Interfering with the potato harvest

[ShenandoahJoe]

Dig with the fork, lever up a ball of earth, crumble the dirt with your hands, throw the spuds in the bucket... you know the drill.

Then I levered up these guys. They're about two feet long. Two ducked back in the hole, two slithered off stage right, these two stayed there and cussed at me. I consulted the All-Knowing Internet, which said I should snuggle up close to them and see what shape the pupils of their eyes are. Not going to happen. A friend who got a degree in things like this assures me those are copperheads.

So... how do I get those last four feet of potatoes out of the garden?

 

[turnkey4099]

Dig with the fork, lever up a ball of earth, crumble the dirt with your hands, throw the spuds in the bucket... you know the drill.

Then I levered up these guys. They're about two feet long. Two ducked back in the hole, two slithered off stage right, these two stayed there and cussed at me. I consulted the All-Knowing Internet, which said I should snuggle up close to them and see what shape the pupils of their eyes are. Not going to happen. A friend who got a degree in things like this assures me those are copperheads.

So... how do I get those last four feet of potatoes out of the garden?
View attachment 334269

You could try my method when startled by a snake. By the time I get done dance, screaming and yelling all snakes within a mile have departed.

Harry K

 

[Stick895]

.38 with snakeshot. Dig with the fork, lever up ball of earth, 1@ BAM per snake, shake ball of earth, take potatoes. Repeat as necessary. BAM can happen at any step where snake is seen.

 

[oldballs]

I quit hand digging. Now I use my Middle-Buster which is also known as a potato plow. Being elderly and not the man that I use to was.....I can't dig very many any more. Harvested 8 bushel last month.

 

[jinman]

Your friend wouldn't know a copperhead if it bit him.Those are little rat snakes. The pattern on their back is a dead give-away. They have attitude and will bite you, even if harmless. I'd just move them away and keep diggin' tators.

 

[oosik]

Hey, rat snake, copper head or our diamond backs. I really don't give a s--t!! There could be ten feet remaining in the potato row - I'll come back another day.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Your friend wouldn't know a copperhead if it bit him.Those are little rat snakes. The pattern on their back is a dead give-away. They have attitude and will bite you, even if harmless. I'd just move them away and keep diggin' tators.

Yeah, I knew they weren't copperheads, but didn't know what they were. Copperheads are not called copperheads for nothing, and those dumbell shaped markings on their backs are pretty distinctive, although they do vary somewhat in shape on different varieties.

Copperhead Pictures

 

[ArmyPair2]

If I walk out the front door or backdoor I always chamber a round which is 9 mm buckshot. During all my training as a rule of thumb is if we ever ran into a snake and if it had the head of a triangle and cat shape eye's you would want to stay away from it. Now this is not true for all snakes for instant the coral snake it has a round head and round eyes but it's color is a dead give away where the colors touch no pun intended.

Now I run into Timber Rattlesnakes at times in my wood piles and some Copperhead's near my creeks and let them go. The United States is so lucky we don't have the Black Mamba's here cause those suckers are so mean they will come at you instead of running off.

 

[jinman]

The United States is so lucky we don't have the Black Mamba's here cause those suckers are so mean they will come at you instead of running off.

With all the crazy people bringing in exotic snakes, there's no telling what might show up within our shores. I think we are lucky not to have poisonous tree-climbing snakes in the USA. Can you imagine going through a mesquite thicket and having to watch for mambas or cobras above you in the trees? No thanks!

 

[Ed of all trades]

That is the reason I don't like deep mulch in my garden. Deep mulch = mice and mice = snakes. Don't like snakes = don't like deep mulch.

 

[ShenandoahJoe]

Ed, you've described my situation very well, except I'm OK with most snakes. Once I imagined the kind of muscle-tone it would take to lift my body off the ground without arms, I developed a lot of respect for them.

I like Jim's identification better, because if they're rat snakes I can leave the little guys there. Down at the other end of the row, my white fingerling potatoes got severely chomped. But near the snake nest, the purple Peruvians didn't have a single tooth mark on them.