Has anyone built a cultivator?

[Dachshund]

I want tobuild a cultivator. I have plenty of shanks/shoes and other stuff. How close to the plants do I want the shoes to go? I figure I need to figure ut the tire spacing on my tractor and go from there. Any ideas?

 

[Theowegian]

The shoes should be 4-6" away from each plant on either side.

If I were you, Id find an old cultivator owners manual and imitate the mfg recommendations.

I used my landscape rake with funky spacing (teeth removed) until I found an extremely used 2 row cultivator at a salvage yard.
It worked, but not worth a dang. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

good luck
dwight

 

[Farmwithjunk]

The distance from each plant (row) depends on size of your crop, what it is, and how steady a' hand you have on the steering wheel.

Long straight rows of 3" tall corn, you can set the "sweeps" or "shovels" as close as a couple inches. It takes tremendous concentration to NOT plow out your corn crop though. Most people are better off staying 4" to 6" away.

Old cultivators are a dime a dozen (at auctions or implement dealers) It's a piece of cake to cut down a 4,6, 8, ect... row unit to make a 2 row model. Then you have extra parts for the NEXT project too.

Cultivating (corn, soybeans, ect) is a tedious job. You need to keep enough speed to make the shovels work correctly. That means plowing out a few rows of the crop from time to time. (BTDT) It takes practice. (And my father made sure I got LOTS of practice growing up /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif)

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Here's what you start with.....

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Then with a few hours, and some busted knuckles, you get a couple or three of these from all the parts.

 

[deere755]

I have thought about building a small field cultivator. I thought it would be handy for our sweet corn patch, and faster then the tiller.

 

[Greg_Phillips]

I think there was a topic on building a small field cultivator a while ago. You might try to do a search and see if you can find it and if it helps.