Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
I'm Michael Porter. I work for BSES and we've come here to just talk about the wavy disc
cultivator that I got from the Herbert area. It actually belongs in Mackay it started there
and they've brought it to the Herbert and I found it there and brought it to Innisfail
so growers could see how it works here, and on the sands its gone really well.
It went through the surface easily, it actually penetrated to a good depth and it turned the
soil to a nice tilth in one or two passes even where there was sprayed out vegetation
it mixed it right through easily and well and it isn't an issue on the sand.
On all soil types it would need a ripper tine just to go down a bit deeper than the discs
do and to maybe bring up a few more lumps so the discs can work on those lumps and break
them up to get a bit more tilth.
While it actually penetrated well on the sand it was not so good on the red clay which shows
that it needed extra weight. Once that extra weight was added two drums, two 200l drums
of water 400kg in effect was added and it penetrated much better on the red clay and
even on the sand it didn't sink it too deep because the tractor was able to carry it so
that was fine.
In terms of saving money and time obviously it's a lot cheaper to run that implement than
a rotary hoe a rotary hoe is high wear, high revs and low speed so they are a quite expensive
implement to use and I know growers try to avoid hours with rotary hoes because of the
cost. Whereas the weight of this cultivator it's a lighter sort of implement although
with the weight on it you will need a heavy enough tractor to carry it but in terms of
speed and its efficiency it would save some money on fuel and time for sure.