Potato equipment specialist George Moate has launched a new powered bed cultivator that can work with more powerful tractors.

Unveiled at BP2013, the national potato event, the new Heavy Duty Tiller is built to the same formula as before – a row of soil loosening legs positioned ahead of a bladed rotor, then a choice of packer roller, bed forming hoods or ridging bodies. But the new version, available in triple- and four-bed sizes, is designed for tractors up to 390hp.

Unlike the firm’s Tillerstar, which radically changes bed preparation by cultivating and separating stone and clod in a single pass, the George Moate Tiller is designed for a conventional approach, usually involving a separate pass with specialist de-stoning equipment after powered bed cultivation.

“Feedback from regular users of our powered tillers showed that growers are already putting more power through their machines,” says Lesley Pratt. “We set our engineers the task of producing a tiller capable of reliably handling more power and torque with lower running costs so that growers can exploit bigger tractors for increased productivity.”

The main change is to the main gearbox, which now runs at a 1:1 ratio to reduce torque loads on the output shafts and on the telescopic shafts that connect the gearbox to the outboard rotor drive gears. 

The new Heavy Duty Tiller can work on ploughed or pre-ridged land using standard heavy-duty curved tines, or a choice of other curved, hook and L-shaped blades. The triple-bed version forms two complete and two half beds, while the four-bed model creates three complete beds and two halves. The triple-bed model costs £31,950.

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