Hilling potatoes, R1 tires and Tractor Time with Tim

[@peanutsmith1462]

That’s how I got here was from tractor time with Tim 👍

[@ElkCreekAcres]

He’s influential for sure👍🏻

[@peanutsmith1462]

Yes sr. Tim seems like a good down to earth man

[@avidoutdoorstv8545]

Same

[@WaldenSpawn]

Me too

[@daddio7249]

As a potato grower in Florida we bolted guards on our discs to make a square shoulder on the row. You weld a bracket on the back of the shank about four inches above the axle. Then you make a narrow three sided rectangle out of two inch wide steel strap. The guard bolts flat to the bracket and extends to the back of the disc, across, and then about two thirds of the way to the center of the disc. You bend and adjust the guard to block the soil coming off the disc as it turns, forcing it to flow across the top of the row. Your lumpy dirt might now flow as smoothly as our loamy sand but more dirt should stay on top of the row.

[@ElkCreekAcres]

I like that idea, I've often thought about a way to make those nice perfect hills. But, like you said, our soil may not allow for that.

[@Tony2tall]

Whole lot of potatoes! When we grew potatoes we had a tractor but nothing like you have to hill them up, incredible!!! Those adjustable stabilizer bars are sweet!

[@ElkCreekAcres]

We’ve only been using the tractor for four years, we used to hill with hand hoes, but we also didn’t grow this many back then.

[@TractorTimewithTim]

Hey! Thanks for the kind words. Those R1's look great. A few questions: 1) Did you use the original rims from the r4's? 2) What size R1's did you use? Front and Rear? Rim size for each... 3) What does 'Bravo' do? 4) How are you gonna get those weeds in between the rows...the wider rows where the hiller missed them. I'm trying to figure out how to get those ... without a hoe!

[@ElkCreekAcres]

1. No, unfortunately I had to buy new wheels as well. 2. These are 7-12 fronts and 12.4-16 tears, although looking at the sidewalls they actually came through metric. 3. Bravo is a germicidal spray to prevent disease, honestly if we didn’t sell potatoes we might not use it. 4. Some years we lay hay down as mulch, last year I let a 45 yr old walk behind tiller give me and the weeds a fixing. Really the thanks goes to you Tim, one day we will meet and the best burger is on me.

[@michaelmartin9618]

Another good day on the tractor! Nice work.

[@Michael-tq5il]

Looking good, Pat.

[@pc5569]

Nice set of new sneakers. 👍

[@ElkCreekAcres]

Thanks friend, traction is amazing.

[@JustMakinDoFarms]

Great video, thanks for sharing.

[@ElkCreekAcres]

Thanks for watching!

[@itswhiskeytime8538]

Potatoes are looking good!

[@reneebowen854]

I enjoy your videos, keep up the good work. Waiting for my new 2032r to arrive (anxiously!). Tractor will be used as a loader primarily although I will undoubtedly be dabbling with hydraulic accouterments for this outfit for a long time (with God’s help and some luck). Ordered with R1s (loaded) and the MSL loader based both on my experience with tractors and your impression of them. I am somewhat fascinated by East coast farming. Around here we farm by the quarter (1/2 mile square), I find the small, odd shaped fields you folks utilize extremely practical. The amount of acres wasted here would probably shock an east coaster! Small patches are simply impossible to manage with the equipment used here. Thanks again for your input and videos!

[@ElkCreekAcres]

Thank you, I appreciate the kind words!! Where are you from? We farm almost anything, our largest field is 11 acres, our equipment does at times feel a little oversized for some of the fields, but every bale of hay makes a difference. I used to brush hog a few of the small fields, then we overseeded them and started making money with them instead. Great choice on the tires and the especially the MSL, it really does transform the 32/38R into a different class of tractor.

[@stanleyharrell6009]

Bravo is an old school fungicide. My Granddad used it back in the 70s and 80s on peanuts to combat white mold. It’s about the same as Daconil fungicide.

[@ElkCreekAcres]

thank you Stanley, fungicide, I didn't feel I was saying it right. Glad you corrected that for me , thank you

[@gregb2144]

Set up works well!

[@tomkeating65]

I like people that are in New York.

[@Katyhillfarmer]

Nice set of r1 on the 2038

[@ElkCreekAcres]

thanks, they are nice, really opens up the power of the tractor by providing the equal amount of traction.

[@Katyhillfarmer]

I wish they would make a wider r1 for the front of the John Deere like the older bx had

[@ElkCreekAcres]

@@Katyhillfarmer They're not as skinny as they may appear, it's an inch narrower than the R4 with many times the traction.

