I would like to see some talk specifically about what tractor implements people have had success with and how they use them. I think it is nice to see what exists and what works. I took a while to imagine and then find some machines. I have some things i wont go into like a tractor with front loader, dump trailer, plow, pasture rake, some old things laying around that don’t get used etc.
I have a self loading mulch spreader, I use it a lot to spread or even transport woodchip, I wish it worked better with horse manure but it mainly works with compost and woodchips and holds 1 cubic meter (3feet). cost about 5k
I have a side discharge mower, I was trying to get this Nobili sds but cost is about 10k for that and local dealers were not willing to help me get it so i went with a 3 blade horizontal deck mower. cost about 3k
similar to this
And Jagoda makes some nice products like the berry harvesters and this organic tillage finger weeder I am looking at cautiously.
could be nice to finger weed and toss clover seed for ground maintenance. $3k
and the flair mower is pretty nice as a mower and small branch mulcher. $1.5k
That self-loading compost spreader is awesome! I had never even considered that someone might have created something so novel. Thank you very much for sharing that with us.
Flair / Flail mowers are pretty cool, we have one at work for the mini excavator for removal of woody vegetation on embankments. It will eat 3-4 inch trees if you give it enough time.
The brush hog on the skid loader is way faster but both are good for different applications.
I would estimate both use about twice the fuel compared to normal operation with using a bucket.
I’ve been dreaming of getting some land to do a bigger orchard and trying to figure out how to go from something like an overgrown hay field to cover crops in rows and came across some videos showing these harrowing type tool. Expensive, particularly since you would only need it occasionally, but I think you might be able to rent them.
I think there is a version that comes with seeder built in as well.
This is what i have, except mine is a bit cheaper, just cost $2k and was well worth it. It also hase the compaction wheel. is 6 foot wide. I have run over metal fence posts before and it just wrapped them up around the blades, sucked to remove it all afternoon but it’s strong enough to eat metal fence posts! I lost them in the grass… I put horse manure, charcoal etc. on the garden and till it in with this machine 1+ months prior to planting.
Interesting that they use it for building foundations it seems.
I remove the compactor wheel because I prefer the smaller size for maneuverability. I just go over typical pasture with it 2 times and it sets back the grass pretty well, the grass will still come back up through, I see they remove the grass with a front loader in the video, That would help.
I use a jang seeder to plant seeds after wards for garden and sometimes clover… or a broadcast seeder for rye and clover.
It would be nice to have a seeder for sowing cover crops but I think i can just broadcast rye and clover until i justify that expense. Unless i see a cheap efficient one buying tractor tools is the next best thing after buying fruit trees! Same issues arise though with space to put them all.
I consider getting a disc harrow for the job of cultivating larger areas because it would be used at a faster speed.
Millcreek makes some nice side discharge mulch spreaders. We don’t have one, but it would be the perfect tool to spread bark mulch on a couple acres of Blueberries
We do have a flail mower with hammer blades that we use to mulch the prunnings from the Apples, Peaches, Blueberries and Blackberries. Much faster than push and burn and we don’t have to worry about the fire getting out of control or the pollution.
Air blast sprayer is perfect tool for spraying a few acres of tree fruit but $$
Tractor mount spin spreader is very useful for spreading pelletized lime, fertilizer or seed.
Jang makes a 3 point mount for their planters. You can mount multiple units to the toolbar or just move a single planter unit across the toolbar and make multiple passes.
Forgot the shank tiller, sometimes called a field cultivator. Easy to find something used. We use ours to break the soil before we till.
I got a flail mower with hammer blades for general mowing and light mulching, and a single bottom plow. I use the plow for making raised beds; going up and back gives you a nice, busted up strip of dirt with furrows for holding on to rain in the drier months.
I did a similar method to build a raised bed for tree planting, my goal was to make a small trench as described by Mark Shepard, a Mini swale to harvest water.
I ran the plow both ways and then used the reverse tiller to break up the clumps nicely. Then planted, put down cardboard, woodchips, and plant tubes.
Beautiful farm and location! What is in the grow tubes?
I see lots of video of cultivators like that but have never used one
Here is a pretty good one on grapes where the cultivation was aggressive
We get good weed control early season with herbicides on about 8 acres of fruit but always loose control by the end of the season. We are not organic but use as few chemicals as possible
That is intense to watch the grapes bounce around. But it does the job well and does it pretty fast.
The view is pretty nice when I remember to appreciate it. I plan to try something similar with a U-pick, Also I am happy to spend my time and money on it as a hobby as I have for 10 years but recently I have expanded more with commercial intentions. I have 100 Pears, 300 Persimmons, 100 Hazelnut and 600 Honeyberry going down that field out of view. The pears and hazelnuts were planted after this photo was taken. Honeyberries are in the ground since a few years. Other areas we have apples and black currants in similar amounts.
I understand the reasons to transition from a hobby size enterprise to something commercial.
We worked up to growing and selling about 8 acres of fruit over a long period of time. Now takes just two 5 hour days to sell what we grow but it was a big struggle before local fruit became cool.
You have an interesting assortment of fruit and nuts that I expect customers will drive a long way to purchase…
That is a pretty narrow window, sounds similar hours to a Solawi or in america they are… CSA.
