Update on our equidistant planter! We just harvested the potatoes that we planted with our prototype equidistant planter. We are quite impressed with the results. The potatoes grew well.
We also experimented with hooking one of our small diggers to a much smaller tractor than we originally thought possible. We dug the potatoes with a standard 26″ wide 3 point potato digger (US Small Farm one row potato digger, D-10M) using a Kubota 1700 hydrostatic tractor. We used extra weight in the loader bucket and the high pto speed. The tractor was unable to pick the digger out of the ground with dirt on the digger blade. But it did a good job!
Plus, we were digging in mud! The ground was too wet but our weather is turning cold, so we felt like it was possibly our last chance to get them dug before they freeze in the ground. Any farmer can understand what we were up against!
We are enjoying the fall weather and harvest season. Happy harvest to you!