[@harmab2]

Ttwt, is one of my favorite channels. Hopefully, yours will be too!!

[@ElkCreekAcres]

Thank you, that’s quite a compliment right there.

[@harmab2]

@@ElkCreekAcres I have watched 2 or 3 more of your videos, quite enjoyable, keep up the great videos!!❤

[@Scuba11000]

I think part ofyour problem with that DIY hiller is that the disks are so far back. So that a little loose in the sway bar adjustment is a big movement that far back at the disks. I would cut the thing down and weld the cross bar way closer to the links to stiffen the whole setup up somewhat.

[@ElkCreekAcres]

Don't really have any problems with this hiller when I remember to tighten the sway links up good and tight, we've been using it for 4 seasons.

[@jasone9]

I have an old JD tool bar that was set up as a two row cultivator when I got it. I pull the center pair of cultivators off and put my hilling discs on for covering and hilling my potatoes, the outer pair of cultivators on each end are set to be behind the tractor tires, works great. Then I throw the center pair back on to cultivate my sweetcorn. How do you dig those potatoes?

[@ElkCreekAcres]

These toolbars do work great for multiple purposes. I have a middle buster that we harvest with, works quite well, better than most would think.

[@jasone9]

@@ElkCreekAcres I have an old horse drawn ground driven digger that runs them up the link conveyor and then drops them on top the ground. Works decent if I've managed to keep the weeds out of the rows. Thank goodness I'm not pulling it with horses.

[@bigjim5723]

boy can the farmers daughter ever run behind u filming ya. hehe heck i thought u bought a drone till i seen the finger in the view-ha!!!

[@ElkCreekAcres]

Someday I'll get a drone, but a good one is not cheap. My wife said she was out of breath, I didn't think I was going that fast. LOL

[@stevek4449]

Are you planting on the hill up and down or side hilling? The reason I ask is that when I was a kid in grade school I remembered my teacher mentioned one of the practices that extended the Great Depression was farming up and down the hill as opposed to sideways. This is what caused the Midwest to become the great Dust Bowl. Many farmers that planted crops up and down hills rather than side hilling. When the rains came the top soil would wash down hill exposing the sand/ dirt below the topsoil and when the wind picked up after the ground died it created huge dust storms. How do you prevent top soil erosion when farming vertically on hills rather than horizontally? Just curious.

[@ElkCreekAcres]

I'll have to read up on that style, not sure if I totally understand. We plant somewhat shallow and build hills up from there, been doing it this way for years and it seems to work. We don't get a ton of soil erosion here, but we also don't get the severe weather systems as does the midwest.

[@fredkaminski6138]

That's a lot of 🥔! I still like my 2520.

[@rgd2598]

Here Here... love my 2010 - 2520r.

[@jjacres129]

That’s how I got here to thanks ttwt

[@ElkCreekAcres]

Yes sir, he's a good man.

[@BradMyers]

Did you post the distance/measurements on your bedder somewhere? We are looking at doing potatoes next year and was wondering how you had your bedder setup.

[@ElkCreekAcres]

I have the disc shanks at 32” on center, then you have to play around a bit with the angle of the discs, that part is a little trial and error. All of this is on a 60” toolbar that we welded on this old rear blade frame after the blade got mangled.

[@BradMyers]

@@ElkCreekAcres thanks! I'm looking at a 60" bedder, so that will give me a good starting point.

[@MrMarkCrisler]

Awesome Vid. Great that you and Tim are supporting each other. Very cool! One question if I may, I noticed you have a rear scv with a hydraulic top link bar. I am looking to add it to my new 2038r. Do you find it is making a difference in your use of implements?

[@ElkCreekAcres]

Thank you. The hydraulic top link is a real game changer, especially with the box blade and disc harrows. It also makes hook ups much easier too, especially if you are not always on perfectly level ground when unhooking.

[@busman1630]

Great video Pat. Those R1's look real good on that 2038R. Lots of pulling power now. What spacing are you using on your hiller for the discs.? Need to reset mine. Not sure you mentioned it in the video, unless I missed it. Thanks.

[@ElkCreekAcres]

32” on center of disc shanks. These R1’s are animals, I just came back from moving the compost pile (video to follow) and actually made the tractor grunt rather than spin. Lol

[@stanleyharrell6009]

Bravo is an old school fungicide. My Granddad used it back in the 70s and 80s on peanuts to combat white mold. It’s about the same as Daconil fungicide.