It is worth noting that planting potatoes in a garden or field is not an easy task. To make this task easier and to plant potatoes faster, you can use a walk-behind tractor. A device for planting potatoes - a potato planter - is already adapted to the walk-behind tractor. You will notice that creating such a device is not difficult. The device will operate entirely with human participation, but only in control.

The potato planter facilitates the process of planting potatoes on the site. When planting, the potatoes will be evenly distributed among the holes. This means that the amount of harvest can be significantly increased. Today we’ll tell you how to make a potato planter with your own hands.

In order to make an automatic potato planter, you need to find channels that are size eight. A potato hopper is installed on the frame, which can hold up to 20 kilograms of potatoes. An elevator is installed in the bunker, where bowls up to 8 centimeters in size will be installed.

There is another potato planter, which will be a little more complex in design, but more interesting in terms of assembly. The main task of the device being developed is to plant potatoes at the same distance from each other and at the same depth. The device can be single-row, double-row or three-row. It all depends on what frame is used when assembling the potato planter.

Setting up a homemade potato planter

It is noteworthy that homemade potato planters for a walk-behind tractor are best used on soil that has been previously treated. In this case, the potatoes will be planted evenly, and the result of the work will be reflected in the crop yield.

Such equipment for a walk-behind tractor can be used not only in a small garden, but also in a large field. In addition, when converting the machine, you can plant not only potatoes, but also other crops.

Video 2: planting potatoes with a walk-behind tractor and potato planter

Of course, before creating a potato planter you will need a drawing on paper. The frame is taken as the basis. All nodes will be attached to it. The frame is welded from channels, as well as from transverse steel strips.

The arch is welded to the front of the side members. The fork for the central link and fasteners for the lower link are welded. Plate supports are attached to the side of the frame.

The frame is reinforced with steel strips. In order to assemble the potato bin, you need to use plywood 1.5 centimeters thick. The parts are cut out, and then the structure is fastened using corners. After everything is ready, the bin is painted and also covered with rubber on the inside so that the potatoes are not damaged during planting. You can also use the inner tank from an old washing machine (see photo)

The resulting frame is attached to the ripper, as well as the wheel axle. Once all the work is done, the pins must be welded. The wheel axle is secured using steel clamps.

Several steel sheets are used for the wheels of the potato planter. Of course, you will have to tinker a little, but the result is worth it. The wheels will resemble cylinders that do not crush the soil much, but you can also use small-radius auto wheels (see photo).

The wheels will have two hubs. They each have one bearing. To prevent the bearings from becoming dirty, they are mounted on spikes and felt gaskets are used. But you don’t have to worry about making wheels at all - just buy wheels from another agricultural machine. A square rod is used to make the ripper holder. Clips are welded from sheet steel to the ends of the rod. The cultivator tine stands are mounted inside them.

Cast iron or steel pipe will be used for potato planter seeder. Its thickness should be chosen to be any, the main thing is that the diameter is at least ten centimeters. A device is welded to the bottom of the pipe that will make grooves.

Once the furrow cutters are adjusted, be sure to tighten the stepladders tightly. In the future, the soil will put heavy loads on the seed tubes and they may not turn around.

Note that the device for planting potatoes will have a lot of weight. Therefore, before installing it on the walk-behind tractor, it is necessary to install a counterweight. Thus, the unit will not turn over in the opposite direction from the potato planter. There must be a seat and legroom for the operator. The easiest way to make a seat for this is to simply connect two corners and then attach boards upholstered in artificial leather and soft materials.

The operating principle of the resulting device is simple. Potatoes are poured into the hopper. In order not to run across the field for potatoes every time, you can put another bag on the car with you.

Then one person begins to operate the walk-behind tractor, and the other – the potato planter. The movement of the walk-behind tractor is no more than one kilometer per hour. The sower gradually begins to place one tuber at a time into the seed tube. This is how the landing procedure goes (see video 2).

There is no need to manually fill up the planted potatoes, as special backfill discs are made. They are designed in such a way that they stand at a certain angle to the furrow.

The faster the walk-behind tractor goes, the greater the distance between the planted potato bushes. It all depends on the land on which the potatoes are planted. The discs can be adjusted absolutely perfectly.

Using a potato planter greatly simplifies the work of a gardener. The problem is that such a device is used only once a year, and the cost of factory models is significant. The only way out for zealous owners is to make a potato planter with your own hands from scrap materials or decommissioned equipment. We will look at drawings, drawings and diagrams of the three most popular types: manual, for a walk-behind tractor and a mini-tractor.

