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What Is A Potato Digger Anyway?

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Bear

06-17-1999 06:48:25




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I hear about implements that "dig" potatoes. Here in KY we call those things kids. Since I raise quite a lot of spuds these mechanical diggers sound interesting but we don't have them here. Comments please...




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Bear (Ky)

06-18-1999 06:12:42




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 Re: What Is A Potato Digger Anyway? in reply to Bear, 06-17-1999 06:48:25  
Assuming a good harvester could be found at auction what would a price range be? How physically big is the thing? Are they still produced new? By whom? This is all brand spanking new to me so I have to ask a lot of questions.



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B.C.

06-18-1999 06:24:56




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 Re: Re: What Is A Potato Digger Anyway? in reply to Bear (Ky), 06-18-1999 06:12:42  
There used to be towed, one-row diggers used occaisionally up in Wisconsin some years ago. They were about the size of a small corn picker. The shaker (sometimes called the draper) chain would elevate the spuds about a foot or two and then just dump them back on the ground. I can't recall if they were ground drive or PTO.

Somebody up in Maine or out in Idaho may know if they're still built. Haven't seen a new one in many a moon. If they're still built it's probably by some shortline outfit.

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Gary(UT)

06-17-1999 09:36:00




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 Re: What Is A Potato Digger Anyway? in reply to Bear, 06-17-1999 06:48:25  
I have one that has a digger with tines sticking out the back. The potatoes are lifted out and slide up the tines and drop off on top of the ground. You control it with handles in the back like an old plow. Took a little getting used to because to make it go deeper you lift up, and to go right you push left etc. Works great, just have the kids pick them up and throw them in the sack.



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MarkS

06-17-1999 08:05:10




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 Re: What Is A Potato Digger Anyway? in reply to Bear, 06-17-1999 06:48:25  
Potato diggers are pulled behind a tractor or horses. They are like a long chute that has a pivot on the wheels so the front of the chute can dig into the ground. This front has a digging point which is lowered so as to go under the potato plant. As the digger is pulled along, the digging point lifts the potatos out of the ground and transfers them to an open conveyor (looks like the bottom of a manure spreader without the floor, just an open bottom conveyor) which is actually the bottom of the chute. As the pototoes movend along the conveyor, the dirt shakes off and they are dropped off the end of the conveyor onto the ground to be picked up later. You can still get these used at auctions. They work a lot better than pitch forks and kids!

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B.C.

06-17-1999 10:43:55




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 Re: Re: What Is A Potato Digger Anyway? in reply to MarkS, 06-17-1999 08:05:10  
There are bigger ones that are more or less built around 40 or 50 hp tractors. These are used by potato farmers (of all people). The dug, shook spuds travel up a conveyor and over into a transfer truck, which travels alongside the digger and is loaded on the fly. From there they go to the warehouse, plant, whatever.

I've seen diggers that size modified to be used to remove unexploded ordnance from abandoned target ranges. Spuds with an attitude.

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big fred

06-17-1999 18:17:24




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 Re: Re: Re: What Is A Potato Digger Anyway? in reply to B.C., 06-17-1999 10:43:55  
My dad raised potatoes in the 50's and 60's and had a pull-type potato digger like you describe. We pulled it with a Farmall M, and it had it's own engine, no PTO drive. There were several footboards around the machine where workers stood while they removed rotten or split potatoes, rocks, dirt clumps, etc. A machine like this would likely be called a potato harvester instead of a potato digger.

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Paul Fox

06-18-1999 03:39:38




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 Re: Re: Re: Re: What Is A Potato Digger Anyway? in reply to big fred, 06-17-1999 18:17:24  
Here in Maine, 'tater diggers/harvesters are quite common. Rocks are our number one cash crop, 'taters come in a distant second. I've often thought one could be modified for use as a rock picker. Whaddaya think?



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big fred

06-18-1999 09:17:07




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 Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: What Is A Potato Digger Anyway? in reply to Paul Fox, 06-18-1999 03:39:38  
Probably be easier and cheaper to modify a rock picker for use as a rock picker. Much simpler machine. As I recall, the potato harvester was a high-maintenance item, and I would guess it is comparable to a combine in maintenance cost.



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Tim(nj)

06-18-1999 15:04:44




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 Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: What Is A Potato Digger Anyway? in reply to big fred, 06-18-1999 09:17:07  
John Deere sold a cross conveyor attachment for the #30 double-level-bed digger to convert it into a rock picker.



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