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Implement Alley Discussion Forum

Potato Diggers

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mitchp

11-15-2004 09:51:20




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Is a potato digger worth getting or is it just as easy to dig them with a potato plow, with the digger you still have to bend over and pick them up, i guess they are just a little cleaner. can anybody tell me the advantages/disadvantages on them?

mitch




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ShepFL

11-17-2004 20:15:05




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 Re: Potato Diggers in reply to mitchp, 11-15-2004 09:51:20  
If it were me I would try to find a digger. Been looking for awhile for one here in the Southland. I use middle buster or front gang on IH 140 to get my spuds up. Still got to dig thru the furrows to find the small ones.

A digger with some type of catch mechanism would be nice. Them 5 gallon buckets get OLD real fast.

Best of luck.



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thurlow

11-18-2004 09:41:14




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 Re: Potato Diggers in reply to ShepFL, 11-17-2004 20:15:05  
My father-in-law and his brother were truck farmers (both deceased) growing primarily tomatoes and sweet potatoes. Watched the harvesting of potatoes evolve 1950s-mid '90s; single-bottom turning/breaking plow; pto driven digger which left potatoes on top of ground and finally trailer type which carried potatoes up a conveyor where 4 or 5 people would sort and basket them; can't remember how many bushel baskets there was room for, before they had to go empty it; probably something less than 100.

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Bkeepr with an alternativ

11-17-2004 04:32:51




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 Re: Potato Diggers in reply to mitchp, 11-15-2004 09:51:20  
After an old-timer friend kept telling me to buy one, I picked up an old horse-drawn potato plow at a farm auction for $15 or so.

I hitch it to the drawbar of my tractor with a short length of chain, the wife drives and I go down the rows with it as if the tractor was the horse. It has a very wide flat blade that scoops under the taters, lifts 'em up, and lays them on the edge of the furrow. I can harvest a 300' row in about 2-3 minutes, and have a good time doing it...sometimes folks stop on the side of the road to watch the nutcase digging in his garden!

I'd recommend it to anybody.

Tom A

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Robert in Md's better hal

11-15-2004 18:59:07




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 Re: Potato Diggers in reply to mitchp, 11-15-2004 09:51:20  
I have a ground drive digger and in my opinion its not worth the trouble. If you get a little deep or the vines are heavy the wheels will drag. I'm now using a Champion pto digger with the sqivel wheels , someone put a 2 point hitch on it , I can control the depth now with the Hydraulics on my MF 240. Its not much better than a big middlebuster plow and I still have to scratch for the small potatoes that fall thru the chains.

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mitchp

11-15-2004 18:53:52




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 Re: Potato Diggers in reply to mitchp, 11-15-2004 09:51:20  
would one of these diggers work for sweet potatoes? i would be using it for that mostly



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Frank Y

11-15-2004 17:57:30




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 Re: Potato Diggers in reply to mitchp, 11-15-2004 09:51:20  
Just helped a friend move a potato digger for his nephews. They have a few acres and want to start planting potatos. They specifically asked for a pto driven digger. He picked up the digger for 25 bucks. Needs alot of work. Its an old IHC about 1943? pto driven with adjustable cleaning chute. I guess it will hold the potatos longer to clean them better. Heavy unit! Long too!! It was about 9' overall.

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Allan in NE

11-15-2004 16:35:11




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 Re: Potato Diggers in reply to mitchp, 11-15-2004 09:51:20  
Hi Mitch,

If you have over half a dozen hills, the digger is the only way to go.

In your travels, if you find a two row JD, I'll pay you top dollar for it. I've been looking for one for years.

Allan



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txblu

11-15-2004 12:08:23




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 Re: Potato Diggers in reply to mitchp, 11-15-2004 09:51:20  
Well all you professional farmers with your mechanised equipment should have talked to my grandpa (probably wouldnna listened). When I was a kid and was asked to come and visit, in the fall, one of the things I had to do, by hand, is DIG HIS !@#$ POTATOES. Will never forget it.....and in the spring I got to plant them.

Mark



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riverbend

11-15-2004 11:09:01




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 Re: Potato Diggers in reply to mitchp, 11-15-2004 09:51:20  
Never used a potato plow. My potato digger leaves about 95% of the potatoes on top of the ground. It does have some trouble with small potatoes and fingerlings falling through the chain.

One disadvantage of the digger is that new chain is about $2 per link and there are about 160 links.



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Chuck MI

11-15-2004 17:11:29




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 What brand? in reply to riverbend, 11-15-2004 11:09:01  
What brand of digger do you have? PTO or ground drive? I have been pondering an old ground drive unit but haven't actually looked.

Chuck



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riverbend

11-16-2004 10:17:42




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 Re: What brand? in reply to Chuck MI, 11-15-2004 17:11:29  
It says 'Oliver' on the cast plates up by the blade. It started out as a horse drawn, ground drive unit, but has been converted to pto (ages ago). I think the pto drive works better at the end of the row when you have to lift it up.



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