Middle Buster/Potato Harvester for sub-compact Kubota

[BXAK]

Looking for an attachment to harvest potatoes with my Kubota BX1500. It has a Category 1 Hitch and 15HP. We plant potatoes very shallow, only about an 1" below the surface in Alaska.
Anybody have experience with a potato plow or 3 point digger on a subcompact?

Thank you for all replies

 

[oldnslo]

I used one on BX1850 for digging potatoes here in northern Illinois. Three problems I experienced.
1) traction is limited so if ground is hard you may spin vs going forward.
2) limited ground clearance. I hill my potatoes a minimum of twice and sometimes three times. This made tops of hills very close to undercarriage of tractor.

3) vines, grasses, weeds all want to plug the potato plow. Part of this was caused by me wanting to ensure was deep enough to be under the spuds so did not cut them.

Much, much easier than digging by hand with potato fork.

 

[oldballs]

Here's some pics that might be helpful............What oldnslo said too........Later on I moved up to a B2620 that has more ground clearance....the last pic. First pic is a BX2660.
Cheers,
Mike

 

[brutus54]

BXAK
Just ordered a potato plow from Everything Attachments, it's due to be delivered tomorrow by UPS. They are on sale as we speak. My plan is widen a drainage ditch from our pond that has gotten overgrown with weeds so I'm not digging it deeper just making it wider to keep the water flowing out back and not staying in the field.

 

[mo1]

Looking for an attachment to harvest potatoes with my Kubota BX1500. It has a Category 1 Hitch and 15HP. We plant potatoes very shallow, only about an 1" below the surface in Alaska.
Anybody have experience with a potato plow or 3 point digger on a subcompact?

Thank you for all replies

A potato plow is great for harvesting potatoes, it is surprising how well it works. Aim right down the row and the potatoes just show up in the furrow the plow makes. I plant potatoes several inches deep and then hill them up again usually two times so the potatoes don't surface and turn green (and become inedible.) I would recommend ag tires and plenty of wheel weight on a smaller tractor as usually wheel slip is the limiting factor with running any ground-engaging implement on a small tractor.

 

[BXAK]

What's easier to pull - a potato plow or a potato digger? Are chains comparable to AG tires?

I've heard the plow tends to cut or mangle the potatoes, what do you guys think?

 

[jaxs]

What's easier to pull - a potato plow or a potato digger? Are chains comparable to AG tires?

I've heard the plow tends to cut or mangle the potatoes, what do you guys think?

Potato plow or potato digger? Neither. When I grew up on a farm every family had 1/4 to 1/2 acre of potatoes and no one owned a specialty plow for potatoes. We used the same bedders used to throw up beds for row crops every year. I still use the 2 bottom bedder bought new in 1958 with the 801 in my signature. I suggest you do the same because one plow can be taken off and the other moved to center for digging then reconfigured for other uses until next potato crop. A single bottom like pictured in post 3 can't build rows on your tractor because wheels can't be spread far enough apart. You can mount 1 plow off-center on a bedder or tool bar,make a pass then make a second pass to complete bed. The key to plowing potatoes up without cutting them is setting point to right depth.
Chains help tremendously on ice and a little on firm ground but can't equal lug treads in loose soil or mud.

 

[von-mil]

I use a basic King Kutter middle buster (potato plow) and it works very well. Get the front point to sink as deep as you can. I usually see about 1 out of every 20 potatoes get cut and I'm ok with that.

 

[arto98607]

Potato plow works great and we've not seen hardly any damaged potato's.
Way more damage if dug out manually with shovel etc.

It usually takes two or three runs per row to get them all out!

 

[tacticalturnip]

I've used my cheapo Titan to do everything other than dig potatoes, but it's paid for itself time and again.

Might actually grow potatoes this year.