Potato cultivation machines - features of agricultural machinery

In small household plots, manual labor is used to grow potatoes. Cultivating land for planting, caring for crops and harvesting crops are labor-intensive activities. Cultivation of potatoes in large areas is impossible without agricultural machinery.

What is the name of the potato growing machine

To cultivate crops on large fields, you cannot do without a tractor or mini-tractor. Various mechanisms are mounted to the tractor, designed for a certain type of agricultural work.

Required set of equipment:

• tractor or mini-tractor;
• attachments that allow you to perform all types of work at all stages of crop cultivation.

If there is no tractor, fields up to 10 hectares are cultivated using a walk-behind tractor, which is controlled by a person holding the handles.

Technique for growing potatoes

Using trailed agricultural machinery, vegetable growers carry out the entire scope of work in potato fields: from planting to harvesting.

The potato attachment kit contains:

• reversible plow;
• bed former (cultivator);
• disc harrow;
• hedgehog;
• potato planter;
• device for inter-row processing;
• potato digger;
• harvester for harvesting.

Instead of a cultivator, disc harrow and bed former, one universal mechanism is often used - a hedgehog. It loosens the soil, weeds and spud potatoes.

For planting

The work takes place in several stages:

1. First the field is plowed... For this, a plow is hooked to the tractor. To increase productivity, from 2 to 6 mechanisms are installed on the frame, then the width of the plowed strip will increase.
2. The soil is loosened using a mounted cultivator or harrow. A universal hedgehog is often used, on which discs are installed, inclined at an angle, with spikes of different sizes. As it moves, the device loosens the soil and forms furrows for planting potatoes. To increase productivity, several hedgehogs are attached to the frame.
3. Plant tubers with mounted potato planters. It is a trailer with a seed container. The shaking mechanism feeds the tubers into spoons, from there, through the openers, they fall into the ground and buried in discs, while fertilizing is simultaneously applied. To increase productivity and sow large areas, a four-row potato planter is used, it is easy to use and durable. For 1 hour of work, a single-row planter sows 0.4 hectares, a four-row planter - 1.6 hectares.

There are machines on sale for inter-row potato cultivation: they form ridges and weed weeds. All kinds of modifications of bed formers, cultivators, disc openers are available.

For processing

Caring for potatoes, in addition to watering and dressing, includes hilling, weeding and loosening.

For hilling, a ridge former or a hiller is suitable, which, as the row spacings are processed, destroys weeds, enriches the soil with oxygen. The mechanism represents paired discs (plates), inclined at an angle. The inclination of the discs is adjustable. They are driven by soil resistance or motor drive walk-behind tractor/ tractor. The hiller can be one, two or three rows, etc. Passing through the rows, the cultivator cuts deep furrows and covers the plants with earth, forming trapezoidal ridges above them. The bushes are also huddled with the help of a hedgehog.

Reference! The choice of the hiller is based on compatibility with existing motor vehicles and depends on the type of soil.So, on wet clay soil, it is better to use a disc mechanism, on a light one - lister.

Weed potatoes are weeded and the soil is loosened with an inter-row cultivator or hedgehog. The first device has 2 wheels, knives and a drum. As they move, the knives cut the weeds, and the drum throws them away. The hedgehog will also do this job with a little hilling.

For cleaning

The type of equipment used for harvesting potatoes depends on the area planted.

Potato diggers of two types are used on small fields:

1. Shovels - a hitch, resembling a shovel, with which the potatoes are removed from the ground. Excess soil falls back to the ground through the grate. As a result, 85% of the crop is harvested.
2. Rumbling - have a coulter, a grid on wheels and a vibrating table. Tubers are qualitatively cleaned of soil and weeds. The yield is up to 95%.

These simple machines harvest several hectares a day.

On large areas, a potato harvester is required, which will allow:

• dig up tubers;
• to clear of earth and weeds;
• sort by size;
• unload into a bunker for further transportation.

Combines are different: self-propelled, trailed. They are single-row and multi-row, as well as:

• elevator - on a moving belt on the move, they immediately unload products into a vehicle;
• bunker - due to a rotating drum or a moving belt, potatoes are cleaned of soil and dumped into the bunker.

The harvester collects 95–98% of the crop, minimizing manual labor.

Important! The choice of technology depends on financial capabilities. Prices range from 800,000 to 20,000,000 rubles, depending on the model and manufacturer.

Now in Russia, on small fields, a single-row trailed harvester with a bunker volume of up to 10 tons is popular. In large potato farms, it is better to use an elevator harvester.

There are machines of various modifications of domestic and foreign manufacturers on the market. Specialists distinguish Grimme combines, products of the Russian-Dutch company "Kolnag", domestic machines KPK-2, KPK-3 of Ryazselmash.

Grimme offers bunker, elevator, trailed, self-propelled harvesters for any soil, with lateral and central digging, various additional options. However, this technique is the most expensive on the market.

Many farmers choose the Russian KPK harvesters. They have a limited number of options, but they are reliable and perfectly adapted to the peculiarities of soils in Russia.

Attachment features

The use of hinged mechanisms in a subsidiary or a farm allows using one tractor (tractor or walk-behind tractor) to carry out all the work on growing and caring for cultivated crops on time.

By using trailed devices, farmers reduce labor costs and save on hired labor.

It is interesting:

How to make a potato planter for a mini tractor with your own hands

Why is a mesh bag for potatoes good and how to use it correctly

How to make a shovel for digging potatoes with your own hands

Conclusion

Automation of agricultural work reduces the time for planting and harvesting potatoes, allows you to complete all agrotechnical measures on time, and increases yields. Agricultural machinery costs a lot. Beforehand, it is important to assess the feasibility of buying a particular device. It is advisable to draw up a business plan, estimate the payback period.

When choosing trailed equipment, they look whether it fits a walk-behind tractor or a mini-tractor. It is optimal to take the whole set of mechanisms at once to obtain high yields.