Potato hiller ideas

[Keith_B]

Cultivators can be set to do a good job hilling potatoes.

 

[Slamfire]

Commercial growers don't cover 'em with dirt any more, they use hay or straw. When they don't keep 'em covered is when they get the green ones you see at the market that are rotten inside. I'd see if you could locate a source of spoiled hay in your area.

 

[OldMcDonald]

slamfire, I have to disagree. I have seen an awful lot of potatoes growing in several countries (not, admittedly the USA) in the last few years, and EVERYBODY still grows them underground. A straw or hay mulch would let light through and that is what turns the potato skin green. Obviously a commercial scale grower could not afford to take the risk. They might well mulch in areas where they get late frosts because the shoots would get some protection from the mulch, but the seed will still be planted below ground. A black heavy plastic over the top of potatoes laid on the ground, and then a mulch, is a possibility, but only practical on a smallish scale.

Green potatoes are sound inside, but never ever eat one. Either keep it for planting or dispose of it - and not to your pet pig because they are just as poisonous to livestock. Old McDonald.

 

[Deerlope]

In the Southren USA they call the hiller a "double shovel" cause it looks like a round point shovel turned upside down with 2 adjustable wings on it.

 

[kuby]

so if i remove the center shank on this single row cult. it should work good??

 

[Luremaker]

Here's one from the farmfleet catalogue.

 

[OldMcDonald]

Kuby, No. Those feet will only form tiny little ridges. You need something to make ridges at least 2 feet apart, and preferably 2 and a half, and a definite inverted V shape, or maybe just a slightly flattened off point.

I do not like the gadget shown in the post after yours. A single plough like that only makes a furrow, and if used for lifting the crop I would remove the two rear wings which will only re-cover some of the crop so that you have to dig them out with your hands as you pick up. You need at least two ploughs so that they make one drill/hill between them, and preferably more. 3 allows you to have a person planting on each side of the machine. Any more ploughs and you need automatic delivery of the potatoes from a hopper. The potatoes need to be planted IN FRONT of the ploughs so that they are buried in the hill that is made by them. Go back to my post on Harry Ferguson's system if you want to plant more than half an acre. Less than that and you can make the hills then go along afterwards with your seed potatoes and manually plant them into the middle of the hill, but it is a lot of work. Father and I used to plant up to about an acre every year that way, and then dig them all by hand too. So I speak from experience!!! Old McDonald.

 

[RalphVa]

Kuby,

Here's my row hiller that I made with help from a friend. Its just a couple hiller plows (rotary discs) mounted on the diamond bar of a soil ripper off a JD M. My friend gave the soil ripper to me, helped to build the drawbar to attach it to and the clamps to attach the shanks to the diamond bar.

You can buy little chisel plow cultivators from Agri Supply that mount on a square bar. Then buy the disc hillers to go on them. Only catch is you need the the clamps. Don't think Agri Supply has them. Think there's an outfit in Ohio that offers them for square bars. Search for "row hillers" in google to find them. Agri Supply had the best price on the disc hillers.

I did 20 rows in my garden with the row hiller. I put in 4 rows of potatoes. Still have the last row to dig up yet. (I just dig a few at a time with a digging fork, enough for me and the wife and some left over to take to church for folks to take.)

Ralph

 

[RalphVa]

Here's a shot from the rear.

I've since painted it, bought 2 12" discs, and mounted some of the soil ripper stuff in between.

I made the rows with 2 16" discs. I plan to use the smaller discs to just keep the rows but to rip them and toss stuff from between the rows on top with the 12" discs.

Ralph

 

[RalphVa]

Here's my "row maintenance rig" shot from the front with it sitting on stilts in the garage of my carriage house where I park the JD 4010. I haven't used it on the tractor yet.

Ralph