Planters Potato Planter

[GarthH]

Hi all

We have started up a small vegetable market garden. This was our first year and we did not fair all that well - a we grew the wrong crops and the timing to get to market was all wrong. Anyway we at least are learning from our mistakes.

In our area potatoes seem to be a huge seller. We hand seeded about 750' of a white potato which didn't do that well. Everyone wanted a small red potato much earlier than we had ours available.

We have lots of land so we are thinking of planting a couple acres of two or three different varieties at different times. I can't image doing that by hand.

We have a 40 HP Kubota and a small B5100 Kubota tractor.

What are some good potato planters? Does anyone have any experience with a potato harvester?

 

[RandyinMS]

Hello,
We are in a very different climate and just finished our fourth year as a market/CSA farm. Check out Everything Attachments they have a small potato harvester that looks interesting.

BUT, I would not jump from 750' to a couple of acres until I had my timing right, cultivation etc. Do you have other small/market farmers, or associations there? Around herefarmers are very willing to discuss timing, planning, growing technics with each other and new folks.

 

[super55]

My wife and I are starting a small market farm as well and noticed that potatoes do sell well. Like you said timing is everything. If you can get your product to the stand two weeks before everyone else you will quickly sell out.

Being just starting out I would look at getting a hand planter or going along the lines with middle buster plow and then a toolbar with some covering disc. You could than use the covering disc to hill the potatoes as they grow and use the middle buster to dig up the potatoes when ready to harvest.

 

[GarthH]

Thanks Randy and Super55. Good suggestions. The potato digger and planter at Everything attachment do look interesting. Both have a fair number of moving parts although the design does look simple. I wonder if any members have experience with either machine?

 

[Mace Canute]

Thanks Randy and Super55. Good suggestions. The potato digger and planter at Everything attachment do look interesting. Both have a fair number of moving parts although the design does look simple. I wonder if any members have experience with either machine?

I have two potato planters, both are three point hitch and one is a single row while the other is a double row. I bought them with planting potatoes in mind but haven't got around to doing that quite yet...hopefully this coming pring we will have a go at it. They look quite similar to this one. I bought them used and haven't much money invested in them, about $200 for the pair.

 

[Wyobuckaroo]

They grow a lot of potatoes in this area.. All big flat fields, with big machinery, and center point irrigation..

If I was to do more than a personal garden, say multi family or small truck garden, I would use my homemade 3pt chisel digger, and row hiller for ground prep.. Then fashion a ride on planter similar to the unit Mace shows as ground speed to do these tasks are enough different to multi task.. Then you have to consider harvest.. Small plot potato diggers are available, and look to work very well... But it seems to me there would be a time to payback issue due to the cost of these machines...

When I had the old farm place.... I have used my chisel digger, hiller to plant things on the edges of old row crop fields for wild game food plots.. Planting corn etc. by hand with a boom stick in the hills.. The plots being about 200 to 600 square feet or so.. We have found it better to have several smaller plots than try to draw game to one big plot.. Son-in-laws have harvested some nice bucks over that work..

With the literal mountains of potatoes and price of potatoes in this area it wouldn't pay for me to try to grow them on the rock pile I live on now.. I can buy 100# at the potato plant and divide them between the 6 kids families and myself cheaper than grocery store price...

My 2 cents and opinions.... Your millage may vary..
Good luck...

 

[DFB]

When I worked the vegetable farm with the exfil we used a single row mechanical harvester to dig potatoes...made life easy

Potatoes in the right markets can be worth it. And with quart containers of tiny new potatoes either red or white during the summer you can get some decent prices. Up to a $1.00lb or $5 a box is not unheard of depending on your consumer mkt especially organically grown or no or low spray cropping.

On the other hand at the farm where I am now we don't grow them but we do sell them. Usually we market 50lbs for $15 and 10lbs for $3. And that's in the farm store retail. Wholesale at the growers farm is a lot less yet.

A lot of storage and handling comes with potatoes too