Digging potatoes with a walk-behind tractor: how to harvest from video

Potato is 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 properly collect ripened root crops. Digging manually is difficult, and that is why many people prefer to dig potatoes with a walk-behind tractor. This method is much easier than using a bayonet shovel, as you just need to operate the cultivator to harvest.

Before you start harvesting in this way, you should familiarize yourself with the features of using a walk-behind tractor.

Advantages of digging potatoes with a walk-behind tractor

Some vegetable growers refuse to dig potatoes with a walk-behind tractor, as they are afraid to spoil the potato harvest. Such fears are not in vain, since if the cultivator is used incorrectly, the tubers can really be damaged. Incorrect setting of the minitractor 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 benefits include:

• Easy design. The equipment has a simple design, the features of which are easy to understand. The main element of the cultivator is a potato digger, consisting 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 harvester.In order not to damage the roots during harvesting, it is enough to adjust the depth of the plow, which is responsible for digging up the tubers.
• Reduce physical activity. The motoblock train itself digs potatoes, thanks to which the physical load is significantly reduced.
• Quick harvest of ripe crops. Harvesting tubers with a cultivator takes less time than harvesting by hand.

How to set up the equipment correctly?

Before you start 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 responsible for digging up potatoes.

First, the distance that the plow goes deep into the soil when digging is adjusted. It is enough to set the depth equal to the size of one shovel bayonet. If you set a shorter distance, then when digging potatoes out of the ground with a motor cultivator, the roots will be damaged.

The bolts located between the lock and the plow leg are responsible for the regulation of the depth. After loosening the bolts, you can independently move the plow up or down.

After setting 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 on the ground. Then the handle is twisted in the opposite direction so that its back part rises 2-5 cm above the ground.

Digging potatoes with a walk-behind tractor

Beginners who have not previously harvested potatoes with a walk-behind tractor often have problems using such a cultivator. Therefore, it is recommended to familiarize yourself in advance with the features of the use of such equipment in practice.

First, you need to clear the area with grown potatoes from debris, leaves and weeds.When cleaning the area from weeds, you can also use a cultivator. To do this, a special hiller and two rippers are placed on the equipment, after which it is possible to loosen the ground between the rows. Loosen the soil with a walk-behind tractor in the aisles should be carefully so as not to accidentally damage the potatoes.

When the rows are ready, you can start harvesting. When digging potatoes with a cultivator, the crop is harvested through the row. Therefore, after collecting the tubers in the first row, they immediately begin to dig up the third. This is done to:

• don't accidentally damage the dug crop with the wheels, which often ends up between the rows after digging;
• motoblock was easier to control and did not lead to the side.

If you stick 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, harvest and transport the harvested crop.

Factory

Often, factory models are used to dig up potato roots, as they are of better quality. Simple models are produced that look like an ordinary shovel with sharp teeth and without a handle. When digging potato tubers with a walk-behind tractor, the teeth go deep into the ground and lift the root crops. Then all the potatoes in the ground fall on the surface of the teeth and are taken out. Models with tines need fine tuning to prevent accidental damage to potatoes when digging.

There are also more sophisticated models that have been tested to be 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 don't have the money for a super potato digger to harvest potatoes, and so some try to make one themselves. Such work will seem difficult for many people, but in fact the manufacturing process is not so 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:

• hammer;
• welding;
• Punch for working with metal sheets;
• consumables;
• metal scissors;
• ring wrenches.

Recommendations for selection

In order to qualitatively dig potatoes with a walk-behind tractor, you should choose a quality digger.

When choosing, the type of walk-behind tractor for which the digger is selected is taken into account. For example, potato diggers of the Agro or Zubr models are better suited for light walk-behind tractors.

All other varieties will not work with these cultivators.

For motoblocks, the following models are more powerful:

• KVM-3. The device deepens to a depth of up to 25 cm, which allows you to extract potato tubers from the ground. The model allows you to install additional knives on it for picking fruits in hard ground.
• KVM-1. It is used for application together with cultivators of Neva firm. Like the KVM-3 model, it is equipped with additional slots for knives.

Conclusion

Digging up potato roots is a time-consuming job that all gardeners face. To somehow simplify this process, it is recommended to use special walk-behind tractors for harvesting.

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