I am a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa (Mauritania, specifically). Perhaps I should have chosen another forum, but I felt that the southwestern conditions of the US are most similar to our drylands, so that perhaps someone could give me some advice.

We have pesky vertisols here. People tend to do small garden plots (one individual will work 30-50 square feet, but there will be 50 individuals working in communal garden spaces together). Currently people do not break up the soil enough to get the organic material well mixed in (as peace corps volunteers we try to encourage many forms of organic matter, but at the end of the day, perhaps do to their small investments, they just throw animal manure on top and walk away). We are thinking that perhaps rototillers would be practical because it is scaled to be useful in small garden plots and would allow people to easily mix manure with the soil, something I believe that they do not already do because it is too labor intensive.

We have some questions....

---What is the average lifespan for a heavy duty rototiller (hours/years)?
---How often does it need maintenance?
---What kind of maintenance?
---What parts need replacing most frequently?
---How much gas/oil does it take? How often does it need a refill (I realize this will vary by the make/model)?
---How well can you use it in clays? How deep does it penetrate?
---What size garden constitutes a good idea to invest in a rototiller?
---Are there other options that may be better (we need something heavy duty to reduce the amount of labor if at all possible... aside from picks and pitch forks, what other implements might be a better choice?)
---Any other advice????

THANKS!
Ginger

Your have developed a complete and well thought out list. Generally speaking a heavy duty tiller will last a life time if given simple yearly maintenance which is outlined in the owner's manual. Thing like: oil change, spark plug cleaning, lubricating, tire inflation, etc.

My experience is that rear tine tiller are the easiest to operate and do a better job in clay soil. The front tine tillers always bet the heck out of me and did not perform well in heavy dry soil. I owned a Troy-built purchased in the early '70's and is still going with no repairs other than replacing a part on the gear yoke.

Troy-built is now owned by MTD so I don't know about the quality of the new models but I suggest you ask the question on the 'tool shed' forum.

Keep us posted on your progress.