A cultivator is any of several types of farm implement used for secondary tillage. One sense of the name refers to frames with teeth (also called shanks) that pierce the soil as they are dragged through it linearly. Another sense refers to machines that use rotary motion of disks or teeth to accomplish a similar result. The rotary tiller is a principal example.

Cultivators stir and pulverize the soil, either before planting (to aerate the soil and prepare a smooth, loose seedbed) or after the crop has begun growing to kill weeds (controlled disturbance of the topsoil close to the crop plants kills the surrounding weeds by uprooting them, burying their leaves to disrupt their photosynthesis, or a combination of both). Unlike a harrow, which disturbs the entire surface of the soil, cultivators are designed to disturb the soil in careful patterns, sparing the crop plants but disrupting the weeds.

Cultivators of the toothed type are often similar in form to chisel plows, but their goals are different. Cultivator teeth work near the surface, usually for weed control, whereas chisel plow shanks work deep beneath the surface, breaking up hardpan. Consequently, cultivating also takes much less power per shank than does chisel plowing.

Small toothed cultivators pushed or pulled by a single person are used as garden tools for small-scale gardening, such as for the household’s own use or for small market gardens. Similarly sized rotary tillers combine the functions of harrow and cultivator into one multipurpose machine.

Cultivators are either self-propelled or drawn as an attachment behind either a two-wheel tractor or four-wheel tractor. For two-wheel tractors they are rigidly fixed and powered via couplings to the tractors’ transmission. For four-wheel tractors they are attached by means of a three-point hitch and driven by a power take-off (PTO).

Industrial use

To the extent that cultivating is done commercially today (such as in truck farming), it is usually powered by tractors, especially row-crop tractors. Industrial cultivators can vary greatly in size and shape, from 3 m to 24 m wide. Many are equipped with hydraulic wings that fold up to make road travel easier and safer. Different types are used for preparation of fields before planting, and for the control of weeds between row crops. The cultivator may be an implement trailed after the tractor via a drawbar; mounted on the three-point hitch; or mounted on a frame beneath the tractor. They are driven by a power take-off shaft. Generally considered a secondary tillage implement, they are commonly used for primary tillage in lighter soils instead of plowing. The largest versions are now available in a 6 m width, and require a tractor with an excess of 150 horsepower (110 kW) PTO to drive them.

Field cultivators

Field cultivators are used to complete tillage operations in many types of arable crop fields. The main function of the field cultivator is to prepare a proper seedbed for the crop to be planted into, to bury crop residue in the soil (helping to warm the soil before planting), to control weeds, and to mix and incorporate the soil to ensure the growing crop has enough water and nutrients to grow well during the growing season. The implement has many shanks mounted on the underside of a metal frame, and small narrow rods at the rear of the machine that smooth out the soil surface for easier travel later when planting. In most field cultivators, one-to-many hydraulic cylinders raise and lower the implement and control its depth.

Row crop cultivators

The main function of the row crop cultivator is weed control between the rows of an established crop. Row crop cultivators are usually raised and lowered by a three-point hitch and the depth is controlled by gauge wheels.

Garden cultivators

Small tilling equipment, used in small gardens such as household gardens and small commercial gardens, can provide both primary and secondary tillage. For example, a rotary tiller does both the “plowing” and the “harrowing”, preparing a smooth, loose seedbed. It does not provide the row-wise weed control that cultivator teeth would. For that task, there are single-person-pushable toothed cultivators.

Variants and trademarks

Rotary tillers are popular with home gardeners who want large vegetable gardens. The garden may be tilled a few times before planting each crop. Rotary tillers may be rented from tool rental centers for single-use applications, such as when planting grass. A small rotary hoe for domestic gardens was known by the trademark Rototiller and another, made by the Howard Group, who produced a range of rotary tillers, was known as the Rotavator.

Rototiller

The small rototiller is typically propelled forward via a (1 - 5 horsepower or 0.8 - 3.5 kilowatts) petrol engine rotating the tines, and do not have powered wheels, though they may have small transport/level control wheel(s). To keep the machine from moving forward too fast, an adjustable tine is usually fixed just behind the blades so that through friction with deeper un-tilled soil, it acts as a brake, slowing the machine and allowing it to pulverize the soils. The slower a rototiller moves forward, the more soil tilth can be obtained. The operator can control the amount of friction/braking action by raising and lowering the handlebars of the tiller. Rototillers do not have a reverse as such backwards movement towards the operator could cause serious injury. While operating, the rototiller can be pulled backwards to go over areas that were not pulverized enough, but care must be taken to ensure that the operator does not stumble and pull the rototiller on top of himself. Rototilling is much faster than manual tilling, but notoriously difficult to handle and exhausting work, especially in the heavier and higher horsepower models. If the rototiller’s blades catch on unseen subsurface objects, such as tree roots and buried garbage, it can cause the rototiller to abruptly and violently move in any direction.

Rotavator

Unlike the Rototiller, the self propelled Howard Rotavator is equipped with a gearbox and driven forward, or held back, by its wheels. The gearbox enables the forward speed to be adjusted while the rotational speed of the tines remains constant which enables the operator to easily regulate the extent to which soil is engaged. For a two-wheel tractor rotavator this greatly reduces the workload of the operator as compared to a rototiller. These rotavators are generally more heavy duty, come in higher power (4-18 horsepower or 3-13 kilowatts) with either petrol or diesel engines and can cover much more area per hour. The trademarked word “Rotavator” is one of the longest single-word palindromes in the English language.

Mini tiller

Mini tillers are a new type of small agricultural tillers or cultivators used by farmers or homeowners. These are also known as power tillers or garden tillers. Compact, powerful and, most importantly, inexpensive, these agricultural rotary tillers are providing alternatives to four-wheel tractors and in the small farmers’ fields in developing countries are more economical than four-wheel tractors.

Two-wheel tractor

The higher power “riding” rotavators cross out of the home garden category into farming category, especially in Asia, Africa and South America, capable of preparing 1 hectare of land in 8 – 10 hours. These are also known as power tillers or walking tractors. Years ago they were considered only useful for rice growing areas, where they were fitted with steel cage-wheels for traction, but now the same are being used in both wetland and dryland farming all over the world. They have multiple functions with related tools for dryland or paddys, pumping, transportation, threshing, ditching, spraying pesticide. They can be used on hills, mountains, in greenhouses and orchards. Diesel designs are more popular in developing countries than gasoline.

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