Manual potato planter

The scope of application of a manual potato planter is small summer cottages, since some physical effort is still required. The easiest circuit to make.

Manufacturing process

In the drawing, the structure is represented by a handle made of a metal pipe, onto which a tip-base and a 20-centimeter limit bar are fixed by welding. The latter also serves as a foot rest. The tip can not be collected separately, but cut at an angle to obtain a pointed edge that easily penetrates the soil.

The container for tubers is fixed on the outside of the tip with two bolts, then a container and a push rod are attached to it. At the upper end of the device, a holder is formed with a movable handle and a coupling, which will control the pusher and bracket, as a result the tuber will fall exactly into the planting location.

How to use

Work algorithm:

1. Fill the container with planting material.
2. Install the device at the desired location on the soil surface.
3. Press the limit bar with your foot and drive the blades into the soil.
4. By tilting the handle of the tool towards you and away from you, create free space for the tuber, which falls into the desired place by pressing the handle of the device. Next, remove the tip of the potato planter from the ground.
5. Repeat the process again for a new tuber.

Potato planter for walk-behind tractor

Automated potato planters use different types of designs. They are:

• Spoon-shaped Peculiar spoons are attached to a conveyor-type belt or belt, which forms a wide row spacing and, simultaneously with planting potatoes, can be used to treat the soil with fertilizers or other means. Thanks to spoons, there are practically no gaps in planting tubers.
• Belt. Tubers are planted using belts with indentations. The main advantage of the flat-belt design is the careful handling of club plants, which, even when sprouted, are practically not damaged.
• Spinning structures are used for sowing chopped potatoes.

Manufacturing process

The principle of operation of the mechanism is simple. The device consists of the following parts:

1 – conveyor for feeding potatoes. In this situation, it is a chain with spoon-like grips placed at an equal distance from each other. This distance determines the landing interval. The tubers come from the hopper (5) and fall into the furrow. The furrow is made with a bipod plow (4). The entire structure is mounted on a frame (3), on which an additional hopper (2), suitable for applying fertilizers, can be installed. The frame is connected to the walk-behind tractor using a special device. The conveyor itself rotates by drive wheels (6), equipped with special devices for coupling with the ground. The tubers are covered with soil and hilled using a pair of discs (7).

To make a two-row device, you need a channel (square pipe) number 8. To connect the structural elements, you will need a steel angle and bolts.

Rubber wheels for potato planters are not the best option due to possible slippage. It is advisable to use metal wheels made of bent metal profiles with a width of at least 15 mm, onto which special transverse strips are welded for grip on the ground. Knitting needles can be made from any steel strips or pipes. The bushing is connected to the drive axle by welding.

Sprockets and chains from a conveyor or combine are required (a chain from a bicycle or motorcycle will not work - it will break). Spoon-shaped grips can be welded from a steel rod and secured to the chain links by welding.

Bipod-ploughs are made from a corner and a steel strip, and it is better to take ready-made discs for hilling - from decommissioned agricultural machinery. In the entire design of the potato planter, it is the discs that are a very important element: it is thanks to them that the potato bed turns out neat, and the tubers are not buried more than necessary.

Homemade potato planter for mini tractor

Single-row and double-row potato planters work with mini-tractors with a power of 18-25 horsepower. In the classic version, a potato planter for a tractor consists of a hopper for tubers, a frame, a bipod-plow for digging a furrow, conveyor-type fasteners for capturing tubers and discs for sealing the furrow.

Work algorithm:

1. The plow bipod forms the furrow.
2. The conveyor guides take the tuber out of the hopper and throw it into the furrow.
3. The discs fill the grooves.

Depending on the power of the existing tractor and the volume of planting work, the potato planter can be made either single-row or double-row.

Manufacturing

They start by installing a frame made from size 8 channel. Spars with cross members are attached to the frame to form a frame.

Then, in front of the frame, fasteners are installed by welding to connect to the mini-tractor and metal elements are welded to the side members to secure the bunker. A plow coulter and a wheel axle are mounted at the bottom of the frame.

The bunker container for potatoes is cut out of plywood and connected with metal corners. To prevent damage to the potatoes, it is advisable to line the bin with soft material.

In principle, any container can become a hopper, for example, a tank from an old washing machine.

The wheels of the potato planter should be wide so as not to create excessive load on the soil. Some country craftsmen advise making wheels from old gas cylinders, cut crosswise, and with metal strips welded to the outside for better traction with the soil.

