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Tool recommendations for the vegetable patch or farm

Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 6:15 am
by Zasso Nouka
We have the クリーンシーダ AP-1 from Agritechno Yazaki which is actually just a rebranded Jang AP-1 Clean Seeder.

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It's a fairly well thought out seeder that uses a series of wheels to drop seeds from the hopper

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And sprockets and chains to determine the planting distance

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You choose the appropriate wheel for the size of seed you are intending to plant and then set the planting distance by choosing the sprocket combination, once set it is very accurate and will drop seeds at the required distance all day long. The design is fairly well thought out and it's pretty easy to change the planting distance within a few minutes and changing the seeder wheel is also a breeze. Planting depth is determined by raising or lowering a small plough that can be raised or lowered but it works fine for most things on the default setting.

For detailed usage instructions there is a wealth of information and recommended settings if you search for the Jang Clean Seeder on Google.

Re: Tool recommendations

Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 5:48 am
by Zasso Nouka
There is a really neat range of hoes from 株式会社ドウカン

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We've tried a lot of different ones and although there are some other good designs the Kezu Taro is probably the best we've come across so far. It easily slices through the roots of most smaller weeds or bodily lifts very small weedlings to the top of the soil where they will dry out in the sun very quickly. We actually have a couple of different sized ones for clearing pathways between beds and also for clearing between crop rows. They work best when running just a few millimetres under the soil surface in a forward and backward motion. One of the features I really like about these is you can very easily change the angle of the stirrup blade to suit your own particular height or working style and you can purchase spare blades should you ever find that you need a new one, although you'd have to do some serious hoeing to ever get to that stage. Once you've set the blade angle to something that works for you these hoes are very comfortable to use requiring very minimal effort to have them gliding back and forth in your vegetable or flower beds and because they work on a forward and reverse motion rather than just in one direction they seem to be fairly swift in operation compared to hoes that only work in one direction.

Another unexpected bonus we found is that Kabutomushi and Nekirimushi have some sort of fear of Kezu Taro and will come up to the surface and attempt to flee from it when hoeing. I presume the action of the Kezu Taro causes similar vibrations to a predator of theirs moving through the soil and they attempt to flee, whatever the reason it makes them very easy to catch and dispose of.

Re: Tool recommendations

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2016 5:13 am
by paradoxbox
I have been looking for one of these for a while now, I saw some people on youtube using them and everyone just loved them for weeding. They seem to work very well.
Zasso Nouka wrote:There is a really neat range of hoes from 株式会社ドウカン

Image

We've tried a lot of different ones and although there are some other good designs the Kezu Taro is probably the best we've come across so far. It easily slices through the roots of most smaller weeds or bodily lifts very small weedlings to the top of the soil where they will dry out in the sun very quickly. We actually have a couple of different sized ones for clearing pathways between beds and also for clearing between crop rows. They work best when running just a few millimetres under the soil surface in a forward and backward motion. One of the features I really like about these is you can very easily change the angle of the stirrup blade to suit your own particular height or working style and you can purchase spare blades should you ever find that you need a new one, although you'd have to do some serious hoeing to ever get to that stage. Once you've set the blade angle to something that works for you these hoes are very comfortable to use requiring very minimal effort to have them gliding back and forth in your vegetable or flower beds and because they work on a forward and reverse motion rather than just in one direction they seem to be fairly swift in operation compared to hoes that only work in one direction.

Another unexpected bonus we found is that Kabutomushi and Nekirimushi have some sort of fear of Kezu Taro and will come up to the surface and attempt to flee from it when hoeing. I presume the action of the Kezu Taro causes similar vibrations to a predator of theirs moving through the soil and they attempt to flee, whatever the reason it makes them very easy to catch and dispose of.

Re: Tool recommendations for the vegetable patch or farm

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2016 6:52 am
by Zasso Nouka
paradoxbox wrote:I have been looking for one of these for a while now, I saw some people on youtube using them and everyone just loved them for weeding. They seem to work very well.
They really do work very well against small weeds, the saw tooth design on the front edge of the blade 'grabs' small weeds and lifts them out of the soil as you push the kizu taro forwards and the sharp edge on the back side of the blade cuts roots as you pull the hoe back towards yourself. It won't deal with large weeds and does work best if the top few mm of your soil have a good fine texture. Where it really excels is in preparing false or stale seed beds and weeding between freshly sown or transplanted vegetables. They are a tad expensive but you are getting a quality made tool that can have parts replaced should the need arise.

Re: Tool recommendations for the vegetable patch or farm

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2016 12:27 pm
by Zasso Nouka
Here's a tool for real precision work when you have to get up close and personal when weeding.

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Because the blade is made of iron rather than stainless steel you can bring it to almost razor sharpness so it will very easily separate weeds from their roots. When really sharp it will separate even fairly large weeds from their roots and has a slight advantage over the Kizu Taro in that it can be used on even hard packed soil and it's also a lot cheaper.

Re: Tool recommendations for the vegetable patch or farm

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2016 1:34 pm
by Zasso Nouka
Been using one of these recently (the 230mm model rather than the 255mm one pictured)

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It can stand up to an incredible amount of abuse hitting stones or metal tunnel supports with loosing any teeth and remains sharp for quite a while. When it does need sharpening it's a doddle to get the angles right given the shape of the metal holding the teeth in. One thing you can say for any disc made by Sanyo Metal is the carbide teeth are very well bonded to the disc and they rarely shed any except under the most extreme abuse.

Re: Tool recommendations for the vegetable patch or farm

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2016 6:58 am
by xxxxtom
Gday ZN,
I needed a new disc so I followed your tip and purchased your recommendation "it's a beauty".
Even my neighbour was impressed with my choice.
His only criticism was I should have bought the larger diameter. I think his idea is it spins faster which cuts and throws weeds better.
Have you got a 255mm disc?
Any thoughts?
Great disc thanks again.
Cheers

Re: Tool recommendations for the vegetable patch or farm

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2016 9:59 am
by Eric in Japan
I like the smaller disk because my kusakariki is not as powerful. The larger disk really can add a lot of torque and can shorten the life of your cutter's hub if you hit a lot of immovable objects.

You should check your model and see if it is rated to handle a 255.

Re: Tool recommendations

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2016 10:17 am
by Eric in Japan
Zasso Nouka wrote: Another unexpected bonus we found is that Kabutomushi and Nekirimushi have some sort of fear of Kezu Taro and will come up to the surface and attempt to flee from it when hoeing. I presume the action of the Kezu Taro causes similar vibrations to a predator of theirs moving through the soil and they attempt to flee, whatever the reason it makes them very easy to catch and dispose of.
Wow, that just gave me an idea. If we could find out what frequency of sound or vibration causes them to surface, we could make a organic gardener tool. Just put a speaker on the garden bed, or (this will sound kinda dirty) ease a vibrating probe in the ground for a few seconds, and pick up the grubs that surface.

Re: Tool recommendations for the vegetable patch or farm

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2016 10:47 am
by gonbechan
iPod driven vibrators are a thing you know.
Google it.