Anyone got a Claydon Terrablade?

[Rob Holmes]

Thinking of getting one of these as another tool in the armoury and hopefully reduce our reliance on herbicides and improve our environmental credentials.
What are users views on them and have they been successful?
Any tips or tricks to get the best out of them?
I also plan on using it on a block of land we contract farm, what would the chargeable rate be for it?

 

[alomy75]

Cereal hoeing in general is so dependant in conditions at the time and conditions following. We used to run a Garford in cereals and IF the crop was at hoeing stage and IF it was dry but not too dry and IF it wasn’t going to rain before the snipped off weeds had chance to wilt and die then it did a job. The movement does break the seal though and let’s more weeds through. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan and have a cereal hoe made up but you’ll do more good with sensible rotation and late drilling (if you’re tackling blackgrass). Painfully slow unless 6m plus. Especially if you have 2-3 passes. Wide rows needed which you could argue encourage more weeds in first place (I’m wide and haven’t noticed an issue yet but it’s not much of a stretch of the imagination) wide tyres better than rowcrops. Even with gps and a mounted drill there’s still an element of wander unless you have a much narrower point than your gap (which kind of defeats the object). I think the Claydon Hoe is ok, haven’t used one but a mate has. Says the depth is critical because theres no depth wheel on each row…too deep or too shallow and the angle of the point is less than perfect and either dives in or skates over. Lot of the big boys are making hoes now so looks like it’s coming. Horsch, a blue one (new holland, lemken?) etc. The Garford was good because it steered itself allowing a very wide point to be used but wasn’t heavy enough to penetrate in dry and hard going. I’m finding the einbock type weeder useful; 12m and you can nip along…ideal.

 

[nick...]

I’d agree with all the above.I visited the. cLandon farm last year and the hoe had been effective as lots of rubbish sat on top.I think a fair bit had blades push over the weeds and not cut them from under ground but a lot of weeds had been sheared of if that makes sense.you really need independent depth control on each row and a good bit of weight to aid penetration,oh and a good working width.
nick…

 

[Flat 10]

Terra blade looks terribly crude compared to anything root crop growers are used to…..

 

[ajd132]

Terra blade looks terribly crude compared to anything root crop growers are used to…..

The problem with the root crops ones is they are designed for heavily worked easy soils, I tried a gargled about 6 years ago and whilst the tech was amazing it wasn’t man enough.
We have a terra blade, bought it off Jeff as an ex demo, it’s okay if conditions are right but again still isn’t really man enough for dry DD clay.
The chameleon which another farming neighbour John Pawsey sells is the nuts and has proper legs etc to get it into the groun, however it is a massive premium.
I love the idea of hoeing and we have had some good results.

 

[Andrew K]

Do you think it mineralises much N Adam?