The seeder is a metal pipe with a diameter of 10 cm, cut to height.

For a potato planter paired with a mini-tractor, it is advisable to provide a place for an assistant who will monitor the process.

Convenient design for planting potatoes

That’s why, in order to somehow improve the planting process and at the same time save energy and time, I offer an improved manual potato planter (Fig. 1). At first I made it from wood, but later I made it from metal. The design is very simple, practical and easy to use.

The potato planter consists of three quadrangular pyramid-fangs 1, which are attached with bolts (or by welding) to the transverse rail 2 at a distance “a”. Distance “a” is the distance between the rows of potatoes, and everyone chooses it themselves. For me it is 400 mm.

Then an L-shaped wire or plate 3 is attached to the transverse rail 2 (on either side) so that its length “b” is equal to the distance “a”. Tubes 4 with a diameter of half an inch to a height “H” are attached to the transverse rail 2 perpendicular to its plane. The height “H” is determined so that it is convenient to work with the potato planter while standing. A jumper 5 is made on top of the tubes 4, so that when the fangs 1 are buried in the ground, the palms of the hands of a standing worker in the lowered state are on the jumper 5.

The length of fangs 1 should not be too long. After all, it is known that potatoes need to be planted at a certain depth. Because first the roots grow, and then on top of the roots there are stolons, on which the tubers themselves are formed. My canine length is 200 mm, and the base of the canine pyramid is 120x120 mm, which I chose experimentally. Tubers have different sizes, which is especially important when planting large ones. I cut large potatoes into several parts.

Working with soil

This is how I prepare the soil before my garden is plowed with a tractor in the spring. In the summer, after hilling the potatoes, I fill all the hollows with mown grass, leaves, garden debris, etc. Then, just before harvesting, I buy oats and barley at the market, mix them in equal parts and generously sprinkle the soil over the unharvested potatoes with this mixture.

Then I start cleaning. At the same time, the earth partially covers the grains of oats and barley, so they sprout and grow until the end of autumn in a continuous carpet. The garden goes into winter with green manure.

Preparing to plant potatoes

I plant in a plowed field using a tractor. The plow has a skimmer, so all green manure is plowed to the very depth of the furrows. Next, we determine the place on the plowed soil where we will plant potatoes (Fig. 2). Now we take a potato planter, go to the edge of the plowed field and use it to determine how many rows there will be for planting potatoes in a bed of width “A”.

This is done as follows. We retreat from the left or right edge to a distance of “d” and place the potato planter in such a way that the fang of pyramid 1 is at a distance of “d”. Then we step on crossbar 2 (Fig. 1) with our foot and press all three fangs into the ground to their full depth. As a result, we get three depressions at once, after which we raise the potato planter, i.e. we take it out of the three pyramidal holes made in the ground. We will subsequently place the prepared planting material into these holes.

Now we move the potato planter to a distance “b” equal to the distance “a” between fangs 1. Again we press the crossbar 2 with our foot and again we get three holes in the ground. We perform this operation over the entire width of the seed bed. As a result of the markings (Fig. 2), we got nine rows. All preparatory operations have been completed, and now you can begin the planting itself.

It is very important that all three pyramidal quadrangular pyramids-fangs 1 are attached to the crossbar 2, as shown in Fig. 3: one of the diagonals of the plate of fang 1 should be directed perpendicular to plate 2. This is very important, because we are making three holes at the same time, and so that when extracting the fangs the earth does not crumble into the holes made, we perform the following movements. When the fangs are in the ground, it is necessary to use the jumper 5 to move towards and away from you. These movements are performed by the sharp edges of Nick's fangs. At the same time, the soil is compacted and does not crumble into the holes made.

Planting potatoes with a homemade potato planter

The potato planting itself is done as follows. We collect the potatoes prepared for planting into a bucket, then dig holes in the ground using fangs, starting from one end of the bed (Fig. 4). To do this, lift the potato planter above the ground and sharply lower it into the ground at a distance “d” into the previously marked holes. Then we step on bar 2 with our foot and press in the fangs! into the ground so that bar 2 rests on the ground. When planting potatoes, your feet should be in the space between the holes.

Then, using jumper 5, made of a pipe, we make movements towards ourselves and away from ourselves. We take out the entire structure and rearrange it forward at a distance “c”, equal to the distance between the potato bushes, which everyone chooses for themselves. Then we take the potatoes from the bucket and throw them into the holes. This is if a person plants potatoes alone, and if there are two people, then one makes the holes, and the second follows and puts the tubers in the holes, while labor productivity doubles.

