No host can imagine his life without potatoes. This is a product that has long been used in cooking for preparing several dozen dishes and as an addition, who knows how many culinary masterpieces. This vegetable is already considered natural and generally accepted. The most delicious, according to gardeners, is the product that is grown by yourself. But processing the beds for planting, and then also caring for potatoes is worth a lot of work. The presence of special devices for processing potatoes greatly facilitates the task, and to build such and similar to the original mechanisms of construction is not so difficult with your own hands. One has only to figure out how to make a manual hiller for potatoes yourself.
Why does a potato need hilling and why do it
Ponder why this process is so necessary. If you have provided plants with ideal growing conditions on loose soil with regular application of nutrient compost, there is no need for systematic hilling. But in reality this does not always happen.
The soil is either too dense, then too wet, then dry. Adverse weather conditions also make their adjustments to the process of growing crops. Tubers need constant access to heat and air. Without oxygen, the roots do not grow into tubers, and excess moisture turns them into a half-decomposed obscure substance. In general, a good responsible owner will need help in the form of small home agricultural equipment, including a hob for potatoes.
In the store you will find many models of such devices, but product prices are far from affordable. In addition, purchased tool options are not always suitable for conditions formed on a particular site. Therefore, the best option is to design a manual hiller with your own hands.
Hub sizes
When designing a tool at home, please note that the recommended optimal sizes of a manual hiller for potatoes are:
- 70 cm - wheel diameter;
- 10-14 cm - width.
Types of fixtures
Of the various instrument models, the following are most popular:
- hiller in the form of a manual plow ;
- disk hiller.
The first is easy to use. With its help, you can quickly and effortlessly process a plot of decent area. Sometimes this device is used in the form of a potato cultivator for a walk-behind tractor or tractor. Thanks to the joint use of such devices, it is possible to process large areas even on dry, downed areas.
Optimal landing pattern
In addition, the user can adjust the width and depth of plowing. The most convenient is the processing option with a width of 20 cm and a depth of 15 cm.
Features okuchnika for walk-behind tractor
Disk - the easiest hiller manual for potatoes. This is a variant of the attachment in synchronization with the capabilities of the walk-behind tractor. In the case of using such a modification of the tool, regulation of speed and power becomes available. Given the small resistance of the soil, the need to use equipment of greater power disappears.
The option of using such a device as a manual hiller for potatoes becomes possible with small household equipment. In the absence of such devices, you have to manually process the garden. Here we have the opportunity to use such an almost indispensable option as a manual disk hiller.
It is unlikely that such a device can be bought in a store. But it’s easy to make a home-made hand hiller for potatoes. We will study in the course of the article exactly how and what tools will have to be prepared.
The principle of action
Fundamentally, the device is quite simple. The scheme of its use is as follows: a person pushes the structure forward in the direction "away from himself", moving along the inter-row space, while the hiller performs the rest of the work.
If we are talking about a device made in the form of a nozzle on a walk-behind tractor, then one person will do the job, but if you are working with a manual hiller for potatoes, look for a partner.
If you don’t have the opportunity to purchase a ready-made hiller, forming high and neat rows, try to do it yourself. We can say with confidence that it will not be worse at all, thanks to the mass of developed projects.
How to make a hiller at home
Having determined that you can’t do without such a device as a manual hiller, you will probably ask yourself: “Is it possible to make such a device yourself?” The answer is definitely yes!
Having tried to design a disk hiller, you will be convinced that this tool is indispensable for planting and growing potatoes, and the manufacture of a house mechanism will cost much less than its purchase in a specialized store with agricultural equipment.
All that is useful for assembling the hiller is a sufficient amount of material and a bit of free time.
What to prepare for design
Concave disks, for example, from a seeder, in the amount of two pieces and a hand traction or a mount for a walk-behind tractor will come in handy.
The stage of processing concave disks involves the installation of elements at a certain angle with a deviation to the outside. The structures are fixed to each other by welding or bolts, which gives special stability.
The design can be stationary or adjustable when the distance between the discs is changed depending on the needs. An experienced gardener who has studied the characteristics of his plot and the type of soil will immediately determine what level of entry of the discs into the soil should be set. That is why this parameter is not made adjustable, which avoids complicating the design of the manual hiller for potatoes.
To prepare for the assembly of the device with your own hands, try to study several drawings and understand the design features of the options that you considered in the diagrams.
Why hand traction comes in handy
This is something you will directly interact with when processing potato plantings. When hilling, manual traction cannot be dispensed with if you are constructing a fixture with your own hands. Provide that this part should be convenient for two people, since working alone, you will have to additionally weight the design of the mechanism.
When completing a potato processing tool with a mount for a walk-behind tractor, you can use the standard version of the unit that comes with the equipment, or try to do it yourself by looking at a few drawings.
Features of weighting design
For this, the standard design is modified in some way, adding small but significant details on top of the unit, and they also put a skimmer, who plays the role of a manager during the operation of the device. Outwardly, such a device looks different, but, regardless of the idea, the design is easy to do with your own hands.
There is nothing complicated in the manufacture of a disk hiller, and only a grinder and a welding machine will be needed from the tools. To simplify the work, savvy and knowledge of the technology of planting root crops will help. This approach helps to save time, effort and money, and as a result, you, as the owner of the site, will only benefit.
Some tips on the hilling process
The disk hiller is distinguished by a design that allows you to spud two rows of potatoes at once on one side, which helps to cope with work faster. So, going to the second row, you spud one of the remaining sides of the previous one and one of the next row.
Such a manual adaptation will become indispensable if you have a small garden, because where the equipment will not pass, a person will pass easily.
Experienced gardeners who have studied the features of the soil for potatoes can easily adjust the angle of the discs, so it is not so necessary to create a design with a variable angle of inclination.
Do not worry if the process of processing the beds with potatoes is not too fast. If you are a beginner gardener and hilling is a novelty for you, over time you will learn how to care for your home plants: vegetable and fruit crops, faster and better. It’s worthwhile to adapt to the manual hiller for potatoes, try to calculate the correct effort so that the plowing is carried out to the necessary optimal depth and the earth beautifully turns into rows. Make a few test furrows and the process will get better.
Okuchnik is also used as a tool for cutting furrows when planting potatoes to get smooth rows quickly and conveniently.
The procedure is recommended to be carried out after heavy rain, which helps to preserve more moisture in the soil.
What to look for
Please note that the higher you pour soil on the rows with potatoes, the more likely you are to form the sides well, which means that the probability of getting a good crop in the end will be much higher.
Now you know what features an earthenhouse for potatoes differ in and what you should consider when making a construction yourself. Using not too abstruse blueprints of manual potato spouts and having only a piece of metal and a couple of tools, you will create such a useful device in the household that simplifies planting care.
Before proceeding with the assembly, evaluate your technical skills and capabilities. Will you be able to make a hiller yourself? The above description and a brief manufacturing guide will help every owner who wants to complement his garden kit with such a device, do it quickly and efficiently.