Bedder/hiller fabrication

[Modn]

Modn,
I'm not sure, I'd have to see it but it seems like the tires would compress the ground and reduce the effectiveness of the outer discs.

Rob

You may have a point....

 

[sixdogs]

I'm trying to figure out how that would work. What's your rear tractor width?
I guess you'd have to have one hill outside the tires and off to one side?

Rob

Not sure if anyone mentioned this but the way I used to hill potatoes and make narrower and "multiple-looking" space saving rows is to do one row with the hiller centered on the tractor. Then do the next row with the tractor tires in the tracks formerly made on the first pass. It narrows the rows and both passes are in clean soil.
Another way I have made narrower (and space saving) rows is to offset the hillers on the tractor and then make one row and then reverse at the end of the row and come back in the tracks that give you a narrower row. This makes the row even narrower. You leave your tire track as the center between the rows. It's a variable depending on how wide the hillers are set up.
Multiple units have not worked for me.

 

[Rob-D]

Not sure if anyone mentioned this but the way I used to hill potatoes and make narrower and "multiple-looking" space saving rows is to do one row with the hiller centered on the tractor. Then do the next row with the tractor tires in the tracks formerly made on the first pass. It narrows the rows and both passes are in clean soil.
Another way I have made narrower (and space saving) rows is to offset the hillers on the tractor and then make one row and then reverse at the end of the row and come back in the tracks that give you a narrower row. This makes the row even narrower. You leave your tire track as the center between the rows. It's a variable depending on how wide the hillers are set up.
Multiple units have not worked for me.

That's interesting, I had thought about using my potato digger but couldn't see the double row it made so close together working. I will try it however and thanks for the advice.

I did get the two discs I ordered from AGC and was surprised to see that they had ball bearing hubs. I'm going to get everything set up and weld it together but that probably won't be until spring as we have wood to get in for the winter now that the gardens are bedded down.
I'm really looking forward to next spring and Nancy has already ordered seeds! With world seed control going the way it is organics are getting harder to find.

Rob

 

[Don87]

Here is another good thread on making multiple rows/hills using a modified rototiller. Everything can be done in a single pass.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/56139-tiller-mod.html

 

[sixdogs]

That's interesting, I had thought about using my potato digger but couldn't see the double row it made so close together working. I will try it however and thanks for the advice....

...Rob

Good ideas here. Go back in the thread and click on the link (here you go) of

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/200795-my-low-buck-potato-hiller.html

how I built --photos too--my hiller out of various parts. Good hillers/diggers need to be simple, rugged, easily adjustable and able to tolerate twisting and abuse, especially if you dig potatoes with them. I also dig carrots, flower bulbs, beets and sometimes ridge the garden for winter with mine. In the spring , I could plant on the remaining ridge since the water lays in the trench and the ridge warms up quickly. I use a much smaller shovel to make small rows in the spring for bulbs or things needing a trench. Sure beats a hoe.

One of the aspects of the way I built mine is that I could "double up" on the row and have one set of hillers low in the row and a second right behind it to really hill up the potatoes or make a bigger/taller hill or whatever. I haven't needed to yet but I could. The second set doesn't have be round disk but the "sweeps" ("buzzard"? or "lay-by"?sweeps) that Agri Supply also sells. I have some if anyone wants a photo.
Afer you build whatever, mark the positions so you can remember where you started in the spring and the adjustments along the way. Then the next year is five minute setup.
Just my two cents here.

 

[DaveOmak]

For growing garlic in raised beds I added "wings to each side of my tiller... I wanted to show the entire set up but my camera bit the dust... Anyway there is a wing on each side of the tiller and the bed is elevated about 8". The soil is really fluffy and drains well... the top "flat" of the raised bed is about 36" wide and the wings bring the soil inward about 8" on each side... Hope this gives another "food for thought" idea... Dave

 

[Baby Grand]

For growing garlic in raised beds I added "wings to each side of my tiller... I wanted to show the entire set up but my camera bit the dust... Anyway there is a wing on each side of the tiller and the bed is elevated about 8". The soil is really fluffy and drains well... the top "flat" of the raised bed is about 36" wide and the wings bring the soil inward about 8" on each side... Hope this gives another "food for thought" idea... Dave

I like it. Simple enough that I could make it from scrap.

 

[DaveOmak]

I like it. Simple enough that I could make it from scrap.

Baby Grand, mornin'... One more point.. My tiller is wider than the inside width of the tires... So, the bottom edge of the wings, when installed on the tiller, is narrower than the tire inside width... This allows to drive the tractor down the raised bed again for any other work that needs to be done... The upper edge of the wings is tapered inward so the dirt won't slough off, back into the tire track... Also I have added a drag of sorts, that attached to the door on the tiller, to "pre groove" the raised bed for planting purposes... that works well also..

 

[Rob-D]

Thanks for all the great ideas guys!

When I till I usually run back and forth several times and I'm wondering how the wings would affect that?

Rob

 

[Baby Grand]

Baby Grand, mornin'... One more point.. My tiller is wider than the inside width of the tires... So, the bottom edge of the wings, when installed on the tiller, is narrower than the tire inside width... This allows to drive the tractor down the raised bed again for any other work that needs to be done... The upper edge of the wings is tapered inward so the dirt won't slough off, back into the tire track... Also I have added a drag of sorts, that attached to the door on the tiller, to "pre groove" the raised bed for planting purposes... that works well also..

Mornin', Dave! My tiller is just a skoatch (less than a tad) narrower than my tires (ags) outside-to-outside, so I think this would work for me if I can shove enough soil to the center that I have 2 clear tire tracks. I'm thinking of adding a toolbar on two receiver hitches to take a pair of hilling discs, but I could also add the hilling wings with a hinged leveling plate across the top of both wings, just aft of the discs, to get a nice shape and a little consolidation to the bed. Attaching at the tiller skids, as you did, would give me a nice 4 point mounting, which should be plenty tough. Time to get out the shirt board and hot glue and see what that would look like. Thanks for this idea!
-Jim

 

[DaveOmak]

Thanks for all the great ideas guys!

When I till I usually run back and forth several times and I'm wondering how the wings would affect that?

Rob

Rob, morning... I usually do all my tilling, sub-soiling, fertilizer additions prior to bolting on the wings... I have made multiple passes with the wings attached and the raised bed just keeps getting taller... For me an 8" raised bed is about right considering it compacts over time to about 5".
Getting that height usually takes 2 passes... By all means experiment with it... You might wake up in the middle of the night with an idea for an attachment that puts you in a higher tax bracket....

By the way... I have a new digital camera on its way... we live so far out in the sticks, computer shopping is the only way to get a selection.. Next week I will have more pics of the tiller and even some of the raised beds...(if I can figure out how to use the new point and shoot $70 camera)

 

[flusher]

Just curious what you are planting in your food plots that requires furrows?

Me too--why dig furrows in a food plot? Sounds more like the OP wants to turn his food plot into a vegatable garden

 

[DaveOmak]

Here is an addition, to my first post, on my hiller fabrication attachment to my tiller...

The wing shows how I narrowed the width of the raised bed to accomodate the tractor to drive down the bed again.

The raised bed... It has garlic planted in it and I chopped some straw to cover for the winter..
one of these days I will post how I built my "straw chopper" when I get the bugs worked out....

 

[Rob-D]

Me too--why dig furrows in a food plot? Sounds more like the OP wants to turn his food plot into a vegatable garden

Yes, my food plot is vegetables. I always thought a food plot was basically a large garden. Ours is about 100 x 80 for one plot and another couple of smaller plots.

Rob