When making holes along the entire length of the field (bed), take the potato planter, turn it 180°, while the L-shaped plate (wire) 3 with its L-shaped end should be opposite the extreme right (left) hole made earlier. Plate (wire) 3 is designed so that the distance “in” can always be maintained. After which we again begin to make holes in the opposite direction, and we carry out this operation until the potatoes are completely planted in the entire garden.

The next operation is filling the holes with soil. To do this, take a rake and fill the holes throughout the entire area of ​​planted potatoes. All! The potatoes are planted.

I would like to immediately reassure those readers who begin to fear that potatoes planted in compacted holes and then covered with soil may not sprout. I can say with confidence that potatoes always sprout well and bear fruit well.

The advantages of planting potatoes this way.

1. Speed ​​and convenience.
2. There is no need to dig holes with a shovel, bending down each time.
3. All work is performed in a standing position.
4. Sprouted potatoes with long eyes can be easily lowered into the holes without breaking off the sprouts.

Drawings of a potato planter for making your own

Another DIY potato planter design

I have had two spinal surgeries and know what pain is. Therefore, I try to make my work at the dacha as easy as possible. I have tested many potato planters invented by gardeners, but they all have drawbacks. I offer my option

The design is shown in two photographs, but I’ll explain anyway. I take the lower part from an old sprayer. It has the shape of a triangle; a tube with a crossbar or a wooden handle with a crossbar is attached to it.

A bracket with a hole is welded to the lower supporting part. A working element in the form of a tulip is attached to the bracket through a long bolt. I used a metal shade from a Soviet lamp 15-20 cm long, depending on the desired planting depth. For example, for stationary meter-long beds, a deep planting of 20-25 cm is required, since there is not enough land for hilling. In a regular garden, 15 cm is enough.

The diameter of the landing device is 8-10 cm at the bottom, and 15-20 cm at the top.

If there is no lampshade, the working element can be machined from wood or take a set of washers made of rubber or plastic, place it on the bolt and secure it to the bracket with a wrench.

The height of the planter should be at the level of the middle of the abdomen, then you won’t have to raise your arms high, which means you won’t get tired.

The operating procedure is as follows: we pull the marking rope, place the planter opposite the marking, press the base with our foot, pull out the foot and turn the planter by the crossbar. A depression is formed with clear boundaries of sufficient depth. Only the bottom will be dense, the sides remain loose, which is easy to check with your hand. Next, we plant potatoes, sprinkle humus on top, sprinkle ash with the drug “Provotox” on it (it will protect the potatoes from wireworms), boric acid and azofoska, and again sprinkle with earth.

This description is long, but planting is very fast.

1 PC. A3-A5 LED Luminous Drawing Graffiti Drawing Board...

In our country, many families traditionally have private farming. For many people, this is not just a way to get healthy and tasty food at minimal cost, but also a good option for earning extra income.

Even residents of large cities, with the arrival of spring, go out to their plots of land and begin cultivating their gardens. One of the most popular crops, of course, is potatoes. Potatoes are tasty and nutritious, but planting them is a labor-intensive process that requires significant physical effort.

But small gardens still require heavy manual labor, just like centuries ago. Digging up and planting potatoes manually on a plot of, for example, ten acres requires the gardener to shovel almost 15 tons of soil. Such “exercises” are not for everyone.

Therefore, many try, where possible, to simplify their work by using various methods of mechanization and facilitating the planting process. One of the simplest devices for manual mechanization of the process of planting potatoes is a homemade manual potato planter.

With the help of this simple device, which, by the way, anyone can make for themselves, gardeners in all corners of our country every spring simplify the process of planting potatoes and save energy for other equally important garden tasks.

In our article we will try to describe the structure of a manual potato planter, tell you what it is made of and how to make it, and give some tips on how best to use it.

For more information about a homemade manual potato planter, watch the video:

Having asked yourself the question: how to make a manual potato planter with your own hands, you must first of all look at its diagram. You can easily find drawings of a potato planter on the Internet. They show that the design of the potato planter is essentially a hollow pipe with an open top and a sliding valve at the bottom.

The lower end of the pipe is cut with a bevel so that a handle pointed at the bottom is formed, and the entire structure can easily enter the ground.

A sliding valve is attached to the beveled lower edge, which opens at the moment when the device with a potato tuber inside is stuck into the ground to the required depth.