Our customer vicinity… It is OK not ideal, about 1.2 hrs from like 10M Germans. I think we will sell out to local small towns within 20 min radius mostly friends. Maybe even doing a registered members where people pre pay for a year and then have access to pick at set times. I am also considering just getting a $20k berry picker from “Jagoda” and just selling all the fruit and berries bulk fire wine, cider, juice, jams. I like the idea of finding a factory to send it in bulk they make it into Jam and then they send it back in jars and we are marketing jams… and fruit Juice… but that is basically the scope of options I see. Socializing at U picks would be real fun and people always say they love the view and i love to see people enjoying fruit trees.
If we can make 20-50k annually I am pretty happy. We’ll see how it starts out in about 2 years. If it all fails, I’ll just roll around in fruits and tears. lol
This attaches to a 3 point hitch and I expect to use it as a combination tree hauler/tool bin/dirt mover. It’s the poor mans front loader bucket.
I also purchased clamp on pallet forks to put on the end of the bucket for moving stuff on pallets, strapping on fence posts, moving hay etc. Ratchet straps drastically increase the holding capacity and utility of pallet forks in my experience.
Additionally I grabbed a very rough looking earth auger. I have a lot of sweat equity to put into it to get it running, hopefully for the next few decades to save my back planting trees, installing fencing/ gates/ mailbox etc.
What I REALLY need help with, is figuring out what the proper implement(s) would be to harvest straw/hay between orchard rows. I want to bed under persimmons and pawpaws for a soft drop during harvest. Would a roller filled with water be best? Sickle bar cutter? Some kind of hay making equipment? I don’t know enough about farming to know what the proper tool is for what I want to accomplish.
Obviously 1st cut in this situation could be harvested and baled/sold as another farm product. What’s the best crop for this? Summer oats/rye/barley/wheat are what I first think of. Maybe Sorghum is lower maintenance and more appropriate? Am I getting way ahead of myself considering doing this small scale? Should I buy a 4’ PTO brush mower and be done with it?
I’m trying to spend as little up front as possible and trying to get ‘what works’ for now with the intention of upgrading later as I’m able. A 1948 Ferguson TE20 is the current tractor, I’m keeping my eyes on marketplace for the right 4x4 Kubota. Then trying to go electric!
Additionally, is a power steering kit and added hydraulics off of the PTO feasible to increase utility affordably? I paid $1,500 for the tractor and it seems like upgrades would cost more than the machine is worth…
I believe it’s unlikely you can make money on hay as a cash crop on a small scale. You can buy it or straw cheaper than you can grow it. Probably pick up some spoiled hay for not much money.
I see some large growers using side discharge flail mowers to shoot the clipping into the rows. We shoot the clippings into the rows with a side discharge zero turn mower which works well if the field is not too rough. A side discharge bush hog would work great too, but I have neve seen a small one.
A used 4 foot rotary cutter would keep the grass and weeds down.
I really like this side discharge flail mower but it’s expensive and requires a lot of HP
If you’re wanting to collect the cut grass for your own purposes then the 4’ rotary mower, and a cheap grass sweeper would do the trick. Let it dry after you mow and then come through with the sweeper attached to your tractor or mower. Dump it somewhere until you’re ready for it.
If you really want to bail it then find a local farmer that already has the equipment. For bailing it you could split the bails with them. Of course your rows have to be big enough for their equipment.
It eliminates a lot of labor costs. Good farm labor is very hard to find in the USA and most growers rely on H2A workers. They work very hard and are very dedicated but expensive since they get free housing plus a good wage. We have eliminated the need for hired labor by allowing customers to pick most of the fruit, except for Peaches. Peaches are very valuable in my area and my son can make money by picking and packing Peaches. He can not make money picking Blackberries or Blueberries so he quit doing it.
A big part of the PYO on many farms here is entertainment. Although the farmer is selling fruit, many customers are really buying entertainment. Entertainment is big for us in the fall during Apple and Pumpkin picking season. We noticed that many customers are sensitive to food prices but not very sensitive to the price for entertainment.
I think a good option would be a mixed spring/summer cover crop (summer oats, southern peas, clover, etc. and maybe a little sorghum for added biomass) and a mixed winter cover crop (cereal rye, winter peas, crimson clover, vetch, collards, daikon, etc.) and just roller crimp it and then seed the next seasons cover right into the residue. With your skills you could probably build the right size roller/crimper for not a lot of money and then also not have to spend a lot of money on various tools to try to bail hay. If you can find a used side discharge flail mower, you could run that sometimes to chew up the cover crop residue and mulch your rows, but if you leave the residue and get the cover crops in a good cycle they would hopefully keep any weeds at bay at least in the main alleys.
Depending on the timing of planting the warm season cover, you might be able to roller crimp right before your fruit fall and use the matt of vegetation as your soft bed for the fruit to land on, waiting until near the end of harvest to seed the next cover crop into it. Depending on how you do the timing you may also consider three crops or even 4 if you put a short season one in, like buckwheat, to get that timing down.
This would help you continue to rebuild your soil overall if the previous owners have worn it out a bit from continuous tillage and row cropping. And it would also greatly reduce the amount of time you’d spend mowing, etc. to let you focus on all you’re trying to establish.
There are a bunch of DIY roller crimper builds on YouTube, but this video shows what a crimped cereal/grain cover will look like to give you a sense of what it would be like as a landing pad for fruit.
Just my $.02, but I’m admittedly a big fan of cover crops and no till.
A roller crimper with a chevron pattern gives smoother rolling, and it increases the effective force that is applied to the crop as there is a smaller instantaneous contact patch.
buying tractor tools is the next best thing after buying fruit trees! Same issues arise though with space to put them all.
