Poulan Pro Front Line VF550 - Manual (Page 9)

9
BREAKING IN YOUR TILLER
Break-in your belt(s), pulleys and tine control before you
actually begin tilling.
• Start engine, tip tines off ground by pressing handles
down and engage tine control to start tine rotation.
Allow tines to rotate for five minutes.
TILLING HINTS
CAUTION: Until you are accustomed
to handling your tiller, start ac tu al field
use with throttle in slow position.
To help tiller move forward, lift up the handles slightly (thus
lifting depth stake out of ground). To slow down the tiller,
press down on handles.
If you are straining or tiller is shaking, the depth stake is
not set properly in the soil being tilled. The proper setting
of the depth stake is through trial and error and depends
upon the soil con di tion. (The harder or wetter the ground,
the slower the engine and tine speed needed. Under these
poor con di tions, at fast speed the tiller will run and jump
over the ground).
A properly adjusted tiller will dig with little effort from the
operator.
• Tilling is digging into, turning over, and breaking up
packed soil before planting. Loose, unpacked soil
helps root growth. Best tilling depth is 4"-6". A tiller
will also clear the soil of unwanted vege ta tion. The
de com po si tion of this vegetable mat ter en rich es the
soil. De pend ing on the climate (rain fall and wind), it
may be advisable to till the soil at the end of the grow-
ing season to further condition the soil.
• Soil conditions are important for proper tilling. Tines will
not readily penetrate dry, hard soil which may con trib ute
to excessive bounce and difficult handling of your tiller.
Hard soil should be mois tened before tilling; however,
extremely wet soil will “ball-up” or clump during tilling.
Wait until the soil is less wet in order to achieve the
best results. When tilling in the fall, remove vines and
long grass to prevent them from wrapping around the
tine shaft and slowing your tilling operation.
• You will find tilling much easier if you leave a row
untilled between passes. Then go back between tilled
rows. (See Fig. 10) There are two reasons for doing
this. First, wide turns are much easier to negotiate than
about-faces. Sec ond, the tiller won’t be pulling itself,
and you, toward the row next to it.
• Set depth stake for shallow tilling when working ex-
tremely hard soil or sod. Then work across the first
cuts at normal depth.
3 2 1
5
4
6 7
Fig. 10
CULTIVATING
Cultivating is destroying the weeds between rows to pre-
vent them from robbing nourishment and moisture from the
plants. At the same time, breaking up the upper layer of
soil crust will help retain moisture in the soil. Best digging
depth is 1"-3".
•
You will probably not need to use the depth stake. Begin
by tipping the depth stake forward until it is held by the
stake spring.
• Cultivate up and down the rows at a speed which will
allow tines to uproot weeds and leave the ground in
rough con di tion, promoting no fur ther growth of weeds
and grass (See Fig. 11).
Fig. 11
OPERATION