To ensure that the potato planter sticks in at the same desired depth all the time, a flat stop is welded at some distance from the bottom edge. With its help, it is convenient to stick the potato planter into the ground, pressing on it with your foot. The top edge of the potato planter is open.

You can attach a container to it for a small number of potato tubers for planting and a simple dispenser for directing them one by one towards the bottom of our device.

Necessary materials

You can either purchase a snow blower, such as a Honda snow blower.

Or try to do it yourself. In this article you will find drawings of a snow blower for a walk-behind tractor.

How to do it yourself

How to quickly and easily make a manual potato planter with your own hands. When all the materials are prepared and collected in one place, we take our pipe and use a grinder to cut off the lower part with a bevel so that a certain point is formed downwards.

We cut out the valve cover so that it covers the hole formed at the bottom of the pipe with a margin. Attach the hinge (loop) to the pipe body. We attach our valve cover to the hinge. At a distance of 20-30 cm from the bottom, we weld the footrest to the pipe.

It is best to make its length equal to the distance between the bushes of future potatoes. In this case, during the planting process, the end of the step will rest against the ground where the next tuber needs to be planted. On top of our pipe we attach handles for ease of use and a basket for potato tubers.

You don’t have to use a basket, but then you’ll have to carry a bucket of planting material with you everywhere and constantly bend down to take one potato for each hole. The basket should not be too large and bulky.

A huge basket will complicate the planting process and will interfere with the gardener when manipulating the device. And carrying a lot of heavy potatoes everywhere is also not very fun.

The size of the basket is selected individually, so that it is convenient to use the potato planter, and you do not have to add a new portion of potato tubers very often.

Fastening the footrest, handles and valve is best done by welding. Fastening structural elements with bolts or self-tapping screws may be no less strong, but in those places where their ends stick out inside the body, obstacles will form for the passage of potato tubers.

Before assembling the entire structure, make sure that the total weight of all elements will not pose a problem for you during operation.

The device should not be too heavy, otherwise you risk not making your work easier by slightly mechanizing and speeding up the process of planting potatoes, but on the contrary, complicating your life by moving a non-lifting device.

At the same time, the pipe body must be strong enough to withstand many cycles of inserting and removing the device from the ground. Depending on the preferences of a particular designer, individual design elements of a manual potato planter can be made in different ways.

So, for example, the valve can be made not folding, but sliding. Also, as a rule, everyone has a different design of baskets for planting material and the method of feeding potato tubers into the supply pipe.

Some equip the valve mechanism with an additional hook so that you can reliably control the process of opening and closing with your foot. This is, of course, the simplest and most primitive agricultural tool. However, this is where its beauty lies.

Anyone can make a potato planter; the material for this will probably be found in any household, and the efficiency of the device is very impressive.

Separately, I would like to talk about another design of a homemade apparatus for planting potatoes. This is a two-wheeled cart, on top of which there is a box for tubers prepared for planting.

In the lower part, between two running wheels, there is a device for uniform feeding of potatoes into a pre-prepared furrow. Such a cart rides over the furrow and, while moving, lays out potato tubers at regular intervals.

A shield covering the furrow can be located behind such a device, but in this case, moving the cart will require more effort, or the help of a second person.

Such a device can hardly be called a manual potato planter, but it is also a simple home-made unit that can collect any old and unnecessary items.

Some craftsmen make a potato planter from ordinary one-wheeled wheelbarrows. To do this, a hole is made in the bottom of the wheelbarrow trough, into which one potato can freely pass, and in the wheel, the top point of which is located just under this hole, recesses are made at regular intervals.

When moving the wheelbarrow, potato tubers fall into the recesses on the wheel and with the movement of the wheel they move down into the prepared furrow. To prevent the tubers from falling out along the way, there is a protective wing in front of the wheel.

Shovel-harvester

Another design used for planting potatoes is called a harvester shovel. These are two handles that can move closer and further away from each other, opening and closing a cone-shaped container into which potatoes are placed for planting.

When closed, the container is stuck into the ground, after which the handles are brought together, the container opens and the potato tuber ends up in the ground. It’s convenient, but you have to bend down and put one potato into the cone each time.

As you can see, people have come up with many convenient and practical devices that make life easier for gardeners. Some of them can be called successful, some not so much, but they all help and, with varying degrees of success, replace the classic shovel.

User manual

Using such a device for planting potatoes is not difficult. The potato planter is inserted into the ground at the selected location and, by pressing the foot on the footplate at a slight angle, is buried to the required depth.

