The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: Odin on October 14, 2011, 09:39:12 pm
-
:spud:
Gonna dig a 40 yard furrow Saturday morning with my DB tractor and ye old Ransomes digger. Will leave on the surface for half hour for soil to dry before samin up (dialect for picking and sorting).
Some of my larger spuds weigh 1 whole pound are not hollow nor have growth splits. I have an order for these big boys in to the local farm shop ;D
As I have got further in to the middle of the crop , 40 X 40 yard, there is less grub damaged spuds because I managed to get them deeper and rowed/ridged up higher. The down side is the digger blade can slice them because it cannot get that deep. Also the damp soil makes it difficult for the tractor tyres as they clagg up.
It will take me a good half day to sort and another day to dry. I store them in wooden boxes with news paper to draw the moisture, then clean off dry soil and bag. I have a system developed that is time consuming but hey, isn't that what this kind of work is about ? :spud:
-
Sounds like fun. :thumbsup:
We only need a spade for our little crop. :D
What variety have your grown, and where are you?
-
Never doen very well with tatties :( although I have only ever tried them in tubs and bags.
-
:wave: Location is top end of Huddersfield in them there hills. The varieties are :-
Wiljur; :spud: This is an early main crop, recognised as Yellow skin and oblong in shape and grows quite large. Versatile use.
Cara; :spud: A main crop and otherwise known as 'Pink Eyes". An oval yellow shape with distinct pink eyes. Excellent in curries & stews.
Kestral: :spud: :spud: Similar to the Cara but also known as "Red Eyes". Also the red colour can have an attractive red swirl in the skin. This is my favorite because of little grub damage and can produce spuds weighing over one pound.
Desiree: :spud: A red skinned potatoe and very attractive both in the soil and bagged. Does not grow as large as the others but a plant can have a high yield. Not enough big ones to make chips but will do anything else.
All the above have been grown in a grass pasture that has been used for nothing else in living memory. There has been no use of any chemicals, fertilizers or manure, but for next year animal manure will be used as I now have the facility. The spuds have worked wonders with the land, it is now a different field.
It has been a good yield but a lot of small 'chitter' size that make laborious work. If anyone out there wants some chitters then let me know, can come to some arrangement but storage is a problem due to lack of it. But my tip for growing is deep in the earth on old manure and heap up when growing. :farmer:
-
I grow sweet potatoes, and I just dig them as I need them.
-
:spud:
Got some nice big potates out the round this week although the wet is hampering things. My potatoe digger is a series of six forks mounted on a wheel that rotates as it is pulled along on the back of the tractor , or horses when designed as original. Unfortunately is does not get beneath the stitch where some of the larger spuds are lying so it needs to be pulled along the stitch twice to get 'em. With the wet the soil was turning into a suflae' , a whipped cream texture and traction was almost impossible. :spud: However this well conditioned loose soil with manure worked in could be ideal for carrots next year, watch this space. :carrot:
I am getting some repeat demands for 12kg bags at a fiver. A local restaurant is going to try a few varieties but that means greater care selecting. We use the ugly ones, nowt wrong with them but selling ugly does not work. The really ugly ones go into a boxed create that feed some pigs and deer. I do not draw cash for these but get the odd pint bought. :spud: :spud: :spud:
-
Had a great time at your place Robert, your potato lifter was brilliant! (and thank you for the spuds) :thumbsup:
-
i really enjoy your posts odin, and find your project very interesting.
keep em coming, thanks.
-
Like wise Herdygirl 'n' Guy. Enjoyed seeing your flock :sheep: and so did my daughter, I am aware how time consuming sheep are, particulary when lambing season, so you have a fair old hand full. That old building without the windows also caught my eye, I do have a habbit for drawing and painting old buildings and that one is a fascinating subject. So next time I come so is the old sketch pad :)
-
:spud:
Got some nice big potates out the round this week although the wet is hampering things. My potatoe digger is a series of six forks mounted on a wheel that rotates as it is pulled along on the back of the tractor , or horses when designed as original. Unfortunately is does not get beneath the stitch where some of the larger spuds are lying so it needs to be pulled along the stitch twice to get 'em. With the wet the soil was turning into a suflae' , a whipped cream texture and traction was almost impossible. :spud: However this well conditioned loose soil with manure worked in could be ideal for carrots next year, watch this space. :carrot:
I am getting some repeat demands for 12kg bags at a fiver. A local restaurant is going to try a few varieties but that means greater care selecting. We use the ugly ones, nowt wrong with them but selling ugly does not work. The really ugly ones go into a boxed create that feed some pigs and deer. I do not draw cash for these but get the odd pint bought. :spud: :spud: :spud:
Odin ,
Can you bung up a picture or threee of your potato spinner on this thread ?
From what you say ...I think there is a bottom blade missing off your spinner set up , it would go deep down under all but the deepest potatoes and the spinner would then tear out the already loosened row ( done by the action of the blade in front of the spinner forks ) c/w spuds and fling them over a six foot wide band
-
When Herdygirl :sheep: came to observe, and join in , with the tatty picking process, another local farmer tipped up with his video camera and filmed the job. Now if I was capable of loading the images of all that on to here, then I would, :dunce: but on the other hand, if I was capable, then I would be doing something else, like borrowing large sums of money and shifting paper around.... do I sound sound cynical ? 8) Can I make it go with an hammer and lever ?
What I can tell you is, that there is a blade, like a scythe that sits under the spinner. If I could show you the film, you would see me levering the scythe blade down and lifting the wheels of the digger off the ground. Hard work and a mighty force.
