Offsetting a 3point attachment?

[404nouser]

Our Kubota 3450 with 13.6x24 Ags has a center axle height of 21". The Ford 3000 with tires one size up is probably 22". I cant imagine anyone designing a tractor with drawbar at the height of the axle. That would be dangerous.

Could depend on variant.
On my old Ford I have the utility with 21" of ground clearance but the row crop version had 27.9"
Some versions the wheels bolt to the axle shaft, but many row crop ones had portal axles.

 

[slingworks]

Could depend on variant.
On my old Ford I have the utility with 21" of ground clearance but the row crop version had 27.9"
Some versions the wheels bolt to the axle shaft, but many row crop ones had portal axles.

My Zetor has portal axles and sits the lowest of any tractor I have. Seems on that model the factory adjusted the height of the variant by rotating the portal axles and changing the front axle to a lower height. I could raise my machine up by rotating those portal axles, but I'd have to change some brake lines and the front axle to a higher type. Still probably cheaper to buy an older machine.

Kind of off topic a little, but I wonder if the Ford row crops you mention have the same design? Where a guy could rotate the portals to lower it down to a more standard height for a 3000?

 

[DJ54]

I have both, and 130 and 140 w/Fast Hitch. This particular year (2022)I cultivated with the 130 and hilled with the 140. I'd just put the cultivators on the 130 and was experimenting with it.

The County has a farm park where they let us plant vegetables for their Fall Harvest Festival. We normally plant around 250-300 lbs. of potatoes. I got designated to cultivate and hill the potatoes, so mounted the hiller (converted from 3 pt. hitch) on the 130 so I could do both. Cultivated in first gear, hilled potatoes in second. It worked great. Hiller disc's are 15" and didn't even know they were on there.

But we plant 5' O.C. I suppose in all there is about 3/4 of an acre planted in potatoes. Rule of thumb here is for every 100 lbs. planted you get 1,000 lbs. in return. I have no idea the amount you want to harvest, but guessing with that planter you should be able to plant 500 lbs. and in a good year, harvest 5,000 lbs. Just some food for thought on considering 5' rows. Here again we use an old IH pull type digger and is pulled with a small New Holland tractor with hydro so it can move slow.

I might add, the last 2 years we used a spray used for vegetables to keep weeds down. Worked great for 6 weeks, then weeds appeared, and pretty much took over, ragweed being the worst. Here's a short video of me mowing off the ragweed:

The spray did well in the corn, not so much in the potatoes and pumpkins. So, we may go back to cultivating and hilling next year and only spray the ornamental and popcorn. It seems the corn gets tall enough to shade out the weeds, but where there is open ground 6-8 weeks is the max for the spray.

 

[slingworks]

DJ54 thanks for the video and photos. I think we must have a little in common?

I used to truck farm part time in my early 20's. At that time I had around 15 acres of sweet corn, 2acres green beans....1acre bell peppers. A few melons.

Other than the sweet corn and potato plans, this time around I'm running from anything requiring too much hand labor!

I never had weed problems with my sweet corn. I would plant/spray with atrazine and then later on 2-4D for weeds that beat the atrazine. Once the corn got big enough it was like you said, shading out the weeds.

My dad was always the potato grower. He sprayed his potatoes with atrazine on planting and and contrary to my advice and everyone else's it seemed to work out. I didn't like the idea of atrazine on potatoes though. Sweet corn I'm ok with...The plan is to avoid too many chemicals this time around. Just the minimum, cultivating as much as practical.

We've planted some pumpkins/squash but mostly on plastic to keep the weeds down, I don't really know of any effective way to do it otherwise.

The plan I have is to grow enough for everyone in the family to split up. I've got a creek that would be considered a river in some states and It's a luxury for irrigation, so it's why we put it all in one spot.

We may end up on 5' rows again this year, we'll just see how my plans/tools work out.

 

[DJ54]

Wow, that's a lot of produce..!! Did you hire pickers..?? I can understand planting in stages, but that's still a lot of work, especially the green beans.

Back in the late 50's early 60's there was a produce farm near here that planted probably 50 acres of green beans, and maybe that much sweet corn. Most went to a cannery, but some they sold at a roadside market. Back then North American Rockwell was booming during the war effort, and many people moved into the area from Kentucky, which still did a lot of canning. Beans were sold in bulk for several dollars per bushel, corn not sure. My buddy does the farm market in town and gets $6.00 per qt. for green beans. Still can't get my head wrapped around that.

We had an approx. 1 acre garden, that was enough for me. Dad would cultivate, then it was my job to hoe whatever. For a few years he grew 500 lbs. of potatoes, then would sell to Mom & Pop restaurants in Columbus to make extra money. Below is a pic of me standing in the Tater' patch 60+ years ago. Below is a pic of the spray we used at the park. Not a fan of chemicals either, unless rated organic, but was decided as to what to do. I'm hoping they decide to go back to cultivating & hilling, I still have the cultivators mounted on the 130.

Good luck in your venture with whatever you decide to do. I'm 71 and still enjoy playing in the dirt.