A potato tuber prepared for planting is fed into the device. After this, using the handles, the body of the potato planter is tilted in such a direction that the valve at the bottom of the device can open and the potatoes fall into the ground. After this, the device is removed, and the potatoes remain in the ground.

The operation cycle of the potato planter can be repeated again. With the correct organization of the process, in 1-2 hours of not very difficult work you can manage to sow an area of ​​10 acres or more. This device is especially convenient because when using it you do not need to constantly bend over.

People with bad backs appreciated the convenience and efficiency of using a manual potato planter. The entire work process takes place in a straight position, the potato tubers are also on top, in the basket, and there is no need to bend down for each new potato.

When using the device, you need to get used to inserting it into the ground so that the outlet valve does not open. If you hold the valve side down, it will open simply under the influence of gravity.

Therefore, before feeding new potatoes into the potato planter pipe, you need to ensure that the valve is turned with the lid up.

Conclusion

As you can see, a manual potato planter is not a complicated device at all, either to manufacture or to operate. The materials for its manufacture will probably be found in any owner’s barn. The only difficulty in its manufacture, for some, may be the need to use welding.

But this issue is not difficult to solve, especially since anyone can master welding skills at a level sufficient to create simple welding seams, and modern welding machines (meaning inverter-type welding machines) do not require any specific complex skills from the operator to working with them.

As a last resort, you can always turn to a welder you know for help.

Using the potato planter is very simple. It is especially effective to use it on a potato field that has been previously plowed, say with the help of a walk-behind tractor (for example, Niva), or a mini tractor (for example, Belarus). With its help, you can plant potatoes quite quickly and without much effort over a large area, saving your energy and time.

The advantages provided by the potato planter are facilitating and speeding up the planting process, maintaining the same depth when planting tubers. We hope that you found this article interesting and helped you in designing and creating a manual potato planter.

Trailed double-row potato planter

Gardeners know well that the main thing when planting potatoes is the uniform supply of tubers to a certain depth with even incorporation of the soil. Row rowing, seeding depth and seeding can be easily managed with the help of simple mechanical devices - furrow cutters, seed hoses and closing discs.

The number one unit in any planter or seeder is the sowing apparatus, which ensures uniform (according to the norm) planting of tubers or seeds. Of course, an amateur gardener cannot make a complex mechanism. And inventive potato growers found a way out.

The principle of operation of a homemade product is as follows. Several bags of potatoes are poured into the bunker, and two or three more bags are placed on the trunk as a reserve. The seeder sits down on workplace, the driver engages first gear, and the mini-tractor begins to move slowly. Furrow cutters, adjusted to a given depth, form two even furrows, into the bottom of which the seeder rhythmically throws potato tubers through the seed tubes.

The gap between tubers depends on the speed of the mini-tractor, which should not exceed 1 km/h, and the rhythm of the seeder’s hands. The necessary skills develop quickly, and soon the seeder is completely in the rhythm of work. The work, of course, requires a certain skill, because you need to have time to simultaneously take a potato with both hands, bring it to the seed tubes, and throw them there. And so many times, in the same rhythm, with the same amplitude of movement, otherwise the distances between the tubers in the row will be unequal.

After the tubers fall into the furrow, they must be covered with earth. For this purpose, the planter is equipped with closing discs. Since they are located at an angle to the furrows, rotating from friction with the soil, they shift part of the earth towards the furrows and close them.
The closing discs are designed in such a way that by loosening the stepladders that press the posts to the supports, you can change not only the degree of penetration of the discs into the soil, but also the angle of their attack by turning the posts around their own axis.

There is a third adjustment - by moving the disks in one direction or another along the axes on which they rotate. To do this, adjusting bushings are used (four per axle): by rearranging the bushings, you can change the grip width of the disks. By combining the three mentioned adjustments depending on the soil structure, it is possible to achieve almost perfect performance of the closing discs.

So, the tubers are laid at a given depth, at the required distance from each other, and evenly covered with soil. However, another operation is required. It is necessary to remove the marks left by the wheels of the tractor and potato planter. They are removed by rippers - cultivator tines on stands. The depth of the paws into the soil is also regulated by vertical movement of the posts and fixing them in the clips with through fingers.

In addition to “sweeping” tracks, rippers perform another function - they serve as markers that help the tractor driver navigate the next (return) pass of the mini-tractor. It must be taken into account that the distance between adjacent rows in the aisles may differ from 600 mm upward, but not less, otherwise during subsequent inter-row processing, the potato bushes in these rows will be pruned by the working parts of the cultivator or hiller.

