Potato hiller ideas

[kuby]

Does anyone have a good plan for a simple potato hiller?

 

[MarkStewart]

You mean something like this? I bought the pins from tractor supply and the sweep blade for under 10$. I just copied dimensions from a rear blade of mine and welded together some scrap steel I had.

 

[PineRidge]

Have a middle-buster, and they are available at TSC. Should work well for your needs.

 

[Farwell]

Mike,
I was going to suggest the TSC middle-buster as well but before I did I went to Google and looked up potato hiller and it was a device that formed a hill or mound to plant potatoes in. The finished mound looked like a back furrow but higher and more narrow. I originally thought a potato hiller was what we called a spud plow when I was growing up. I think that a couple of middle-buster blades could be split and mounted in a manner that would make a hill or mound. They also make a device that has a couple of discs on it that will create a planting hill.
Farwell

 

[OldMcDonald]

Can I please have an explanation? I too assumed a "hiller" would make hills, but the gadget photographed looks as if it splits hills. Does a hiller plant or harvest? As usual Harry Ferguson had answers to both.

To plant he had 3 drill ploughs on the tpl which formed 2 drills and the start of the next one. A box sat on top that held potatoes and two seats were attached as outriggers. A toggle attached to a wheel rang a bell at pre-set spacings and the riders on the outriggers dropped a potato from the box down a spout in front of the drill ploughs whenever the bell rang - potatoes palnted in a drill, or hill. My wife and father used to do this whilst I drove the little grey.

For harvesting, he used a finger wheel set at an angle that gently went through the drills (singly) and turned the potatoes to the top. A few remained buried, but a good scarifying usually brought up most of them. Picking had to be done by hand. An alternative was to use the drill ploughs, set so that one, two if you must, actually split the drills you had made in the spring. In both cases it is easy to harvest whilst the haulm is in full, green growth, and not necessary to burn off or wait until they die down.

I have pinched Harry's idea and made a 2 row corn drill, but dropping the seed in the bottom of the furrow. It is mounted on the back of the scarifier, and putting wide sweeps on after germination (omitting the planting tines) lets me hoe and build up soil around the plants at the same time. Old McDonald.

 

[OldMcDonald]

Somebody please answer the question. I am trying to learn English as used in various countries. Never have any problems in the UK, surprise, surprise!! I thought Australia was bad, but the US versions baffle me quite often. Old McDonald.

 

[MarkStewart]

Maybe try asking your quesion in the ag forum.

 

[Bird]

The gadget in the photo is known as a middle buster and is great for digging the potatoes. When you put more than one of those on the same bar, you make hills. For example, two of them spaced properly would make one hill and start another hill on each side. Of course farmers may have 6 or more on the same bar to make several hills at a time. In my part of the country, they usually called such arrangement a "bedder" and I knew several people who did that to their vegetable gardens at the end of the season on the theory that it kept moisture in the trenches between the hills so it would soak in deeper instead of run off.

 

[sassafraspete]

Kuby, my family has always found 2 implements very helpful for planting/digging potatoes. You can probably buy the 2 for approx $250 total at TCS . These two items are 1) a middle buster plow..... you can use to lay off your rows when planting, and also to dig the potatoes out with .... and 2) a one row cultivator. If you are not familiar with this ... it has 6 cultivator plows mounted in a V formation. Once you have dropped your potato seed, you can use this to cover your row up....(caution....don't dig too deep and cover your potatoes with too much dirt...easy does it. ). Also, as your potato plants grow, you can use the cultivator to hill up dirt around the plants. We do this as often as possible, until the potatoes bloom.... then we quit using the cultivator. It can do wonders for your patch, can control weeds, and save your back from using a hoe. When you are ready to dig... just put the middle buster on, and have at it. We usually wait until the vines die, then mow them off with a bicycle wheeled mower so you can see the hilled rows real well. You can then see where to plow. If I try to look back around at the middle buster while plowing, I usually get myself all cockeyed with the row. I found it is much better to get started , check the plow at the beginning of the row to ensure it is digging at the depth you want and you are centered, then I focus over the top of the tractor hood and steady as she goes. That seems to work for me.

sassafraspete

PS... OLD McDonald..... I hear what you are saying about the English language...we don't understand the King's English very well either....but you can't lump all us Yanks together either....we don't even understand each other and may only be one state apart.

 

[sassafraspete]

Oh, here's a picture of me standing in our potato patch a few years back. They are in full bloom.

sassafraspete