Content
Many have already appreciated the benefits of working with a motor cultivator. This is a universal technique that has become simply indispensable for farming. With its help, you can perform a huge amount of work on your site. The walk-behind tractor quickly and efficiently prepares the soil and copes with other tasks. For example, many gardeners weed potatoes with a walk-behind tractor. They can also hill up bushes very conveniently and quickly. There are a huge number of attachments and devices for this. In this article we will see how to weed potatoes with a walk-behind tractor.
Advantages of working with a walk-behind tractor
Gardeners have long adapted to walk-behind tractors and perform almost all procedures when growing potatoes with them. For example, a walk-behind tractor copes well with the following tasks:
- soil plowing;
- planting potatoes;
- weeding weed;
- hilling potato bushes;
- harvesting.
And these are only those works that directly relate to potatoes. In addition, owners of motorized cultivators can use them to mow grass and perform other manipulations. Next, in the article we will look at special devices for weeding potatoes.
Potato weeding paws
Most often, weeding potatoes is carried out using special paws.This is one of the simplest, but very effective devices. They are easy to install and store. The paws carefully cultivate the soil without disturbing the root system of vegetable crops. The main thing in this matter is to set the depth correctly. For looser soil, a depth of about 4 cm is suitable, and for trampled and dense soil, you will need to set the device 7 cm deep.
The width between the paws is set depending on the width of the furrow. In this case, one paw should be located slightly behind. Thanks to this, the space between the paws will not become clogged. There are several types of paws:
- lancet;
- one-sided;
- double sided
Weeding with a walk-behind tractor using a flat-cut weeder
The next device is no less popular. A flat cutter is a special attachment for cultivating soil and removing weeds from the top layer of soil. With its help, you can prepare the area for planting or simply process the row spacing. There are flat cutters with special drums for discarding weeds and simple ones with ordinary knives.
When weeding potatoes with a walk-behind tractor, the wheels must be in the furrows. As the motorized cultivator moves, the knives gradually cut off all the weeds from the rows, and the drum throws them back. It is also very important to consider the age of the weeds. While they are not yet deeply rooted and strong, it will be much easier to remove them. But not everyone will succumb to mature and strong plants. adaptation.
Hedgehogs for weeding potatoes
A hedgehog is a special attachment that consists of rings of different sizes. They are placed in a cone shape. The rings have spikes or teeth that plow the ground. Hedgehogs should be installed on a motor cultivator with a slight slope. It is very convenient when the device is made of rings. Sometimes you can find homemade hedgehogs made from steel disks. In this case, the soil along with the weeds accumulates between them, while the holes in the rings allow the waste to fall to the ground.
Hedgehogs are essentially a smaller version of larger power harrows. These devices work on the same principle. The hedgehogs sink slightly into the soil and turn, thereby loosening the soil and removing weeds from it.
Wire harrow for weeding
A large number of gardeners claim that the best way to weed potato rows with a walk-behind tractor is to use a special mounted structure. It consists of a frame and a mesh with sharp teeth. This type of harrow can be called a drag harrow. Each cell in the grid is about 20 cm long. The most common cells are rectangular, hexagonal and square. The mesh harrow perfectly weeds out weeds between rows and slightly loosens the top layer of soil.
Conclusion
Now you know exactly how to use motorized weeding cultivator potatoes. This universal device allows you to perform a large amount of work on your site. With its help you can weed and hill up potatoes, as well as other vegetable crops. Such processing of the area takes little time and saves energy.Anyone who once tried to use a motor cultivator will no longer want to return to a regular hoe. In the video below you can see how potatoes are weeded using a walk-behind tractor with hedgehogs.