Planter design.

The frame, as in any car, serves as the basis to which all other components are attached. For the most part, it is welded from sections of channel No. 8. The structure of the frame is simple: two longitudinal spars connected by three cross members.

At the front, an arch with a fork for fastening to the central link and two fastening pins to the lower links of the tractor hitch are welded to the side members; on the side, on both sides, there are plate supports for the seed tubes and the racks of the closing discs; at the rear there are three trunk flooring boards.

The frame is reinforced by two inclined braces made of strip steel, extending from the arch to the middle crossbar, two trapezoidal overlays on the arch and many gussets made of 4 mm thick steel sheet in the form of right triangles, the length of the legs varies from 40 to 80 mm.

In addition, seatpost supports made from a 50x50x5 mm angle and footrests made from a 6-mm steel sheet are attached to the side members, the location of which on the frame is determined depending on the height of the seeder. Based on his height, the height of the seatpost legs is also selected. The seat itself is made from a corner 50x50x5 mm (frame), boards (bottom) and foam rubber covered with leatherette (cushion).

A plate bracket is welded to the inclined braces, to which a hopper of planting material (potato tubers) with a volume of 0.17 m3 is attached with two M10 bolts. The bunker is made of 12 mm thick plywood sheets, coated with drying oil and then with waterproof paint. The wheel axle and ripper holder are bolted to the bottom of the frame.

Wheel axle. Its base is a thick-walled pipe, into the ends of which axles, or tenons, turned on a lathe, are inserted. The spikes are held in the pipe by steel pins, which are pressed into radial holes drilled after assembly. The pin heads are welded.

The wheels are welded from several sheet parts. Their manufacture is a rather labor-intensive process, but it is justified by the fact that the wide cylindrical surface of the wheels compacts the soil less. However, it is also possible to use suitable rubber wheels from agricultural machines.

Hubs are welded to the wheels, each of which rotates on two 205 bearings mounted on spikes. The bearings are protected from contamination by covers and felt gaskets. The axle is attached to the frame of the potato planter with four M16 bolts using two clamps made of steel sheet.

The ripper holder, on the other hand, is quite simple. This is a rod with clips at the ends into which the cultivator tine stands are inserted. The square rod is welded from two pieces of angle 50x50x5 mm (the resulting profile resists torsion - its main working load - much better than a regular “square”, although the latter is more technologically advanced), and the clips are made from pieces of sheet steel 6 mm thick. The dimensions of the clips are selected so that the cultivator tine stands fit into them with millimeter gaps.

Seeders also do not require special expenses. Each of them consists of a seed tube - a pipe with a diameter of 100 mm, to which a furrow cutter made of 6 mm sheet steel is welded at the bottom. The thickness of the pipe wall is 3 mm (it cannot be less - a thin-walled one will bend under the pressure of resisting soil). The degree of penetration of the furrow cutters with weakened stepladders is regulated by the vertical movement of the seed tubes along their supports on the frame.

After adjustment, the stepladders should be tightened very tightly, otherwise the seed ducts will turn around their axis - the load on the furrow cutters is still significant.

The closing discs were taken from the SO-4.2 seeder. They require little modification, since they have only one 203 bearing. You just need to grind the hub of each disk to the required size and press a housing into it, which is already designed for two bearings. The new bearings have the same seating dimensions as the old ones (except perhaps a little wider), but are sealed on one side, which is why they are preferred. By installing the bearings with the seals facing outwards, we obtain a unit completely isolated from dirt and dust.

This potato planter is quite a massive machine. It will be quite difficult for a mini-tractor with an engine from, say, an Ant scooter and weighing 300-500 kg to pull it, but a larger and more powerful tractor will be quite capable. For example, a mini-tractor equipped with a UD-2 engine, together with a driver, ballast weights on the rear wheels and a counterweight at the front, weighs about 850 kg, and it works together with the planter without any effort. And a counterweight is necessary so that when lifting the planter, the tractor remains stable and does not “turn up its nose.”

Wheelbarrow potato planter.

A simpler version of the potato planter is a one-wheeled wheelbarrow, but with an unusual wheel (Fig. 18). It consists of three parts - two external metal disks with lug teeth bent outward and a middle part cut from a 60 mm thick board. Four semicircular grooves are selected along the periphery of the wooden disk. The dimensions of each of them should be such that it can accommodate the largest of the potatoes prepared for planting.

