How to dig and harvest potatoes using a walk-behind tractor
Potatoes are considered one of the most common vegetables grown by gardeners in their summer cottages. Growing a great potato crop is only half the battle. After cultivation, it is also necessary to correctly collect the ripe roots. It is difficult to dig up manually and that is why many people prefer to dig potatoes with a walk-behind tractor. This method is much simpler than using a bayonet shovel as you simply have to operate the cultivator to harvest the crop.
Before you start harvesting in this way, you should familiarize yourself with the features of using the walk-behind tractor.
Advantages of digging potatoes with a walk-behind tractor
Some vegetable growers refuse to dig out potatoes with a walk-behind tractor, as they are afraid to spoil the potato crop. Such fears are not in vain, since if the cultivator is used incorrectly, tubers can indeed be damaged. Improper setting of the mini tractor often results in spoiled tubers cut into pieces.
However, despite this, the use of a walk-behind tractor has advantages, thanks to which the collection of root crops is greatly simplified. Common pluses include:
- Simplicity of design. The equipment has a simple structure, the features of which are easy to understand. The main element of the cultivator is a potato digger, which consists of an upper fan and a metal plow.
- Easy setup that an inexperienced person can handle without any problems. Even gardeners who have never been interested in technology can handle setting up a potato picking machine. In order not to damage the root crops during harvesting, it is enough to adjust the depth of the plow, which is responsible for digging out the tubers.
- Reducing physical activity. The motoblock train digs potatoes by itself, due to which physical activity is significantly reduced.
- Quick harvest of ripe crops. Harvesting tubers using a cultivator takes less time than harvesting by hand.
How to set up the technique correctly?
Before starting harvesting with a cultivator, it is pre-configured. When setting up equipment for harvesting potato root crops, special attention is paid to adjusting the plow, which is responsible for digging out potatoes.
First, you adjust the distance the plow goes into the soil when digging. It is enough to set the depth equal to the size of one shovel bayonet. If you set a smaller distance, then when digging potatoes out of the ground with a motorized cultivator, the roots will be damaged.
The bolts located between the lock and the plow tine are responsible for adjusting the depth.After loosening the bolts, you can independently move the plow up or down.
After adjusting the depth, the angle of inclination of the field board relative to the ground surface is adjusted. To adjust the angle, you will have to use the screw handle. When adjusting, the handle is unscrewed until the board is completely flat on the ground. Then the handle is twisted in the opposite direction so that its rear part rises 2–5 cm above the ground.
Digging potatoes with a walk-behind tractor
Beginners who have not previously been involved in harvesting potatoes with a walk-behind tractor often have problems when using such a cultivator. Therefore, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with the features of using such equipment in practice in advance.
First, you need to clear the area with grown potatoes from debris, leaves and weeds. You can also use a cultivator when clearing weeds. To do this, a special hiller and two rippers are placed on the equipment, after which you can loosen the soil between the rows. It is necessary to loosen the soil with a walk-behind tractor in the aisles so as not to accidentally damage the potatoes.
When the rows are ready, you can start harvesting. When digging up potatoes with a cultivator, the crop is harvested through a row. Therefore, after collecting the tubers in the first row, they immediately begin to dig up the third. This is done to:
- do not accidentally damage the dug crop with the wheels, which often, after digging, ends up between the rows;
- The walk-behind tractor was easier to control and did not lead to the side.
If you adhere to this easy scheme, you can collect potatoes from five acres in 35-40 minutes.
Varieties of potato diggers
For digging potatoes with a walk-behind tractor, various types of potato diggers are used. When harvesting, simple home-made models and factory cultivators are used, which independently dig, collect and transport the harvested crop.
Factory
Often, factory models are used to dig up potato root crops, since they are of better quality. Simple models are produced that outwardly look like a regular shovel with sharp teeth and without a handle. When digging potato tubers with a walk-behind tractor, the teeth go deeper into the ground and raise the root crops. Then all the potatoes in the soil fall on the surface of the teeth and are carried out. Models with teeth need to be fine-tuned to avoid accidentally damaging the potatoes while digging.
There are also more sophisticated models, tests of which have shown that they are more effective than simple models equipped with teeth. Such potato diggers are equipped with special belts for transporting already dug potatoes to the place of their further storage.
Homemade
Sometimes people simply do not have the money for a super potato digger to collect potatoes, and therefore some try to make such a product on their own. This kind of work will seem difficult for many people, but in fact the manufacturing process is not that complicated. People who have previously worked with welding machines and metal products can easily make a homemade digger using drawings from the Internet. To independently create a structure for harvesting potatoes, you will need the following tools and materials:
- a hammer;
- welding;
- puncher for working with metal sheets;
- expendable materials;
- scissors for metal;
- spanner keys.
Selection recommendations
In order to efficiently dig up potatoes with a walk-behind tractor, you should choose a high-quality digger.
When choosing, the type of walk-behind tractor is taken into account, for which the digger is selected. For example, potato diggers of the "Agro" or "Zubr" models are better suited for light motoblocks.
All other varieties will not be compatible with such cultivators.
For motoblocks, the following models are more powerful:
- KVM-3. The device deepens to a depth of 25 cm, which allows you to extract potato tubers from the soil. The model allows you to install additional knives on it for harvesting fruits in hard ground.
- KVM-1. It is used for use with cultivators of the company "Neva". Like the KVM-3 model, it is equipped with additional slots for knives.
Conclusion
Digging up potato roots is a laborious job that all gardeners face. In order to somehow simplify this process, it is recommended to use special walk-behind tractors for harvesting.
