Introduction
During the growth of crops, you need to manage the field to get good production. However, crops are delicate, and traditional machinery can easily damage them. Are you struggling with how to solve this problem? Why not try a cultivator? In this article, I will explain the relevant information about cultivators to you.
cultivator
What is a Cultivator
A cultivator is an innovative farming machine that can perform tasks like removing weeds, breaking up soil compaction, loosening soil, and creating ridges during crop growth. Most importantly, it can break up the soil without disturbing or changing the soil structure, making it easier to manage weeds and improve soil aeration, which helps increase crop yield.
Types of Cultivator
The most commonly used parts of a machine for cultivation are the hoe-shaped blades. These blades can be divided into three types: weed-removing blades, soil-loosening blades, and soil-mounding blades. Next, I will explain the features of these three types of blades.
Weeding Shovel
From left to right, they are the single-wing blade, double-wing blade, and double-wing general-purpose blade.
The commonly used weed-removing blades are either single-wing or double-wing blades. A single-wing blade consists of a horizontal hoeing edge and a vertical guard plate. The horizontal edge is used for weeding and loosening the soil, while the vertical guard plate prevents soil from covering the plants.
Additionally, the lower part of the guard plate has a cutting edge that prevents grass from getting caught and causing blockages. In the early stages of crop growth, you should often use single-wing blades. You need to place the blade on both sides of the seedlings, and its working depth is shallow, usually less than 6 cm. The blade comes in left and right versions.
The double-wing blade has two wings, similar to the wings of a paper airplane, and is divided into a double-wing weed-removing blade and a double-wing general-purpose blade. The bottom of the double-wing weed-removing blade connects to the vertical guard plate, and the angle between the blade surface and the ground is small, making it very effective at weeding. However, its ability to loosen soil is weak, so it is usually used together with a single-wing blade. The top of the double-wing general-purpose blade connects to the vertical guard plate, and the angle between the blade surface and the ground is larger. It can work at a depth of 8 to 12 cm, offering good performance for both weeding and loosening the soil.
Loosening Shovel
From left to right, they are the chisel-shaped soil-loosening blade, pointed soil-loosening blade, and arrow-shaped soil-loosening blade.
The soil-loosening blade is commonly used to loosen the soil between crop rows. It effectively loosens the soil without turning it over, which helps reduce extra disturbance to the land. The working depth can reach 13 to 16 cm. The soil-loosening blade is made up of two parts: the tip and the handle. The tip is the main working part of the blade, and there are three common types: chisel-shaped, pointed, and arrow-shaped.
The chisel-shaped soil-loosening blade is narrow and curved like a sickle. Its tip has a strong soil-breaking ability, allowing for deeper soil loosening. The pointed soil-loosening blade has a triangular tip, which is good at breaking and loosening the soil after plowing. The arrow-shaped soil-loosening blade has a triangular tip at the front and an inverted triangle at the back. It is best suited for the first round of soil loosening during cultivation.
Ridge Shovel
The one on the left is the flat soil-mounding blade, and the one on the right is the curved soil-mounding blade.
The soil-mounding blade is used to mound soil and create furrows. It loosens the soil and then pushes it to both sides. The soil-mounding blade is a bit more complex, made up of the tip, the body, and the soil-mounding wall.
The soil-mounding blade comes in two types: flat and curved. The curved type, also known as the plow-style soil-mounding blade, has a rounded arc on both the tip and body, while the left and right soil-mounding walls have semi-spiral curves, making it very effective at breaking up soil. The width between the left and right soil-mounding walls can be adjusted, ranging from 27 cm to 43 cm, to meet most of your soil-mounding and furrowing needs.
The flat-type soil-mounding blade has a flat body and soil-mounding board. It is mainly used for weeding and loosening the soil. To create ridges and mound the soil, it needs to be used with the soil-mounding board. During the first cultivation, the soil-mounding board is not used. On the second round of soil loosening, when paired with the soil-mounding board, it can effectively create ridges.
cultivator
How Does Cultivator Work
Components of Cultivator
Frame： The frame comes in two types: single-beam and double-beam. The double-beam frame can be equipped with a fertilizing device during operation. The main purpose of the frame is to connect the other parts of the machine for cultivation and ensure that the machine works properly.
