Advice on buying a second tractor

[peter_vii]

Hi there,

I was wondering what should I buy as my second (garden) tractor.
I have JD5083E (65 HP) to do my large fields and plow and till my 1 ac garden.
However for potatoes hilling, and vegetable rows cultivating JD5083E is just
too big. I'm in desperate need for a smaller tractor with narrow
tire tracks. Something good enough to get inside potatoes rows.

Any gardeners out there can recommend something?

Hilling potatoes (15 rows of 200 ft each) by hand is not fun.

What do you guys use in your vegetable gardens?

[schmism]

my garden isnt that big....

mine is to small for my TC33 but to large to want to do compelatly by hand.

so i found gravely 2 wheel tractor to be perfect size to maintain my garden.

for what you want to do i would look at a class 2 CUT. my outside to outside rear wheel is just under 5' with about 2.5' inbetween the tires.

check out the buyou gardener YouTube - webcajun's Channel for tips on working a garden with a class 2 size CUT. He even has a vid on drawing potato rows and planting taders.

[Johndeere3720]

What if you got something high clearance and wide enough that a row could go under the middle of the tractor? Just an idea.

[flusher]

Hi there,

I was wondering what should I buy as my second (garden) tractor.
I have JD5083E (65 HP) to do my large fields and plow and till my 1 ac garden.
However for potatoes hilling, and vegetable rows cultivating JD5083E is just
too big. I'm in desperate need for a smaller tractor with narrow
tire tracks. Something good enough to get inside potatoes rows.

Any gardeners out there can recommend something?

Hilling potatoes (15 rows of 200 ft each) by hand is not fun.

What do you guys use in your vegetable gardens?

I'd look for a grey market tractor in the 15-20 hp range (Yanmar, Sitoh, Iseki, Mitsubishi) for your veg garden.

I use a 1974 Bolens 1453 garden tractor for rototilling.







I found it locally on craigslist for $600 (tractor, 42" belly mower, 32" rototiller). You can get single bottom plows and small discs on eBay pretty reasonably.

Loren, my 85 year old neighbor, puts in a 1-acre garden each year using his JD 2640 and a Massey Ferguson 8-ft offset disc for the soil prep and an Allis Chalmers 410 garden tractor with hydrostatic transmission and rototiller for tilling between rows.

[Farmwithjunk]

I'm in the heart of burley tobacco country. One of the most important tools in that endevor is a good high clearance cultivator tractor. Over the years, the FAVORITE has always been the IH Cub/140/A/B/C/Super C. They're ideally suited for the task. They can be had around here in the $1500 to $2500 range, just a tad more w/cultivators.

[flusher]

I'm in the heart of burley tobacco country. One of the most important tools in that endevor is a good high clearance cultivator tractor. Over the years, the FAVORITE has always been the IH Cub/140/A/B/C/Super C. They're ideally suited for the task. They can be had around here in the $1500 to $2500 range, just a tad more w/cultivators.

Yep, FWJ, you're right about those little Farmalls.

My 1951 Super A is a good truck garden tractor.
Got it last year off craigslist for $1300 including a 6-ft mid-mount sicklebar mower.





Those bull gears raise the rear about an extra 6 inches. You can remove the support brackets for the sicklebar mower drive to improve the clearance under the rear of the tractor.

[JGY]

Second the Farmall 140/A/B/C/Super C!!! Absolutely, perfect for gardening; a great single row garden tractor!!

J

[peter_vii]

Is it better to get Kubota B2320DTN, B7800 or L2800 for planting, hilling and
harvesting potatoes?

[123rday]

Sorry probably won't help much. My memory is rusty, but I seem to recall some 30 years ago, my grandfather used his JD 60 with narrow front to go between/over the rows. I want to say he used a setup that I think resembled a drag , 2 tines behind each rear tire and I believe 2 or 3 tines down the center. He could raise and lower it with the lever beside the seat like using hydralics for a three point. Any other time, my dad would use the custom built rotatiller granddad built (old push mower top, tiller bottom).

[Soundguy]

ditto what farmwithjunk said.. there are plenty of small oldie cultivator tractors.

anything from the small offset IH to an allis g.. perhaps a MH pony.. or even the slightly rare, but larger ford 541.

soundguy