Inside a polytunnel, young plants in rows of beds under the plastic

Applications

Polytunnels & glasshouses

Work under cover is the job mechanisation usually skips. A petrol two-wheel tractor is the right width for a tunnel and the wrong machine to run inside one: the exhaust has nowhere to go, so the tunnel has to be opened up, or the work is done by hand, or it waits for a dry day when the sides can come off.

An electric drive removes the question. The AFT-e1 is 0.75 m across the handlebars and 0.68 m on the track, so it fits the bed layouts tunnels are actually built to, and it can be run with the doors shut in February.

The same machine goes back outside afterwards. That matters more than it sounds: a tunnel-only machine is one that has to earn its keep from a few weeks of the year.

Depth comes from the tool

Rotavator68 / 80 cm width · 20–25 cm depth · seedbeds and green waste

Power ridger40 cm width · 30 cm depth · bed forming

Rear tine cultivatorThree tines · surface work between crops

TrailerCompost, trays and crop, in and out without a barrow

Against the alternatives

Hand toolsNo fumes, and no help with the weight or the hours.

Petrol two-wheel tractorRight width, wrong exhaust. Not usable with the tunnel shut.

AFT-e1Right width, no exhaust, and it works outside the rest of the year.

Interior of a long polytunnel with potted plants at ground level either side of a central path

Inside a polytunnel, four narrow beds of basil and chard running the length of the tunnel with drip lines and manifolds along the bare soil between them

The same polytunnel in summer, grapevine trained overhead, cucumbers and staked tomatoes down one side and basil down the other, poppies in the middle

What you need for this job

An Aftrak AFT-e1 and a rotavator. 8 kW, 5.2 kWh, 0.75 m wide at the handlebars.

View the Aftrak AFT-e1 See the rotavator