Winston1's ym2002d farming tactics

[ym165dpete]

Ya that's my number one right hand man .These pictures were in November when I stripped off the garden,and haled in manure then rotor tilled to put the beds to bed for the winter.I forgot to say when I first started these beds I used a one blade bottom plow to break up the prairie grass and clay,then till.Over the years of amending the soil I finally got a pretty good garden.

 

[clemsonfor]

that soil looks gr8 pete!

 

[284 International]

Winston inspired me, so I rustled up some pictures to share of some of the tools I'm hoping to put to work improving my gardening capacity and capabilities. They are kind of just for fun, since it doesn't make economic sense to try growing my own food here, with water being so expensive, but I enjoy it, and in that respect it is a relatively inexpensive hobby.

First is a transplanter I recently acquired:


I got it from a man who grows flowers for large commercial accounts like Costco, and used it to plant bulbs. I don't know what I'll use it for, or, particularly, how it works. It is designed to attach to the rear of a tractor, has two seats with hoppers for the objects to be planted (Not in these photos), and the drive mechanism. It's rather ingenious, and deceptive in its apparent simplicity. The metal wheels drive a chain that powers a series of wire and sheet metal baskets. From the baskets, a pair of rubber cups on springy wire open and accept the bulb or transplant. As the chain drive continues, the sides of the guide squeeze the spring wires and the rubber cups together, capturing the transplant. Once the cups are at the proper depth, the guide opens, allowing the cups to spring apart, depositing the bulb. (The black and white photo is from the manufacturer's website.)




I'm told these are often used for strawberries and tobacco plantings. I'll be happy to get to use them to plant potato cuttings, hopefully using some kids as labor to run the transplanter. The manufacturer is still in business. It's going to be much more work than just planting things manually, I'm sure, but it seems like fun.

Next is one of my small single row planters, taken this afternoon after Winston's pictures inspired me to clean up some of my junk and get it ready for planting. I have another, and they mount on a tool bar so the proper width can be attained to match the wheel tracks. I haven't used it recently, largely because I've been experimenting with planting smaller blocks of varying gestation time in my rows, to attempt extending my corn harvest, and the mechanical planters don't make sense for that.




Finally, my most head-scratching tool, an Overland scraper.


I say head scratching because I keep asking myself why I bought it...:laughing:

It is essentially a pan scraper as used on large construction sites, but scaled down to "personal size." The literature from Overland advertised it as "suitable for digging basements and bomb shelters." (Image from brochure taken from Manuals Forum Search)



I hope to use it to trench a section of the yard to use as a compost heap, where I can pitch all my grass clippings, raked leaves, and anything else I can find, and then spread it over the garden area. A front loader would also do the job, but my hope was this unit's larger capacity (1 cubic yard, and about 1 1/3 cubic yards when heaped) and ability to thinly spread material would be much faster. I haven't yet used it, as I've been switching back and forth between wondering if it is worth bothering to attempt using the 186D or 240D to pull it, or if I should just use the 464 and be done with it. A drawback is my 464 is as about as wide as the scraper, which will make pulling a trench annoying, but I'm concerned that the 186D or 240D will not have sufficient power or traction to do the job.

I'm going to experiment this year with setting up better rows for mechanical cultivation. I'd be interested to see how others do this. Because of the climate here, I am forced to irrigate, so have that added difficulty to negotiate. I really like the specificity of drip systems, but they limit where one's equipment can drive. Corn doesn't work on drip lines. What do others do that works for them? I just run water down rows between fairly close plants, and let the water run its course, but this also means the weeds go crazy, too. I am very, very lazy, and hate doing work with a hoe. I would much rather be able to drive a tractor along and handle the weeds in that manner.

 

[winston1]

Very interesting equipment 284. I love old equipment like that. I notice the brochure on the pan scraper states it is controlled by the 3 point lift but your model would seem to have a hydraulic cylinder in front of the wheel. Comment?

DeepNdirt, finally answering your earlier question, no, I didn't drag the garden spot. Just turning plow and tiller.

 

[winston1]

Ya that's my number one right hand man .These pictures were in November when I stripped off the garden,and haled in manure then rotor tilled to put the beds to bed for the winter.I forgot to say when I first started these beds I used a one blade bottom plow to break up the prairie grass and clay,then till.Over the years of amending the soil I finally got a pretty good garden.

I notice your from Franktown. I spent 10 growing up years in Arriba back in the late 40s & 50s. Wasn't really in Arriba, just went to school there. We lived on a farm/ranch. Desolate country around Arriba. Beautiful background where you are with the Rockies in your back yard.

 

[clemsonfor]

Winston inspired me, so I rustled up some pictures to share of some of the tools I'm hoping to put to work improving my gardening capacity and capabilities. They are kind of just for fun, since it doesn't make economic sense to try growing my own food here, with water being so expensive, but I enjoy it, and in that respect it is a relatively inexpensive hobby.