At the end of the day , I could really do with an elevator type machine. The Ransomes digger is a novelty but it should really be in a museum, there is an identical one in a museum in New Zealand on the internet dated 1860.
If I could stick photos on I would, but its beyond my ken . :farmer:
-
That blade ...is it adjustable so you can move it slightly more forward and tilt it a wee bit so as to lift the row into the path of the spinner arms slightly ?
There is a potato spinner on ebay for £100 see if it looks like your spinner .... the blade on this one is adjustable in hight and distance from the spinner tines & can be slightly tilted .
-
Ref ;- E Bay.
First appearance that spinner is similar because of the wheels, draw bar and the blade, however the machine is different. The digging wheel on the Ransome is mounted perpendicular and has a diameter of say three foot. It is a hexagon wheel with six digging forks that penetrate the earth. It is like watching a fan being dropped into the earth that is driven through a gearbox at the axle. Unlike the one on e bay that is chain driven and the spinner is like an inverted spinning stool.
The blade on the Ransome is adjustable in depth but there is a crack in the casting and there is a good chance of permanent damage if , a; I try to free off the adjuster & ,b; lowering the blade would increase the physical effort of getting it deeper into the earth or I would have to dig a hole there to start it off.
We are down there this morning and I will try to get a photo and send it you, watch this space .
-
Tatty digger
-
More,all today. That bogy at bottom of field we needed the four wheel drive 1210 to pull the 885 & digger up .
-
That is some claggy field i take it it is acid and clay due to being laid down as glacial silts .
I'd bung as much well rotted straw based manure it in it as you can over six or seven years & lime it should crumb the soil & dry out a bit . As well as deep dig a drainage trench and back fill with crushed 10 mm clean stone on top of 100 mm land drain poly pipe set on a decent bed of the same stone. But that is expensive.
A spinner ain't much cop in clag like that you'd need a power washer and a spade ;D
Can you beg steal or borrow a pan buster foot for the tractor and drag it down the hill to help run off the water faster ?
-
:farmer: The water problem that you can see is only at the bottom of the field in that dip. Behind the photographer there is a dry stone wall with water pouring through from a broken clay pipe, thats someone elses land who is not bothered as his cattle drink there. Also in our adjacent field above is our Duck Pond or Victorian land drainage sump ( describes it better ) that fails to hold water and runs away under where them photos are taken. :&> :&>
The soil depth is a good eight inch and then clay. All I have done with that field prior to planting the seed spuds was rotorvate it with that 1210 David Brown. I tried with a 3 furrow plough that we renovated but it would not penetrate the couch grass, the plough did work else where as we tested it. The field has not seen manure, fertilizer or anything in at least two decades. The potatoes have worked wonders with that field away from the boggy area at the bottom, some of the spuds are between one & half to two pounds in weight, they are like house bricks, not hollow and in demand from users. So thats what its about, the end result, the crop. There are areas where the crop has produced lots of small potatoes ? ? Studying the soil between big spuds and little spud furrows, we think its because the rotorvator did a better job making a finer tilth ? I paid £150 for a 6ft Howard Rotorvator that had been stud in a field for many year, some of the blades were missing or weak. I greased it up and put it straight to work, took a chance. :hshoe: When it was finished many of the blades were broken. I replaced over 2 dozen blades since and spent some time on the machine ready for next season.
Its all been a learning curve using machines to do an acre. There are only 6 furrows left to lift (40 yards long). I estimate that there is 60 to 90 kg per furrow. One of them yellow builders tubs holds approximately 15kg in spuds. Can easily get 6 per furrow. When they are all out, then the Muck Spreader will be launched into action, but thats another story. Tune in for next weeks episode kiddies. :o :spud: :spud: :spud:
-
:farmer: The water problem that you can see is only at the bottom of the field in that dip. Behind the photographer there is a dry stone wall with water pouring through from a broken clay pipe, thats someone elses land who is not bothered as his cattle drink there. Also in our adjacent field above is our Duck Pond or Victorian land drainage sump ( describes it better ) that fails to hold water and runs away under where them photos are taken. :&> :&>
The soil depth is a good eight inch and then clay. All I have done with that field prior to planting the seed spuds was rotorvate it with that 1210 David Brown. I tried with a 3 furrow plough that we renovated but it would not penetrate the couch grass, the plough did work else where as we tested it. The field has not seen manure, fertilizer or anything in at least two decades. The potatoes have worked wonders with that field away from the boggy area at the bottom, some of the spuds are between one & half to two pounds in weight, they are like house bricks, not hollow and in demand from users. So thats what its about, the end result, the crop. There are areas where the crop has produced lots of small potatoes ? ? Studying the soil between big spuds and little spud furrows, we think its because the rotorvator did a better job making a finer tilth ? I paid £150 for a 6ft Howard Rotorvator that had been stud in a field for many year, some of the blades were missing or weak. I greased it up and put it straight to work, took a chance. :hshoe: When it was finished many of the blades were broken. I replaced over 2 dozen blades since and spent some time on the machine ready for next season.
Its all been a learning curve using machines to do an acre. There are only 6 furrows left to lift (40 yards long). I estimate that there is 60 to 90 kg per furrow. One of them yellow builders tubs holds approximately 15kg in spuds. Can easily get 6 per furrow. When they are all out, then the Muck Spreader will be launched into action, but thats another story. Tune in for next weeks episode kiddies. :o :spud: :spud: :spud:
I have just dug my metre square tattie patch for a few new potatoes....got a few and they are just so tasty has a few tonight for dinner. Got a few kilos, have not weighed them...