Planted potatoes yesterday with the 140 & Champion potato planter.

[DJ54]

Not my garden, but rather our tractor clubs garden so to speak, getting ready to plant potatoes, popcorn, pumpkins etc. at the County's historical farm park. A week ago a couple of us plowed up the front small patches to at least to get the potatoes in, and yesterday we planted them.

Happy to see several guys come with tractors & tillers to work the ground down, and get fertilizer spread. I took my Farmall 140 and my horse drawn converted to Fast Hitch Champion brand potato planter. For anyone who plants a lot of potatoes on a limited budget this is the unit to use if in working condition. I pretty much will drop a seed potato every 10 inches and doesn't miss many. Helps to have someone ride the planter to keep potatoes in the well for the cupped chain to pick up and ride the hillers.

We planted a few more this year, since the drought pretty much wiped us out last year, so put in 325 lbs. hoping for a good year this year. We did our part the rest is up to Mother Nature now.

The popcorn, ornamental corn, field corn and pumpkins will planted at a later date weather permitting, once we get past the frost date. We sure have a lot of fun with our toys..!!

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[workinonit]

I saw this on the other forum. I would love to have one of those planters. I have never been able to run across one.

 

[Don McCombs]

Nice barn! Good looking tractor, too.

 

[Shocko]

Not my garden, but rather our tractor clubs garden so to speak, getting ready to plant potatoes, popcorn, pumpkins etc. at the County's historical farm park. A week ago a couple of us plowed up the front small patches to at least to get the potatoes in, and yesterday we planted them.

Happy to see several guys come with tractors & tillers to work the ground down, and get fertilizer spread. I took my Farmall 140 and my horse drawn converted to Fast Hitch Champion brand potato planter. For anyone who plants a lot of potatoes on a limited budget this is the unit to use if in working condition. I pretty much will drop a seed potato every 10 inches and doesn't miss many. Helps to have someone ride the planter to keep potatoes in the well for the cupped chain to pick up and ride the hillers.

We planted a few more this year, since the drought pretty much wiped us out last year, so put in 325 lbs. hoping for a good year this year. We did our part the rest is up to Mother Nature now.

The popcorn, ornamental corn, field corn and pumpkins will planted at a later date weather permitting, once we get past the frost date. We sure have a lot of fun with our toys..!!

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That’s a real back saver.

 

[DJ54]

Yes, that's a very nice barn. The stone foundation was salvaged from an old barn near Lancaster, Ohio, and brought to the farm. The rest is all new.

 

[DJ54]

That’s a real back saver.

For sure..!! If my Dad would have had one of these when I was a kid, he'd have planted 1,000 pounds, instead of the 500 pounds we planted for 5-6 years to make extra money. He did have a potato digger to make that part easier. Back at that time he'd sell 50# bags of potatoes to Mom & Pop restaurants in Columbus for $5 a bag. He'd load that old '51 Dodge 1/2 ton pickup with racks double decked with 50# bags of potatoes standing up delivering them before going to work on second shift. Good memories..!!

 

[Shocko]

For sure..!! If my Dad would have had one of these when I was a kid, he'd have planted 1,000 pounds, instead of the 500 pounds we planted for 5-6 years to make extra money. He did have a potato digger to make that part easier. Back at that time he'd sell 50# bags of potatoes to Mom & Pop restaurants in Columbus for $5 a bag. He'd load that old '51 Dodge 1/2 ton pickup with racks double decked with 50# bags of potatoes standing up delivering them before going to work on second shift. Good memories..!!

Smart man!

 

[Board shortener Tom]

Love the pics and the story!

 

[workinonit]

For sure..!! If my Dad would have had one of these when I was a kid, he'd have planted 1,000 pounds, instead of the 500 pounds we planted for 5-6 years to make extra money. He did have a potato digger to make that part easier. Back at that time he'd sell 50# bags of potatoes to Mom & Pop restaurants in Columbus for $5 a bag. He'd load that old '51 Dodge 1/2 ton pickup with racks double decked with 50# bags of potatoes standing up delivering them before going to work on second shift. Good memories..!!

Did you end up with the potato digger?

 

[DJ54]

Did you end up with the potato digger?

The one we had when I was a kid he sold to a neighbor. It then sold at an auction I went to and sold for $25. The only reason I didn't bid was because I couldn't figure out how to get it home on those spade lugs on our asphalt roads. We didn't have a loader tractor back then. When I told him the next day he about had a fit and said we'd have gotten it home somehow. For years he wished he'd never sold it.

But now I have 2, actually have had 3 in the last 5 years or so. First one was a Hoover, worked good but no back conveyor chain to sift a little better. Second one is a little IH digger, has a short rear conveyor and does a lot better. The 140 pulls it at a nice idle with no issues with power or traction with the double wheel weights. 3rd one I got last year, an IH, what I believe is a No. 16 PTO driven model with a 3-speed forward transmission with reverse. According to an old IH archive video on this digger, reverse is in case you get a rock stuck in it, simply put it in reverse and back it out. Haven't had any time to really mess with it yet. Ordered parts for a project in the shop that was supposed to be here in 7-10 days but ended up being nearly 3 months. That's what happens when an online business says they have it in stock, then you get an email 3-4 days later saying it's on backorder and should have it in 7-10 days. GRRRRRR... Really messes things up when you have limited shop space. Now that it's warmer I can piddle on it outside. I need to pull the top off the transmission and see what it looks like inside. Lots of sealer on it, but afraid water may have run down along the shifter, so it may need a good flushing out and new oil. It's actually supposed to have a long rod on it so you can shift from the tractor seat but wasn't with it. And looks like it was modified to raise with a hydraulic cylinder being pulled by a tractor with a rigid drawbar.

All in time when I get to it. If I don't, like a buddy of mine says "It will look good on the sale bill someday.
"

 

[workinonit]

I can't find them around here. I would love to have one. When I run across one I'll bring it home.

 

[DJ54]

I use Auctionzip to look for auctions as far as you care to travel, and you can save a search on there. One at the top left was about 45 miles away at an auction. Found the middle on Craigslist, it was only about 25 miles away. He also had an Iron Age planter, and a set of 3 pt. hillers. He was getting out of the potato growing business, and my lucky day. He made me an offer on all 3 I couldn't refuse. The planter was OK, but missed a lot, not good when you're a one-man operation. OK if you have 2 people to drop potatoes in the wheel for it to drop them. I made a new tongue for it as it had a horse tongue in it. Thought it was pretty cool the original wrench was with it. I used the Iron Age and the Champion side by side to see which was the best for me. Champion won hands down. I took these pics and a few more and posted it on Craigslist. Priced it for what I paid for all 3 pieces which was a deal, figuring on someone working to get me down on price. Guy called within 20 minutes of posting and said he was sending his daughter to pick it up with cash in hand, it was exactly what he was looking for. Within 45 minutes I'd set it on a trailer and was out of here. Almost too good to believe but it happened.

Last one on the right my cousin called me and asked if I knew anyone who might be interested in it. When I asked how much and he told me, I said yep, I'm interested. Went down to pick it up and he asked if I was in a hurry, I just had to see a fellow he knows Cub Collection. He has 50 running Cubs..!! Most are restored. Then took me back in the back part of this huge building where there were Super A's, 100's, 130's and 140's, plus numerous FH attachments. So much it was hard to absorb it all. Ended up getting the 2 bottom FH plow in pics on here somewhere. LOVE that little plow..!!