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Organic Farmer Network: Network Discussion Summary

Topic: Equipment
Creating Beds

Ken uses disc hillers to throw soil up to create growing beds. His plastic mulch layer shapes
the bed created by disk bedder. When getting ready to plant on bare ground (no plastic
mulch), he tills the beds he created with disk bedder. Ken says you can go to sales and pick
up inexpensive tool bars and then buy parts to add. But Alvin warns that can cost you twice as
much – that it is best to look for equipped tool bar- discs on it already.

Alvin uses three bottom plow and 6 ft tiller to create his beds. He will till to 10-12 inches with
Kuhn tiller -- 6 tines on each spindle.

Cultivating Equipment

Alvin has TuffBilt tractor (similar to FarmAll). You can see what you’re doing when you’re
driving it. It is the best for produce work. But Alvin would not try to prepare the soil with it. All
implements are belly-mounted. The wheels can be adjusted in and out.

Cathy has Howse disk bedder; disk hiller, tobacco hiller.

Charlie wants a versatile cultivator. Now he’s relying mainly on tiller

Ken has a rolling cultivator. Works well in sandy soil, but not in heavy soils. He bought one for
$35 on sale. You can adjust it and blades come in sets. To run as a two row unit, must set
tractor wheels way out.

Ellen thinks it’s hard to get a versatile cultivator. She uses different pieces of equip for different
needs in cultivating. Ellen uses one thing on beans, for example and something else on
another crop. She has a cheap rear mounted Ferguson tool bar with shanks and V-cultivators.
She can move things around and also crank down on wiggle factor. She has equipment that
will cultivate multiple rows- single double or triple rows. She has rear-mounted cultivator with a
person managing. Cultivates everything with it except for beans -- 3-row carrots, 3-row celery,
flowers, brassicas and peppers on the two rows setting. One row for tomatoes squash sweet
potatoes. It is a brush how (street sweeper).

Ellen has never talked to anyone who likes a Tine cultivator. Alvin says must go fast with it. It’s
frightening cause you think you’re going to tear up your crop. At slow speeds it will pull up the
crop (field cultivation).

Cathy thinks its because the bigger rooted crop, bigger stalk doesn’t get torn up. It really gets
rid of the little grasses.

Cathy uses an old John Deere 420. She cleans paths between beds using a V cultivator with 2
shanks with 2 smaller shovels.

Alvin says belly mount system far better because you can see in front of you.

Alvin thinks a multivator would be great on 36” rows. It has little rototillers in a shield and can
be adjusted. They are 10-12” wide on each side. Alvin says they are quite expensive but look

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like they would work well. Mostly designed for grains and banded herbicide.

Advice for upgrading equipment

Ken says to buy tractor based on the equipment to be used with it. For example, don’t run a 50
hp gear box tiller, with a 70 hp tractor. Don’t want to beat up a light-weight tiller.

Always get a tractor a little larger than you think you’ll need.

Be on the lookout for the lemon model in an otherwise quality line of equipment.

Mark says a bucket for your tractor is needed equipment.

Make sure you get power steering if you’re going to use a bucket. Don’t need 4-wheel drive
with a bucket.

Alison recommends buying a Howard rotavator.

Parts availability should be factored into decision about equipment purchase.

Shop at auctions.

Potato Equipment

Ken would use single disk for hilling potatoes. He says the more adjustments you have on
angles the better control. He plants two rows of potatoes in one bed -- 30’ apart. Tractor
wheels are set at 64”. Tractor straddles 2 rows of potatoes 2-row rolling cultivator with spider
things on it.

When digging the potatoes, he uses a middle buster offset on his tool bar and just digs one
row at a time. After picking up the thrown up potatoes, he then turns around and comes the
other way to dig the second row -- otherwise will throw soil over top of potatoes thrown up with
pass through first row.

Alvin says this off-set middle buster tends to make his tractor want to pull to one side.

For sweet potatoes: Alvin pulls the vines off. Then gets the sweet potatoes out with the single
middle buster. Goes right under the row. Doesn’t tear up the potatoes. Can adjust the plow to
go deeper.

Ken say he also plows up tuberoses with the same set up. Most hand dig garlic though.

Cathy tips her subsoiler mounted with the middle buster shovel as vertically as possible, so
pushing through the soil. Others think this will bruise more potatoes than setting shovel deeper
and digging under them.

