Potato Planter

This is the potato planter being pulled by a tractor. The planter has a bin full of cut seed potatoes which it plants in neat rows. This planter does 4 rows at a time.












The next stage in potato planting is to follow the planted rows with a cultivator.
There are 2 reasons for this:
1. First stage of weeding.
2. Soften the soil to prepare for the hiller.

Here I am following the tracks of the planter, you can see the passes I already made on the left and right sides.




This picture shows the hiller on the back of a 6120 John Deere tractor.













A view to the rear showing the hilling plows at work.











Finished fields.

Now it will be a continuous schedule of weeding. We do as much weeding with equipment as we can. If we do not keep ahead of the weeds this way, when the potatoes are out of the ground and reach a size too large for the weeders they will have to be done by hand. Contract labour is very expensive.





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