Every gardener and gardener wants to get the maximum amount of yield when growing potatoes. To do this, it is recommended to familiarize yourself with the features of hilling potatoes with a walk-behind tractor. Proper hilling of bushes will improve their growth and increase productivity several times.
Basic Rules
Before you begin, you should familiarize yourself with the basic rules for hilling. First, they determine why this procedure is carried out when growing potatoes. Cultivated plants need hilling, because thanks to this treatment:
- The tubers have much more space, which they will need for further development and growth. Thanks to this, root crops become larger and ripen faster.
- Hilled bushes are better protected from possible night frosts.
- The soil is more saturated with oxygen, which potato root crops need. If you do not hill up, there will be insufficient oxygen in the soil, which will cause the roots to stop developing and die.
- The land is completely cleared of dangerous weeds, which actively absorb useful components from the soil.
Having understood the main purposes of hilling potatoes with a cultivator, they determine how many times to carry out the procedure. Each vegetable grower independently determines the optimal amount of the procedure.
However, experienced gardeners advise doing this at least three times a season:
- the first time - after the appearance of the first shoots on the site;
- the second time - when the height of the bushes reaches 25 cm;
- the third time - 2-3 weeks after the previous weeding of the area.
Sometimes it is not necessary to loosen the soil three times. For example, on hot summer days you can refuse the second hilling. In this case, it is enough to simply loosen the soil between the rows.
Types of hillers
Loosening the soil is considered a long and labor-intensive process, on which some vegetable growers spend the whole day. Most often, so much time is spent processing the area with a regular hoe. To speed up the process of hilling potatoes, use a walk-behind tractor. With its help, it will take 2-3 hours to process the garden.
Before you start choosing a suitable device for loosening, you should familiarize yourself with their varieties in more detail. There are two main types of hillers that vegetable growers use most often when cultivating a plot.
Disk
Often, when hilling with a walk-behind tractor, they use disk-type models, since they are the most affordable. Externally, such devices look like a small frame to which two disks and two wheels are connected. In addition, the device includes:
- T-shaped leash;
- racks;
- two lanyards.
The racks from which disk models are made are used to change the distance between disks. This helps you independently adjust the width of the hiller. Turnbuckles are responsible for the angle of inclination and rotation of the disks, which allows you to adjust the depth of soil loosening.
plow-shaped
The second most popular hiller is the plow-shaped model, which is often used for loosening areas with potatoes. Before hilling potatoes with a walk-behind tractor, you should familiarize yourself with the main types of plow-shaped hillers:
- Double row. This variety allows you to immediately process the soil on two rows at once. When using a two-row model, pay attention to the plow, as it should be halfway into the soil.
- Single row. The device is practically no different from the two-row model. The main difference is that this model only processes one row.
Some people try to make a plow-shaped hiller with their own hands for hilling potatoes. However, a homemade product does not always loosen the soil well and therefore it is better to use ready-made devices.
How to spud?
Before hilling potatoes with a walk-behind tractor, you should understand the peculiarities of working with each hiller. Of course, the general principle of operation of each of them is very similar and practically no different. However, all the same, when hilling potatoes with a cultivator using various devices, there are some nuances that you need to familiarize yourself with in advance.
Disk
To use a disk-type hiller, it is attached to the back of the walk-behind tractor. To do this, the device is mounted on coupling brackets and bolts. When loosening the soil using a walk-behind tractor, the forward speed is reduced to increase traction. Therefore, experienced gardeners advise loosening the area only in first gear.
Before carrying out the first and second hilling of potatoes with a walk-behind tractor, attention is paid to its location in the beds. The walk-behind tractor is placed so that its wheels are between the rows and do not touch the potato bushes.
Double row plow
Double-row models are much more difficult to use as they are difficult to control. Before processing the area with a two-row hiller, the lugs connected to the walk-behind tractor are placed on special extensions. In this case, it is recommended to use lugs with a large diameter, as they are better suited for double-row hillers.
During the first and second hilling, the walk-behind tractor and hiller are placed so that the potato bushes are located under them, and adjacent rows are located on both sides. Using a two-row model, the row located under the walk-behind tractor will be completely hilled. Adjacent rows are processed halfway.
Single row plow
If potatoes are hilled using a walk-behind tractor with a single-row hiller, it is not necessary to use lugs. Many people use small rubber wheels instead. Before using rubber wheels, you will have to independently establish a small distance between them. When adjusting the distance, you should take into account the width of the row so that the wheels do not touch the bushes when hilling.
When using a plow-shaped single-row hiller, you will have to walk along each row to cover the bushes more thoroughly with soil.
Advantages
Hilling is popular among many gardeners and this is not surprising, since this procedure has many advantages. The main advantages of hilling potato beds with a walk-behind tractor include:
- quick cleaning of the garden from weeds that impair the growth and development of potato bushes;
- ease of procedure, so you don’t need to spend a lot of energy;
- improving the growth of potato bushes and their root crops;
- enriching the soil with moisture and nutrients;
- protection of young tubers from dangerous parasites;
- reducing the likelihood of damage to ripe tubers by sunlight.
Having familiarized yourself with the main advantages of loosening the soil, we can conclude that you need to hill up potatoes with a walk-behind tractor regularly throughout the season.
Conclusion
Almost every gardener who likes to grow vegetables in his garden is involved in growing potatoes. Before planting potatoes, it is recommended to familiarize yourself with the peculiarities of soil hilling. Properly loosened soil will not only enrich it with useful components, but also improve productivity.
