Digging Potatoes in MD (pics)

Harvesterguy · Jun 29, 2008

Here are some photos of my family and I digging redskinned potatoes yesterday.

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Plowing out the row with a '54 IH SA and middlebuster plow.

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Scratching out the potatoes. Maybe next year my son will be old enough to put potatoes in the basket rather than take them out.

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Loading up and the end of the day with a '48 AC B.

- Harvesterguy

Anonymous-0 · Jun 29, 2008

Looks like your boy got it figured out in time cause the wagons full. Real nice looking operation. Job for everyone and everyone doing their job. What do you do with the harvested potatoes now that they are on the wagon?

IndianaDan · Jun 29, 2008

Hi, Nice looking operation there. When did you plant those reds? and what do you do to control the Colorado Potato Beetle? Thanks.

RobMD · Jun 29, 2008

Where are you in MD? Looks like the eastern plains. I'm in hilly Baltimore co.

Anonymous-0 · Jun 29, 2008

I'm surprised you don't have a potato digger for that size operation.

Spook · Jun 29, 2008

Nice operation. Are you a truck farmer?

Harvesterguy · Jun 29, 2008

We have a PTO driven digger, however it causes to many scrapes and bruises. The digger hasn't been used in several years simply because of the higher quality when hand dug.

Once the potatoes have been loaded they will be washed and graded for size. They will be stored and sold on our roadside produce market all summer. We open in early May (strawberries) and typically close in mid-September (although dad will sell greens and sweet potatoes until Thanksgiving).

RobMD- We are located about 30 min from the ocean near Salisbury.

Robert in Md · Jun 29, 2008

The Norland Red potatoes were planted the last week of March with 100 lbs of 10-10-10 applied per each 50 lb bag of seed potatoes. They were planted with a old Iron Age platefed potato planter. I control the Colorada Potato bug with Provado insecticide, expensive but works great.

jose bagge · Jun 29, 2008

beautiful country there- I used to be the DM for the Sears stores in Salisbury, Seaford and Dover and really liked it out there. See lots of pretty farms out there on the way to shows in Harrington.
Some great looking spuds!

RobMD · Jun 29, 2008

Harvesterguy-

Appreciate the photos. I plant potatoes each and every year, but none are quite as good as yours! I hope your son will enjoy it one day (although young boys and cultivating with hoes do not match these days!).

I plant my potatoes 6 inches deep in the dirt usually in March. Unfortunately, I seem to have early blight hitting the potatoes each year for about 3 years now. I recall getting croquet ball sized potatoes.

I use a farmall 404 with mounted ripper plow as you are using. Picking up by hand with the family can be fun in the later evening hours.

JK-NY · Jun 29, 2008

Nice looking crop of early spuds. I grew potatoes for market for a few years . I used a 3 pt hitch mounted middlebuster to dig the early ones . It used to help if I mowed the tops off with the brush hog ahead of digging , kept the vines from hanging on the moddlebuster or digger , which ever one I was using. If you mow the tops a few days ahead of digging , the skins seem to set a little , less bruising or peeling when washing etc. I used clean 5 gal. oil pails to pick into, baskets never seemed to hold up to potatoes as well for me. Nice to see you have some help , I usually was on my own for jobs like that.

the tractor vet · Jun 29, 2008

Ah taters , reminds me back in 1953-55 that was my job at my uncles pullen the wagon thru the fields behind a OC3 oliver crawler while the men loaded the baskets then haul them to the storage barn and back that 4 wheel wagon up to the elevator and the men would empty the baskets on to the elevator and stack them back on the wagon and back to the fields . Then came 1956 when we went to the two big harvesters and more acres of spuds and every year got bigger with newer tractors more trucks . By 1964 there were over 2800 acres of spud to dig . My uncle and his partner made a lot of changes to some of the equipment on there owen like the 4 inch square power bar on the harvesters and the windrowers that would sorta shake the taters up and out with out the cutting and brusen Made the first power web truck beds to unload at the barns .

Anonymous-0 · Jun 29, 2008

Thanks for the pics, reminds me of growing up, we always had a tater patch. I went into town yesterday, and stopped by the market for local produce, I got a nice bag of red spuds, had some for Sat nite supper, they were good..

Local produce is going to be the new thing, folks want to know where food is from. The vendors at our local market were almost sold out by 10 AM yesterday.. I support locally grown food..

Jeff-oh · Jun 30, 2008

Love the pictures.

Don't wish you son big to fast. My daughter just turned 3. I cannot believe how big and smart she's getting.

He looks like he'll be a good helper.

Does the middle buster bring most of the potatoes to the surface or do you still need to explore for them.

Jeff

Digging Potatoes in MD (pics)

Harvesterguy

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IndianaDan

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RobMD

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Anonymous-0

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Spook

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Harvesterguy

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Robert in Md

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RobMD

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JK-NY

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the tractor vet

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