryside & Small Stock Journal - January 1999:
An Introduction to Cultivators
"...Push cultivators come in several varieties, price ranges and performance levels. The oldest and probably still the most common is
the high wheel hoe. It simply consists of a large (24 inches), single wheel with two handles for the operator and one or more
attachments. Mine comes with cultivating teeth, a duck-foot sweep and a furrowing attachment. The design allows me to cultivate
between rows much faster than with a hand hoe and I can finish without a backache. Most high wheel cultivators cost between $75 to
$100.
Another version of the wheel hoe has a much smaller wheel (9 inches) and a different angle of attachment of the handles to the wheel.
Eliot Coleman states in his book The New Organic Grower that he prefers the design of the smaller wheel hoe because it transfers
the force exerted by the operator more directly to the working part. Makes sense. Furthermore, Coleman says that the wheel hoe is
the "best cultivation tool for inter-row work on this 5-acre scale." On his smaller wheel hoe, Coleman actually has a stirrup hoe rather
than the cultivating teeth or sweep.
Low wheel cultivators tend to be sturdier than the high wheel types and have more "engineering" in them. Prices reflect this difference
and can run up to about $285....."
An Introduction to Cultivators
"...Push cultivators come in several varieties, price ranges and performance levels. The oldest and probably still the most common is
the high wheel hoe. It simply consists of a large (24 inches), single wheel with two handles for the operator and one or more
attachments. Mine comes with cultivating teeth, a duck-foot sweep and a furrowing attachment. The design allows me to cultivate
between rows much faster than with a hand hoe and I can finish without a backache. Most high wheel cultivators cost between $75 to
$100.
Another version of the wheel hoe has a much smaller wheel (9 inches) and a different angle of attachment of the handles to the wheel.
Eliot Coleman states in his book The New Organic Grower that he prefers the design of the smaller wheel hoe because it transfers
the force exerted by the operator more directly to the working part. Makes sense. Furthermore, Coleman says that the wheel hoe is
the "best cultivation tool for inter-row work on this 5-acre scale." On his smaller wheel hoe, Coleman actually has a stirrup hoe rather
than the cultivating teeth or sweep.
Low wheel cultivators tend to be sturdier than the high wheel types and have more "engineering" in them. Prices reflect this difference
and can run up to about $285....."
| First Review |
Excerpt from Grit - Rural American Know-How: 6/01/2010:
Garden Cultivator: Hoss Tools Wheel Hoe Is Boss
"...When it comes to weeding, nothing beats a wheel-hoe-style
garden cultivator for getting the rows cleaned up quickly, efficiently
and easily. I recently obtained the Hoss Tools Deluxe Wheel Hoe
garden cultivator ($295 and worth every penny as a functional art
form) and put it to work last Saturday knocking down the weeds that
sprouted up between the rows of my heirloom, open-pollinated corn.
The Hoss Tools Deluxe Wheel Hoe is a beautifully crafted (made in
U.S.A) garden cultivator that harkens back to the good old days
when quality American-Made tools were the norm, not the
exception.........I’ve enjoyed using wheel hoes in my own gardens
over the years, and although I misplaced my most cherished antique
Planet Jr. several years ago (a casualty of some move), Hoss
Tools’ Deluxe Wheel Hoe is every bit as satisfying to use – and
frankly the quality is 110 percent that of the old Planet Jr. Most
notable with the Hoss Tools model is the quality of the Red Oak
handles (bent, not sawn) and the nearly flawless powder-coated
castings. My wheel hoe came with three cultivator shovels and two
sweeps.
Garden Cultivator: Hoss Tools Wheel Hoe Is Boss
"...When it comes to weeding, nothing beats a wheel-hoe-style
garden cultivator for getting the rows cleaned up quickly, efficiently
and easily. I recently obtained the Hoss Tools Deluxe Wheel Hoe
garden cultivator ($295 and worth every penny as a functional art
form) and put it to work last Saturday knocking down the weeds that
sprouted up between the rows of my heirloom, open-pollinated corn.
The Hoss Tools Deluxe Wheel Hoe is a beautifully crafted (made in
U.S.A) garden cultivator that harkens back to the good old days
when quality American-Made tools were the norm, not the
exception.........I’ve enjoyed using wheel hoes in my own gardens
over the years, and although I misplaced my most cherished antique
Planet Jr. several years ago (a casualty of some move), Hoss
Tools’ Deluxe Wheel Hoe is every bit as satisfying to use – and
frankly the quality is 110 percent that of the old Planet Jr. Most
notable with the Hoss Tools model is the quality of the Red Oak
handles (bent, not sawn) and the nearly flawless powder-coated
castings. My wheel hoe came with three cultivator shovels and two
sweeps.
| Second Review |
Excerpt from Farming for Artists - May 2004:
John Henry, put down your hoe
"...The cultivator combs easily through the soil to a depth of three or four inches (adjustable, to a degree, by how high you hold the
plow handles) and it is a simple and much less time-consuming task to walk your way through the garden plot, collecting the partially
dried-out weeds that ball up under the palm of the five-fingered cultivator. If your passes are not too long, you can collect a whole
row's worth of weeds in two smooth passes, dumping your weed load at each end of the run, then move on to a new channel and
repeat. This takes time, too, to be sure, but not nearly as much. I estimate that it took me half an hour to comb through a
400-square-foot plot that had been pre-tilled with a gas tiller. With my previous rake-and-hoe method, it took two men an hour
working together to do a similarly-sized plot, and cost us much more in human energy.
For hoeing, I have read that a low-wheel cultivator might work better, and for planting, a direct seeder could open up the ground, plant
my seeds and close it back up. With the low-wheel cultivator's small wheel, the force exerted by the gardener is headed more directly
towards the ground, where the implement is; the higher the axle, the higher the force is aimed, the more energy is lost, and the more
the tool strains the back. Some low-wheel cultivators come with a plow, too. As for direct seeders, I'm not sure their "ground-opener"
blade would cut into our soil as well as the high-wheel plow....."
John Henry, put down your hoe
"...The cultivator combs easily through the soil to a depth of three or four inches (adjustable, to a degree, by how high you hold the
plow handles) and it is a simple and much less time-consuming task to walk your way through the garden plot, collecting the partially
dried-out weeds that ball up under the palm of the five-fingered cultivator. If your passes are not too long, you can collect a whole
row's worth of weeds in two smooth passes, dumping your weed load at each end of the run, then move on to a new channel and
repeat. This takes time, too, to be sure, but not nearly as much. I estimate that it took me half an hour to comb through a
400-square-foot plot that had been pre-tilled with a gas tiller. With my previous rake-and-hoe method, it took two men an hour
working together to do a similarly-sized plot, and cost us much more in human energy.
For hoeing, I have read that a low-wheel cultivator might work better, and for planting, a direct seeder could open up the ground, plant
my seeds and close it back up. With the low-wheel cultivator's small wheel, the force exerted by the gardener is headed more directly
towards the ground, where the implement is; the higher the axle, the higher the force is aimed, the more energy is lost, and the more
the tool strains the back. Some low-wheel cultivators come with a plow, too. As for direct seeders, I'm not sure their "ground-opener"
blade would cut into our soil as well as the high-wheel plow....."
| Earthway Review |
| Wheel cultivator reviews provided by EasyDigging.com |