First is a transplanter I recently acquired:
View attachment 293889

I got it from a man who grows flowers for large commercial accounts like Costco, and used it to plant bulbs. I don't know what I'll use it for, or, particularly, how it works. It is designed to attach to the rear of a tractor, has two seats with hoppers for the objects to be planted (Not in these photos), and the drive mechanism. It's rather ingenious, and deceptive in its apparent simplicity. The metal wheels drive a chain that powers a series of wire and sheet metal baskets. From the baskets, a pair of rubber cups on springy wire open and accept the bulb or transplant. As the chain drive continues, the sides of the guide squeeze the spring wires and the rubber cups together, capturing the transplant. Once the cups are at the proper depth, the guide opens, allowing the cups to spring apart, depositing the bulb. (The black and white photo is from the manufacturer's website.)
View attachment 293892
View attachment 293893
View attachment 293894

I'm told these are often used for strawberries and tobacco plantings. I'll be happy to get to use them to plant potato cuttings, hopefully using some kids as labor to run the transplanter. The manufacturer is still in business. It's going to be much more work than just planting things manually, I'm sure, but it seems like fun.

Next is one of my small single row planters, taken this afternoon after Winston's pictures inspired me to clean up some of my junk and get it ready for planting. I have another, and they mount on a tool bar so the proper width can be attained to match the wheel tracks. I haven't used it recently, largely because I've been experimenting with planting smaller blocks of varying gestation time in my rows, to attempt extending my corn harvest, and the mechanical planters don't make sense for that.

View attachment 293890


Finally, my most head-scratching tool, an Overland scraper.
View attachment 293891

I say head scratching because I keep asking myself why I bought it...:laughing:

It is essentially a pan scraper as used on large construction sites, but scaled down to "personal size." The literature from Overland advertised it as "suitable for digging basements and bomb shelters." (Image from brochure taken from Manuals Forum Search)

View attachment 293895

I hope to use it to trench a section of the yard to use as a compost heap, where I can pitch all my grass clippings, raked leaves, and anything else I can find, and then spread it over the garden area. A front loader would also do the job, but my hope was this unit's larger capacity (1 cubic yard, and about 1 1/3 cubic yards when heaped) and ability to thinly spread material would be much faster. I haven't yet used it, as I've been switching back and forth between wondering if it is worth bothering to attempt using the 186D or 240D to pull it, or if I should just use the 464 and be done with it. A drawback is my 464 is as about as wide as the scraper, which will make pulling a trench annoying, but I'm concerned that the 186D or 240D will not have sufficient power or traction to do the job.

I'm going to experiment this year with setting up better rows for mechanical cultivation. I'd be interested to see how others do this. Because of the climate here, I am forced to irrigate, so have that added difficulty to negotiate. I really like the specificity of drip systems, but they limit where one's equipment can drive. Corn doesn't work on drip lines. What do others do that works for them? I just run water down rows between fairly close plants, and let the water run its course, but this also means the weeds go crazy, too. I am very, very lazy, and hate doing work with a hoe. I would much rather be able to drive a tractor along and handle the weeds in that manner.

similar idea to a tree planter

 

[284 International]

Winston, the brochure shows a manually activated trip lever that releases the pan and allows it to rotate to one of a couple positions. The pan is biased toward the rear, so once loaded, activating the lever allows the pan to rotate backward, closing the pan and keeping the spoil from falling out. Another notch is the dump position, which causes the pan to rotate forward to approximately vertical. This dumps the contents of the pan, and allows grading with the cutting edge.

I assume my hydraulically powered one is a newer, updated version that allows hydraulic control over the rotation of the pan, while keeping 3 point control over the height of the implement. I also assume this is better and will give better control over the blade's angle of attack and so forth, as well as not requiring the brute strength to trip a release mechanism loaded with 3000 pounds of dirt. I'm not sure though. I haven't yet used mine. I need to just get the components to make it work, then experiment a little. I may try welding some cutting teeth onto the front edge of the pan if it won't cut sufficiently. My tractor-related projects have been slow to not at all in their completion rate lately; I'm hoping to change that soon.

 

[Car Doc]

I notice your from Franktown. I spent 10 growing up years in Arriba back in the late 40s & 50s. Wasn't really in Arriba, just went to school there. We lived on a farm/ranch. Desolate country around Arriba. Beautiful background where you are with the Rockies in your back yard.

Small world Winston I was shop foreman on a big feedlot in Stratton and yes desolate describes the area pretty good and horrible winters to boot. I was wondering what you used to hill your garden?

It appears to me that in the pic where you are seeding it on top of hills that is one attachment I have been contemplating building. Its finally winter here no working the garden at single digit to teens temps. I rode my motorcycle to work every day up till last week even in the 20's but thats my limit yard work is out of the question. :laughing:

 

[winston1]

Don't know why I left out the raised bed step. Here are some pictures of my home made hiller. It is a cut down Ferguson NKO-21 two row cultivator. Not sure where I got the disc's, I think they are John Deere. A piece of split PVC pipe to flatten off the top. A picture of the snow we got Christmas night. Ground was solid white yesterday. Didn't get above freezing yesterday. My seeds may not like that.

 

[winston1]

I got to looking and sure enough I had taken some pictures of my hiller in action. Here they are.