Other differences include a handle made with vibration-absorbing ComfortGel and the tines are attached to a metal footplate that allows you to step down on the tines to drive them deeper into the ground. The DiscCULTIVATOR is similar in many ways to the Garden Weasel Rotary Cultivator but has a bent shaft that makes it easier on the back, especially when putting pressure on the tines to break up hard soil. If you’ve got really compact ground that’s never been worked or has a hardpan, this would not be the right tool for you you’d need to first prepare the soil with a more deeply penetrating tool or use a no-till method of soil preparation (such as using a broadfork). It’s sturdy but lightweight, has a comfortable handle that absorbs vibration, and the tines come off and on fairly easily to give you multiple widths and tine configurations.
For regular bed preparation and weed control, this is a terrific, flexible and ergonomic tool. The DiscCULTIVATOR from Corona does a good job of loosening the top layer of soil, breaking up clumps, spreading amendments and weeding around plants. The bolts that hold the tines in place screw off and on easily for quickly changing tasks WarrantyĬorona offers a limited lifetime warranty against defects in workmanship and materials. I also noticed that I could make small “furrows” if necessary. If just took one pass with the cultivator to make a nice shallow row for planting cucumber and bean seeds. Making Planting Rows or Furrows – By taking off the two outside tines, you can easily create a planting row. I could make extra passes or change direction to get the bed more even after all the clod busting. In past years of bed prep, the battery-powered cultivator did a nice job but would sometimes clog up from debris or weeds.Įven better, I was able to replace the previous need for a bow rake by “leveling” the dirt with the DiscCultivator. The good part is that the leaves didn’t stick to the tines so the tool didn’t become clogged. The tines also helped gather some of the leaf mulch still on the bed from fall. It did a nice job of mixing the compost into the first few inches of the soil surface. Spreading Amendments & Leveling the Garden Bed – After loosening the soil, I added mushroom compost in piles and then spread it with the DiscCULTIVATOR. The tines of this cultivator are tough, but the entire tool is lightweight and ergonomic It has a ComfortGel handle to dampen vibrations and a bent shaft to make it easier on your back, particularly when putting pressure on the cultivator’s head to break up hard clumps. In normal use, the tines will reach about 2 inches below grade so the tool isn’t a replacement for a tiller or anything else that goes deeper than 2 inches. The tines screw into a metal footplate that you can step on to drive the tines deeper into the ground, if needed.
The DiscCULTIVATOR is basically a 60″ pole with three detachable, rotating steel tines at the end and is intended for use in weeding, cultivating, loosening and turning the top layer of soil. This year, we used the Corona DiscCULTIVATOR as a replacement for the battery-powered cultivator. After that, we level the area with a bow rake. After turning the ground, we’ve used a battery-powered handheld cultivator (that is no longer holding its charge) to loosen the top layer and mix in the compost we add each year. In past years, we’ve typically dug about six to seven inches down with a shovel and gently tuned our soil, which hardens from the combination of dry air, wind that blows off the topsoil and hard water from our well. The lightweight tool did some heavyweight loosening of our garden soil. I recently tried Corona’s DiscCULTIVATOR with ComfortGel ® handle.