Wolf-garten-cultivator-featured-image Weeding Tools

WOLF-Garten® Interlocken DAS Crumbler and Soil Cultivator: Product Review

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GPR RECOMMENDATION

Ease of Use:
Quality:
Performance:
Final Thoughts

A convenient and effective tool for hoeing, weeding and loosening soil. Just be sure to choose the right handle for your size.

Overall Score 4

Available on Amazon

Buy It

I recently tested the WOLF-Garten Interlocken® DAS Crumbler and Soil Cultivator with an Interlocken® handle (the handle and tool are sold separately). The tool combines two separate implements, a cultivator and a stirrup hoe (WOLF-Garten calls it a “pendulum weeder”), into one unit, allowing you to perform more gardening tasks than either tool could manage alone.

About the Interlocken® System

A big feature of the WOLF-Garten® Interlocken® system is the ability to buy the tools and handles separately. It works by snapping different tool heads into the end of a WOLF-Garten® handle, thereby eliminating the need for a variety of different tools all with handles. There are 10 different handles, in lengths ranging from 10 to 59 inches (plus telescoping handles that reach up to 13 feet), and over 60 gardening tool heads. You can mix and match handles and tools to create just the right combinations to meet your needs. So, for example, you may only need one handle but have several tool heads (that can easily be placed in a gardening bag or bucket).

To attach a tool to an Interlocken® handle, simply click the tool head into place on the accompanying handle. You can easily change out the tool or handle by pressing the red release button and pulling the tool away from the handle.

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The red button clicks the tool into place on the handle and can be pressed to remove the tool. The pendulum weeder (metal bar just aft of the cultivating tines helps remove weeds at the same time the soil is cultivated.

Packaging

My cultivator and handle came in one long, thin package. The tool was carefully wrapped to protect the spiked discs and DAS Crumbler during shipping. All I had to do was snap the tool head into the handle and I was ready to go.

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The sharp discs were wrapped carefully for shipping

About the Handle and Cultivating Tool

For this review, I used the long Interlocken® handle with the cultivator (WOLF-Garten says it’s their best-selling handle). The 59-inch pole is made of aluminum and weighs only 1 pound. You also can switch to the 14-inch short handle for close-up cultivation while bending or kneeling, or purchase a medium length or telescoping handle.

The WOLF- Garten® cultivator weighs 2.6 pounds and measures about 17 inches from spiked discs to handle. When added to the end of the long handle, the whole tool measures a total of 77 inches.

The cultivator has 4 steel discs (well, they look more like spikes than discs) for cultivating, a steel stirrup hoe attached behind the discs, and comes in at 8.3 inches wide.

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The label has no written instructions but the Interlocken click system is easy enough to figure out

Performance

Because the Interlocken® DAS Crumbler & Soil Cultivator combines both a cultivator and hoe, I used it to tackle gardening tasks I would normally do with one of those tools. I tried using it to remove small weeds, break up and cultivate garden soil, and prepare a raised bed for planting.

I used the cultivator  throughout our very dry garden to loosen soil and remove small weeds. Having the stirrup-like blade on the tool meant I could loosen the soil with the disc blades and follow up with the stirrup blade to really get rid of those weeds. It’s nice to have one tool to perform both functions with only one or two pushes and is a real time saver when you have a large area to cover and lots of shallow rooted or newly sprung weeds.

The spiked discs on the cultivator managed to loosen the top inch of soil (less in harder, compacted soil) and the stirrup-like blade did a nice job of slicing through the top layer of soil. However, I suspect that a shorter handle would’ve given me more leverage to push deeper into the soil (more on that below).

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The cultivator worked well for preparing a bed. It loosens only the top inch or less of harder soil. In the picture above the pendulum weeder (metal bar over the top of the cultivator tines) is reversed to use the implement as a cultivator. By flipping the head over the unit acts as both a cultivator and weeder at the same time.

I also used the WOLF-Garten® DAS Crumbler and Soil Cultivator to loosen the soil, incorporate some compost, and level everything in my Garden in Minutes raised bed. The WOLF Garten® tool accomplished all of that quite nicely. The disc blades helped mix in the compost I dumped in the bed, and I even used the wide stirrup blade to spread soil; it wasn’t as effective as a bow rake, but it worked fine for the small raised bed.

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The cultivator helped me mix in and spread compost

The handle and tool are lightweight, minimizing fatigue and making it easy to carry around the yard.

Overall, the tool is sturdy (there’s no wobbling where the head attaches to the handle) and very effective at cultivating and weeding the top layers of soil. The addition of the stirrup hoe makes it more effective than just a cultivator by itself.

Choose Your Handle Length Carefully

I chose the 59-inch handle but quickly found out that it was a little too long for me. With the cultivator attached, it measured 77 inches (which is longer than most gardeners’ wingspans!) and that made it difficult to get the same leverage I have been able to get with other cultivators. My husband is 6 feet tall and compared the WOLF-Garten® to another cultivator; he also found it was a little harder to get good strength or leverage with the long handle.

I would recommend using the Interlocken® DAS Crumbler & Soil Cultivator with the medium (46.5-inch) handle instead of the longer one, particularly if you’re more petite. WOLF-Garten® sent us the shorter handle for testing and we did find it more effective.

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The 59-inch handle is a little too long for most people

Warranty

The cultivator comes with a 35-year limited lifetime warranty against defects in materials and workmanship. Proof of purchase, including receipt, is required on all warranty claims so keep that receipt somewhere safe (35 years is a long time!).

Recommendation

The WOLF-Garten® Crumbler and Soil Cultivator is a lightweight yet sturdy tool that does a good job of loosening topsoil and hoeing small weeds. The stirrup hoe attachment makes it even more effective and is a welcome addition to what would’ve otherwise been “just another cultivator.”

When buying the cultivator, be sure to consider the best WOLF-Garten® Interlocken handle for the job and your size. An overly-long handle makes it difficult to get enough leverage to break up compacted soil below just the top inch or so.

If you already have rakes and other long-handled tools, you might not benefit as much from the Interlocken® technology as would a new gardener who needs to stock up on tools.

Where to Buy

WOLF Garten® is based in Germany, but has an official U.S. distributor (Bluestone). Both the WOLF Garten DAS Crumbler and Cultivator and the long Interlocken handle are sold directly from the distributor.

The WOLF-Garten® Interlocken DAS Crumbler and Soil Cultivator head is also available on Amazon, as is the 59-inch aluminum handle. Just be aware when buying on Amazon that only items sold (in the USA) by Bluestone or WolfGarten.us (as these ones are) are covered by the warranty.

The medium length, 46.5” Interlocken® aluminum handle (ZMi12) is only available directly from Bluestone for $15.00, plus $14.70 shipping.

Last update on 2024-03-29 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

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Disclaimer – GPReview would like to thank WOLF-Garten for giving us a free sample to review. There was no expectation that it would be a positive review and we received no compensation for writing it. All opinions expressed here are those of the author based on personal experience using the product.

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1 Comment on WOLF-Garten® Interlocken DAS Crumbler and Soil Cultivator: Product Review

  1. Jerry Charles

    I’ve found cultivators essential when preparing soil, but wow is it tough sometimes when the soil is dry and hard. I typically have to break up the soil some first with a shovel and then use the cultivator. But, the WOLF-Garten is a great product and well made. It’s just a little hard to get the needed leverage to break up hard spots.

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