Working Parts: The hoe-shaped blades I mentioned earlier, such as the weed-removing blade, soil-loosening blade, and soil-mounding blade, are the working parts. These blades are used for weeding, loosening soil, mounding soil, and creating ridges.
Contour-following Mechanism: The contour-following mechanism allows the machine for cultivation to maintain a stable working depth, even on uneven ground. It moves up and down to adjust to the changes in terrain.
The ground wheels support and balance the machine for cultivation, and also help drive the working parts to perform their tasks.
The Working Principle of Cultivator
The operating principle of the machine for cultivation is quite simple. When the cultivator is pulled by a tractor, the tips of the working parts, like the hoe-shaped blades, break and loosen the soil. The weed-removing blades cut through the roots of weeds between the crops.
If it’s a flat soil-mounding blade, the tip will cut into the soil. As the machine moves forward, the broken soil rises along the blade surface and the soil-mounding walls push it to the crop roots, forming a ridge.
For the curved soil-mounding blade, after cutting the soil, the broken soil rises along the curved surface. Some of it goes to the crop roots, while the rest falls into the furrow behind the ridge.
cultivator
The Benefits of Cultivator
Digging and Weeding
When the machine for cultivation is in operation, it loosens and mixes the soil in the plow layer, helping to evenly distribute water and nutrients in the soil. This promotes the growth of crop roots. Additionally, as the machine for cultivation moves forward, the weed-removing blades cut and bury the weeds between the crops, removing them so they don’t compete with the crops for nutrients.
Breaking the soil surface compaction
Tilling is good for the land, but too much tilling can cause soil compaction, which harms crop growth. The tip of the machine for cultivation’s blade can effectively break up the soil’s surface without disturbing the rest of the soil.
Ridging
Some crops, like sweet potatoes, tomatoes, potatoes, and various leafy vegetables, need ridges to grow better. When the cultivator performs soil-mounding, the soil-mounding blades push the soil around the crop roots to form ridges. This helps create more space for the crops to grow.
Fertilizing
As I mentioned earlier if the cultivator has a double-beam frame, can add a fertilizer box. This allows the machine to not only till the soil but also apply fertilizer to the crops at the same time.
How to Maintain Cultivator
Cleaning and Storage
After tilling the soil, you should clean the machine for cultivation promptly. Wash off any grass or mud that has wrapped around it, then wipe it dry with a clean cloth. When storing the machine for cultivation, keep it in a dry, well-ventilated place, away from direct sunlight and rain. Make sure to cover it to protect the machine.
Inspection
Before and after use, you should check the cultivator thoroughly, especially the working parts. The weed-removing blade, soil-loosening blade, and soil-mounding blade need to be sharp to effectively break the soil. If you find that the working parts are badly worn during the inspection, replace them promptly, or it will affect the machine’s performance.
Maintenance
In addition to checking before and after use, you also need to maintain the machine for cultivation. If you use the machine frequently, you should maintain it every 2 to 3 days. If you use it less often, do the maintenance weekly. During maintenance, add lubricating oil to reduce wear on the machine.
Future Trend
Although we have already made improvements to the machine for cultivation, such as adding springs to protect the blades in the spring machine for cultivation, we believe that in the future, we will create even smarter and more integrated cultivators.
For example, we aim to better combine functions like weeding, soil loosening, fertilizing, and soil mounding into one machine. We could also add an intelligent recognition system that automatically adjusts the soil loosening depth and fertilizer amount based on the crop’s density and growth stage. This would improve work accuracy while reducing the need for manual labor.
For a better future for all of us, the design of the machine for cultivation will also focus on being more eco-friendly. We plan to integrate electric and driverless technology into the machine for cultivation, making it energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. It will also allow for remote monitoring and control, helping you greatly improve agricultural efficiency.
Conclusion
After reading this article, do you have a better understanding of the cultivator? If you still have any questions, feel free to contact us. At ANON, we offer a variety of cultivators, and we’re sure we have one that will meet your needs.
FAQ
Is there any advantage to using a cultivator?
The cultivator effectively weeds and loosens the soil, allowing crops to grow with even nutrients. This means you can reduce the use of herbicides.