A hopper is placed above the landing wheel. It can be made from plywood about 10 mm thick, or you can even adapt a plastic bucket by cutting a hole in its bottom to match the cavities in the wheel.

The front part of the wheel is covered with a shield that prevents the tuber from falling out of the wheel cavity before it is combined with the ground. To prevent damage to the planting material, the bottom of the bunker is lined with a rubber band.

Marker for planting potatoes.

A marker for planting potatoes (Fig. 19) will be useful for those who plant unsprouted potatoes in furrows prepared by a plow. Its use will greatly facilitate the work of the planter and help maintain the required distance and depth of planting seeds.

There is no particular difficulty in making the device. The most important thing is to choose lightweight and durable materials. For a bent marker stick, you can use a duralumin stick (you can use a ski stick), and as a conductor tube, you can use a polyethylene tube with a diameter of 8-10 cm and a length of 1-1.5 m.

Manufacturing procedure:

1. Take a duralumin (or other light) tube, light fittings 2 m 10 cm long.
2. Bend it at the bottom at a distance of 60-70 cm.
3. Drill holes for attaching the tube.
4. Cut off the polyethylene conductor tube.
5. Attach the tube to the stick using bolts and nuts.
6. Apply divisions on the curved end (marker).
7. Mark divisions in height.
8. Install the limiter (bolt with wing nut).

Hand shovel-harvester.

Using this simple device, you can plant potatoes and sow grains or seeds of peas, beans, corn, and sunflowers at an equal distance without getting tired.

In order to plant, for example, potatoes, you need to dig a hole with a shovel, bend down, lower the tuber and cover it with soil. The proposed device allows you to combine all these operations.

Two triangular blades are welded to the two tubular handles from below, which when closed form something like a beak. When the blades are closed, you can press them like a shovel, deepen them into the ground, and then lower the tuber into the “beak.”

The next stage is bringing the handles closer together. At the same time, the blades open, the tuber falls between them and is covered with collapsing earth when the device is pulled out of the soil (Fig. 20).

The device of a shovel-harvester. The two handles are connected to each other in such a way that they can move closer together. One of the handles has a complex shape - it is an elbow welded from three sections of pipe and closed with a stopper. The upper segment serves as a kind of bunker for the tuber.

A dosing and sowing device is placed in a horizontal section of the pipe - a wooden piston that moves inside the pipe. When the handles are brought together, the piston moves, the hole drilled in it is installed just above the down tube. The tuber that finds itself in the hole at this moment falls through the lower pipe into the ground. This happens precisely when the blades are deepened.

When the handles move apart, the piston, under the action of a spring, returns to its old place, the next tuber ends up in its receiving hole. Now you need to move the device to the required distance - and everything repeats from the beginning.

To maintain an equal distance between the nests during planting, a movable wooden cone mounted on a threaded rod is used. The distance from the cone to the center of the blades corresponds to the landing intervals. As the blades deepen into the ground, the handles bend slightly forward. The cone makes a mark on the soil where the blades will go in the next step. This distance is adjusted by moving the cone.

Potato sorter.

Before storing potatoes for winter storage, thrifty owners certainly sort them, separating small tubers for livestock or processing them into starch. A potato sorter allows you to mechanize this work.

This device consists of two paired rod cylinders, a loading hopper, pitched rod grates for various potato fractions, a manual drive and a frame. The base of each cylinder is made of wooden hoops with crosspieces. The hoops consist of individual elements connected to each other and to a cross with spikes and steel spacers. To prevent mechanical damage to potatoes during sorting, the crosspieces are made of a round shape.

Wooden rods with a diameter of 15-16 mm and a length of 650-700 mm are attached to the inside of the hoops. They are made of durable wood and attached to the hoops using flexible metal tape and screws. Recesses are made in the hoops for storing the rods.

The distance between the cylinder rods for small-fraction potatoes is approximately 30-35 mm, and for medium-sized potatoes - 40-50 mm. Inner diameter - at least 700 mm.

The cylinders are connected with bolts. Depending on the size of the cylinders, the appropriate frame dimensions are selected. The frame can be made of wooden blocks with a section of 60x60 mm or angle steel 35x35x4 mm. During operation, the cylinders are set at an angle of 8-10°.

The potato sorter separates the tubers into three fractions: small, medium and large. Small and medium potatoes are sequentially sifted through the first and second rod cylinders, and large ones are sent to the exit. The earth and small impurities are separated through the sloping grates.