Content
Weeding is an important step in the process of growing potatoes. This procedure allows not only to remove all weedy plants, but also to loosen the soil. Thus, nitrogen freely flows to the roots along with the air, stimulating the growth of potatoes. Recently, gardeners have given preference to special motor cultivators, which make it much easier to cultivate the soil. Let's look at how weeding potatoes with a motor cultivator is carried out, and which harrows are best used for these purposes.
Weeding potatoes using a flat cutter
Many gardeners claim that a flat cutter is the most convenient tool for weeding potatoes. These devices are distinguished by width. There are 4 types in total:
- "P-240";
- "P-320";
- "P-400";
- "P-700".
Accordingly, a flat cutter with the designation 240 processes a row spacing of 240 mm wide in one pass, and a flat cutter with the number 700 can handle a distance almost 3 times larger. It is not necessary to use only one type of flat cutter. They can be combined or used one at a time.
The holes on the stand of the flat cutter allow you to adjust the height and depth of plowing.Such devices are made of high quality steel and can serve you for many years. The metal for the cutting part undergoes heat treatment, which makes the flat cutter durable and hardy.
There are flat cutters with a ripper that process the soil better. The ripper is made of eight round plates, which have peculiar cutouts. Such disks are located on an axis and begin to rotate when moving. There is also a spring on the structure that presses the ripper to the soil. This is a great tool for those who don't like to do the same job twice. The flat cutter-ripper copes well with the task, removing all weeds from the rows, as well as loosening the soil.
Weeding potatoes using a walk-behind tractor and a hedgehog
Everyone will agree that weeding potatoes with a regular hoe takes a lot of time and also requires enormous effort and endurance. It is especially difficult for owners of large plots of land. In this case, there is no way to do without a motor cultivator. In addition, the choice of harrows for weeding is quite large. For example, with removing weeds When planting potatoes, a cultivator for inter-row processing of potatoes called hedgehog.
This device consists of rings of different sizes on which teeth and spikes are located. The hedgehog has a cone-shaped appearance. Usually, 2 such devices are used to cultivate a vegetable garden, placing them at the same distance from each other at an angle.You can make the hedgehog yourself at home. The main thing is to choose high-quality material and assemble the structure correctly. Often, discs that did not perform well during the weeding process are used for this purpose. The fact is that soil and picked weeds are constantly packed between the discs.
The Hedgehog is a smaller version of the large rotary harrow for tractors and operates on the same principle. It penetrates into the ground with ease. And then, rotating, it loosens the soil, simultaneously pulling out weeds with roots from the rows.
Mesh harrow for weeding potatoes
Some gardeners prefer so-called mesh harrows. This device consists of a hinged frame, inside of which a toothed mesh is stretched. The mesh has hexagonal or square cells measuring about 20 cm. The teeth are wrapped down towards the ground. A hexagonal mesh is more convenient, since the teeth in it are staggered. But, if you install a square mesh at an angle of 45° relative to the direction of the walk-behind tractor itself, you can also achieve a staggered arrangement of teeth.
The harrow has its advantages and disadvantages. The positive aspects include the following:
- The harrow covers a large area at the same time.
- The device can be easily built with your own hands.
- Can be used together with other plowing devices.
But unfortunately, there are no less important disadvantages. The harrow does not loosen the soil. Because of this, additional procedures have to be carried out, which takes a lot of time. Some gardeners prefer to use a mesh harrow to cultivate the soil after plowing the soil in the spring or in the beds before the first potato shoots appear.
Conclusion
Nowadays, walk-behind tractors are gaining more and more popularity. This is not surprising, because such technology greatly simplifies our work and saves time. Cultivators are especially necessary in large areas with potatoes. And all kinds of devices make the task even easier. In this article we looked at the most common tools for making weeding potatoes with a walk-behind tractor. It would also be good to watch the video below, which describes and clearly shows how to weed a garden in a similar way.