Ellen describes the Swiss machine she has from Bartschi-Fobro called a brush hoe (est
$6,000), which has an undercutter blade that is 5’ wide. It chops forward and then the potatoes
come up onto the shaker. It can be used with carrots also -- take the shaker off and undercut
to lift carrots up, come through by hand to pick them up. Weeds are a big problem with the
shaker. When the soil is very wet, the shaker is useless; though can still use the undercutter
part to get them up to the soil surface.

Ken says there is a potato digging machine that is similar to the one described by Ellen, but
this type equipment seems to be more expense than is necessary for the amount these
diversified growers are producing of potatoes and carrots.

Spaders

Cathy wants a spader, but it must deal with sudan grass and vetch.

Ellen says to use the Imants spader, she’ll need a flail mower to cut up cover crop well first.

Last year was Mark’s first full season using a 50” spader. He thinks he may have to layout his

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growing beds different because the spacing of the beds isn’t matching his equipment. He has
about 20% slope in his growing area. Currently everything is a step system of contoured
terraces. Right now he must be in the bed with the tractor tires, even with the tires set as wide
as they can go. He thinks that may be ok with the spader. But it won’t work with root crop
digging equipment He is considering tearing up terraces and rebedding on smaller beds. He
has very rocky soil.

Ken suggests he flatten the whole thing and create a uniform slope first. Chisel plow/tiller
(spring loaded) would likely be best for tearing up the beds. Throw up beds with something like
a pair of middle busters. They can throw a lot of dirt, but stones are a problem. May be best to
use a disk bedder.

Tim wants to know how to till a 20 acre field that is in a cover crop.

Alison says he can do it with a disc harrow.

Coolers

The more and better coolers you have the happier you’ll be. Takes stress out in big steps.
Adds flexibility and helps harvest planning.

Some use old beer trucks or old milk trucks for coolers.

Ken will be building more coolers to replace his milk truck. Milk truck is not efficient to run, plus
it leaks Freon, which is expensive to replace and bad for the environment. He doesn’t like
having to climb in and climb out of it. He needs more space. He plans to build one cooler for
flowers and one for veggies since they have different temp requirements. Expects to pay
$2000 for cooling system for one cooler.

Build a super insulated room. Use a compressor to cool. Or could use air conditioner with a
different thermostat. Can’t use an air conditioner to maintain things cooler than mid50s.
Insulated block coolers can be made from the same Hebel blocks Cathy used for her
greenhouse. It’s an aerated concrete block with R-30+ value. They are like light weight cinder
block, except solid. You can cut them with a handsaw. You can get it through concrete supply
company. They get mortared together with thinset mortar. Stucco finish is recommended --
inside and out. It cost $300 / pallet. A 27 x 16 greenhouse took 3 pallets. A neighbor’s 8x10
cooler took $500 in this kind of block. Hire a mason, so the job goes faster.

Ellen is totally low tech in cooler component. She has a cold cooler at farmstand that’s at
38degrees. Plus have air conditioned room for other stuff. She doesn’t want things too cold
cause will sweat when they come out. She doesn’t hold things long.

Ken must pick squash and cucs everyday and store in cooler. Optimum=45 degrees
Ellen doesn’t cool cucs below 60 degrees.

A new reach-in 5x7cooler costs $3500-5000.

Sometimes can find used coolers from restaurants, or walk-in coolers being removed from
grocery stores. Check on e-Bay or watch for companies going out of business, schools or
others refurbishing. Can get them for $200- $2,500. Can be expensive to move. Some have to
be disassembled.

Barr deals in refurbished coolers. They advertise in Growing for Market

Nicolas has a walk-in. He paid $4000 to purchase his used cooler and get it fully operational
--bringing power to the cooler site and setting it up. Maintenance is very important. Use acid
solution to really clean those fans. Finding one that doesn’t leak freon is well worth the money
because replacing the freon is so expensive.

A produce cooler is made for high humidity. Cooler designed for milk is not high humidity. Ken
hoses down walls in his milk truck to increase humidity.

Cathy greensprouts potatoes in “warmed” milk truck cooler. Ellen uses old fridge with light bulb
to sprout in greenhouse. Cathy uses an old refrigerator for seed. Alvin stores all seeds in

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operating freezers. Can buy in bulk (50lb bags) if you store them in freezer. Make sure seeds
are very dry before freezing.

Wiedigers store feed in nonfunctioning fridges and freezers

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